Authors: Judy Young
Promise (26 page)
When Kaden and Yo-Yo got off the bus, Kaden was relieved to see Dad's truck wasn't there, but that was worrisome, also. Yo-Yo wanted to go see Kubla.
What if Dad is at the tower?
Kaden thought.
What if he gets angry again? He's got a pretty short fuse. And Yo-Yo blurts out anything that's going through his head. What if Yo-Yo ticks Dad off?
Kaden was still pondering what to do when Gram put an end to his worries.
“Talking about fall coming the other night got me to thinking,” Gram told the boys. “It's time for fall cleaning, and with an extra pair of hands, it will go twice as fast. You can start by straightening up the junk cabin.”
“We were going to go to the tower,” Kaden complained,
instantly deciding he'd rather chance Yo-Yo seeing Dad get angry than having to do fall cleaning.
“You can go tomorrow morning,” Gram said. “Emmett won't want to start working on that wood until morning's half over.”
Gram listed what fall cleaning entailed. Neither boy was overjoyed to hear they'd spend the afternoon cleaning seven windows; sweeping five cabin floors plus one porch; and scrubbing five bathroom sinks, five toilets, and one bathtub.
“Sorry,” Kaden said as they walked into Cabin One, “but if we work quickly, we may still have a chance to go to the tower before dinner.”
“Where's your dad?” Yo-Yo whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Kaden asked.
“Intercoms,” Yo-Yo whispered again, searching the shelves with his eyes.
“There aren't any in here. Just in my room, so stop whispering.”
“So where's your dad?” Yo-Yo said again, but louder this time.
“I don't know. He goes to Chapston City a lot to look for work.”
“That's boring,” Yo-Yo said.
“Shh!” Kaden said, looking toward the open door. “If she
hears that word, we'll have more work to do. Gram hates that word.”
“What word?” Yo-Yo asked.
“The B-word,” Kaden said.
Yo-Yo thought for a moment. “You mean âboring'?”
“Shhhhh, I'm serious.” But the laughter in Kaden's voice said otherwise. Kaden handed Yo-Yo a broom and the two boys quickly cleaned the first four cabins.
“So, the infamous Cabin Five,” Yo-Yo said as they left Cabin Four. “Have you been in it yet?”
“Nope,” Kaden said. “Only talked to Dad through the screen door once.”
“So we head to uncharted lands,” Yo-Yo said, but as they walked past Cabin Five's window, Yo-Yo stopped. “Do you think he'll mind us snooping around in his cabin?”
“We're not snooping; we're cleaning,” Kaden said, although he was wondering the same thing.
Both boys became silent as Kaden slowly turned the key Gram had given him and pushed open the door. He took one tentative step forward and stopped.
Inside there was a bed, a desk, and a dresser. The furniture was identical to Kaden's. A fan sat on top of the dresser, its blades spinning. The bed was not made. The top sheet was wadded up at the foot of the bed and a blanket and quilt lay
in a heap on the floor. Clothes were scattered around, too.
“I guess Gram can't force a grown man to keep his room clean,” Kaden said, and stepped farther in. Yo-Yo followed on tiptoes, not making a peep.
Unlike Kaden's room, there was nothing on the walls. On the desk was a ceramic pot with thick, uneven, and wobbly sides. Its reddish-brown glaze had dripped during firing, leaving a darker, thicker line down one side. Kaden picked it up and looked inside. A few coins, an old, rusty fishing lure, and a couple of rocks with fossils in them. All dust-covered. He could feel something was scratched in the bottom. Putting his hand over the top, he turned it over. There was a date and Dad's initials. Kaden smiled. He had made a pinch pot when he was eight, too. As Kaden turned it back over, one of the rocks fell out and landed with a thud on the wooden floor. Yo-Yo let out a yelp and sprang backward, tripping over a pair of shoes. He landed hard on the bed and the bed caved in.
“What is your problem?” Kaden said.
“You startled me,” Yo-Yo said. “I'm a little on edge here.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, it was just a rock.”
Kaden put the clay pot back on the desk and pulled Yo-Yo up.
“Help me with the mattress,” he said. He lifted one side and Yo-Yo picked up the other and they leaned it against the
desk, the top sheet sliding down on the floor. Then they picked up the box spring and leaned it against the mattress. One of the wooden slats that went across the bed frame was broken. The other slats had also fallen to the floor. Kaden picked up the broken slat and put the two pieces just outside the door.
“Two slats will probably do until Emmett can fix that,” he said. “I'll take it with us tomorrow.”
The boys evenly spaced the unbroken slats on the bed frame and put the box spring and mattress back.
Kaden pulled the bottom sheet from the mattress. “We might as well put on clean sheets,” he said. “Go get some. They're in Cabin Four. And put these in the wash.” Kaden stuffed the sheets and some dirty clothes into Yo-Yo's arms. “Do you know how?”
“I have to do chores at my house, too, you know,” Yo-Yo answered as he pushed open the screen door.
Kaden turned back to the desk. The only other things on it were a few cash register receipts. He picked one up. It was for the TV. He thought about what Luke said. The receipt would prove his dad paid for the TV with his credit card but Kaden didn't need to prove anything to Luke. He put it back on the desk.
