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.
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