Adrienne Ellis Reeves - Sacred Ground

The house gleamed dazzling white in the late-afternoon sun and its glistening black shutters completed a picture that caught at Gabe’s imagination. It had never occurred to him that his great-grandfather’s house would be so grand.

He wondered who cared for the lawn, the shapely shrubs and the flower beds. The two-car garage was on the left of the house and painted the same white with black shutters on its two small windows.

Stunning as the house was, Gabe saw that it was just the beginning of the property. Surrounding the lot on which the house stood were acres of trees. The growth was thick and the trees looked tall and healthy. Gabe had no idea how many acres he was looking at but the entire property in its prime condition spelled money.

“All this is yours?” Drew asked in disbelief.

“Seems unreal, doesn’t it?” Gabe just looked, trying to take it all in. “But that’s what we’re here to check out.” He felt as bewildered as his brother.

They walked up the five steps and across the shiny porch to the door. Gabe selected the new key on his key ring and hoped it would work. What an irony it would be if after two days of driving he wouldn’t be able to get in the house. The key grated at first but on the second try the door swung wide.

He pushed open the screen and stepped into a dark hall. Automatically he felt on the wall to his right and snapped on a switch. Light poured down from a chandelier, revealing a wide hall with hardwood flooring, a winding staircase and a room opening off each side. There were also small tables and a closet.

Drew went around Gabe to explore the room on the right. “Look, Gabe, he had one of those old-fashioned sofas like Grandma had.”

“They were very popular in Grandma’s day. It was a sign of class if you could afford one. You see how long they lasted.” There were several chairs that complemented the sofa, as well as tables with heavily shaded lamps.

“Looks like something from a museum, not a room you’d be comfortable in,” Drew commented.

“This was the parlor and it was only used for formal visiting. It’s not like our family room. Let’s see what’s across the hall.”

“This is more like it.” Drew zoomed in on the television that had its own corner, picked up the remote control and pushed the power button. The screen lit up and Drew scanned all the channels. “He’s got cable. Cool,” he said.

The room was a combination of old, heavy chairs, a massive bookcase, a contemporary love seat, floral draperies that let in the light when pulled and an oriental rug in the middle of the floor.

The item Gabe liked best was the fireplace. He could imagine how cozy the room would be in the winter with the drapes closed and a warm fire lighting up the place while you looked at some show on TV or read a book or had a conversation with friends while music played in the background. He looked around again. Was there a radio or CD player? If not, he and Drew could get one.

Opening off from the living room was a dining room with a table and chairs for eight, a china closet and a matching sideboard.

“This looks almost like the china closet we have only it’s bigger.” Drew traced the wood framing the door and Gabe knew he was thinking of their mother and how much she had treasured the dishes given to her from her family. She’d said once or twice that someday those pieces would belong to Gabe’s wife or Drew’s wife. She was keeping them for her daughters-in-law.

Gabe moved over to stand next to Drew. “Our great-grandmother probably has some china in here that was passed down to her. Just like Ma.”

The dining room led into the kitchen, which had a wide window over the sink. Gabe pulled the shade up to reveal a large room painted a soft yellow. It held an electric stove, a large refrigerator, a dishwasher, a kitchen table with four chairs and a small TV on a bar.

A stall shower and toilet had been put in at the end of the hall near the back door. The washer and dryer were nudged into a corner separated by a partial wall from the bath facilities.

“All the bedrooms must be upstairs,” Drew said. “Looks like they put one down here just for convenience.”

“When Great-Grandfather built this house it was thought proper to put bedrooms on the second floor if you could afford a two-story house. The downstairs was public but the upstairs was private. Just for the family.” Gabe counted the steps as they went up. “It’s only sixteen steps. That won’t bother you.”

“’Course not,” Drew shrugged. “I’m just sayin’.”

Of the four bedrooms they saw, one had been turned into an office. There were files, maps, crowded bookshelves, a desk and a chair or two. All the rooms had clothes closets, dressers, big double beds, tables with lamps and knickknacks. The large bathroom had a long tub with claw feet.

Everything was of good quality and Gabe was impressed, yet always in the back of his mind he heard Jasper Moultrie say that he was to examine each room of the house closely. Otherwise he’d never find what Ezekiel Bell had left for him to discover.

When they explored the backyard they found a paved area which led to a neat shed that Gabe surmised held the lawn furniture.

A garden plot ran half the length of the garage.

“What’s all that stuff?” Drew looked at a few shoots pushing through the soil.

“Maybe you can find out and tell me,” Gabe said, “but I’m impressed. Maybe Great-Grandfather had someone take care of it, because what could a man who’d been one hundred when he died a few weeks ago do with a spade and a hoe?”

By unspoken consent they walked beyond the garden to where a wire fence closed in the rest of the land. The heavy six-foot fence was topped with barbed wire.

“He lived in this little old town almost in the country so what’s with all this barbed wire? I don’t get it. I think he must’ve been crazy. What’s in there other than those trees?”

The expression of bewilderment on Drew’s face was so much like their mother’s when something hadn’t made sense to her that Gabe had to swallow several times and question himself once more if he’d done the wise thing or if he’d been a little crazy, too, like Ezekiel, at whose command he now stood here with Drew.

There was a gate wide enough for a tractor or a truck to drive through. Gabe searched among his keys and found one that fit.

“Let’s go in and see if there’s anything other than grass and shrubs inside,” he said as he unlocked the gate and pushed it wide. There was nothing but grass, low shrubs edging the space and wildflowers. Drew went one way and Gabe went the other but it was the same all over with slight depressions here and there. They covered the space then met and sat down on a rough wooden bench that stood on the right side of the cleared plot.

Birdsong and soft breezes blowing through the woods were the only sound in the late-afternoon air. Yet there was no sense of isolation. In fact, Gabe glanced around once or twice, so strongly did he feel the presence of someone.

Probably it was Great-Grandfather, who’d surely sat on the bench many times contemplating his land.

“It’s like he had his own private park,” Drew said, eerily echoing Gabe’s feelings.

How could she have been so clumsy? Makima Gray was disgusted with herself. Mama used to say to let Makima do it because she didn’t drop things or stumble or spill food even when she was a little girl. All her life she’d been naturally agile and careful.

She didn’t know how to explain what had happened. In the restaurant, she’d glimpsed at the tall man in the black jacket behind her in the line. He’d been talking to the teenage boy in front of him. He’d also been staring at her.

The small area she usually sat in had been crowded and thoughtlessly she’d turned to its opposite side when disaster struck. Her long shoulder bag had hit against a chair, upsetting her balance, and the young girl behind her had knocked her elbow with a muttered “Sorry,” as she went by.