A Sky for Us Alone by Kristin Russell

Author:Kristin Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

THE PADLOCK ON THE shed stuck a little when I first turned the dials, and I worried I’d gotten them wrong, but after I banged it with the base of my hand, it opened. I stepped over my saw and toolboxes, farther back into all the things Nate said he wanted to clean out but never got a chance to.

“Anything I can do to help?” I heard Tennessee say from behind me.

“Thanks,” I yelled back, “but I wouldn’t know where to point you. It’s a mess in here,” I said. “Might take a minute, but I’ll find what we need. Just keep Omie busy.”

“Yell if you change your mind.”

The sight of Nathaniel’s old things, his baseball bat and glove, Lego sets he’d put together when he was a kid, shoeboxes with his handwriting on them—hit me somewhere between my stomach and chest. I moved the bag with our old tent and then worked my way toward the back, restacking things and keeping my eye out for the tips of the fishing poles. Finally, I spotted them behind a stack of boxes. I lifted one of the boxes and was surprised at how light it was. There was no label, but I heard papers inside, so I balanced it on my knee to look closer. Enough light came through the door for me to see the box was new, all the cardboard edges still crisp and clean. Sweat dripped from my hair into my eyes while I peeled back a corner of the clear tape. Inside was a pile of shipping labels and postage stamps. I set the box to the side and picked up the one just like it that had been underneath. The same things were inside, plus a few Sharpies. Nate liked to trade old car magazines, but there were at least a hundred shipping labels, and from what I’d already seen, hundreds of dollars’ worth of stamps too. He’d never been that serious about it.

“You okay in there?” Tennessee yelled.

“Yeah, just one minute!” I answered, and moved the boxes out of the way so I could get to the poles and tackle box. It was hard to find my way back over the piles I’d made, and getting even harder to breathe.

“Grab these?” I yelled to Tennessee when I couldn’t get the poles and myself out fast enough.

“I got ’em!” she said, and pulled them through. “Hang on, I just have to move this bag right here—”

When I finally got out of the shed, I wiped my forehead and gulped in air. “All right,” I said. “Let’s get Omie down to the water.” I locked the door again and told myself that I’d deal with the boxes and all the questions they brought up for me later. There was no sense in letting it take over the rest of the day for everyone.

“I’m guessing Omie will use this small rod?” Tennessee held both of them in her hands.

“Yep. That one was mine when I was his age.

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