The snow cap mountains began to shed their skin, dripping fresh water in the neighboring streams. Dressed in fresh pink blossoms and light green leaves, the trees blew in the breeze. Sweet smell of roses filled the air. Out with the winter sweaters and on with the shorts and tees. Maddy couldn't wait to head out to the family cabin nestled between the rockies. This was her favorite time of year, sitting by the pond with journal in hand sketching the surrounding beauty.
As she drove the winding roads, the life she left behind grew further and further away, driving her closer to the fresh start she needed and planned. It is amazing though how life doesn't always go as one plans. Maddy had met the man of her dreams, or so she thought. Their courtship was too short, sure to not last so all had commented and sadly had come true. She had just received the divorce papers. It was official.
She thought of Tim with fondness and bitterness all rolled up in one. It had only been three short year, but by far the longest three years of her life. She should have seen the signs those first few months they were dating before they were to wed. He just swept her off her feet, only to drop her flat on her face. It began to become hard to hide the bruises the last few months before she finally decided to file for divorce.
With both hands on the wheel, her mind stewing over the divorce, her eyes caught the glimpse of a doe and her fawn in a meadow nibbling on the new foliage. This was a pleasant sight, and one that brought her deep thoughts back to the present moment. "Three years were long enough to stew over him. Time to enjoy the here and now" she told her self, as she began to really enjoy the beauty around her.
Traveling up the tree lined road, she smiled realizing she was free. As the spring brings a fresh look to the earth, so is this move to the family cabin. As she went around the last bend her heart skipped a beat to see the cabin sitting in its little valley. She pulled into the dirt drive, parked the car and opened the door. Looking back in the car at all her personal belongings, she decided to leave them until she looked through the cabin and cleaned out the dust. It had been over a year since anyone had been in there.
She walked to the door, to find that it was open partially. No one was suppose to have been there. No one she knew had the keys. Leary of entering, she pulled out her cell phone pressed 9-1-1, not pressing talk yet, but just in case she was ready. She hated that she always lived in fear. That is what happens when you have been married to a monster for so many years.
Her heart began to race a little faster as she rested her shaking palm on the front door, giving it a little push. "Hello, is someone in here?" whispering slightly kind of in hopes that no one would hear her. With the door just a little more open she peeked her head in. Nothing appeared to be disturbed other than the fact that a few lights were on and the dust sheets were off of the couches and chairs. A blanket of safety en wrapped her as the scent of home made cookies greeted her. "Hello" she said with a bit more confidence and sound.
"Hello Maddie. Welcome home." Auntie Liz said as she greeted Maddie. "Oh I am so glad to see you made it here before dark. I was trying to hurry and clean everything up for you before you got here. I didn't want you to arrive and have to get things settled. I hope you don't mind. Your mother called me and told me you were coming and nothing could have kept me from prepping the place."
"I didn't see your car." Maddie knew that although they were neighbors, the four miles of woods that separated them weren't a quick or easy little walk.
"Oh I know. Fred had to run to town to pick some things up and he dropped me off before he went. He should be back here shortly. As a matter of fact one of the "Things" he is picking up is my nephew William, a nice fellow, charming and just finished graduate school." Auntie Liz mentioned.
Maddie ignored the comments about that guy because the last thing she wanted in her life right now was a single man. "How is Uncle Fred doing?" He really wasn't her uncle nor was Liz her Aunt, but they could of been, all the summers they spent together playing with their kids, family dinners. Oh the memories, those were good times, she thought to her self.
"Well you know he is getting on in years and his diabetes is getting the best of him. We have tried hard to watch our diet and well anyway I don't need to bother you with that information. He is doing well. You will see." Auntie Liz said as she pulled the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and began to put them on a cooling rack.
"Oh it is no bother. You know I love you guys. Sorry I didn't keep in better touch. Life has, well taken me for a ride that I never really thought I'd go on." Maddie said as she looked around at her old and comfortable family home. Her eyes stopped at the picture hanging over the fire place. It brought a smile to her face and a bit of warmth to her heart. In the photograph stood her great grandparents- who gazed at each other in such love, almost as if they were all alone, paying no attention to their four kids on the front porch of the cabin- on the day they moved in. Her grandmother was about five, wearing un-traditionally for her time, short alls. She was practically running off the picture in a blur. The girl couldn't hold still then and now for that matter. Oh her grandmother sure was a fiery lady. Maddie then remembered she needed to call her and let her know she arrived safely. Her thoughts stopped when she heard Liz say something.
