Winter Season

Live in a cave?

“When we get married, where do you want to live?” Oscar asked.

Esther was curled up in his lap as they sat on her back porch watching a storm roll in. “I’ve not given it any thought.”

He held her a little tighter. “I could move in here with you.”

“Could you really be happy? My house is so much smaller than yours. Haven’t you lived over there your entire adult life?”

“When you and I went down in the basement looking for Christmas decorations, that was the first time I’ve been down there since Karen died. I haven’t been in the attic.”

A clap of thunder tore through their conversation. Esther rose up to look at him, “ever?”

“What if we give it a try? It was for a horrific reason but those two weeks I stayed here with you were,” he stopped thinking of the right word. There wasn’t one. Peaceful? Liberating? Loving? Welcoming? Calming?

“You’ll loose the guest room. And the den.”

“I could turn the basement into a workspace.”

“There’s no heat or air.”

“That’s an easy fix.”

“You would need more light and plug ins.”

“Esther, we could live in a cave. As long as you are with me.”

“What about your gas fireplace?” He just smiled. “Do you really hate that house?”

“It’s a roof.”

“Alright.” Lightning lite up the sky. “When I get an answer to the thing I can’t talk about, I think we can start seriously planning. This needs serious thought. I would like for you to think about all the things you’d be giving up.”

“Planning for a future with you. I’m not giving anything up.”

She blushed, “a future for us.” As she spoke the full force of the storm broke.

“You know what we could do? Turn your back porch into a sunroom.”

She curled back into his arms. “I’d like that.”

Chet came to visit them. He brought knew news about the case. He made sure Oscar was sitting down. “I’m not really sure how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it.” Chet paused for a moment. “Oat turned himself in today. He is saying that he shot into your house. He was able to describe the gun, the kind of ammo it had in it and where he disposed of it.”

Esther could feel Oscar’s body temperature rise and his hands shook slightly.

“Esther, you never did tell me how you wanted us to proceed with this.”

She squeezed Oscar’s hand. Through gritted teeth, he said, “throw the book at him.”

Esther repeated what he said, “throw the book at him. You have everything from me that you need.” She paused. “I would like to add, you can hear Oat’s truck a mile away. Even though we did have music playing, I don’t remember hearing his truck.”

Oscar looked at her, “you’re right. No matter how hard he could try, you can’t hide that. Unless he pushed it past the house.”

Chet added, “he could have parked at the tree line and walked over.”

“Possible but we aren’t taking into account that my brother is lazy. He wouldn’t breathe if he could get someone else to do it for him.”

Chet left.

Oscar set on the couch and didn’t move for a long time. Esther wasn’t sure how to help him. So she made up the bed, cleaned up the kitchen from the dinner they hadn’t eaten and was getting ready to take a shower. She had only taken two showers in the last two weeks.

Oscar put his hands around her waist, lifting her shirt, removing her sports bra. The doctor hadn’t let her wear a real bra yet. He rubbed his hand over her back. The two deepest wounds were still sore and she flinched as he moved over them. He kissed her neck, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know.”

Sunday evening they were wadded up on the couch, “tell me about your week?” Esther played with his hair.

“We have testing for the next two weeks. Two more weeks of normal classes, and then summer vacation. God I can’t wait.” He pulled her to him.

“What kind of testing?”

“It’s a standardized test that we have to give the students. It determines our ranking and what kind of money we will receive.”

“No stress there.”

“None,” he said sarcastically.

“I love you Mr. Patterson.”

He smiled a great big smile as he let his fingers do the talking. It didn’t matter what he did, he could get to her.

“I love you Miss Morrison”

Monday after Oscar had gone to work, she called Chet.

“Good morning, how are you feeling today?” He asked.

“I’m almost healed. How about you? How are you today?”

“Great. Thanks for asking.”

“I know you’re busy. But something has been eating at me all weekend. The Patterson’s all live in that house. I have no doubt that Oat knows what that gun looks like and what kind of ammo it has in it. Do you think it is possible that he is covering for someone?” There was silence on Chet’s end of the phone. He didn’t know what to think. She continued, “I have no love of his family but I also don’t want the wrong person going to jail over this.”

“Honestly, I’d never really thought about it. I know what his family has done to him and as his best friend I wish they’d all move to Mexico.”

“If you don’t care, just keep your ears open because, I don’t think this is over.”

“You got it.”

Winter Season