Family

Chapter 17

All day, we been waiting for time to go faster so it would be night. We got our chores down faster today. But that didn't make time go faster.

"What's the big hurry," Kate asked when we finished in the barn.

"What? Uh... no... no hurry," Mack said.

Kate jus' look at us, confused. After tonight, depending on what we find, we gotta tell Kate. She should know if she right, or not, I guess. But we can't tell her now, or she may wanna join us. It already risky for me and Mack, I ain't putting her through this too.

All day she keep watching me and Mack. E'erything we do and say, she watches and listens. She ne'er leave us. We jus' don't talk 'bout it, or think 'bout it. Jus' gotta keep it away from her.

After dinner, Mack lay in his bed. He decide to take a nap 'fore we gotta do anything. It's smart to do that, but I have to act like I usually do. I gotta make sure the young ones don't hurt themselves, or are too loud for Ma and Pa. So I jus' sit to the side, leaning against a wall, watch them, and talk to them if they start a conversation.

It took a while, but e'erybody finally went to bed. We gave it another hour, or two, to make sure they are all asleep.

While e'eryone sleeping, I sneak up the stairs. Mack follow me, but only I go through the door first. I look in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and I walk by their bedroom and listen for any noises telling me their awake. Then I go back to the cellar door and tell Mack we are ready to go.

Together we walk to the hallway, very quietly. I am on my toes the entire time, to not make a heavy step. We walk down for a few steps, then we look up. There, a door on the ceiling. I reach up and pull the string that hang down. A ladder fall. Mack catch it 'fore it make too much noise. He lower it and we start climbing up. He make me go first. It dark up here. We look for a switch but there ain't any. Instead there a bulb like the one downstairs, but this one got a string hanging from it. Mack pull it like I did with the door. The light show a lot o' boxes e'erywhere. Me and Mack look 'round, but we don't open nothin'. We jus' look at how many boxes there is. We meet in the middle o' the room. There seven boxes. None stack a top each other. Jus' sitting next to each other. "Do we look inside," Mack ask in a whisper. I shrug my shoulders and he start opening one. We both look in with him. He pull out papers. The box jus' full with paper. But it ain't blank. It the white and black newspaper Pa read e'ery night. It ain't all o' the newspaper. It just a piece o' it. There a picture in the middle of the paper. "Claire," Mack say. He surprise. We both surprise. "Why Claire in the newspaper?"

"Missing," I read the title.

"What it mean, 'Missing'?"

"I don't know. What the others say?"

"Caire Manson, Missing," he read from one. "Police still looking for Manson girl." I pull more and more out. Reading each title. E'ery article saying the same thing 'bout Claire. "But she ain't ne'er missing. Ma and Pa ain't ne'er worry 'bout where she is. Her last ain't e'en Manson. It Montgomery. Like me and ya. But it her face on all of 'em," Mack say. I jus' look at all the newspaper pieces. I don't understand what they saying. I ain't confused 'bout what the words mean. I confused why they saying this.

I look in five more boxes. Sam and Megan got boxes. Mack got his. There one for me and Kate. All the newspapers with the same word, 'Missing.' Why missing? We ain't e'er missing. I look at the dates o' the pieces. Claire's the time she came home to us. It same for all us. There newspaper for when we arrive here. Each one o' us. But there seven boxes. We open six. I walk to the last box and open it.

It a smaller box. It got paper, but not newspaper. This whiter paper. It got less words on it too. "Pasterville City Hospital," I read at the top o' one paper. Mack take some paper out himself.

"Why they got paper 'bout a hospital?"

"I ain't remember going to a hospital. We ne'er sick." I continue reading. There a date. "June 18, 1986."

"That 'fore ya came, ain't it?" I nod while I continue to read this first paper.

"Margaret Montgomery," I read from the "patient section" o' the paper.

"Ain't that Ma?"

Why Ma go to the hospital? I continue to read. "It talk 'bout a baby they name Ruth Montgomery." Who Ruth? I ne'er meet a Ruth.

"Annie, there a letter here from Ma's Ma," he holding a piece o' paper right in front his face. "Dear Margaret, I sorry for ya lost. It mus' be hard to lose such a beauty. I want ya to know, e'en though Alex ne'er gonna allow us to see each other, I still care for ya. Ruth would have grown to be such a wonderful child 'cause ya would've raise her. Ya too young to lose someone so dear. Don't let this stop ya from trying again. Ya gonna be a great mother. Better than me, that for sure. I wish ya come and visit, but I know Alex ne'er let it. Tell Alex I send my love to ya both. Best wishes, Mama."

"Pa ne'er let Ma see Mama? Why?"

"It ne'er say."

"Ma had a child 'fore me?"

"I guess so."

"Her name Ruth?"

"That what all this say."

"She dead?"

"I thought I the one who ask too many questions," Mack say with laughs. He make me smile with that.

"I wonder why Ma and Pa ne'er told us."

"Maybe it hurt too much. We alive and Ruth ain't. Ya think we woulda like Ruth?"

"Yea, or we find a way."

We put the stuff back in the boxes and go back to our sleeping area. We make sure the ladder and door are closed.

We quietly walk down the cellar stairs. I ne'er turned off the light so we can see when we got back. But we ain't the only one needing the light to see.

"Why were you up there?"