Chapter 2

I had my car serviced just a week before my accident. The car was stored for several months. I checked the tires and oil before starting the vehicle. There was no problem; it purred as soon as the oil warmed. I received my month’s rent and deposit back, which I hadn’t used before I left. I drove to Amelia’s small apartment, warning her first that I was coming.

Amelia was a tiny woman, pretty with white hair. She did have it styled. Her features were excellent, regular, beautiful, and she had clear skin. I suppose I shouldn’t have noticed, but her body was that of a twenty-year-old woman. She undoubtedly wore supports here and there, but they weren’t noticeable.

I received a kiss on the cheek, and she hugged me. “Jim, tell me how you are. I lie awake some nights worrying about the injury I caused you. You still have to use a cane. Is that a lifetime fixture?”

“Not to worry; another month, I won’t need it on the level. The cane will only be an aid. I told you not to think about it. Can I stay the night? If I don’t, I’ll start for Kentucky after dinner tonight. I’ll go over this afternoon, clean my room, and load up my clothes and what little I own. As I was always ready to travel, I never bought any keepsakes or souvenirs. It will all pack into the car with the back seat folded down.”

“Of course, you can stay. I’ll help you pack. It would help more if you stayed with me and didn’t leave the area. I’m going to miss you terribly.”

“Yes, well, I want to talk to you about that. Why don’t you move down to Kentucky and live with me?”

“The thought has crossed my mind. You know I never had children, and now I have you. I think you and I must have a connection in an earlier lifetime.”

“I know there are people who believe in that stuff. Sometimes, I’d like to have you tell me your beliefs.”

“Come, I have a coffee ring and know where to have lunch. We’ll get you ready to go, have dinner, and sit here and talk. There is so much I want to know about your life for the last twenty years.”

“I want to know about your life, especially you and your husband’s.”

“I’d like to be able to reminisce about our life together. He was a wonderful man. Much like you are, I think. So tell me about Kentucky.”

“I don’t know much. I have a Grandfather living there. That’s the only near relative in the area. There is a woman who could have been my stepsister and an older woman who took care of her when her mother died.”

“That means your father must have been married to someone other than your mother.”

“That’s correct. I think this young woman must be illegitimate. Father wouldn’t accept the child when her mother replaced my mother. I have never met her or her aunt either. Grandfather lives in the house with the aunt and my would-be stepsister.”

“And what about your father? Where is he?”

“Nobody else knows. Everyone except me believes he is dead. I guess people who knew him haven’t missed him that much.” I clammed up by saying, No more. I was thinking of Father, whom I had found while going through Cheyenne, Wyoming. I saw him across the room while he was eating, and he was being investigated by an investigator I had hired before leaving that area.

Amelia noticed the lengthy pause, “He’s alive. You know where he is and something about him, don’t you?”

“Yes, but others will never find out from me. Father disowned me when I was small. I don’t have any love for him. It hurt Mother terribly. At that time, Grandfather was no better. He wrote a note and has recently asked for forgiveness. Well, maybe not forgiveness, but he did make me an apology.”

“You should forgive him.”

“I should. Grandfather left me eighty percent of the property. The so-called stepsister has the other twenty percent. I have no idea if this will work out and if we can get along. I also received a note from her. She is thirty-two or three and says she is set in her ways.”

“When you meet her, hug her. I fell in love with you the first time you hugged me.”

I laughed, for I knew Amelia was joking. “Amelia, the most compelling reason I want you to go to Kentucky with me is that I don’t know anyone there. I’m at the point where I need a friend. That friend can be you. I’ll have someone to discuss everything with if things with Grandfather turn out well. I plan to buy a cottage or condominium so we can live together. The property he left doesn’t have a dwelling on it. The old house burned.”

“Do you have any money? You could have sued me and probably have received a judgment.”

“I couldn’t sue you. As for your question, do I have any money? I have more than anyone could even guess. Many years ago, I won a lottery. I have been taking the payout for over twenty years. The only one who knows my worth is my broker. Winning the lottery occurred immediately after I completed my education and became an officer. I studied hard for years, and I want to use what I’ve learned. If I didn’t follow the path I had set myself on, I would have squandered the money. I invested it as the payments came. I’m just a month under thirty-five, and my path forward has changed.”

