Those Crazy Katz' of Windsong Lane: Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Saying goodbye

One day while the truck was being loaded for, hopefully, the last time, Leo came over and asked if Sarah wanted to take a break and go for a walk to the park around the corner. Sarah asked her mom, and she said it was fine, so they headed off at a slow pace down the street. Leo gave her his address, which she took and tucked into her pocket. He then took her hand and said he really was going to miss her. Sarah suddenly felt very shy. She didn’t know what to do. This was a new situation for her. She had so many feelings when she was around Leo. Why was it that they had been there a year and she had only recently gotten to know him? She was afraid she’d never see him again after this. She said he had to write and also to call her at least once a week. They hung out on the swings in the park for a bit. The park was deserted except for them. They didn’t want to say goodbye, but they also knew that they should. Sarah hated goodbyes. She said maybe they would come down again to visit people or maybe he could come up to Raleigh some time. He agreed, but they both were a bit doubtful. It was easier to think it wasn’t goodbye forever though.

The Katz family was moving house that same day and would sleep in Raleigh that night. Sarah really didn’t expect to be back down again. He looked into her eyes and then bent and gave her a tender kiss. He gave her one last look then left. Sarah was left there breathless. That had been her first kiss. Her whole being wished it didn’t have to be that way. It was a first kiss and a goodbye. She walked home slowly, not really wanting to talk to anyone just yet. She wanted to savor the feeling and also to cry. The dramatic part of her wanted to fling herself down on the sidewalk and bawl her eyes out. She couldn’t do that though. Someone would come and ask her what was wrong and she didn’t want anyone to ask her what was wrong. She also felt rather giddy. It was all very confusing.

When she did finally get home, Karen took a moment from her mad packing to ask where Leo was. Sarah said he had gone home. She had a very dreamy, sad and distracted air and Karen could guess at what had transpired. With the hindsight of her years she could feel bad for her daughter but also knew that the heartache would pass and there would be others… maybe. One never knew. Maybe they would, in fact, stay in touch and something would come of that relationship. She hated to see Sarah in pain, but as far as the terrible kind of pain and confusion that could happen on the road to adulthood, she supposed this was not so bad by comparison.

He had been a nice kid, they both genuinely liked each other (so no unrequited love this time) and her protective mamma radar had not detected any excessive hanky panky. She could be wrong about that, but she didn’t think so. They had mostly been at the apartment under her watchful eye. She decided she better have a talk with Sarah soon about all of that. She was sure Sarah knew the repercussions of that kind of activity, but Karen needed to know that she really understood. It was going to be a tough conversation, especially since she was sure Sarah would be highly embarrassed, but when things settled down Karen resolved to bring the topic up. Sarah was probably too raw right now to have that conversation, besides, they would need some privacy and there was none to be had at the moment.

Moving was such an awful hassle. They had had to do it three times in this past year and she was somewhat regretting their initial idea to move for a year. Whatever had possessed them to sell their perfectly good house? They could have rented it out for the year and had a place to come back to. They wouldn’t have had to move EVERYTHING. Packing was hard enough, but packing with a toddler and a five year old in tow was next to impossible. She had set Jack and Ellie to work, but there was only so much they could do. She didn’t trust them with the breakable stuff. Some things, like the blankets and bedding were just getting thrown into the car. It just wasn’t worth the trouble to try to box it all, but with all the kids and the pets in tow, they couldn’t fit as much as she would like in there. She was exhausted and just wanted it all to be over. She didn’t care anymore where anything went, as long as it went, and by the end of the day all of their stuff was in one place. There was still the storage unit, but her brother and David had said they would help Johnathan with that, and for that she was infinitely thankful. She just hoped that Eli would actually show up.

There would be the clean up of the apartment, or maybe they would just loose the security deposit. There was no way she was going to bring all five kids back down to “clean up”. That would probably leave it dirtier than it was now. The house they had been living in was being worked on and didn’t have any new renters yet. She decided on the spur of the moment to take a break and go over there. She wanted to have one last look. Emma needed her nap, but Karen was pretty sure she would fall asleep in the car. There was nowhere else for her to sleep anyhow and she could tell that she wasn’t the only one wishing they could take a break. She spoke to Johnathan. He said he would continue to pack, but that it was a good idea. The kids were also up for it, though Joey said he was a little afraid. What if it didn’t look like their home anymore? Karen said that was possible. They would be in their new home very soon, and even if he didn’t believe her, it would feel just as much like home as the house they were going to see.