The desk drawer was open just a crack. Not even enough to stick out beyond the lip of the desktop. Kaden absently
pushed it closed but then thought of his own trick with the stick and the muddy spot. Maybe Dad left the drawer just barely open to see if anyone had been in his desk. Kaden opened it again, just a crack. Then, curiosity getting the best of him, he pulled it wide open.
Inside was just the usual desk stuff. Two pens, a pencil, a few broken crayons, a pair of child's scissors, an eraser with a hole roughly dug into the middle of it, its edges rounded from use, and a small bottle of glue, long dried out. Stuffed in the very back corner was an old black leather wallet.
Kaden pulled it out. There was nothing in it except a card that comes with new wallets to put identification information on. Like the wallet, it was worn and creased. The ink was faded but Kaden could still see the writing on it. It said
Michael Smith
and had a Chapston City address.
He must have been one of Dad's old friends
, Kaden thought.
Maybe Dad invited him to come with him to the cabins when he was younger
. He put it back and closed the drawer, leaving it open a bit, just as he had found it.
Kaden turned to the dresser. There wasn't much in it either. The top drawer had socks and underwear; the second, T-shirts; the third had a pair of shorts and a pair of jeans. Unlike the things in the desk drawer, all the clothes looked very new. Kaden had just opened the fourth drawer when a
deep voice behind him said, “Get out of there!”
Startled, Kaden jumped up and spun around. Yo-Yo stood outside the screen door, laughing.
“Man, did you jump!” Yo-Yo said, stepping inside. “Thought you said we weren't snooping. Find anything interesting?”
“Nope.” The fourth drawer was empty and Kaden pushed it closed. “I guess Gram was right. Emmett took out the only thing of any importance.”
“Have you searched the closet yet?” Yo-Yo asked.
“No.”
Yo-Yo opened the closet door. Hanging inside were three shirts, a jean jacket, and two empty hangers. Wadded up in the corner were a few more T-shirts and several pairs of underwear and socks. Kaden gathered them up and put them by the screen door. When they finished cleaning, Kaden picked up the pile of laundry to take to Cabin Four but Yo-Yo grabbed one of the T-shirts and started rubbing the closet doorknob.
“What are you doing?” Kaden asked.
“Fingerprints,” Yo-Yo said, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers. “I'm erasing evidence.”
Gram was waiting on the porch. “You guys did a good job.”
“Thanks,” Kaden said. “Can we go to the tower for a little while?”
“I've got a better idea,” Gram said. “Let's build a campfire, instead. We'll roast hot dogs for dinner.”
“That'd be cool,” Yo-Yo piped up.
“We need to invite Emmett, too,” Kaden added.
“Well, run down there and ask him,” Gram said.
“No,” Kaden said. “I can give him a call. Remember?”
Gram nodded. “This will be fun. We haven't had a cookout in a long time.”
Kaden went to his cabin and took the cell phone from his desk. “Hi, Emmett!”
Emmett was surprised to hear Kaden's voice. “Is everything okay?” he said right away.
“Everything's fine,” Kaden said. “Just asking if you want to come roast hot dogs with us?”
“Hot diggety dogs,” Emmett whooped. “I'll be right up. So, Gram told you about her phone, did she?”
Kaden put his hand over the intercom before answering.
“No, I'm using mine,” he said very quietly. “Dad gave me one yesterday. Gram hasn't said a word about hers.”
After Kaden hung up, he and Yo-Yo gathered sticks and branches in the woods. They had quite a pile next to the old
stone fireplace when Emmett pulled in.
“So, is it going to be a box or a tepee?” Emmett asked as the boys helped him carry logs from his truck to the fireplace.
“Tepee,” Kaden stated.
“What are you talking about?” Yo-Yo asked.
“How we're going to build the fire,” Kaden said. “Haven't you ever built a fire before?”
“My dad uses a gas grill. All you do is push a button.”
“Well, then, we'll have a little outdoor education,” Emmett said. “I haven't gotten to teach someone how to light a fire in years.”
Emmett started showing Yo-Yo how to light a fire while Kaden went to help Gram. When he came out, Emmett was telling Yo-Yo about combustion and energy.
“Emmett knows all sorts of stuff about energy,” Kaden stated, bringing chairs from the porch. “He was a rocket scientist.”
“You're kidding? Really?” Yo-Yo asked.
“An aerospace engineer, actually,” Emmett corrected.
“Did you go up into space?” Yo-Yo asked.
“No, I just helped design the rockets used to take people into space.”
“Wow!” Yo-Yo said. “I thought you just fished and made signs.”
“You can't judge a book by its cover,” Emmett said. “People can be interested in more than one thing, and the more you're interested in, the more interesting your life. Right now, I'm interested in getting this fire going, because I know later I'm going to be more interested in some s'mores.”
“You brought stuff for s'mores?” Kaden asked excitedly. “All right!”
“Let's get this baby lit,” Yo-Yo said. “There's s'more to be interested in than standing around talking.”
Yo-Yo grabbed the box of matches but Emmett took them from him.
“Hang on there, space cadet.” Emmett pulled out one matchstick and formally held it up. “The true test of the fire builder is whether he can light it with just one match.” Emmett instructed Yo-Yo, and soon flames were leaping from the fireplace.
“You are now an official fire builder,” Emmett stated as Gram came out with a tray full of food. Yo-Yo helped Kaden carry over the glider and the evening was spent roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, telling stories, and singing songs.