Chapter 4

I heard Sarah say, "Oh no."

I looked to see what had caught her eye and I saw that she was looking at the road below up. There way a flat bed truck heading up the road. I went past my driveway and then backed up and began to turn into the driveway.

I turned and pushed Sarah into the house, "Get in your bedroom Sarah. Hide in the closet."

Sarah ran to the bedroom and I heard the closet door slam. I turned and watched the truck slowly come up the driveway. I saw that a man whose face had been worn by too many days in the sun was driving. He had a woman that was missing most of her front teeth sitting next to him. There were two boys riding in the back of the truck; holding onto the wooden barrier that separated the bed from the cab. Both boys had a silly grin on their face.

The truck stopped and the two boys jumped off of the truck and stood next to the truck with their hands in their pockets. The man looked around and then walked up to me.

"I'm Sarah's Uncle Henry, you seen her?"

"I just got back from visiting my relatives," I said, "I haven't seen Sarah since the last time she was here with her father. Did you ask Aaron where she was?"

Henry shuffled his feet, "Aaron ain't here no more. He blowed himself and his cabin up. Sarah run off and I need to find her. She should be with kin."

"Damn, you mean Aaron killed himself, why?"

"He was sick. He didn't want to pain none. I guess he told Sarah to run off and he put dynamite under the house and did it."

"Pop, you said that I could have Sarah first, Ok?" the youngest of the boys said in a squeaky voice.

"Shut up boy. We got to find Sarah first."

Henry looked out over the valley, "Nice place you got here. If you see Sarah will you tell Maize and hold Sarah until we can come and pick her up?"

I agreed and walked with Henry to the truck. His two boys jumped in the back of the truck and stood with that silly grin on their faces. The woman in the truck never looked at anything around her; she just stared straight ahead.

As Henry was getting into the truck I saw the two boxes of dynamite close to the cab, "Is that Aaron's dynamite?"

Henry shot me a glance that told me to mind my own business, "He don't need it no more."

I backed away from the truck. I wanted them to get far away from my house. Henry turned the truck and began to drive toward the county road. He turned left at the county road and began to drive quite fast away from my house. That pleased me greatly.

I went into the house and called for Sarah. She came out of the bedroom looking to see if her Uncle Henry was in the house.

"He's gone. He asked me to let Maize know if I saw you. Your father blew himself and the cabin up. I'm sorry Sarah."

Just then a tremendous explosion went off down the road and I ran to the window and looked in the direction that Henry was going. There was a pile of debris in the road that didn't even look like a truck and flames and smoke were coming from the wreckage. I dialed the State police number and reported that there was an explosion on the road and that there was probably a loss of life. I gave my name and address.

With in fifteen minutes there were several police cars and fire engines at the site. The road was blocked off and soon county road crews were on the site to repair the road. After about an hour I saw a police car start up my driveway. I made Sarah go to her room and told her to be quiet.

The State policeman walked to my front door, "Mr. Orson, did you know the people that were in the truck?"

I invited the policeman into the living room, "All I know is that his name is Henry. This afternoon was the first time that I've ever seen him. He came by to tell me that Aaron Teague had committed suicide a few days ago. Aaron did a lot of work for me. I really think he was putting his own name out in case I needed anymore work done."

The policeman was writing as I talked, "Mr. Orson, do you have any idea why the truck blew up?"

"I know exactly why it blew up. He had two boxes of old dynamite in the back of the truck that was covered with sweat, when I asked him about it he as much as told me to mind my own business."

"Do you know how many people were in the truck?"

"I saw a man and a woman riding in the cab and two boys in their teens riding in the back," I told him.