"I'm sorry Liz, my mind was drifting down memory lane. " replied Maddie.
"I'm happy to see you smile. Your mom mentioned to me all the heartache you have been through and I am so sorry. I'm just glad you are here and safe. Would you like a cookie." Liz said as she handed the plate full of hot fresh yumminess.
As Liz took off her apron, hanging it on the pantry door, her attention drew to the sound of tires on the gravel driveway. "That must be Fred and William."
Maddie looked at the back wall into the mirror, noticing it needed some dusting and also noticed
Liz grew up as an only girl in a family of five boys. She kept up with the best of them. Long before paint balling was around, she and her brothers would go in the woods and shoot tin cans with their BB guns. Once as she was bending over to re-stack the cans one of her brother's friends thought her rear end made a good target, leaving her with a permanent limp. It didn't stop her much though.
Standing beside the car stood Fred who was talking a mile a minute to Liz about his adventure to town. Fred could always out talk the best of them. Mid sentence he stopped looked up, noticing Maddie halted in the door frame and said "Maddie! Come here you. My you get prettier every time I see you." with waving open arms. "How are you doing?"
Maddie picked up her pace, and landed in the open arms. Planting a kiss on his cheek she said "Oh it is so good to see you," still holding on to him. Tears welded up in her eyes. Embarrassed that she began to cry, she began to blink to make them go away. Tilting her head to her shoulder she wiped the stray tears on her sleeve. "I must of got a little dust in my eye." she commented trying to get the attention off of her.
Uncle Fred could always hit her soft spots. Maybe it is because she lost her father at such a young age, and he seemed to fill the gaps in her father less life. Maybe it was because he truly cared for her and really loved her. It is the first time in a long time, that she actually felt love from a warm embrace. Leaving his grasp, she backed away, putting her hand out to William, who had stood there quietly during this warm homecoming.
"I'm Maddie" she greeted him as cheerfully as she could muster, trying to not make her voice all shaky from nerves and emotions.
"Will is what most my friends call me. Beautiful place you have here."
"Thanks, it is nice to meet you too. I'd show you around, but I just got here myself and it was a long drive. If y'all excuse me, I think I need to go and shower up and take a rest. Thanks again Aunty. So good to see you Fred. Let's do lunch tomorrow ok? And thanks again for cleaning up for me. Nice meeting you Will" Maddie said as she headed to the house, trying not to let them stop her.Her pace was quick and before any of them could finish saying good night the door shut behind her.
Maddie fell against the door, slid down and sat with her back against her door, hugged her knees, resting her chin on them and sobbed. She sat like that for hours, was it really hours? She actually was uncertain, but by the time she composed herself and got up, it was pitch black outside. Seeing Uncle Fred and hearing the love and concern in his voice, seemed to have opened the flood of gates. She had become callous towards the end of her marriage. Tears didn't come so easily anymore. Her heart was so broken. It felt good to just let it all go.
She headed towards the bathroom, which was just off the family room through the master guest bedroom. The room tiled in blue and green glass brought a feeling of serenity. One she hadn't felt in years. In the corner, surrounded by windows rested the original claw foot white tub, modernized with a shower head and curtain. Tonight was a bath night. She lite some candles to not just bring light but scent and symbolically burn away the bad feelings. Reaching her hand under the faucet to check the temperature caused her body to goose bump from the warmth. She eased her body into the water, letting her head fall below blanketing out the world around her.
Asleep with her head against the back of the tub, the candles burnt out, water less than warm, Maddie was awakened by the sound of her cell phone alerting her to a new voice message. "Wow I must have been exhausted to have missed that call" she said out loud as if someone else was in the room with her. She grabbed the teal blue bath sheet hanging on the steel rod. Wrapping it around her wet body, she stepped out of the tub carefully watching her step as to not slip on the wet tile. Holding the top of the two ends together she ran to her night stand where her phone lay charging.
She flipped the phone open, to reveal two annonymous missed calls, one new voice message and the time of 11:45 PM. Seeing the hour, she passed on even listening to the message and instead left the phone to charge. Shivering from the cold crisp mountain air, she headed to her suitcase resting on an antique trunk on the other side of the room. She unzipped the suitcase, pulled out her underwear, her favorite black tap pants and the U t-shirt she had since her freshman orientation of college. Bending over she flipped her hair over, wrapped it in the towel and dressed herself.
