The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3 - 20. Stranger Things Are Happening

The next morning we woke the boys and had them get ready for church. After attending Sunday school and sitting through a rather lengthy sermon, we went out for brunch and then dropped Revin off at his house on the way home.

“Did you have a good time?” Becky asked when she greeted her son at the door.

“It was a blast,” Revin answered. “We did all kinds of fun stuff yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day, and I got a leprechaun tee-shirt too.”

“Wow, I guess you did have a good time. Did you thank Dr. Currie and Dr. O’Hara?”

“Yep, I did, and Grandpa Josh too.” She raised her eyebrows when he said this.

“It’s what all the boys call my dad, and Revin started doing it too. I hope it’s not a problem.”

“Actually, I think it’s cute.”

“I’m glad you’re not upset. By the way, next week is Palm Sunday, so would you like to join us when we go to church? We’ll have to stop here and pick the boys up anyway, since they’ll be staying with you next Saturday night.”

“Yes, I’d love to go with you, and I think I’ll join you the following Sunday for the Easter service as well.”

“Great! And I’m glad you’re going to do that, because then you can ride back to the house with us for Easter dinner.”

“Is there something I can bring?”

“I’m sure Dad has it all planned out already. We usually have ham for dinner and he makes a special cake for dessert.”

“Ok, but I feel that I should contribute something.”

“You are. You and Revin.”

“That’s just two more mouths to feed.”

“Don’t worry about it, because no one is going to complain or say a thing.”

“Then I look forward to the experience, especially meeting more of your family.”

“You’ll also get to meet a few of our friends as well, because some of them will also be joining us.”

After finishing my chat with Becky we headed home, but just before we got to the property line something hit the SUV. “What the heck was that?” I asked as I pulled over and stopped. Brandon and I got out to investigate, but I wanted the boys to remain where they were.

“You boys stay in your seats while we check it out,” I told them before we closed the car doors.

“I didn’t see you hit anything, but there appears to be a small dent in the rear panel on the passenger’s side,” Brandon pointed out.

“I wonder what caused it,” I said, and then I walked back to the spot in the street where it had happened. After looking around, I picked up a rock slightly smaller than a baseball that was lying at the edge of the pavement. After picking it up and visually examining the surface, I noticed there was a speck of paint on it that was the same color as our SUV.

“I think I found what caused the dent, but I don’t know who threw it,” I said as I carried it over to show Brandon.

“I didn’t see anyone else around, but I guess it could have been thrown by a kid hiding somewhere.”

“Possibly, and it’s bad enough that I’ll have to get it fixed.” We then got back in the SUV with the boys.

“What was it?” Noah asked.

“It looks as if someone threw a rock that hit the SUV, but we don’t have any idea who did it.”

“That sucks,” Ryan stated, verbalizing what we all felt.

When we reached the house, I decided to check with Dad to see if he needed any help either next weekend or on Easter. “Dad is there anything we can do to help the next couple of Sundays, like possibly doing some of the shopping or cooking?”

“No, I know exactly what I need and I’ve got everything covered.”

“Don’t be afraid to ask if you need anything or if you want us to pick something up.”

“I’ll ask if I think of something, but other than Brandon and Trey helping out with the small stuff like they normally do, I’ve got the other tasks well in hand.”

“If you say so, and it looks as if Becky and Revin will be joining us as well.”

“That’s fine, because there will be more than enough food to go around.”

He seemed confident in his plans, but I hoped he wasn’t taking on too much. I can’t help worrying about him since he had a heart attack several years ago. He hasn’t had a relapse or any other problems since then, but I still worry that he is overdoing it at times. That’s one of the reasons Brandon and I took over the hotel from him, because we didn’t want him doing so much. Even though I understand he won’t live forever, I’m not sure what we’d do without him. He does a great deal to help out with the task of raising such a large group of boys, and I know Dion and Trey value his assistance as well.

Seeing that issue had been addressed, at least as far as Dad would allow, I went upstairs to change and then I started doing my weekend chores. Before long, Dion came over to speak with me.

“I heard about what happened to your SUV when you were driving home, and I think someone threw a rock at my car too. It didn’t hit, but I saw something whiz past the windshield.”

“Did you see who threw it?”

“No, I didn’t see anyone around. Do you think it might have been David Hubbard again?”

“Damn, that possibility hadn’t crossed my mind, but maybe it’s because I was hoping he’d given up and moved on by now.”

