A Long Night's Dream

Rachel Embers crawled wearily into bed, keeping on the lamp beside her to give warmth to the otherwise seemingly cold and lonely room. She glanced about her walls, peering helplessly at the photos there. Some were of her late husband, some of her folks from long ago...and last, but not least, that of her baby brother; her only sibling. So it was when she finally slept, after turning off the lamp eventually beside her on the stand, she dreamed about her brother.

He was merely five when he was found crying beside a grave. His cheeks were round, like that of the Campbells soup kid. His hair wavy and dark against his pale skin. He sobbed uncontrollably for his loss, as he sat looking down into the grave.

"I-I will never forget you buddy, you'll see. I will come back, I promise!"

His mother and sister Rachel joined him then, watching as the only man amongst them, threw sand upon the open grave. Rachel had to pull her brother away from the hole, when it appeared he wanted to join whomever or whatever lay beneath the growing mound of dirt. In the background stood an old one room shack. An old cabin hewn from rough logs of long ago. It housed small windows for light, as well as a rickety door, barely hanging on its hinges.

"What about the old place...what will become of it now?" the man asked, leaning heavily on his shovel, having finished his neighborly task.

Rachel's mother smiled and shrugged. "I suppose the bank will claim it, along with the property. My father couldn't keep up his payments you see. But I promised him, I would bury him here, just like he wanted."

Tommy interrupted then, tugging on his mother's long, worn skirt. "Mommy, I have to come back. How can I visit like I promised, if the bank owns it?"

The neighbor raised his brows in disbelief. He was amazed how much the boy understood at such an early age. "Well, I'll be. You have one smart boy there, Mrs. Crawford. Yes, indeed!" he leaned in close to the boy and whispered. "How about I make a bid here on this property and gives it to your Momma, huh? Then you can come back anytime you like." the neighbor offered.

Tommy shook his head positive, sporting a wide grin for the first time in days. "You promise?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Just like I promised my grandad and his faithful companion?"

"Yup, just like I said. Shall we shake on it, son?" the man asked grinning, while quite pleased with himself.

Tommy spit on his own hands and asked the man to do the same. "It ain't sealed unless you spit on your hands too." the boy announced.

"Oh, okay." the man said, spitting lightly into his own hands, not wanting to have his chew join in on the ceremony, which had now settled between his bottom teeth and pushed there for safe keeping by his fat tongue.

The two shook on it, as as luck would have it, the bank gave the property away for a song, along with its old shack. They did not appear to deem if worthy of much. The neighbor handed over the deed to the dead mans daughter, thus fullfilling his agreement with the young boy.

Every five years the boy returned like clockwork. "Like I told you, Grandpa. I have returned." He'd place a small, wild flower bouquet upon the raised hill, which grew wild grass upon it, covering its surface. But the boy always seemed to know how to find it, as he'd be found often whacking the grass away, to place his flowers referently upon it, to the old man and his dog, who were buried beneath the earth.

The old shack had been renovated and built into a two bedroom cottage, with the help of the man who once made the contract in the first place with the boy. He was said to be Tommy's new step-father and a good one at that. He appeared to truly love the children's mother.

When Tommy had reached the age of twenty, he once again returned to the grave, but this time dressed in uniform. He brought with him not only an array of wild flowers but that of an expensive dog's bone, fresh from the local butchers. He set the flowers and the bone gently upon the mound, which he had just mowed as he kneeled down in silence. When he finally spoke, this was what he said:

"I've returned, grandfather...as promised. I thought I might not make it back this time, being I was drafted into the army and sent overseas you see. But here I am, as I promised I do. I brought old buddy a bone this time. It's been too long since he had one."

When Tommy stood, it was to find his sister approaching him. The house stood empty and dark, as the windows appeared to be broken by what was said the neighboring kids.

"I thought I would find you here." Rachel spoke, with a tear close in her eyes. "I wasn't sure you'd make it back this time. It's funny how time changes somethings, isn't it?" she asked, jerking a finger towards the old house."With Momma and step-father now in the south, will you buy the old place then Tommy? You have always spoken of it."

Tommy stared at his sister in disbelief. He blinked hard to see her, gulping at the vision before him. "Rachel, is that really you? You are with child...I didn't get a letter informing me you were married..."

Tommy's voice faded as Rachel woke with a start. She had almost forgotten that moment in her life; that place and time on the hill, when she had not yet married, being pregnant and feeling very alone. She only recalled a boy, who continued to visit the grave of an unmarked buriel site. Where an old man and his dog lay beneath in the cold and overgrown earth. One in which a boy faithfully visited, as he once promised long ago.

Rachel flipped on the lamp beside her, then getting slowly out of bed, while slipping on fuzzy pink slippers, she padded over to view the picture of the little house she'd once knew and of a brother she adored. Tommy stood smiling at the old brownie camera, his small arm placed about the German Shepherd's body proudly, with his grandfather standing with them close behind.

Rachel stared in earnest at the faded black and white photo, wondering what Tommy had actually seen that fateful day he had found his beloved grandfather and the dog shot dead in the woods, those many years before. Tommy had apparently been their only witness to the crime. It had become a closed case after several years passed, when her brother would not tell or share what it was he saw. Rachel suspected he knew whom it had been, but in his heart and mind, he would not accept it.

Rachel sighed heavily, before leaving the photo to return to the warmth of her covers. When her head hit the pillow once more, the dream continued....

to be continued...