Realizing that the only thing she had eaten since lunch was the chocolate chip cookie Liz offered her, she headed to the kitchen to see what she could find to calm her growling belly. Plus she had left every light on in the house she decided it best to turn some off to conserve some energy. Padding her way on the wood floors to the kitchen she switched some lights off.
She stood at the open refrigerator expecting something to jump out at her and tell her "eat me." But nothing did. So she settled for a glass of milk and the cookies sitting on the glass jar on the counter top. Over the kitchen sink was a large window with a view of the lush mountain scenery as well as a nice view of the back porch. As she enjoyed her midnight snack, she was interrupted by the sight of something. It appeared to be the shadow of a person peering around the side of the house. She calmed herself by the thought of the many trees and animals that neighbored her. She'd seen enough horror movies and lived her own to know not to go outside and check it out.
Quickly she ran around turning off lights, locking and re locking windows and doors. Before heading into her room, she grabbed a kitchen knife, a book off the shelf, and shut and locked the door. The knife was for possible protection, and the book, to keep her company as she had napped several times already and freaked herself out sufficiently that she most likely wouldn't be sleeping well that night. After she locked the bedroom door she ran and jumped on the bed and under the covers.
After fluffing the pillows and finding a comfortable spot to rest her head, she grabbed the book off the night stand, and opened to chapter one. Somewhere between the first and second page, she fell asleep. The book fell to the floor with a loud crash. She startled up. Looked towards the ground, saw the book resting, turned off the bed side light and fell back to sleep, only to waken again by the crow of the rooster.
A rooster, what was a rooster doing in the mountains? Maddie didn't know that an acre to the side of her a family bought some land and decided to turn it into a farm. She discovered this as she was enjoying her morning shake of fresh berries, milk and ice. As she sat on the back porch again she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. Same place she noticed it last night. Being braver by the sun light, she set her drink on the glass round table that needed a washing, and headed to the corner. The trees were cleared on that side, which she hadn't noticed driving up because of the angle of the house. Over a little ways was a scarecrow guarding the freshly rowed fields with tiny tips of green poking up. Even further away she saw a young lady, mid twenties, blond hair, wearing a bath robe watering some flowers on her back porch. She caught Maddie's eyes and waved.
Shutting off her hose, she headed towards Maddie. Out of the open porch door came a two year old little girl in a diaper and messed up pig tails. Deciding not to make the poor gal walk all the way over in her house slippers, Maddie started to meet her half way. "Hello" the young mother called. When they reached each other she said "How are you? Excuse my morning attire, not used to neighbors. I'm Chloe and that little one trailing behind me is Jessie." Jessie ran up and grabbed her mom's legs and hid behind them.
"It is nice to meet you. I am Maddie. You have all done a lot since being her not too long." It had been two years since Maddie last visited the family house.
"We have loved it here. The inside of our house is still a work in progress. But we wanted to get the garden and farm going so we could live off of it. I thought I'd be able to do more before Jessie started moving. But the older she gets the less I get done. Oh well, no big hurry. So how long are you visiting for?" Chloe asked.
"I am not sure, but planning on right now this being my permanent address."
"Oh we are so glad to have neighbors. Would you like some eggs? I was just about to go and gather some and there are always more than we can really eat?"
"I'd love some, but maybe another day. I have to run into town and get some things that I put off getting yesterday on my way up because I was so tired. Will you excuse me? It was nice meeting you and I am sure I will see you around."
"Same, have a great day." Chloe commented as she headed back to her red farm house. She put on her garden shoes and headed towards the coop with Jessie shadowing her.
Maddie went inside, forgetting the rest of her shake on the patio. She grabbed the first thing out of her bag, a black tank top dress, pulled it over her head. Put her brown hair up in a twist bun. Grabbed her keys, her phone and purse and headed out the door. Why was she in such a hurry? She really didn't know but just wanted to get out and get some stuff done. It was rare in her past to be able to just pick up and go, so she was taking advantage of that.
When she pulled up the the market she noticed a pay phone. Which reminded her that she hadn't called her grandmother to let her know that she had made it safely to Pleasant Valley. Instead of using her cell phone, she grabbed a few quarters and dialed the number that had been her grandparents for as long as she could pick up a phone.