“Possibly not. The last time Graham was here he said Hubbard was still hanging out just beyond the property line.”

“Yes, I remember, so I’ll talk to Dad to see if he thinks we need Graham to come back and see if Hubbard is still hanging around.”

“Good idea.”

I then got Dad alone so I could mention it to him. “So what do you think?” I asked after explaining the situation to him.

“I’ll call and invite Graham, Andrew, and Sammy for Easter, and then he’ll be able to look around while he’s here to see if he can spot Hubbard or Abernathy.”

“Ok, let’s do that then, but I actually hope it was just a mischievous kid.”

“Yes, because a kid would be less likely to do it again,” Dad agreed.

I put the incident out of my mind after our conversation, but the following morning I noticed something else. Brandon and I had just left for work and as I was driving down the street I noticed the sunlight glinting off of something in the road. I stopped to examine what it was.

“Damn, someone smashed a glass bottle, or maybe two on the pavement,” I told Brandon as I got back into the driver’s seat. “I’m going to back up to the house so I can grab the push broom and sweep it to the shoulder. There are a couple of nasty looking shards that could puncture a tire and cause a flat, or possibly an accident.”

I backed into the driveway, put the SUV in park, and went inside to get the broom. Dion and Trey saw me and asked why I’d returned, so I explained the situation before grabbing the broom and sweeping the glass off the street. When I finished, Brandon and I continued on to work.

“Maybe Dion’s right. It could be David Hubbard doing these things.”

“It’s possible, but why did he wait until now to start harassing us again?”

“It might have something to do with the weather. It’s just starting to warm up, and until recently the rocks and litter, such as glass bottles, have been covered by snow or frozen to the ground. That means he either couldn’t find them or possibly free them from the ground until now.”

“I suppose that’s possible, but now we’ll have to wait nearly two weeks before Graham gets here to confirm or reject our assumption that Hubbard is the one doing these things.”

“We’ll just have to remain alert and make sure that the boys don’t go anywhere without one of us with them.”

Nothing much happened over the next couple of days, but then as we were coming home on Friday we noticed something else. There were several tree branches strewn across the street just before it crossed our property line. They weren’t large enough to make the street impassible, but they did create a hazard. They could get kicked up as a vehicle passed over them and then chip the paint or cause scratches in the finish. When we went inside, we asked Dion and Trey if they had noticed them when they arrived home earlier.

“No, there was nothing in the street when we came home,” Trey confirmed.

“So it had to happen sometime during the past couple of hours,” Dion added.

“No trees are close enough to the road for that to happen naturally,” Brandon pointed out, “so someone has to be responsible for putting them there.”

“I’m sure plenty of branches came down under the heavy snow accumulation during the winter, so whoever did it probably had plenty of branches laying around on the ground to choose from,” I agreed. “They just had to pick them up and lug them to the street. I don’t think a kid would have been likely to go to that much trouble for a prank.”

“I agree, so I’ll go with you and help to remove them from the pavement,” Dion offered.

“Ok, let’s do that now,” I stated.

Just as we were removing the last of the branches from the street, another branch about a foot long and as thick as a hot dog came flying through the air and hit me in the back. I quickly swung around to see what had happened, and after spotting the piece of wood that had struck me; I looked around to see who had thrown it. There was no one else around, except for Dion.

“Did you see who threw this?” I asked as I picked up the small branch.

“No, I only heard it when it struck you and then landed on the street.”

“It has to be David Hubbard then. No one else would be waiting around out here just to do these sorts of things.”

“I believe you’re right.”

Once the road was clear, we returned to the house. Dad, Trey, and Brandon were putting dinner on the table, so Dion and I washed up quickly and joined them. “What were you two up to?” Dad asked as we arrived late to the table.

“There was some debris in the street and we went to remove it,” I answered simply so I didn’t alarm the boys. Dad merely raised his eyebrows and shook his head in understanding.

After dinner, Brandon and Trey helped Tristan and Wyatt pack their overnight bags, because Becky would be picking them up in the morning to spend the day and stay overnight with them. When they finished, they carried the bags downstairs and set them in the foyer, and then they joined the rest of us to watch a couple of shows on TV.

Wyatt showered and slept with Tristan again, and I think both boys were excited about spending time with Revin and his mom. As we were tucking them in, I hoped they were calm enough so they could fall asleep fairly quickly, because I didn’t want them to arrive at the Kramer’s house all tired out.

