hunched over as she scooped each shovel-full of grass and dirt aside. She had surprising strength for a little woman. It's clear this woman has the gift of determination thought Charlie anxiously. Shelly was annoyed at her sister's sudden shift of attention and thus said sharply 'What are you looking at?'
'Mrs. Bianca's digging a hole!' Charlie said in a whisper
'Really? What kind of hole? How deep is it?' Whispered back Shelly, urgently
'One that could fit a body!' said Charlie a little too loudly. She clasped her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened but Mrs. Bianca hadn't seemed to notice at all
'Charlie! Not so loud!' whispered Shelly 'Do you really think she's burying a body?'
'It's a pretty deep hole...' whispered Charlie. They sat and stared for a minute or two
'Old women don't dig holes, they get other people to do all their hard work! I think she's definitely doing something fishy!' whispered Shelly suspiciously. They sat there watching for the rest of their break until their father called them back to do the rest of their schoolwork. Shelly and Charlie were homeschooling with their father and they were at home for a lot of the time and had different holidays and work schedules from the mainstream society but they immensely enjoyed it!
'What did you get up to?' their dad asked them as he held the back door open for them
'Mrs. Bianca's burying a body, dad!' squealed Charlie once they were safely inside
'Mrs. Bianca? Are you sure?' he said securely locking the door
'YES! We saw her! you tell him Shelly!'
'Well she was digging a rather big hole'
'Okay, so she was digging a hole. Did you actually see the body?' he said. Charlie looked at dad then slowly at Shelly then finally replied 'Mrs. Bianca's burying a body!'
'Did you hear what i asked?' said dad to Charlie but Shelly decided she'd better pipe in
'We saw her digging a very deep hole and Charlie reckoned it would fit a body so i guess we assumed, her being all old, that that's the only thing she would dig a hole for!' she said obediently
'Thanks Shelly. It sounds like you were spying again Now that was just an assumption, i don't want you going around investigating and spreading rumors about Mrs. Bianca being a murderer or whatever until you know more'
'Okay da-'
'AND EVEN THEN, i want you to stay out of it and come to me if you happen to see anything.
'That's no fun!' The two girls both said
'can i trust you?'
'But-
'Do you promise?' He asked with a firm voice. They could see there was no choice
'yes' said Shelly and a moment later, Charlie
'Well we'd better get this maths done, get your pencils. Quick!' he clapped his hands and and they raced each other to their room, every gruesome thought and suspicion temporarily out of their minds!
A week later on another schoolwork break, Shelly and Charlie were playing quoits in the backyard when Charlie was distracted again by the hole in the fence.
'Charlie remember what dad said?!' Shelly whispered but Charlie responded only by moving closer to the fence. The old woman had set the shovel aside and disappeared into her back door. Charlie was shocked to see the hole's depth had increased ever more 'Shelly she's gone now, look how deep the hole is!' Despite what she'd said before, Shelly shuffled right up to the hole and made a half little gasp sound when she saw the hole. Then she turned back to Charlie 'Graveyards are supposed to dig 6 feet down before they can bury people, do you think that's 6 feet?' Shelly's eyes were big
'Definitely 6 feet' Charlie was sure that old bat had a dead body somewhere in that grim house! The old woman emerged from the house again carrying a big chest and was attempting to drag it down the steps. Charlie and Shelly grabbed each other in fear and excitement! Surely, there was a body in there! They watched, unblinking from their side of the fence as Mrs. Bianca, the grumpy old woman next door, dragged that trunk with a horrible scraping noise all the way down her back steps! When she'd finally got in down, she of course dragged it over to the hole. She climbed in and started to drag it in with her and then it eventually toppled down sideways. It creaked with the fall and when she started maneuvering it around to fit in the hole. She'd gotten out of the hole, dusted herself off, shook her apron and went inside! The two girls stared at the trunk. It was a brownish grey with bronze frame around the edges. It was very stained and worn.
'Let's sneak in!' said Charlie suddenly
'What? Did i just hear that? Of course we can't sneak in!' said Shelly angrily! 'Think about what dad would say!'
'But it would be fun! We would be so heroic!' she enthused
'It would be dangerous and we would be foolish. Not heroic.' Said Shelly in a stately way
'You don't have to come then but I'm sneaking in!' Charlie had made up her mind and started to stride towards the back gate.
'How about we wait and tell dad!' cried Shelly desperately
'He'd just brush it off and call it "an assumption" '
'Well it's way too dangerous for you to go alone. I'll come with you then'.
'Fine with me!'
The two sisters had passed through the back gate and climbed over Mrs. Bianca's fence. They were in her front yard.
'Let's go back Charlie! It's too dangerous!' Shelly was having second thoughts about her sister's brilliant plan.
'I've already told you! You can go back if you want but I'm sneaking in!' Shelly didn't respond and Charlie knew her big sister wouldn't leave her all alone in Mrs. Bianca's yard so she quickly went over the plan with her again 'so we'll sneak into her garage and through the garage door to the porch. Then we'll crouch low so she can't see us through the windows and sneak up to the chest. Then we'll quickly take some photos with this (she held up a Hello Kitty camera) and then run back the way we came without being seen, without leaving a trace. Got it?' Shelly nodded her head reluctantly. Charlie went first around the little blue car Mrs. Bianca drove and slowly opened the door to the back porch. It creaked painfully when Charlie opened it so they waited a few seconds to see if Mrs. Bianca heard and was suspicious. They edged through the gap and quickly dropped down to their knees as they approached the first window. The porch had white concrete on the bottom and cobwebs in the wooden ceiling.