Ring. Ring. Ring. "You have reached 345-5512 please leave a message after the beep." the automated voice said.
"Hey Grandmother its me. I am here. Safe. Call me. I love you." She hung up the phone and headed into the market, unaware of the blue chevy that pulled up next to her little red Accord.
 |  |
"Hey Grandmother its me. I am here. Safe. Call me. I love you." She hung up the phone and headed into the market, unaware of the blue chevy that pulled up next to her little red Accord.
The town center clock chimed. Maddie startled at the first cling, then began to count them. Nine. Knowing she left the house in a hurry she was still surprised to be out and about at such an early hour. Glad that the store opened at the early hour of five AM. She entered as a princes with the doors moving away for her, welcoming her in. Off to her right lined up well rested shopping carts. Grabbing one, she placed her purse in the seat where a young child should rest. Placing the purse on the little red seat she remembered that late last night she received a call.
She pressed one, then talk. The automated phone lady told her "You have one new message. You have three saved message. To listen to your new message press on." She followed the prompt.
"New message from 555-345-8811. Hey Maddie, why aren't you answering your phone. I know you are awake." the voice of Tim, left her standing still. Back in the not so good ol' days, she if ever was let to leave the house had to be in by her even earlier than high school curfew of 9 PM. He would always call her promptly at 8:45 to make sure she was on her way home. If she wasn't he always left a nasty message, and greeted her with his fists. She shuttered at the thought that he was checking up on her. Which reminded her that today would be a good day to get a new number.
She browsed through the store, grabbing odds and ends. Some toilet paper, more milk and some fresh fruit, filled her cart. The phone call left her far from hungry. Then she remembered she invited Fred, Liz and what's his name to lunch. She couldn't believe she had forgotten their nephews name. It'd come back to her. As she was stewing over his name, and trying to figure out what to fix for lunch, someone called her name.
Maddie jumped as the caller shouted out her name even louder. Not recognizing the caller's voice, she turned hesitantly. There stood Liz's nephew. Great here she was thinking about him wondering what the heck his name was, and there he stood. Standing with his button fly 501 jeans, with a nicely fitted navy blue t-shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes. The florescent lights bounced off the sun kissed high lights of his dark blond hair. For just a brief moment she stared at him.
"Hey, how are you doing?" she said as she worked on remembering his name. "Steve, no Bill? Gosh what is his name" she thought to herself. "I guess I could ask him again, but I don't really want to be flaky." she continued the conversation in his head.
Will interrupted with "I'm doing fine thanks, just picking up a few things for Aunt Liz that Uncle Fred forgot last night."
"Oh that is nice of you." She said as she noticed she was holding a Tampax box in her hand. The red in her cheeks probably was as bright as the noon day son. Quickly discarding the box into the cart, she fumbled to find the words to fill the ever so eternal moment of awkward silence.
"Oh that is nice of you." She said as she noticed she was holding a Tampax box in her hand. The red in her cheeks probably was as bright as the noon day sun. Quickly discarding the box into the cart, she fumbled to find the words to fill the ever so eternal moment of awkward silence. A million things ran through her head, and not one of them made their way to her tongue. She felt more like a deer in headlights than an adult in a grocery store. Luckily for her Will had his own plans to bring some happiness to the situation.
As she was setting the table, there was another knock at the door. Feeling comfortable in her situation she called "Come in." She assumed it was Liz and Fred. She was wrong. As the door flung open, she gasped and dropped one of her tea cups with a crash, shattering to pieces across the wood floor.
"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." said the strange middle aged man in overalls, dark brown hair, similar to Tim's, holding an ax. What is a grown man, holding an ax doing in her house? "Oh I am sorry again, I forgot I had this in my hands." he said lifting it up then setting it outside on the porch. "I'm Dan, Chloe's husband. She mentioned you were staying here. I was chopping some firewood. I finished up and noticed that you had some wood that needed some chopping, thought I'd come and see if I could do that for you. I really didn't mean to scare you. I guess I am a little absentminded, and forgot about the fact that I was coming in 'armed.' Here let me help you clean that up."
"Don't worry about it. I am just a little jumpy and clumsy." Maddie said as she swept the shards into her dust pan. Will entered to see if everything was OK.
"Hey I heard a crash is everyone alright" he asked.
