Peter Grist - Flashback

She looked up with her big brown eyes. “I have no family as such, both my parents died some years ago and I don’t really get on with my brother. Aunts and uncles are very distant, India in fact, that’s my origins. This was to be our dream home, and it was, for a while. Ben was due to leave the Air Force in another twelve months and we were going to stay here in Ohio, maybe resurrect the farm with some cattle and crops and I was going to go back to teaching, that’s what I did before we had Joshua. Ben’s insurance covered the mortgage and I get a generous widow’s pension from the government so we do okay. I don’t really need to work at the library but I would go stir crazing I think, and Josh can be a challenge sometimes, so Esther comes in three times a week and I go to the library, it works out really well.” They sat in silence, he didn’t know what to say, but his stomach did. Linda heard the deep rumble from across the table, they both smiled. “Gosh, you must be starving, when did you eat last?” she asked as she stood up. It was his turn to flush crimson.

“Oh breakfast I guess, I had pancakes at the diner in town, but really, I don’t want to put you to any bother Linda”.

“It won’t be a bother, I promise. I made a chicken pie on Sunday that will easily feed all of us, and I phoned Esther earlier to ask her to pop it in the oven”.

She busied herself with pots and pans and getting vegetables.

“What are you like around the kitchen Ed, are you a real man, can you use a peeler?” she asked with just a hint of sarcasm. “I need to go and see Josh, would you…?”

He took the proffered potato peeler and turned to the sack of fresh potatoes as she disappeared towards the stairs. “I’m back to doing KP duties again!”

Linda tapped on the boy’s door. “Josh, honey, can I come in?” With no answer, she turned the knob and stood at the open doorway to the boy’s room. He sat on his bed, holding the plastic model kit of a jet fighter, one of his prized possessions. There was no answer but he shrugged his shoulders noncommittally so she joined him on the edge of his bed. “Honey, are you okay? Did those planes bother you today?” He shrugged again. “They won’t crash Josh, I promise, Daddy was really unlucky. You got a hug for your mom?” Another shrug. “Please honey?” She knew that Joshua’s hugs were rarely given but something in her voice must have struck a chord with the boy. He leaned closer and put his arms around his mum, still clutching the model behind her back. She held him tight, making the most of every moment. Josh had inherited his father’s looks, his height and his smell. She felt closer to them both on the occasions her son gave her a hug. Reluctantly, she let him go. “Honey, I have to go back downstairs, will you come down in a while and join us. I would really like you to come and say hello to Mr Saunders properly. You’ll like him, he’s a nice guy. And we have chicken pie for supper, your favourite. Will you come down for me? Honey?” He finally looked up at her.

“Is he gonna be my new dad?”

When he wasn’t bottling things up inside Joshua had a knack of asking his questions up front. She blushed yet again.

“No Josh, he’s just a friend that needs my help.” But her own mind wasn’t completely convinced with the answer and maybe nor was Josh either, but he nodded.

“You’ll come down then, soon?”

“Okay mom, I’ll come down in a bit”.

She stood and moved to the door. Turning back she looked at her son, still in the same position as when she had entered the room, head down, still holding on tightly to the jet fighter.

“I love you Joshua”.

There was no response from the boy. She turned and headed for the stairs.

Ed had finished peeling the potatoes and had started to slice them in half and plop them in a big pan Linda had put on the stove.

“My, you work quickly. Thank you for doing that”. Ed turned towards her looking very pleased with himself.

“I’ll be honest with you; I’m used to TV dinners. I can’t see the point of cooking for one, but I used to cook quite a lot”.

“Oh, you’re on your own then, I assumed you’d be married? I guess there’s an awful lot I don’t know about you… yet”.

Their eyes met across the kitchen, the enquiry not lost on either of them. He broke the silence. “Was, I was married, divorced a few years back. She went off with one of my colleagues, one of those things I guess”.

“Ouch, that must have hurt.” she said earnestly.

“Yes it did, still does if I’m honest, I miss him a lot”. She got the joke immediately and they both laughed out loud. The mood was relaxed and they spent the next forty minutes talking, gently enquiring and investigating each other as they prepared the meal. Likes and dislikes, food, cars, a little history. The subject of the missing girl was avoided by both of them. The smell of the cooked pie drifted through the house finally drawing Joshua down just as Ed was laying the plates on the table.

“That’s my job.” he said from the doorway.

“No problem fella, you can take it from here” Ed replied, putting the plates in a stack nearest the end of the table to where the boy stood. Joshua picked them up and deftly set the rest of the table, setting three places instead of two without any sign that it was unusual. While the boy did that, Ed mashed the potatoes and added butter and milk while Linda served the rest of the meal.

“What would you like to drink Ed?”

“Oh, I’ve got that covered; I got you a bottle of wine. It’s in the car; I’ll just go get it.” Outside it had gone dark so the lone figure that stood just inside the tree line had no problem looking in on the scene of domestic bliss without being observed himself. He saw Saunders move to the front of the house and come back moments later with a bottle. After a few minutes, the intruder moved much closer to the house so he could get an even better view of the folks inside as they talked, ate and cleared up.

The meal had gone better than Linda could have hoped for. Ed was brilliant with Joshua and after only a few minutes her son had seemed to warm to him, well as much as he warmed to anyone. Ed and Josh talked about cars and planes. Josh told Ed that his granddaddy had flown one of the P-51s hanging over the fireplace in World War Two, for the 8th Army Air Force from a place called Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Ed told Josh and Linda about some of his time in Vietnam but mainly about the jobs he had had since leaving the army. After a dessert of fresh fruit salad and ice cream they worked together, washing, drying and stowing everything back in its place. Linda went upstairs with the boy to help him get set for bed while Ed moved back to sit near the unlit fire with a fresh coffee. After a few minutes, she came back down. She had changed from her work clothes into some slacks and a loose top but Ed still thought she looked a million dollars.

“That was the best meal I have had in years. Where did you learn to cook like that?”

She sat opposite him in the other armchair and set about lighting the kindling in the fire.

“My mom was quite frail, she had some kind of degenerative bone disease so by the time I was twelve I was doing most of the chores, including the cooking. Pop couldn’t cook for toffee and my brother was a lazy bum so it was up to me”.

The wood started to crack and snap as she added some bigger logs. They both relaxed back into the chairs and stared as the flames licked higher. They sat that way in contented silence for a few minutes, watching the flames lick higher and higher until Linda broke the silence.

“Okay mister, time’s up, what’s going on?”

Ed knew it would come to this point. During the meal, he had made his mind up to tell Linda the truth, as screwy as it sounded. With a sigh, he started. He told her about driving into town and blacking out, coming around and being in the old car. She stayed silent as he told her about seeing the little girl being abducted in the pick-up truck. He continued staring into the fire as he told her about the flashback he’d had in the motel room, although he saw her eyebrows rise from the corner of his vision when he said about the wet footprints in the room. He finished with finding the grave and his trek back towards town and waking up in the library. By the time he had finished his tail, the fire had died to almost embers with just a few large pieces of charred wood remaining. Linda put another log on the fire then sat back, thinking.