When Joe opened his door to get out, Alan yelled, “By, Joe, honey! Have a great day at school.”
Alan was still laughing after Joe slammed the door.
While he put his turn signal on and waited for a gap in the cars, Alan picked up his phone and sighed. There was still no message from Amber or Ricky. He picked up the satellite messenger and was about to send a question when the person behind him honked.
Alan pulled out and headed towards the house.
He had a list of the things they had forgotten to pack in their haste. On that list was a toaster. Alan was torn between bringing the one from their kitchen counter or picking up a brand new one later in the day. The one at their borrowed house was terrible, but he thought it might be bad taste if they left a new one there.
His phone rang and he hit the button on the dash, answering before he checked to see who it was.
“Hello?”
“Alan?” Liz asked.
“Oh.”
“Disappointed that it’s me?” she asked.
“A little,” he said. “I’m hoping to hear from one of the kids. Actually, I’m kinda hoping that they decided not to go. I have this…”
“So call Mary,” she said. “Or, use that satellite…”
“Yeah, I will. I’m almost at the house now. I’ll do it when I get there.”
“Good—that’s why I’m calling. Don’t forget to shut off the automatic alarm test. It’s going to go off this weekend and I’m afraid the Palanges will hear it.”
“Good point,” he said.
He was barely listening as he slowed. His eyes were locked onto the side of the road where the pavement gave way to gravel and mud.
“Hey,” he said. “I gotta go.”
“Okay. Check in later and stay safe.”
“Will do.”
He pulled over. The house was just around the bend and the next nearest house was several hundred yards behind him. There should have been no reason for the tire tracks he saw in the mud. There was something about the tracks that sparked a memory, although he couldn’t place it.
Alan rushed back to the car when he heard the satellite messenger alarm.
It was from Amber.
“Up behind Jan’s at the graveyard. Found a hole. Ricky & I are about to check it out. Will message when we get out. How are you?”
He typed, “All fine here. PLEASE be careful and send a progress report when you can.”
He stared at the screen for several seconds and then realized that she wasn’t going to reply.
Alan continued to the house and pulled up the driveway. He slowed and turned when he saw the window that was patched with a piece of plywood. After he shut off the engine, he simply sat there for a minute, regarding the house and trying to figure out what was out of place. The house looked hollow or maybe barren. He spent a lot of time in the house alone, so it should have been perfectly normal to see the place empty, but this was different. There was no life in the place. Nobody was coming through the door to greet him.
“No dog wagging its tail and coming to welcome me,” he whispered to himself. It was a strange thought. They didn’t even have a dog.
Alan picked up his phone. He didn’t have her number labelled, so he scrolled through until he found one with a local exchange and he pressed the button to call.
She answered on the first ring.
“Hello?”
She sounded cold—almost angry.
“Mary?”
Her voice warmed up immediately. “Who is… Alan?”
“Yeah. Sorry to bother you. I was wondering about Tucker?”
“Tucker? What about him?”
“Where is he? Did Ricky take him up north?”
“Nope, he’s right here with me. We’re getting ready to stuff pillows.”
“Oh. Good.”
“What’s wrong, Alan?”
“I don’t know for sure,” he said. He cleared his throat and tried to sound normal. “I was just thinking about my house and about how there’s no dog to greet me when I pulled up. I got this strange feeling that there was something important about that? Not important—that’s not the right word—significant maybe?”
“I thought you guys were out of town,” Mary said. She sounded distracted, like she had returned to work but kept talking instead of hanging up.
“We are. I just came up to drop off Joe at school and it’s easier to hang around the house until it’s time to pick him up, you know?”
“Half of my life used to be as a valet for every kid within ten miles—at least that’s what it felt like. I tell myself that I don’t miss it.”
Alan laughed as he stared at the plywood that was covering the kitchen window. He still hadn’t gotten out of the car. He was starting to wonder if he would.
“Well, if you get bored, you know where I am,” she said. “I’ll put you to work.”
“Actually, I don’t know where you are. Ricky said you were staying at Amber’s?”
“We are, but at the moment, I’m at home now. I still have some branches to move from that tree, and I’m working on my pillows, like I said. I’ll be here until, I don’t know, maybe a couple hours before sunset.”
“Okay,” Alan said. “Take care.”
“Will do. Bye.”
Alan stuffed his phone in his pocket and got out. He approached the house and paused about halfway to the door. The sun was still low in the sky. Alan thought about how dark the living room would be. He only had a couple of things to retrieve from inside. It wouldn’t hurt if he put it off until afternoon. Walking back, he didn’t realize where he was going to go until he opened the door and sat behind the wheel.
# # #
He knocked twice.
Tucker came to the door and looked up, wagging his tail furiously until Mary opened it and let Alan in.
“I didn’t think you were going to take me up on the invitation,” Mary said.
“Well, you know—idle hands,” he said.
He came into the kitchen and