"Yes, sorry I am Dan, and totally scared the poor lady half to death. I live next door."
Reaching out his hand to shake Dan's, Will noticed that black soot covered it. He pulled his hand away, wiped it on his leg and said "oh sorry charcoal" as he lifted to show his hand. "It is nice to meet you, I am Will. A friend of the family, more or less."
Maddie cleaned up her broken tea cup, while the guys chatted a bit. Tears began to poor down her face. "Oh no, not again." she thought. She felt like she was her own personal sprinkler system, set on a timer to water ever few hours, for a few hours. As their voices faded in the back ground she flashed back to a day a few weeks into her marriage.
They had just finished up a meal, that was not at all what Tim had wanted. He was mad that she had baked chicken instead of grilling it. The silence during the meal was ear numbing. After Tim's last bite, he shoved his plate towards Maddie, pushed away from the table, and as he headed towards the living room to catch the evening game he said "Don't ever fix that **** again." Maddie cleared the table. After she poured a little Dawn in the sink, she turned the water on. As the sink filled with soap suds, she began to sob, wondering how she had gotten herself into this mess.
With her head down staring at the bubbles, she felt the warmth of Tim's arm wrap around his neck. He pulled her into him, too tight. So tight she was having a hard time breathing. He kissed her cheek, which made her cringe and her whole body tighten. Reflexes made her head turn away from him. He grabbed her face and spinning her towards him. "I am sorry." he said, "you worked hard on making this dinner. I have had a long day at work. I am tired. Can you forgive me?" He seemed to verbally want to make things better, but everything in his body language said something different.
Laughter. Who is laughing. 'Oh I have company.' Maddie remembered as she came to the present. "I am glad to see you getting along so well." she said as she stood up from the floor with a dust pan full of glass and some dust bunnies. She headed over to the garbage can to dump her mess along with her recent memories of a time she wish she could forget.
"Dan, tell Chloe Hi for me. And thanks for chopping my wood. We will see you around I am sure." Maddie called as Dan headed for the door.
After the door shut, Will walked over to Maddie, who was barely standing on her own by the trash can. "Are you ok?" He reached over to brush a tear off her cheek, to which she recoiled.
"Yes. I am so embarrassed, but these were my grandmother's favorite tea cups and I am just sad that I broke one." she sort of lied. It was mostly the truth but not what made her cry. She hadn't known Will long enough to share with him her pathetic sob story. Though she surely felt like she had known him forever. Too bad he never came out to visit his aunt and uncle when they were younger. He was only a year or two younger than her.
"Maybe we can find one on E-Bay. You really can find anything on there." Will try to cheer her up, figuring he couldn't really pry any more.
"I wonder what is keeping Liz and Fred." Maddie changed the subject. The door knocked once more.
"I'll get it. I don't think we can afford any more broken tea cups." Will said as he headed to the door.
With a smile on her face, Maddie chimed, "Very funny." She liked how easy Will made her smile. It really had been too long since she had been around anyone that made her feel at ease and happy for that matter.
Will opened the door, and let in Liz who was carrying a trey of chocolate chip cookies, that must have just come out of the oven because their aroma filled the room, faster than the warm spring air. Will grabbed the cookies from Liz, snatching one and shoving the whole thing in his mouth. He put the trey down on the table. Fred meandered in with a pitcher of lemonade. He never was in a hurry. His motto "slow and steady wins the race."
"Sorry we are late, with my arthritic fingers, it took a long time to squeeze all these lemons." chuckled Fred, as he held up his pitcher of juice. His foot caught on the threshold of the front door, tripping him. Luckily he regained his balance before spilling his lemonade all over the floor. "That was a close one." he said. He headed towards the table and set his pitcher down.
"Wow this place hasn't changed in years." Fred said as he looked around. "You know if you are looking to do some updating, or remodeling, Will is the guy for you. His dad ran a hardware store and did construction on the side, and young Will here was his apprentice, before he decided to go off to school and get one of those fancy degrees. That's alright we will forgive him." Fred playfully slugged Will in the gut, a little harder than he had intended.
Will blushed a little. "I figured I'd better get a degree and some student loan debt to fit into the world a little better. What else needs to be done before lunch?"
"I think it has been awhile since the steaks have been checked on." Maddie said, pointing to the smoking more than normal BBQ grill.
