A Dash Of Red

Five

Some of the younger families left Nottengrove on "vacation" a little while. Despite what had happened to Clair and the baby, and the second letter from Anonymous, Henry and Beth had agreed to stay in their house. They were old. They didn't have energy. The letters meant nothing, and they weren't anything to be all worked up over. Henry and Beth fought tireless over whether r not to watch the television. Beth was curious, and Henry had simply lost his interest in ever seeing the television again for fear of what might surface there. The two police of Nottengrove, people who usually spent their workdays sleeping or enjoying a beer over football the station were now not he watch constantly, especially near the lake where the fisherman had found the bodies. Mr. Nolan was briefly questioned in trial but he was soon found to be innocent. 

Months passed. There was no mention of the murder for a long time. Henry had been gardening less and less and went outside rarely, but when he did, he went on hikes alone. He went out into the forest where he visited a little quiet clearing where the brook rushed by a few perfect blackberries grew. He loved the blackberries. He often sat there and did something almost like meditation, but it was mostly just sitting still and processing thoughts that seemed to accumulate through he day. He felt if he watched too much television then he would have no time to process his thoughts and then he would have bad dreams and they would all knot up in his head. So he watched the stream instead and asked it questions as well as the trees, who of course didn't answer because they were trees, but instead left room in the silence for Henry to answer his own questions.

He thought back to the questions about stones and moss and then saw some moss-covered stones in the creek. He asked them why they were so covered in moss. Henry thought perhaps they knew he knew. Or maybe that was just one of a million different reasons that was why moss grew on rocks.