It was a nice drive out to the house. They went first though town, past all of the stores they had frequented, and the library. The community center and the soccer fields were next. Sarah said she really was going to miss horseback riding, and she said it with such a sad air that Karen said maybe they could try to find a place up in Raleigh to ride. Out past the soccer and baseball fields were patches of forest interspersed with homes and farms. They turned up Windsong Lane and drove past the Batcherly home, which was looking a little more ragged than usual. This was probably because Bill couldn’t do much of the work anymore. He did manage some of it, but it was difficult because his leg still pained him. Karen wished they had been over there more to help them out. She knew the Batcherly’s would have refused the offer though. Oh well, it would be a moot point after today. She did hope that the Batcherly kids took care of their parents in their old age. They hadn’t always gotten along, but they were good people and had always meant well.

Karen turned into the driveway at the house and saw that there were no repair trucks at the moment. That was a relief. She just wanted to look around one more time. Everyone got out of the car. There was a sort of melancholy to the family and a little bit of curiosity. Most went around to the back to see how the repairs were coming. The back wall had been stripped away and all of the burnt pieces removed. There was a large tarp over it all, and behind it, a new framework was being constructed to hold a new wall and window. It looked like this time the window was going to be a bay window. “Well, that will be nice.” Karen thought to herself. Beyond the opening she could see the kitchen. It was completely empty. There were pipes and the makings of a new floor, but nothing else. She could see the living room, though, and it looked passable.

She tried the back door, hardly needed with the big gaping hole in the wall, but it was easier than stepping up into the living room off the ground. It was open. She stepped in and had a look around at the empty room. She felt a little tug inside. They had had quite a year here. It seemed to have gone by so very fast. It seemed like everything just whizzed by these days. All seven of them had grown a year older. They had been through some really great times and some really scary times. They hadn’t gotten as much book learning done as she would have liked, but they had all learned so many new things.

Everyone, including herself, had made some wonderful new friends. In the case of the Shwartz’s, possibly life-long friends. She would definitely be willing to make the trip again to see them, and they had been invited to come up to Raleigh to visit any time they liked.

The kids had met some new people that they never would have met otherwise. They weren’t all necessarily the people they would have picked to be with, but each of them had taught them all a lesson about appearances and making assumptions. Every person has a story and a reason for the way they are. We might not always know what those reasons were, but it pays to keep that in mind if that person is being difficult. People can also surprise you, and the Katz’s had been shown the most astounding kindness by people she never would have expected kindness from. Others had judged them without really knowing them, and that was also a lesson.

Sarah had found her first love (or was it infatuation?), and Jack and Ellie had gotten to explore the freedom of the countryside and the plants and animals to be found in those open places. Most especially, they had learned about the Sandhills area of North Carolina. Karen was willing to bet that her kids knew more about that area and had seen more things, real things, like red-cockaded woodpeckers, than most of the other kids in the state. They now had first-hand knowledge of the region from their father, a scientist, in a way they couldn’t have gotten otherwise. Ellie had a notebook full of bug drawings almost good enough to publish, and she and Sarah both had books full of bird sketches. They still had the bird feeder, if not the hummingbird feeder. That had gotten burned in the fire. She would make sure to put it up in the new house.

Yes, it had also been a difficult year. It was a year of illness and health, pain and kindness, misunderstandings and reconciliations. Johnathan had gotten his field data, and thank goodness it was not all lost in the fire. The papers had all been covered in soot, but readable. They smelled like smoke, but she was sure those Graduate students would be able to muddle through them. The computer had been also covered in soot, but they were able to take it in and get it cleaned up and there was no major harm done. Again, it smelled distinctly of smoke, and she was sure Johnathan was going to get a reputation at school for that particular smell.

They had also learned a little bit about farming, if only just a little bit. They had learned about chickens and about goats and they had acquired one little waif of a cat. They had also learned that farming could be a very difficult way to make a living. She wasn’t sure any of them wanted to do that when they grew up.  Still, she was glad Jack had gotten a chance to get closer to some of the animals that he had always loved. They would try to keep the horses in their life, and maybe they could even get some chickens. It would be possible in the new house if they had a fence built. Well, one thing at a time.

Emma had taken her first steps in this house and had learned how to use a potty. Joey was learning things at such a fast rate, she didn’t even know what to think about him. Yes, a lot of living had happened in this house in one year’s time. It made her wonder about all of the living that had come to this home before them. She wondered who had lived here before and what had happened to each of them. Were there ghosts and echos here of those things? Did you leave a little bit of yourself when you left a place? Well, they seemed to have left a rather large calling card in the form of a large hole in the wall, she thought wryly.