"Oh man, so much for my showing off my grilling skills." Will said as he ran out the patio doors.
"What can I do to help you Maddie." Liz offered as she limped over to the kitchen. She instinctively, filled some glasses with ice and set them on the table before Maddie could tell her everything was fine and that she should just go and have a seat.
Will brought in his not totally burnt but well done steaks to the table. "At least none will be mooing for lunch." he said as he set them down. He pulled out the chair next to Maddie and joined the rest at the table. As he pulled himself into the table his legged brushed against Maddie's. She didn't move away from him, or cringe or shutter.
"Everything looks good. Thanks for joining me for lunch. Let's eat." Maddie said as she put her napkin in her lap.
After the lunch was over, and all had left. Maddie sat down on her couch and took a huge breath and let it out. She kind of made a noise like a balloon losing its air, and it caused her to chuckle.
She hadn't realized it but she was happy. She wasn't prepared to find such happiness so quickly. Deep down in her gut she knew it couldn't last. It couldn't, could it?
Reaching for the book sitting on the table, she had the feeling that some one was watching her. Must be her mind playing tricks on her, she told herself.
Glancing at the cover of the book, she opened to the first chapter. Not three sentences into it, her phone rang. Which reminded her that she forgot to go and change her number.
While setting the book on the coffee table, she stood up from the couch and headed to her purse that was sitting on the entry way table. Her purse moved a little with each ringing vibration. By the time she made it to the bottom of her purse to retrieve the phone, it stopped ringing. She looked at the screen, "1 missed call" it displayed.
Before she could flip the phone open to see who had rung, it started to ring again. Unprepared for that second ring she jumped a little. Relief came over her as she saw the familiar number.
"Hey mom."
"How are you sweetie?" her mothers warm voice asked.
"Oh great, I just had Fred and Liz over for lunch. Their nephew is staying with them for the summer, and he joined them too. I haven't laughed so hard for so long."
"I am glad to hear it. You do sound happy."
"Thanks. What's up?"
"Oh I just called to see how you are doing. And..."
"And...what? Mom??"
"Well I heard from Tim's mom that he left town yesterday. I don't want to frighten you but want you to be aware."
"I am sure everything will be fine." Maddie tried to calm not only her mom but herself. She glanced around, checking doors and windows. Wondering why she had had that strange feeling earlier. Did he follow her up here?
"Hey Mom, I will be fine. I do have to run though. I have to get into town and change my cell number. I will call you with the new one ok?"
"Alright but be careful. Sweetie, just be prepared for the un expected."
"I will Mom. Love you."
"Love you too."
She hung up the phone. Her heart was racing. Be prepared for the unexpected! She knew what she had to do. Before walking out the door she made sure all the doors were locked, window blinds down, and lights on. Grabbing her keys and purse she headed out the door.
As she had her back to the driveway and was locking the front door she heard footsteps up the front steps. Her hand was too shaky to finish locking the door. The keys fell out of her hands and landed with a clank on the wood.
She said a little prayer in her heart, quickly turned around to be startled by the little hand reaching up to her to hand her a flower.
"OH hi Jessie."
"Dis is for you. Me picked it."
"Thank you, that is so sweet of you. Where is your mom?" she asked as she glanced around and noticed Chloe coming around the corner. She was dressed in dark denim jeans and a v-neck lime green tee. As she was approaching she was waving with one hand and holding a bowl in the other.
"Hey Maddie. I made you some cookies. Are you okay? You look like you have seen a ghost."
"Yes thank you. I just startle easy these days." Maddie said, her voice still shaky from the startle.
She bent down and picked up the keys. Chloe handed her the dish of cookies.
"Thank you for the treat. And thank you for my flower. I better go put it in some water and set these in the kitchen. I have to run to town before the shops close." Maddie said. Glad to have an excuse to not chat right now. She had an overwhelming feeling to spill her guts. Now wasn't the time.
"I will stop by later when I get back. " She said has she walked inside and shut the door.
As she was heading for the kitchen she felt a little breeze. It was coming through the back pantry that lead to the side of the house. She cautiously walked through the kitchen and dropped the bowl on the floor, when she saw the pantry outside door ajar. She ran to it, slamming it shut and locking it.
With her back resting on the door, she tried to rationally figure out how it had opened. She must not have locked it. The wind must have forced it open when she opened the front door, sometimes little wind tunnels did that.
