Drifter Chapter 1 by BillyPenner

DRIFTER CHAPTER 1I grew up in a pretty normal family, we went to church every Sunday, my father was a state worker for 23 years and counting and my mother was an elementary school teacher. We weren’t upper class by any means, but we never went without. I might not of had all the newest stuff like the other kids did, most my clothes we got from Goodwill and yard sales but that didn’t bother me to much. I was taught at an early age the value of hard work and saving money. When I was eight years old I started mowing our neighbor Mrs. Lanes yard. It wasn’t a very big yard and only took me about an hour every Saturday morning. After I would finish with her yard I would have to mow ours on a deal I had with my father. The deal was I could use his push mower and he would supply the gas and keep the blade sharp to mow Mrs. Lanes yard for free if I also mowed ours every week. If I chose not to mow ours then I would be charged for the “rental” of his mower which would be five dollars every time I used it. Knowing that I only made ten dollars a week mowing Mrs. Lanes I sure wasn’t about to give up half my profit for “rental fees.” Our yard took about two hours to mow and I didn’t mind it to much because there is something so satisfying about mowing to me. I’m not sure if its the instant results you get in making a shaggy yard look nice and clean cut or what but I enjoyed it. As I got older I started picking up more odd jobs around the neighborhood, white washing a fence, cleaning out flower gardens, picked up a few more yards to mow. By the time I turned 12 I was making around sixty bucks a week except in the winter time. I still made some money by shoveling snow but not nearly what I was making during mowing season. I was very stingy with my money, instead of going out and blowing it on toys and junk like most my friends I saved almost all it in a Mason jar. My goal was to keep saving and buy my first vehicle when I turned sixteen but that never happened.

It was two days before my 15th birthday and my world came crashing down. I was walking home from school and had just turned the block to our street when I saw our house was swarmed by cars. Most of them I knew as members of our family but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they were at our house on a Thursday afternoon. I walked up to the front porch where my Uncle Lenny and Mrs. Lane were talking and I was about to ask what was going on when Mrs. Lane saw me and broke down crying running up to me wrapping me up into the biggest bear hug I think I ever had. Uncle Lenny walked down the steps and over to me and pried Mrs. Lane away from her embrace.
“Robert I need to talk with you” he said as he put his hand on top my shoulder and walked me away from the house and over to the big walnut tree in the yard.
“I don’t know how to tell you” he said with tears filling in his eyes
“What’s going on Uncle Lenny, wheres mom and dad?”
“Robert they were in a car accident today coming back from the doctors office” more tears falling down his face
I stood there staring at Uncle Lenny my mind shutting down
“Robert they didn’t make it, they were pronounced dead on the scene”
Those final words hit me like a brick and I lost it. I ran into the house, everyone went quiet watching me as I ran into my bedroom and slammed the door falling onto my bed tears running from my eyes. I must have layed there crying for what seemed like hours with different family members walking in to try and talk with me. I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t want to be consoled I just wanted to be left alone. After awhile I ran out of tears and just layed there wonder why this had to happen. No child should have to go thru this, why….why….why was what I kept asking myself. My door opened again and in walked Uncle Lenny with a strange woman that I had never met before.
“Robert this is Lucy and she is from Child Services” Uncle Lenny said.
“She is going to have to have you go with her for a few days til me and Aunt Linda can get all the paperwork in order to have you put into our custody”
I stared at him, hatred building up in me as he finished speaking
“What makes you think that you and Aunt Linda can just stroll in and replace my mom and dad like that!” I yelled
“I don’t want to go anywhere, this is my house and I’m not leaving here to go with anybody!”
“Robert I can understand your pain and confusion, but the laws are clear and we can’t let you stay here by yourself your still a minor” Lucy said trying to sound sympathetic.
“GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!” I screamed at both of them loud enough I knew the whole house heard.
“We will leave you alone for a little bit longer to let you wrap your head around this, but its what has to be done Robert” Uncle Lenny said as he ushered Lucy out the door closing it behind him.
I was a total wreck, my mom and dad were gone, I was being forced out of the only house I ever knew to go into Child Services for god only knows how long just to end up at my dead beat uncles house who sit around all day while making my Aunt work and do all the house chores. I’ve even saw her mowing their yard a few times, she said it was because she liked the exercise but I knew better.