They both seemed fine when they came down to join us for breakfast the next morning, and then we sent them upstairs to change out of their pajamas. Becky and Revin pulled into the driveway just before 10:00 to collect them.

“Hi, Becky, how are you today?” I greeted her.

“I’m doing better now that Revin’s no longer pestering me about when we’re going to come get these two.”

“Yes, sometimes the boys lack patience.”

“Sometimes?” she asked raising her eyebrows and looking at me oddly.

“Ok, most of the time then,” I conceded and she laughed. “I hope your afternoon and evening go better.”

“Oh, the rest of the day will be fine, now that Revin has these two to keep him company.”

After making sure both boys had their overnight bags with their clothes for church, we walked with them as they went out to Becky’s car. “We’ll pick you all up at 9:30,” I said after the boys were buckled into the backseat.

“Ok, I’ll make sure we’re all ready,” Becky agreed.

“Oh, and don’t feed them a lot for breakfast, and just eat enough to tide you over as well, because we’ll be stopping for brunch afterward.”

“Maybe you could just drop us off at the house first,” Becky replied, and I realized she was probably worried about the extra expense.

“No way! You’re going with us and it’s our treat.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know we don’t have to, but we want to, so don’t argue.”

“Ok, if you insist,” she relented before putting her car in gear and driving off.

Much to our surprise, Benny and Joshie spent most of the day with Ryan and Noah. Usually, the older pair had more important things to do than spend time with their younger siblings, but today seemed to be different. I wasn’t sure why until later, because that’s when we saw them put on their gear and head outdoors. I peeked out the window to see what they were up to, and they merely walked around the property. They appeared to be checking out the boundary markers that Dad and Elliot had set up to keep out David Hubbard and Sam Abernathy. I decided to ask them about it when they came inside again.

“What were you boys up to?”

“Nothin’ much,” Ryan answered.

“We were just checking to make sure the stakes were still in the ground and the crystals were attached to the top,” Noah added.

“And why did you do that?”

“Because I heard Uncle Dion and Grandpa Josh talking about David Hubbard. They were saying that they thought he was doing some of the stuff that’s been happening recently, so I wanted to make sure he didn’t get into the house again.”

“I see, and thank you for doing that.”

The boys spent the rest of their time playing games against each other, both those in the rec room and video games, so the rest of us had plenty of time to finish our chores and take care of other things. When we sat down for dinner later, Pop asked Ryan a question.

“Why haven’t I seen Owen around here lately? He used to show up at the house nearly as often as Revin does now.”

“It’s because his father got a promotion at the bank and they had to move,” Ryan answered with a sad expression etched upon his face. Unfortunately, the question had reopened an old wound for him, because he went through a difficult time accepting the fact that Owen had to move to a suburb of Philadelphia with his parents.

“When did that happen?” Pop continued.

“His dad found out about the promotion just before school ended last year, and then he stayed in the Philadelphia area for over a month while he got used to his new job and found a place for them to live. They didn’t actually move until the beginning of August.”

“Wow, how did I miss all of that?”

“It happened around the same time that you were talking to Nick and Shannon about when you could get together over the summer,” Dad explained.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. It took us quite a few weeks to iron that out, because either one or the other couldn’t get off the same week I could, so we had to keep in touch until we worked something out.”

“That’s right, and it explains why you either didn’t hear or didn’t pay attention to what was being said concerning Owen’s situation. We also left to spend time with Nick and Shannon on the same weekend that Owen’s family was moving.”

“Sorry about that, and I feel badly that you two aren’t together any longer.”

“Yeah, me too,” Ryan confirmed. “We were getting along great and I really miss him now.”

“You should get in touch with him and see if you can work something out for this summer,” Brandon suggested. “Maybe he could spend some time here with us, or possibly you could go there and spend some time with him.”

“Or maybe we could do both,” Ryan countered, suddenly perking up.

“Yes, I suppose that’s a possibility too,” I agreed.

“Ok, I’ll call him later and see what he says.”

After we finished eating, Ryan went to call Owen and Benny and Joshie disappeared as well. I assumed they had gone up to their room to help each other enjoy a sexual release, so I didn’t go looking for them or ask what they’d been up to when I saw them again later.

Since the older boys are more independent than their younger brothers, Brandon, Dion, Trey, and I felt a little lost. At this point on a Saturday we’d either be watching a movie or TV show with them, or the boys would be begging us to play a game with them. Seeing we didn’t have to do any of those things tonight, we sat down with Dad and Pop to discuss the current problem.

