Benjamin and I had gotten into the habit of taking these quiet walks in the woods, they could be unadventurous for the most part. I stayed close to the path, Benjamin kept his nose to the ground, never straying to far from the leash.
We continued in silence when he began to bark and pull away from me.
“Hush”, I commanded him.
He was for a minute as I watched a peculiar couple in the distance and realized the cause of Benjamin’s excitement.
A young woman dressed in running clothes was walking arm and arm with an older well dressed gentlemen. I remained unseen behind a thick grove of trees and soon could make out the entirety of their conversation.
“Doing okay?” Ms. DeLune asked the man.
“You know me”, the older man’s voice was gruff, kind.. . familiar ., “I can handle it.”
“I remember when I used to be afraid of these woods”, she mused.
The man laughed and slowed down a bit, his weight supported on a cane.
“You don’t make it out here much anymore”, the man said almost detached.
“I know”, she said, “I have a question.”
“What’s that ?”, he said
“Well . . . I’d always wondered why you never bought the eastern property” she
pointed where my house was, were my family farm once stood, “There is this
pretty house and—“
“Enough now Clarabell. I wouldn’t want to frighten you”
“Honestly, Grandpa just call me Clara”
Grandpa ?
Roger
From a distance it was no doubt that the years had weighed on him, his hair had grayed and posture weakened. Yet he still seemed to have the strength to go on. A shame really.
A unusual fear resonated within me, the scene of my slow painful death replayed somewhere in my mind and I could not bring myself to move.
“Tell me Grandpa, please”, she begged.
“Okay Clarabell”, he smiled at making his granddaughter happy, “It used to be farm, nothing good ever happened over there. . .”
+++
Clara
Grandpa Roger settled against a tree, letting his walking stick fall to the ground. I secretly prepared myself for the truth or the lies my grandfather had to offer.
“Used to be a farm over there”, he started again, “It was owned
by a nice couple but they had this ward they took in. He was born to be a
terrible kind of person.”
“What do you mean?”
“The child of a father and a daughter... made him different. .. deformed. Born of sin and lived it too. The couple tried their best to make him fit in, but he became obsessed with your grandmother, stalked her the whole time she lived here it frightened her.”
“That’s. . . terrible.”, I said half-listening.
“She had to go to college in the city just to escape him. I remember this one day he just up and kills every animal on the farm that put everyone in town into a frenzy. Who knew what was really going on in that farm. Of course he just up and disappeared one day, thank God.”
“That’s it ?”, I asked.
Grandpa seemed relaxed again and looked in the direction of where the farm once was.
“That’s it, Clarabell. That place has to many oddities, so I decided to leave it alone...why do you ask?”
“Just curious”, I say honestly, “Do you remember his name?”
“Who’s?”
“. . . The ward they took in”
“Nope, Haven’t thought about it in years, let’s head back for lunch.”
Grandpa went to gather his cane when a large brown and white dog dashed over and began to circle and bark playfully at me.
I reached down to pet the dog he didn’t have a tag, but I instantly recognized Benjamin. I looked around and didn’t see his owner.
“Careful, Clara”, Grandpa warned.
“It’s okay. . . I think he’s lost. I’m going to see if I can find his owner. Why don’t you head back you look tired.”
He agrees, only because I know it is getting late. Thankful for my running shoes I follow Benjamin back down a cleared path, in the distance I can see his owner. Not running but not walking either.
“Wait”, I call,
He stops to face me, Benjamin obediently stands near him, the dog’s ears pointed down in disappointment for not following his master.
“Did you hear what my Grandfather said ? Is it true..”
“First, I want to know why you did not tell me Roger still lived here.”
“I didn’t think it mattered . . . he hardly leaves his house”.
“I have to know these things.”
We approached his house, I sat on the porch and picked up the puppy, Little Sarah, who was sniffing around the little garden in the front yard.
“Did you really kill all those animals?”
“ They would have died anyway. We lived off that farm.”
It still unnerved me on the surface but I didn’t let it show. He opened the door and signaled for the two older dogs to go inside.Little Sarah, stayed curled in my lap.
“. . .and your parents.”
“I know nothing about them… I knew of the incestuous speculation, if that’s what you are asking. I suppose it could be true”
“Clara !”, I heard my Grandfather coming through the
clearing I let Little Sara go and Mr. Fierro followed her into the house.
“Grandpa I don’t think anyone’s home, we should go”
Grandpa wandered over to the grave marker in the front yard, his cane making marks in the intricate landscaping.
“Yeah, that was his name”, he said walking towards me, “Come along, Clarabell.”
I linked my arm with is his and headed back into the woods, I turned back and blew a kiss to one of the open windows.
“You don’t make it out here much anymore”, Grandpa said after a while
“I know”
“Remember when you used to be afraid of these woods ?”
“Yes”, I said, “I do”