Broken Wing

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A deep, menacing bark jerked Jessie from sleep. She scrambled up from the sofa. Glasses firmly in place, she headed to the partially open front door. Sometimes too smart for her own good, Causy had long ago figured out how to open almost any unlocked door and even a few locked ones. As tired as Jessie had been when they arrived, she didn’t remember throwing the bolt on the old door before falling asleep.

As she reached for the handle, a man’s voice came from the yard. She froze in her tracks. The tremors were instantaneous. She curled her hands into fists, unable to control them. Causy barked again. Jessie shook herself from the trance long enough to pull the door open a smidgen further, just enough to peek around it into the yard. Causy’s massive body was halfway down the drive, head down, hackles raised. Throaty snarls filled the silence between her alert barks. Her ears flicked back a moment, acknowledging Jessie’s presence.

At the end of the drive stood two decidedly uncomfortable-looking men. One was brown-haired with a white shirt and jeans. He stood just behind another man of similar coloring but wearing the royal blue Cascade Falls police uniform. It was him she watched more, as he was the armed one.

His gun was still in its holster, but he had his hand on it while keeping a watchful eye on Causy for any movement. She was glad he was following the police protocols she’d helped Julianna write on dealing with dogs, not that their local force would hire any hotshot, trigger-happy guy who would just shoot a guard dog acting like a guard dog should. Still, she knew even with training, not many people kept their composure well when a large dog stood before them.

Seeming to spot her movement at the door, the civilian said something to the other man, then gave her a shaky wave while calling out to her. “Hey there. Sorry to startle you. Great guard dog you have, but do you think maybe you could call this big fellow off so we can come up to visit?”

With only two hours of sleep from her long drive, her politeness factor was well past the point of pretending to be nice, much less being open to the idea of two strange males coming any closer to her than they already were. Ignoring his request to bring Causy in, she yelled back.

“This is private property and unless you’re here on official business Officer and Mister Not-an-Officer, then you two are trespassing. I’d thank you to turn around and go back to where you came from.”

This time the cop tried. “Ma’am, I’m Officer Andrews. I received a report about the car outside this house and wanted to be sure no one was up to anything here with old man Clark’s place.”

Biting back a snarky response, she tried to remember her manners enough to get them to go away. “Thank you for checking, Officer, but this is now my house and as such I have every right to be here. And as I have not broken any laws nor asked for your assistance, I’m asking you again to leave me alone.”

The two men whispered to each other before the officer waved in acceptance. “Sure thing, ma’am. Like I said, just checking.” He glanced at Causy, who was still in full protective stance.

“Go on, as long as you’re leaving and ain’t up to no good, she won’t come after you.”

Though both men nodded to show they heard her, they kept a careful eye on Causy and walked half-backward until they stepped off the property and across the road. Jessie watched them continue down the street to a large, light gray house with a truck and a police cruiser parked in front. Close enough to be good neighbors, if she hadn’t been so rude to the guy she presumed lived there. Once they were out of sight, Jessie leaned against the door, taking several deep breaths to calm the last of her nerves.

Causy trotted back up the drive and into the house, tail wagging and expecting praise. Though Jessie had discouraged the door opening trick, she still praised her for guarding the house properly and tossed her a dog treat.

After seven years in Chicago, Jessie’d almost forgotten the old Southern ways of life, where neighbors would actually notice and come by to check on something like a strange car in a dead neighbor’s yard. In a town like Cascade Falls, such actions weren’t just common–they were expected. It was a town built by folks looking out for one another.

The town’s roots began with Jessie’s great-grandfather. He had come to the area in the early 1900s in search of a safe place to raise his family. Over the decades, the Bradshaw’s homestead swelled with family and close friends invited to take advantage of the refuge. By the time Jessie was born, the town boasted a population of some three hundred people.

The Bradshaw clan had always done their best to care for the town and its citizens, a family responsibility ingrained in each from birth. Those who lived there appreciated their efforts.

The town had little crime, well-maintained streets, and many of the services and amenities boasted by cities multi-times their size, including well-equipped, well-trained police and fire departments, and small, but fully appointed schools competitive with the best schools in the state. At the same time, deliberate actions were made to keep the town small and avoid infiltration by chain stores, with all the businesses in town locally owned and operated. Cascade Falls was nearly autonomous in many ways, having little interference in day-to-day matters from the county, state, or even federal governments.

No doubt the police officer would check out her claim to own the house and Julian would likely call her later to fuss at her response, but she was too tired to worry about it now. All she really wanted was to go back to sleep, but she knew her body well enough to know it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon. Instead, she quickly changed to shorts and a tee-shirt, then headed into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. At which point she realized she hadn’t thought to have the house stocked with food or anything else. While the town had a lot of modern amenities, she doubted they had a grocery delivery service like she’d used in Chicago.

With a heavy sigh, she gave up on getting her caffeine hit for the hour and instead went back to the front door. Even the thought of going out in the yard had trembles starting in her hands, never mind that she had no intentions of going further than the Pilot which was sitting so close to the steps it was practically in the house. With that small comfort, and after checking thoroughly to be sure no one else was lurking around outside, she opened the hatch with the key fob then darted outside to grab the remaining two suitcases. Two more exhaustive check and runs for the vehicle had three good sized cardboard boxes and the near-empty cooler in the house, which finished the task of unloading her meager belongings.

She’d only brought a few clothing items she’d ordered online just before leaving, mementos she had of her parents, a couple of special books and gifts, and of course Causy’s things. The rest she’d left behind, wanting nothing reminding her of the life she’d once had in Chicago, not even the pictures of the people she’d met there and called friends. The “friends” who hadn’t even come to see her at the hospital or visited after it all happened. The “friends” who acted as if she’d died, instead of caring she survived.

She left unpacking the boxes and suitcases for later, other than retrieving Causy’s bowl so she could dish out breakfast. At least she’d prepared for one of them to eat, she thought to herself in disgust before checking the cooler one more time to see if something humanly edible had magically appeared.

She looked out the window at the Pilot again, sitting there taunting her with its mobility. There was a grocery store not even a mile away, and this was home, not Chicago. People here weren’t the same as the ones there, they wouldn’t act the same. But even as she tried to draw the mental image of herself driving to the store successfully, as the therapist at the hospital had suggested, she felt the tremors start again. Automatically, her hand came up to touch the rim of her glasses.

I’m such a goddamn coward. I drove from Chicago, but now I can’t go to the store? People go to the store every day. So what if people stare? So what if they talk? You need food, get off your ass and go!

Option two, mentally berating herself, did not make her feet move either. With a disgusted sigh, she found her cell phone and made the call she should have made the moment she arrived.