Chapter Nine
It only took a few days for mom and I to get it all unpacked and put where it went. Dad had to go to his new job every morning. He was going to become a truck driver for a company that would be shipping all kinds of things all over the U.S. He had to go through training first though. Since he was still training he was home every evening. Once he would be able to drive for them, he would be doing some deliveries that would make him gone for days at a time. That was fine by me. I still didn't trust him, and I was still waiting for the old days to creep back into our lives.
Exploration began again as soon as the last box was put away. I found an old pair of gloves in one of the boxes we unpacked and asked if I could have them. They came in handy looking through the burnt down cabin. There really wasn't much to find in the remains. Either it was all destroyed by the fire or what ever was left behind by it had already been claimed by someone. It was still fun looking anyway. Since that search didn't turn up anything I went down to the river and followed its banks to see where all it would take me. All along the way I found all kinds of things that either had been thrown into the river, or had been taken during a flood. Some of the stuff I couldn't see being just thrown in there. I found an old mop bucket, some bottles, spoons, old clothes, car tires, shoes, and picture frames that were so ruined you couldn't make out what the pictures were of. I took the bucket, some of the spoons and some of the old clothes. The bucket could be used to carry cleaning water to clean up the shed, and the old clothes would be used for rags. The spoons I figured would make either a good alarm system or a wind chime. I found some wild berries of all kinds growing everywhere. I didn't know much about berries so I made a note to myself to find a book that would tell me about them.
I didn't go any further on my river walk that day. I had seen a snake and decided I had gone far enough for now. I took my finds back to the shed and planned out what all else I would need to get it cleaned up, and what I wanted to clean first. Since it was the start of summer it would be fun to clean it up. If I got too hot I had the river to cool off in. However if it was winter there would be no way to warm up. I needed to find a way to fix that. This way if I needed to use it to hide in in the winter I would be able to keep warm.
It took me three weeks to get the shed scrubbed up and cleaned. I had found a way to make a broom and a mop so the floor was scrubbed up too. I had even started stashing some of my own things in it to make it my own. I had some books on the shelves, and a cloth on the spool table. I also had a few of the colorful bottles I found in the windows to catch the light. I noticed the roof leaked in spots when it rained, so I found some of the old tin used on the roof of the burnt cabin and put it on there. I guess that burnt down place did have something to offer after all.
With all the nails I pulled from the burnt down cabin and the tin roof from it, my shed no longer leaked, and there were no more gaps in some of the walls. Now all I needed to complete my hideaway was to find a way to heat it in the winter.
In about six months or so I would be turning twelve. I had thought about that for a while. If I get asked what I wanted for my birthday this year, I would ask for a fishing pole, sleeping bag, and stuff like that. I had been hinting to mom that I wanted to try camping in the yard now that we had one. I told her I wanted to know what it was like. I wasn't able to camp when we lived in the city. If she fell for it and did get me some camping stuff I would have it to take with me if I ever did need to run away. My shed didn't have a bed, but a sleeping bag would work. Granted my birthday would be during the cold winter months, but I could tell her it could be put up for next summer. Until then I needed to keep dropping hints.
I spent a lot of time out in those woods exploring and setting up my hideaway shed. I had even found an old padlock with its key in a bunch of stuff my dad had sitting around. I didn't ask if I could have it. That would have given away that I had something to lock up. So I just stole it from him. I doubted he would even know it was gone. All the stuff it was with was just junk. I found a way to use that lock on both the inside and the outside to lock the door. I even found a place in the old chimney to hide the key so I wouldn't have it at home where it could be found. I didn't want to have to explain where it came from or what it went to.
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