'Okay now!' Charlie whispered and they swiftly ran to the chest while still bent down low. Charlie took her Hello Kitty camera out and snapped a few photos while Shelly looked back at the windows looking for any sign the old lady had been alerted to their presence.
'Okay we're done!' they were about to sneak off the way they'd come when to their horror, they could hear the back door being unlocked. They didn't have enough time to make it through the way they came without being seen so they darted in behind the side of the house. There wasn't much room there because the fence was right up close to the back of the house but it was enough room for them to stay hidden. She hobbled out again, clearly, she hadn't finished her day's work like they'd thought she had just yet, and she picked up the shovel and started to fill up the hole again. Charlie was scared but not nearly as much as Shelly was. Shelly was quivering head to toe!
'Get a hold of yourself! She's just an old woman!' whispered Charlie
'Oh now you say that after going on about her being a murderer and having a dead body in that trunk!'
'She could've killed them ages ago and decided to move the body!'
'Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better!' A little cat suddenly jumped up onto the fence beside the two girls from the other side and Shelly nearly jumped out of her skin! It was a little tortoiseshell. It started meowing at them in a friendly sort of way. Charlie and Shelly tried to shoo it away hysterically but it thought they were playing and started batting at their flailing hands. The old woman caught site of the madness happening in the side of her house and started marching towards it.
'Oh oh' was all Charlie could say. Shelly looked like she was dying inside. They leaned right up against the red bricks of her house as she came nearer but it was no use, she was going to discover them.
'Is someone there?' she said in a gravely sort of voice. The girls leaned around the corner to face her. They didn't know what to do or say so they just grinned sheepishly. They felt so humiliated and frightened!
'Please don't kill us' said Charlie in a small voice
'What are you doing here?' Said the old woman quizzically.
'Playing with your cat' Shelly lied
'That's not my cat. Nor is it a reason for you two to be sneaking around my property! How did you get in here?' Shelly sorta knew that excuse was too good to be true.
'We've seen that chest! We know what's inside!' Said Charlie with a burst of confidence
'Did you open it? When?'
'Well we haven't opened it... but it's quite obvious isn't it?' Mrs. Bianca looked shocked!
'What do you mean by that!?' She squaked
'RUN!!' Charlie screamed as she yanked Shelly by the cuff! They darted over the porch, through the creaky garage door, around the little blue car, over the front fence, through their own back gate and finally through the back door! They ran into dad
'OOF! There you are! I was looking for you two'
'DAD MISSES BANDIT... i mean Bianca WAS GOING TO KILL US!!' Charlie yelled in a frenzy! Shelly was panting behind her and still quivering
'Mrs. Bianca did you say? WHAT DID YOU DO!?' said dad in a firm voice!
'Being heroic?' squeaked Charlie
'It was her idea' Said Shelly pointing at her sister.
It was a long afternoon, schoolwork was cancelled that day of course and dad was prepping them to go back to Mrs. Bianca's again for an apology.
'Dad I'm frightened! Charlie complained
'I'll be right there with you the whole time!'
'I really don't see the point. She'll never forgive us anyway!'
'You don't know that and that's not the point! The point is that you're brave enough to take responsibility for what you did and apologize!' Dad marched them right up to the front door and knocked. For a second, Charlie thought she wasn't home but sure enough, she heard some shuffling and the front door being unlocked. The door swung back and there stood, the dreaded Mrs. Bianca. Shelly shrank back at the sight of her standing there. Poor Shelly had been so frightened she didn't think she could face her again but dad just held her hand comfortingly and she sidled up against him staring into the old woman's face.
'I suppose you know why we're here Mrs. Bianca?' Began dad
'Yes i might have an idea' she said in her little gruff voice
'Yes the girls told me what happened and they have something they'd like to say if you'd be willing to listen Mrs. Bianca?'
'Go ahead, i would like to know what you were doing in my yard' She looked at them expectantly
'We're sorry we sneaked into your yard. Our imaginations went a little out of control and we're really sorry and it won't happen again' repeated the girls in unison.
'Your imaginations?'
'I've had a talk with them Mrs. Bianca and they won't be doing it again i promise. They do get up to some mischief sometimes...'
'I guess that's understandable. I suppose you're wondering what i was doing with that big trunk? I assure you, there is nothing illegal or sinister about it!' she chuckled
'Oh you really don't have to, it's none of our bus-'
'yes please!' said the girls, both in unison again.
'Well, i was actually burying a time capsule i made of all my memories. I'm moving to an aged care facility in a couple of weeks and while i still had my sanity, I wanted to leave my mark. I've given the key to my family and told them not to sell the property and to dig it up in 100 years. They've been very kind and understanding to me and i trust they'll remember. Would you like me to show you?' That afternoon was spent drinking tea, eating cake, exploring the capsule and hearing lots of good old stories about the past. It was equivalent to any schoolwork day! The girls learned not to judge and made friends with an older member of their community!
Hope you enjoyed this short story! Please consider supporting this blog by liking my Facebook page, commenting on posts and donating by clicking the donate button!
No comments:
Post a Comment