Jack looked around and felt sad. He looked at the scratches on the doorframe to the hallway and knew that Yeller had put them there. The scuffmarks near the front door were from the day they decided to try to skid their way into the house in their best slippery dress shoes. He looked sadly out the back window to where the goat and chicken pens used to be. His chickens had just started laying well. He was so sad to have had to give them up, but he was glad Rose and David had them. They would take good care of them and he might even get to come visit them. Also, that spot in the goat pen had been his favorite spot for a while. It was just a blackened patch on the ground now. He felt a fresh wave of sadness for those gentle yet greedy little gals. He remembered how they had smelled and how soft they had been. He wiped away a small tear and looked around hoping that nobody had seen him.

Sarah looked at what was left of their climbing tree. It was a sad blackened pole at the moment. No more low branches to climb. They were all burnt off. She supposed the magnolia might be dead now. Not much could survive heat that could melt a window frame. What had been a sand box was a pile of sand. She was sad to see their garden was also a bare patch of semi-tilled earth and new weeds. Looking at that, she thought of Rose’s garden and felt a little bit better. It felt like Rose’s garden and everything about the Shwartz’s would be where it was forever. She wondered what their kids were like and thought them lucky to have grown up with Rose and David for parents.  Sarah wouldn’t miss the town too much. She would miss Beth-Ann, but they truthfully exchanged letters and phone calls more than actually seeing each other anyway, so moving wouldn’t change that too much. She had some friends in Raleigh that she was looking forward to seeing that she had really missed. It would be nice to get back into Raleigh for that reason, and to see Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. She had enjoyed being out in the country, but the only thing she would really miss would be the horse stables and Leo. She really hoped he would write to her or call her. She would make sure she wrote him when they got settled. She looked around and decided that she was ready to move on. This didn’t feel like home anymore even though it had been so for a year.

Ellie was very conflicted. She had really enjoyed the yard and the fields which had given her so much to study and sketch. It had also been nice to roam and she would miss that, but she missed her friends in Raleigh and was ready to go back. It had been a little bit lonely here. It was nice getting to know Justin, even if he was a creep sometimes, and the two brothers William and Nathanial were ok, but she missed girls her age. She didn’t know any other girls interested in bugs and birds and stuff like she was, but her best friend and she loved to run and climb trees and play make- believe games together and they almost always agreed on what to play, unlike the boys here and Jack. Jack was getting a bit too serious and full of himself these days anyway. He wasn’t as much fun anymore.

Joe was sad. He said he missed the way it used to be and the goats and the garden and the chickens were gone. Karen agreed and told him that she missed them as well. Karen suddenly had a feeling they were done here. A new home awaited, along with friends new and old. Life would go on like it always did and she found she wanted to be done looking back and go forward instead. It was time.

Johnathan drove up in the Jeep just then and came around to the back. Karen stepped out of the house. He put his arms around her, “You gonna miss it here?”

“Yes, a little bit.” She said. “I think it’s time to move on now though. You’ll probably not be able to recognize the place in a few weeks. They’ll get this new wall and windows done and re-do the kitchen. The house will probably get a new coat of paint and someone will come in and do a better job of taking care of the yard. Maybe it’ll look more like a suburb without the barn and pens. Nothing in the back looks the same. I wonder if the owner will replace the pens?”

“He didn’t say if he would or not too me. I don’t know. Anyway, I came out because this came in the mail while we were out finishing up with the truck.” He handed her a shoebox-sized package. “It’s from your brother.”

Perplexed, Karen took it and opened the brown paper-bag wrapping. Inside a shoe box with some tissue paper was a figurine of a dog. The dog was about a foot tall and looked just like Snitch except that he had a large rooster painted on one side. On the other side it said, “The Katz’s lived here.” In the dog’s mouth was a flaming torch. A note in the box was from Eli. It said, “I thought you might like something to leave behind as a momento to a special place and your year of living dangerously.”

“What does he mean by that?” Karen said.

“Beats me,” said Johnathan, “But I do kinda like the idea of leaving this behind. It’s kind of a homage to our year.“ They called the kids and they all talked about it and decided to put it near the fence over where the goats used to be. The workers were less likely to run into it or move it over there and maybe it would stay with the house and property for a while. Johnathan put it on the ground on top of a large flat rock and they all stood around and thought their own thoughts, each saying goodbye in a way, and then they left. Leaving felt not so sad for all of them now, except for maybe Joey and Emma. Most were ready to look ahead toward the next year and what it would bring.