Page 6 of Echo
One picture in particular caught my eye. It was black and white with three little girls wearing white dresses, standing in front of this very house. Some of the trimming had been updated, probably the paint job, and the porch was new, but it was definitely the same house.
At the edge of the house there was a black blur in the background, where the photographer probably overdeveloped the image or something. Maybe the older
quipment was faulty.
The girls were all tense. I’d swear the edges of their skin blurred as if they were shaking. Their wide eyes were filled with horror, and I could only assume that someone had yelled at them to get them to be still.
A sneaking suspicion made me pull the frame off the wall and open the back.‘1960- Ruby, Pearl, and Jade.’
Ruby, my grandmother.
I closed the back and hugged the frame to my chest. Eventually, I’d take all these down and get them to Eddie. I was sure he simply didn’t have the heart to disturb his mother’s home.
But I was keeping this one.
My stomach gurgled, so I made my way to the open doorway, hoping to find some food. The back wall was covered with a thick black drape. I opened up the curtain to find a thick, sliding glass door. Once the drape was moved, bright natural light illuminated the kitchen.
The appliances and wallpaper were outdated, but the massive amounts of counter space was to die for. I’d be willing to bet an entire live cow would fit on the island counter.
The glass door had a view of the barn and chicken coop outside, with a little black rock path out to them. The sense that there were eyes lazily rolling over my body came over me.
I frowned and searched for anything that could be causing that, but came up empty. My stomach growling twice as demanding as before, pulled my attention to the off-white fridge. I opened the door and found the entire thing clear. Not a ketchup packet or moldy leftovers in sight. How kind.
I opened the pantry beside the fridge and found it was empty too. Was it too much to hope for a half eaten jar of peanut butter or a can of beans? Indeed it was.
The thought of driving back into the little town an hour away made me groan. Something told me pizza couldn’t be delivered out here.
If I sat down, I wasn’t doing anything other than taking a nap. I had to figure this out while I still had a modicum of energy left.
Maybe there were some snacks in the car that I’d overlooked.
A rice treat and chips sounded like a solid lunch to me.
I went to the front door, and Ranger refused to move. He barked and whimpered.
“I know it’s a new place, but it’s okay,” I soothed him. “I won’t abandon you here.”
It took every ounce of power to get the door open and slide him out of the way. Once open, he jumped up to get between me and the door.
“Sit,” I commanded with enough authority that he listened, but whimpered about it. I closed the door behind me, and he scratched at the door, barking.
There further away from the door I got the louder he became.
“Easy, Ranger,” I called out as I opened the back door of the car. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
I riffled through the plastic bags and empty boxes, looking for anything that would keep me from having to drive anywhere, but I’d cleared out the last of everything on the last leg of the journey.
I’d filled my gas tank, bought as much non-perishables as I could to max out my credit card before I cut it up, emptied out my meager checking account, and fled without a second thought. I didn’t want him to have time to suspect I was up to anything.
But the lack of preparation hurt me.
After the drive, I had eighty-nine dollars and sixty four cents.
Those funds wouldn’t last forever. Especially since from the nearest gas station, in the last town I passed, I’d already blown through half a tank.
I needed a cash flow sooner rather than later. That was the me of tomorrow’s problem though. Hopefully she had solutions I didn’t know about yet.
Making money meant I needed gas, and I needed to plan accordingly. If I could get my hands on a giant bag of beans and rice, I could make it work.
