A Bird on a Windowsill by Laura Miller

Author:Laura Miller [Miller, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Amazon: B01DO7QBIK
Published: 2016-06-19T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Savannah

(23 Years Old)

Day 6,577

“You must be Weston Hartfield,” I say, as the old man with a crooked cane walks, unannounced, into my office.

I watch as he carefully falls into the blue recliner, just as if he’s done it a million times before. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he had.

“Sure as the day is long,” he says, in a soft but rough voice.

I nod. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. I heard you might stop by.”

“Yeah, as long as I’m kickin’, I’ll be here. Every Monday.”

I type another sentence out on a story I’m working on—just so I don’t forget it. And then I look up.

He seems comfortable in the chair now. His cane is propped up against the blue polyester. An old seed dealer cap is resting on his knee.

“Nothin’ too much to speak of this week,” he says. “All’s pretty quiet this time of year.”

I nod and smile.

“Hey,” he says, as if he’s just thought of it, “you doin’ business with that Ebenezer boy?”

I’m a little thrown off by his question, until I notice him eyeing the lumberyard ad sitting on my desk.

“You ought to be careful with that boy.”

I examine the old man, as he stares back at me with a raised brow. What’s left of his hair is white. He’s got a beard. It’s white, too. He’d probably make a pretty good Santa Claus.

“That’s funny,” I say. “You’re actually not the first person to tell me something like that.”

“Yeah, well. That should tell you somethin’.”

He goes to resituating himself in the old chair.

“Why is that? Why is everyone warning me about him? I’ve known Salem since we were young.”

“Well, he’s changed since he was just a boy,” he says. “Well, he’s got that girlfriend. And she seems like a good girl—a little too fancy for my liking, but a good girl, I guess. But that Salem, he’s changed.”

“How so?” I try not to sound too curious.

“Well, you know, he’s been working real hard on something mysterious. And ain’t nobody knows what he’s doing.”

“Something mysterious?”

“Yeah,” he confirms with a head nod. “You know, he’s probably working for the government or something. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

He stops and shakes his head, and then he seems to get lost somewhere outside the window behind my desk for just a moment.

“He could be doing some kind of testin’ or, uh...” He pauses, as if in thought. “It could be he’s making some kind of weapon or something. You know, for the, uh...”

He looks at me, and I just stare blankly back at him.

“The, uh, you know?” he goes on.

“The government?”

“Yeah,” he says. He tugs on his beard and then points a finger at me. “Or it could just be drugs, you know. All these kids these days. They start off good kids, and then they just get caught up in the drugs, you know?”

“Drugs?” I say, trying to keep my smile to myself.

“Yeah, bad stuff.” He shakes his head. “Real bad stuff. You don’t want to get involved in those drugs.

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