“Huh.” Jason listened, looking out the window to the right, where tall trees grew close to the road, blocking out his view of the mountains. A lot of grass grew on Mom’s side with scattered cows behind a wire fence. “Look, mom.” The trees on her side looked way far away, growing up the side of the mountain, too far to walk. “Are those our cows?”
“I don’t know, honey. Look, here it is.” The paved road ended at a big pile of rocks. Those dense trees on their right cut across behind the rocks and continued way past. A large boulder on the left had an engraving of fancy letters, POTTER RANCH.
Mom turned up a wide driveway paved with rounded stones that made their tires sound funny. The driveway curved up a hill to the right and Mom stopped.
A broad shouldered man carrying a wooden box, wearing tools around his waste, walked to her side of the car.
She rolled down the window.
He looked lean and strong like Jason’s dad.
“Ma’am.” He shifted his toolbox and tipped his straw cowboy hat. “Name’s Willis Donner. I live just above.” He nodded toward the more distant mountains on the left. “Just been checking on the temporary door I hung to your house. I’ll stick around to help you unpack.”
GOOD GRIEF.
Barnabas followed Willis everywhere, ignoring Jason. First, it had been John Crow, now this man. Barnabas had taken to both of them right off, Willis maybe even more than John Crow, like he’d known them his whole life.
“That box goes in here, Willis.” Mom led him through an office with a desk and back into her bedroom. She liked Willis too, maybe because her stuff was getting put away first.
The boxes still stacked in the entry and living room belonged to Jason, not so many. He'd already carried the smaller boxes upstairs by himself. His bedroom was in back over the kitchen.
Willis finally helped Jason, one big box at a time. Jason and Barnabas followed Willis upstairs and down at first, then Jason just waited upstairs and let Barnabas follow Willis.
Jason’s bedroom was gigantic. There were two double beds and two large dressers with a wide table under a window between the beds. From here, Jason could see what Willis called the upper meadow. Trees grew so close to his window he could almost touch them.
Not really.
Nobody could jump that far.
Through the trees, a cool looking waterfall winked light from up past the upper meadow. He climbed onto the table with his knees and got real close to the glass. He could see the U-Haul trailer in front of the house.
Willis took a wardrobe box into the large bathroom and Jason followed. Willis opened the door to a long closet and set the box inside. He gave Jason a curious look. “Want me to unpack it?”
“No thank you Mr. Donner. Me and Barnabas can do that.”
“Call me Willis. Everybody else does.”
“Okay.” Jason liked Willis. He was open, not like Mr. Kirby. His eyes were clear and looked right into you, not in your general direction like Mr. Kirby. Mr. Kirby would never say to call him Tom, like he always did with Mom. Mr. Kirby wasn’t friendly like Willis Donner and John Crow.
“Wow.” The bathroom was big too, a long, high window and everything. It even had two sinks. They were different than bathroom sinks Jason had seen before.
Willis said, “Those are called pedestal sinks, made from Italian marble. Faucets are solid brass.” Willis crossed the bathroom and opened the opposite door. “You seen in here?”
Jason followed Willis into another large room with a big window. Bookshelves and books filled the wall spaces between the bathroom door, another door and the window. Everywhere was finely crafted stone and polished woodwork, the kind of stuff his father had appreciated when they'd driven through good neighborhoods on weekends.
Two desks occupied space under the long window that overlooked a gigantic grassy meadow with black looking cows near a stream. It was beautiful, surrounded by tall trees and mountains. Both desks had comfortable looking chairs and there was even a phone on one of the desks. Jason could put his computer there. “Wow, is this a library?”
“That’s exactly what it is.” Willis looked around and touched a couple of shelves where wood had been chipped, looking close like he wanted to fix it. “This is where your father and your Uncle Ethan learned their lessons from your great grandmother. She used to allow me to come in here and read. Light from the window is really good during the day.” Willis had a far off look, maybe remembering something special.
“You can come and read whenever you want, Willis. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Mom.”
Willis smiled like he would. “When your father was ten, Mary Lou, that’s your great grandmother, she started building on the church and school. That’s where your father and uncle graduated high school. That’s where you’ll be going to school.”
“I’d rather study here.” Jason had no fond memories of his school in Echo Park.
“You’ll like this school just fine.” Willis crossed to the far corner where a round railing stood between book cases. A circular stair went down. He nodded and pointed behind Jason, the other door. “That door goes into your grandparents’ old bedroom. After your grandma was taken and after Mary Lou died, your grandpa Kidro slept downstairs in your mom’s bedroom.”
Willis pointed down. “This goes down to the pantry.” He turned and climbed down.
Jason and Barnabas followed.
At the bottom was a hallway with three doors and high windows. Willis pointed at one of the doors with his thumb. “Through there’s your mother's bathroom and bedroom.” He pointed to another door. “Over here goes down to the meat locker and garage, got a heavy door down there with a bar for protection. Keeps the critters out. Make sure it’s secured good and proper at night. I’ll show you when I finish
