Behind birch barred doors
PREFACE
As soon as the sun came out on the first frost-free warm April morning I slid down the walnut banister and into the kitchen. Grabbing my overflowing backpack from the shadow-filled school corner, I made my way silently to the bread cupboard. Moving aside the rye and wholewheat, I grabbed the ready-made sandwiches I had put together for this long awaited day-trip. On my way out I snatched up the binoculars that had been a 13th birthday gift from Sandy, my best friend. Fishing around my backpack for the key to the storage shed, my finger brushed against something else. My 14th birthday present. Figuring the shed would be as good a place as any to open it, I shoved the key in and turned hard to the left. The door croaked like a bloated bullfrog as it swung ever so slowly, inward.The inside of ‘Shack Mc-Shabby’, as my dad liked to call it, was in desperate need of dusting at the very least. Stacked high to my right was my old baby toys. Highchairs, boardbooks, pacifiers, and all.
Yuck, I thought. What unlucky wood mouse living in here has licked or chewed on one of those?
Sure enough, as I made my way into the dust-filled Shack Mc-Shabby, a rustling from one of the Rubbermaid® Tubs caught my attention. I peeked inside of the lid, cracked with age, it had a large hole in the bottom left, and top right corners. Through the top hole, I could barely see the six tiny baby mice inside, due to the fact that they were the same color as the pinkish cloth scraps they were lying on. Inside the fluff and clutter, other odds and ends poked through. A baseball, shoe sole and a few baby hats, probably woolen, lined the edge of the tub, while other objects filled the space between edge, and fuzz. A 20-sided die, 7 stray sticks, an apple core. A wooden knife handle, a photograph of Kathy Somn (our next door neighbor), and a dazzling golden key, seemingly out of the Princess Prettyface board book nestled tightly beside it.
Climbing into the makeshift loft in the rafters, I pulled out my birthday present.Wrapped in brown butcher paper, if not for the card attached to the top, it looked like a steak. My Grandpa, whom the package was from, disappeared last month. Leaving only behind this mystery package, and my devastated Granma. The package, if you could call it that, was hard and flat, like a picture. I pulled the card off. It read:
To my dearest Janie:
I am sorry I could not deliver in person, but Thye came for me. I had to go. Sorry is most likely not enough for you. I want to see you just one last time.
Find me.
Joshua J. Jemini
I assumed he meant when I die he will see me. That is, until I opened the package.
Ripping away the paper until…
PREFACE
As soon as the sun came out on the first frost-free warm April morning I slid down the walnut banister and into the kitchen. Grabbing my overflowing backpack from the shadow-filled school corner, I made my way silently to the bread cupboard. Moving aside the rye and wholewheat, I grabbed the ready-made sandwiches I had put together for this long awaited day-trip. On my way out I snatched up the binoculars that had been a 13th birthday gift from Sandy, my best friend. Fishing around my backpack for the key to the storage shed, my finger brushed against something else. My 14th birthday present. Figuring the shed would be as good a place as any to open it, I shoved the key in and turned hard to the left. The door croaked like a bloated bullfrog as it swung ever so slowly, inward.The inside of ‘Shack Mc-Shabby’, as my dad liked to call it, was in desperate need of dusting at the very least. Stacked high to my right was my old baby toys. Highchairs, boardbooks, pacifiers, and all.
Yuck, I thought. What unlucky wood mouse living in here has licked or chewed on one of those?
Sure enough, as I made my way into the dust-filled Shack Mc-Shabby, a rustling from one of the Rubbermaid® Tubs caught my attention. I peeked inside of the lid, cracked with age, it had a large hole in the bottom left, and top right corners. Through the top hole, I could barely see the six tiny baby mice inside, due to the fact that they were the same color as the pinkish cloth scraps they were lying on. Inside the fluff and clutter, other odds and ends poked through. A baseball, shoe sole and a few baby hats, probably woolen, lined the edge of the tub, while other objects filled the space between edge, and fuzz. A 20-sided die, 7 stray sticks, an apple core. A wooden knife handle, a photograph of Kathy Somn (our next door neighbor), and a dazzling golden key, seemingly out of the Princess Prettyface board book nestled tightly beside it.
Climbing into the makeshift loft in the rafters, I pulled out my birthday present.Wrapped in brown butcher paper, if not for the card attached to the top, it looked like a steak. My Grandpa, whom the package was from, disappeared last month. Leaving only behind this mystery package, and my devastated Granma. The package, if you could call it that, was hard and flat, like a picture. I pulled the card off. It read:
To my dearest Janie:
I am sorry I could not deliver in person, but Thye came for me. I had to go. Sorry is most likely not enough for you. I want to see you just one last time.
Find me.
Joshua J. Jemini
I assumed he meant when I die he will see me. That is, until I opened the package.
Ripping away the paper until…
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