“This is much like a new adventure you are embarking on.”

“Amelia, will you travel the road with me?”

“I will. You know, I’m pretty well off myself. I don’t show it much, and I have lived a secluded life for a long time. I’m up for it if you will take me with you.”

“Good, we’ll discuss it tonight.”

I would have spent only one day with Amelia, but I actually spent three. When I left, she hugged me and kissed me on the lips. “There, I guess that makes you my boyfriend. Now you call when you find a place to live. It doesn’t have to be elegant, just a couple of rooms. It would be helpful if you haven’t bought anything yet, because we have a lot to work out, you, of course, and more than I do. I hope we will live together, but if you’re not, I want you close by.”

“I will find something. When I call and say, I have found something, you are to have the movers come in and pack everything. When that is finished, call about your flight to Louisville. I’ll meet you or make arrangements to have you picked up. Hold a big, stiff piece of paper with your name in bright letters over your head. You are short; I don’t want you hidden in the crowd. I’ll be talking to you almost every day, anyway.”

“Jimmy, you stay safe on the way. Please stay away from little old women backing up so they don’t run over you. Give me another hug, and you can kiss me again.” I did as she asked. Damn, it is too bad she was forty years older. I waved as I drove away. I had a thought. The woman was lonely. One of the projects was to find someone her own age to be her companion.

Kentucky

I went for lunch at Maggie’s Restaurant in the bustling small town. It was in the center of it. I could see a police station, a courthouse, another diner, and an office building, which predominantly housed attorneys. I obtained this information from a directory located behind the glass on the lawn in front of the building. Macain & Macain listed. There was an auto body shop and a garage for fixing autos. I could see more shingles on lawns on both sides of the street. There was a motel around the corner. I couldn’t find a hotel, but one might be nearby.

My mother had given me directions to reach the property I had inherited. I found it.

At the end of the drive, there was a mailbox post. No mailbox; that was long gone—a long driveway and then a cellar hole with rubble in it. The red brick chimney was still reaching for the sky at one end. Litter was on both sides of the driveway, mostly of fast-food wrappers that were too wet and soggy to blow away. There were empty beer cans everywhere, and many beer bottles, many of which were broken for fun. Depressing!

I parked my car out of the road and limped toward where I had left when I was four years old. The drama that took place on that day is etched solidly in my memory. It was also the last time I saw my father face-to-face.

It was no place, I remembered. I could see the cement block barn. It was painted sometime in the past, but was peeling now. I looked at the paddocks and pastures. The fences were gone. They had been pulled up, and the growing weeds could be mowed. It wasn’t cut yet this year. I walked up the driveway, dirt, for this was horse country. I walked past the cellar hole and saw where partygoers had dumped more litter. The old cast-iron radiators that had been in the house were a tangled mess, having fallen into the cellar during the fire.

I walked across the yard to the barn. The barn door closed shut, and I pushed it open. It stayed on track, okay. Inside was a worse mess than outside. It appeared to be a local party spot. There was litter everywhere. There were old blankets along with more beer bottles and cans. There were heaps of food wrappers, just like outside. Here and there, condoms were used. The smell was overpowering from a dead animal that had gotten sick on the spoiled food and died.

I backed out and closed the door when someone asked, “James, the Fifth?”

“That’s me.” I turned, and a woman was looking at me intently. “I’d say you were Molly Burns.”

She didn’t answer until “I expected you days ago. Where have you been?”

“I stopped off in Virginia to see a friend of mine. We discussed her moving down here to be with me.”

Molly was curious, “Is she?”

“I believe so, just as soon as I can find a place for us to live.”

“That means you are going to stay. Are you going to do anything with the property here? I want to know because Grandpa gave me 20% of the amount he gave you. Are you going to sell it?”

“What do you want to do with it?”

“Don’t know. I don’t have any money to fix it up. I’d like to see horses grazing out in the pastures as they did before the fire.”

“It would take a lot of money. Is the old horse trail that goes up into the hills still here?”

“Yes, the entrance hasn’t been used, so the brush needs cutting out of the way. I don’t know if the right-of-way is still classified as such, but it remains valid. I could check.”

“Sometimes it might be looked into. Who has kept the brush out of the fields? Weeds are a problem, but it wouldn’t take much to plow them up and reseed, would it?”