PART 1
GHOSTS
T
HE FAMILY FARM was the absolute last destination on Penny’s travel wish list. A stray strand of hair fell across her amber eyes as she stared out of the pockmarked Amtrak window. A blurred carousel of images passed by without sparking any interest. Farmland, strip malls, neatly organized pods of houses, then more farmland. She already missed the city. Her girlfriends would be going to Rosie’s pub after work to flirt with the hot waiters. Penny was on the train to Hell. She thought she had left the ghosts behind three years ago. The phone call had been a shock. Her father, Gary Thompson, was strong as a bull, stubborn as a mule, and Penny thought he would never die. His heart disease had other plans. If only her brother, Eric, was around handle this for her. Penny turned away from the window and extracted a tissue from her purse. She swore to herself that she wouldn’t cry, but these tears were for Eric. Penny’s mother died of cancer when she was seventeen and Eric fourteen. When she went off to college, Eric was a junior at Westfield High. Eric said he would be fine alone with Dad until graduation. Penny was nearing the end of her sophomore year, enjoying life in the city, when word came that Eric had been killed in a car accident. He lost control and drove into a tree one month shy of escaping the farm. The whole town turned out for the funeral. So much sadness should not befall a single family. That was the last time she had ridden the Amtrak back to the place she once called home. Three years ago. She was not looking forward to her father’s funeral or spending any time in the big farmhouse – with the ghosts. When the train slowed, Penny was surprised that two hours had passed. She exited the train onto the familiar
concrete platform. Heat and humidity hit like an ocean wave after the air-conditioned Amtrak. A colorful poster for her old dentist, featuring a cartoonish roadster shaped like a tooth, made her smile. Another placard announced the upcoming county fair, featuring smiling faces holding corn dogs on long sticks. Her stomach churned, thinking of the grease. Before more old memories could flood her already addled brain, blue and red flashing lights caught her attention. A black Sheriff ’s SUV hugged the curb at the base of the wooden stairs leading from the train platform. Seeing the man in a blue uniform leaning against the front grill sent a tingle up Penny’s spine. She froze, prompting other passengers to brush against her as they veered around the unexpected obstruction. Penny’s gaze was fixed on Chuck Foreman’s waving hand. She waved back, years of memories cascaded into her brain, despite her best efforts to block them. “How’d you know I’d be on this train?” She dropped her Yves Saint Laurent overnight bag on the dusty sidewalk. Chuck looked different. At their senior prom, his hair dangled around his ears and his face was dappled with acne. Now, a smooth, square chin rested beneath a row of white teeth. He seemed taller, and certainly broader in the chest and shoulders, in his crisp uniform. She could not see any hair peeking below his Smokey Bear hat. His clear blue eyes had the same puppy-dog expression she remembered. They had dated throughout their junior and senior years. Then he went off to join the Army and she left for college in the city. Five years ago. A lifetime. “You know how it is,” he looked at the ground with the shy smile she was so attracted to as a naive teenager. www.indtale.com
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