I grabbed my backpack and dumped all my school books out and started filling it full of clothes and few small things I had around my room like my flashlight and pocket knife. I grabbed my mason jar with my savings in it off my desk and stuffed it in the middle so it wouldn’t get broke, zipped up my bag and opened my bedroom window. I pushed the screen out trying to be as quite as I could be. Looking back for a moment to my room, knowing I would never see it again I crawled out my window and headed for the tree line that was next to the house. I had no idea where I was going to go but I knew I had to get away from there and fast. I walked thru the trees that lead down to the creek that ran thru the middle of town. As I got to the creek I started walking up stream, I had an idea of where I could go for right now and hoped I wouldn’t be found. I walked up the creek bank for about two miles to where the creek ran around a bend with a cliff on one side. I found a shallow place to cross that was only about knee deep. I rolled my jeans up and took my socks and shoes off holding them above the water as I started to wade across. The creek was spring fed and boy was it cold, about 52 degrees this time of year. I made it to the bank of the opposite side and set down in the gravel. Pulling a t-shirt from my bad I dried my feet and legs off so I could put my socks and shoes back on. I had just finished lacing up my shoes when I heard someone calling my name. It was faint but means they had discovered I had run away. I jumped up and started climbing a little trail up the bluff. It wasn’t much of a trail and if you didn’t know there was a trail there you’d walk right past it. The only reason I knew about it was my friend Mike and I kind of made it one day where we were out exploring. We had been up there many times and there wasn’t ever a sign anyone else had climbed it. Mike had moved away two years ago so I knew nobody would think to look up a bluff. About sixty feet up this little trail was a cave back in a little nook of the bluff. You couldn’t see the creek from its entrance so I figured you couldn’t see the entrance from the creek. The cave wasn’t very big, the mouth was about ten foot wide and probably six foot tall then it went into the side of the bluff a good fifteen feet. I crawled in and set my bag down looking around to make sure there wasn’t any unwanted visitors I was joining. Looked like I was alone thank god, last thing I wanted was to move in with a snake or two. I layed down on the rock floor, my head on my pack thinking about the events that transpired today.

I awoke a few hours later noticing it was dark, I must have fell asleep earlier my mind exhausted after the mental anguish it had endured. I sat up listening trying to hear any human noises but all I heard were the tree frogs croaking. My stomach was growling as I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch at school and here it was a good eight hours later I was guessing. I had no idea where I was going to be able to go to find food. The cops are probably looking for me as so is half the town by now. Then it hit me. The Bakers were out of town for a few days and they had a big garden that I had helped weed just a few weeks ago. I emptied my bag onto the cave floor, opening my mason jar and putting my cash into the front pocket of my bag. I descended down the trail which wasn’t easy in the dark. As I got to the bottom I headed down river but still on the opposite side from where I had lived. It was about a three mile walk down stream and then another four blocks over to the Bakers house. I climbed up the creek bank staying as low as I could so no passing cars would be able to see me. It was late and the street was quite. I decided instead of trying to sneak down the street I would take the alley and jump the back fence. I layed there listening for any sound and after a few minutes I decided it was now or never as I jumped up and ran across the road into someones side yard then tried to stay in the shadows as I sneaked my way down to the alley way. The alley was just a little dirt path that the city used to read electric meters and there really wasn’t no place to hide if someone saw me. I walked swiftly but quietly as I counted houses knowing the Bakers house was the third one down. I jumped over the chain link fence and squatted down to make sure I hadn’t drawn any unwanted attention. Everything was still quiet as I walked over to the garden that was some what lit up by street light in front on their house. I looked over the plants and saw quite a few that were ready to be picked and started loading my bag up with tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, radishes and a small watermelon that was ripe. After I had picked the garden clean basically I walked over by the Mr. Bakers shed to the end of the garden hose he had strung out from the house hoping he had left it turned on. I squeezed the trigger for the sprayer but nothing came out. I sit it back down knowing I had to sneak up closer to the house to turn it on. I was about to walk up there when I noticed the shed door was shut but was dummy locked. I’m not a thief atleast I had never been one before now but desperate situations will change you. I took the lock off and slowly opened the door stepping inside. It was pitch black and I knew better than to turn on the light so I grabbed my flashlight that was buried under all the food and turned it on to see if there was anything in there I could use. As I looked around I found I was in luck. I grabbed a box of the big kitchen matches he probably used to start his grill, a Coleman lantern and the bag of extra mantles that were hanging with it. A Coleman camp stove and then found five bottles of gas that would run the stove and lantern. Then I realized I couldn’t carry all that back with me I just had to take what I would really need. I put the five bottles of gas into my bag along with the box of matches and it would barely zip. I knew I could carry the camp stove since it had a carrying handle. I needed a pot to cook in tho and searched around making more noise than I would have liked but finally found a small two quart pot. I used some fishing line I had found and tied it onto my bag using the hole that was in the handle. I walked back out into the yard shutting the shed door behind me and walked over towards the house to turn the water on so I could fill my mason jar with drinking water. I was just about to the house when the yard was lit up by a bright light. I froze, scared I was caught. It took a second for me to realize it was motion activated flood lights and my motion triggered them. I rushed over and turned the water on and rushed back by the shed and to the end of the garden hose that was in the shadows created by lights. I quickly filled up my jar put the lid on tight and stuffed it in my already overfull bag and headed back for the alley. I set the camp stove over the fence and the headed over it myself. I grabbed the stove once I was over and headed back towards the creek. The pot I had tied onto my bag was making a lot of noise and the neighborhood dogs were starting to bark drawing more attention my way as I hurrying down the alley. I had just stepped into the shadows of a big oak tree next to the road when I heard a car coming down the road. I froze not knowing where to hide as I would surly be seen with all this stuff I was carrying. I was about to head back down the alley when the car pulled into a drive way about four houses down. Relived I watched the man get out and walk into the house and I headed across the road and back down the creek bank. Once I was next to the creek I could breathe alittle easier. I walked back to the cliff and acceded back up into my cave.