The House On Dale Street

Chapter 4

As we still did not have a car (and never had a car while we lived in Red Boiling Springs) Hazel and I walked everywhere. This was not difficult to do as the town was very small. There were a little less than one thousand people back then and everything was in walking distance.

On weekends we always woke early on Saturday and Sunday and walked to Houston's. Hazel was crazy about their biscuits and gravy and I loved getting eggs and bacon and a cup of strong coffee- stronger than the cult served in the foyer of the hotel. The cult's coffee was weak and Houston's had dark, strong coffee that was just right. They made their coffee the way Bonnie made hers. One good thing about Bonnie, she made some great coffee. So, we were constantly walking to and from the Anzara to Houston's to get a bite to eat.

One morning as we were walking to the restaurant, a dark New York Town Car pulled up beside us and an older man dressed in a suit leaned over to the passenger side window and said, "Hello there, I see you kids walking almost every day...."

"Yeah?" said Hazel, glancing at me nervously.

"I'm Mr. Ethenhurst," the old man said, "I see you kids are staying at the Anzara- those people are a bunch of kooks, You do know that's a cult, don't you? I used to be the mayor of this town... and I own a little house right up here that's for rent, I thought you two might want to take a look at it..."

Hazel glanced over at me. I shrugged. I hadn't thought of leaving the hotel but, I wouldn't mind our own place.

"Where is it?" said Hazel, crossing her arms and taking a step back.

"Just up here off of Main Street...get in."

I'd never gotten in the car with a stranger before, just one of those things you're taught never to do, but this man was somewhere around seventy-five to eighty years old and he didn't seem scary, plus, I was grown. I looked at Hazel and shrugged. She didn't seem to want to get in his car either but, my God, the man was close to a hundred years old.

"Might as well look at it," I said. We got in the back seat.

Mr. Ethenhurst turned and smiled back at us.

"You kids are new in town." He said it more of a statement than a question.

"That's right," Hazel said, "we've been here a few months now."

Mr. Ethenhurst began to drive.

"Yes, I know...I've seen you," he said, "I know everybody in this town, I was once the mayor, now I'm head of the City Council... what brought you to Red Boiling Springs?"

"We wanted to try something new, some place new," I said.

"And what do you think of our little town?"

"I love it!" said Hazel, suddenly opening up. She smiled. She reached over and squeezed my hand. I was surprised that she was already loving it in Red Boiling Springs but looking at her, I could tell that she did. In that moment, I really took a good look at her. She seemed happy. Genuinely happy. She seemed to have a glow about her and I realized in that split second that us coming to Red Boiling Springs was a good thing. It was what two grown orphans like she and I needed; a sweet town like Red Boiling Springs. A place where everyone was friendly and helpful and where we could exist with no ties and no explanations. Sure, everyone asked why we were there and were a little curious but they weren't too nosy. More like they were interested. That's all.

Mr. Ethenhurst pulled up to a small house that sat about midway up a steep hill. He got out and we did the same. The three of us stood by the mailbox for a minute and Mr. Ethenhurst said, "This is the place, two bedrooms, one bath, a hundred and fifty a month...."