Tent City (36 page)

Burke is still a scary creature, but he’s a little more understandable too. He has weak points too, even if his weak points happen to be two of the things I care most about in this world.

It’s midmorning before we get all the wheelers and supplies packed on. I say a silent good-bye to the home I’ve grown up in and brace myself for the journey Kit is about to take, finding more sorrow than I think she can bear.

Bentley seems uncomfortable; as I’m sure he is shouldering some of the blame for what has happened to her parents. He doesn’t know it, but Kit would never see it that way. I make a mental note to convince him of it someday.

We all hang back in support as Dad helps her get the keys and start the other wheelers. She runs inside and gets a few things and comes back out, looking stronger than she should.

Grant meets her halfway and takes her by the hand for the walk back. She gives me a small smile and we leave, both saying good-bye to her farm, probably for the last time.

Mom, Dad and Brody have one of the wheelers. Jonah, Jess and DJ take another. Kit and Grant have one with Callie and Avery on another. Bentley and I take the last one. I let him drive as I just sit back and think about how much things have changed.

I find myself thinking about Jack a lot. I wonder where he is and if he’s thinking about me. I wish he could know that we haven’t forgotten him.

We have been traveling so long that we find ourselves coming up on the river where I first met Jack. This was the first stop Kit and I made. Not out of choice, but out of nearly drowning the wheeler. Jack had come out of nowhere and saved the day and has been constantly doing so since. I never knew then what he would come to mean to me or how much he would have affected my life.

I’m straining to see if the river is the same and if we’ll be able to cross like last time. I feel a slight sense of worry, remembering the results of last time, but shake it off because if we did it before, surely we can do it again.

But the river looks funny. It’s dark and murky. I tell Bentley to stop so I can get a better look.
 I step off, shielding the sun that seems to have cast a glare over the river. The whitecaps from rapid water flow look off. The water isn’t shiny and glistening in the sun.  

I call out to Brody to get me the binoculars and he excitedly bounds up and hands them to me.

Before I can match all the thoughts that are swirling in my head, I scan the horizon across from the river, and on the edge of the woods I spot the wolf watching Brody. It’s yellow eyes follow him carefully as Brody skips around looking for stones to throw.

Has it been following us this whole time? My heart is thumping in my throat, making it hard to swallow.

Suddenly, Jack’s last words float inside my head. I can feel his breath at my ear when he whispers, “Keep Brody safe.”

I frantically reach down for Brody who’s now asking to play with the binoculars. I ignore him and lift the curls behind his neck to see a rash that shouldn’t exist.

Only it’s no longer a circular rash that is supposed to be Lyme’s disease. It’s a smooth marking in the shape of a perfect circle. I can barely get myself to look back up at the river. It can’t be.

It’s the River. The River is Red.

The End

Acknowledgments

Writing a book while raising a family brings to mind the term “it takes a village” and that’s exactly what happened while writing Tent City. I have to take a little time and thank the people who helped make Tent City what it is.

For my husband, Troy – thank you for putting up with my neglect and putting in the extra time to feed and water our children when I was lost in another world at the computer. They may have starved.

To Mason  - My first reader. You read the first draft, even when it was rotten and still had nothing but good things to say about it. That means more to me than anything.

Jeannie – Another reader of an early draft. Without you, I may have used the word demise incorrectly for the rest of my life.

Dad – Your support is always there, yet never surprising. Thanks also for giving me an early read. Without you, the sentences may have run on, and on and on…

Steve Alcorn – for taking the time to guide me where I needed to go.

Laura – Your mad computer skills with computer graphics astounds me. You knew how to give me exactly what I wanted.

Tami – Without you, this thing may never have had page numbers.

Imagine Dragons – The only “muse-ic” I could listen to while writing Tent City. The album set the tone for the book as I jammed within my headphones and onto the keyboard. To this day, I can’t hear Radioactive without seeing Dani run through the forest.