Fixing To Die

Besides, he thought, he was really fond of Miss Dickce and Miss An’gel. They cared about him, had taken him in and given him a home. They had allowed him to adopt Peanut and Endora—well, really, they had all adopted the cat and the dog. But the animals were in his care most of the time, and he couldn’t ever give them up, no matter what. He wanted to stay with the Ducote sisters, he realized. They were the only family he had now, along with Clementine, Peanut, and Endora.

He hadn’t thought much about it before—hadn’t allowed himself to, really—because it was all like a wonderful dream. If he thought about it too much, something might happen to make it all go away. Make the dream into a reality, and his reality in California hadn’t been happy or pleasant.

He had found a home, and he wanted to keep it. The sisters seemed like they truly cared about him, and he cared about them. Miss Dickce was like the grandmother he had never known, and Miss An’gel was like an aunt, he thought.

Now he didn’t feel so spooked by the dream, he realized. Feeling unburdened, he came out of his reverie to see Peanut and Endora digging a hole near the roots of a tree.

“Stop that,” he told them. They recognized the tone of voice and immediately stopped digging. Endora looked annoyed with him, but then she always did when he stopped her from creating a mess.

He caught them before they had dug much up, and he patted the dirt and grass back into place. He didn’t want to know what lay underground there, and he would have to watch to be sure they didn’t try to dig there again.

Thwarted from digging, Peanut concentrated on sniffing around and doing his business. Benjy picked up the poop in the plastic bag he had brought and dropped it in a large garbage can at the side of the annex.

“How about some water and a treat or two?”

Both Peanut and Endora looked happier once they heard the word treat, and he opened the door to their room and let them in. He was about to close the door behind him when he heard voices outside. He stuck his head out the door and saw Mary Turner walking toward the building, and she had two people with her. A guy and a woman. The guy looked kind of old, Benjy thought, over forty at least, but the woman looked okay. Younger than Mary Turner, but nowhere near as beautiful. Maybe the guy was the woman’s father.

They hadn’t spotted him, and he didn’t want to be caught gawking at Mary Turner. His face reddened slightly as he drew his head back inside and shut the door. He couldn’t help himself somehow when she was around. She was so nice and sweet and beautiful. His heart thumped a little harder whenever he thought about her.

Peanut barked to remind him that he had promised treats. Benjy went to the bag that contained the animals’ food and dug around until he found the small bags of treats for each one. He had a couple in each hand before he turned around to give them out. He had quickly learned one would sulk if the other one got a treat first.

Peanut gobbled his down immediately and looked up at him hopefully. Endora picked her small bites up in her mouth and jumped on the bathroom counter away from Peanut. Sometimes the Labradoodle managed to steal hers before she could eat them, but not this time. Peanut knew better than to try to climb or jump on the counter.

“That’s all you get for now,” Benjy told him. He picked up their water bowls, dumped the contents, and refilled them. While Peanut lapped thirstily at his, Benjy retrieved a bottle of water for himself from the small fridge in the room and drained half of it in one go. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was.

He checked his phone to see if he had missed a text or a call from the sisters, but there was no message. He decided he ought to go over to the house and find them, see whether they needed him for anything.

“You two are going to stay here for a little while by yourselves.” Benjy gave each a couple of rubs on the head. “Now be good, and don’t make a racket. As soon as I can, I’ll come back and get you, and you can visit in the house, okay? I need to see if everything is okay over there first.”

Peanut woofed, but Endora, true to form, simply yawned at him and began washing a paw.

Making sure the door was securely locked behind him, Benjy headed across the wide courtyard toward the back door that led into the kitchen. Halfway across the courtyard that separated the house from the annex, he stopped for a moment to look at the back of the house.

Was it really haunted? He figured a house this old had seen its share of deaths. Remnants of those dead souls might linger on because of unfinished business. He had read that recently. What was the word the author had used? Revenant. Something that had returned from the dead. Despite the late afternoon sunshine, he shivered. That returned from the dead bit bothered him.