“What do you think we’ll have to do if Graham confirms that it’s David Hubbard who’s been responsible for the recent events?” Brandon began.

“If that’s the case, I’ll call the same guy who helped us get Hubbard and Abernathy out of the house and off of the property. Maybe he’ll be able to suggest a course of action to get rid of them completely.”

“What do you think he can do that he hasn’t done already?” Trey followed.

“I’m not sure, but I suspect he might have an ace or two up his sleeve that he can still play.”

“I hope so, because I’m worried the problems might escalate, like they did when he was in the house,” Dion stated.

“Yes, I’ve thought about that as well, but hopefully we’ll be able to do something before that happens.”

“I hope so, because I’m worried about the younger boys,” I added. “I have visions of Hubbard doing something that injures one or more of them.”

“I understand, and hopefully we can stop his activities before anything like that happens.”

This was still on my mind when we said goodnight to the boys and headed to bed. It caused me to have some very unsettling dreams in which my worst fears actually came to fruition. That’s why I was relieved when the alarm went off and I realized it was time to get up.

After getting ready for church, I ushered the boys out to the SUV, while Dad and Pop rode with Dion and Trey. We went directly to the Kramer’s house to pick up Revin, his mother, Tristan, and Wyatt.

“So did you boys have a good time?” Brandon asked after we’d said ‘hello’ to Becky and Revin.

“Yeah, Mrs. Kramer made pizza last night and she played a bunch of games with us too.”

“I didn’t do anything special, but the boys seemed to enjoy what we did,” Becky offered.

“And I’m glad to see them playing board games where they actually interact with others, rather than playing video games all the time,” Brandon told her.

“And I think I enjoyed it as much as they did,” she admitted.

When we arrived at church we introduced Becky to our friends, and then we took her with us to our Sunday school session while the boys went to join others in their age groups. When our class ended, I decided to ask Becky what she thought of it compared to the class at her church.

“I don’t usually attend the Sunday school at our church,” she replied.

“Wait, I thought Revin said he went to Sunday school when you went to church.”

“He does. I drop him off in front of the church and tell him I’m going to park the car, but then I run out to grab a coffee before returning for the church service.”

“I see, so what did you think of it?”

“Actually, I enjoyed interacting with the others. I thought it was interesting that the person leading the group asked each of us to say what Palm Sunday meant to us.”

“Yes, I enjoyed that as well and was surprised by some of their answers. Although most people started out saying something about Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem or his upcoming crucifixion, I particularly enjoyed what they added after that. I liked when they talked about various memories it brought to mind about this same time from their childhood. I hope the boys will have similar wonderful memories when they get older.”

“I agree, and I enjoyed their stories too,” she said as the boys came over to join us for the church service.

After sitting through a rather short sermon, at least when compared to the previous Sunday or one of the minister’s usual homilies, we made our way to the vehicles and headed out for brunch.

“I really enjoyed doing this today,” Becky said as I was driving there.

“Great! And you’re welcome to join us whenever you want.”

“Thank you and I might just take you up on that. It’s more fun going to church when you’re doing it with friends.”

“I totally agree,” Brandon said, and I think he was as pleased with her response as I was.

When we reached the diner she followed us as we made our way to the rear of the premises to where we normally sat. Our table was set up just as we expected.

“I take it this is where you come every Sunday?” Becky asked.

“Indeed it is,” Dad responded.

“I could tell, seeing this area appears to be set up specifically for all of you.”

“And today that includes you and your son as well,” Trey added.

After we ordered, Revin asked a question. “Why do they call this Palm Sunday? Is it cuz of the trees or the palm of our hands?”

“Damn, he’s never gonna learn,” Noah whispered, although loudly enough for the rest of us to hear.

Becky looked at him oddly, so I gave her a brief explanation. “The boys don’t like anyone to ask Dad a question like that because he doesn’t usually give short answers.” She smiled and nodded in understanding.

“Didn’t they explain that in your Sunday school class?” Dad asked Revin in return, while ignoring what the rest of us were saying.

“I don’t think so. He just told us that the people put their cloaks and branches down on the ground as Jesus rode the donkey into the city. He also said some of the people raised their arms in celebration and others bowed down as he went by.”

“Ok, then let me explain,” Dad agreed after he glared at Noah. “It’s called Palm Sunday because the branches the people laid down in front of Jesus’ donkey were palm branches. It was their way of letting him know that they thought he was the messiah, or savior, as he made his way into the city.”

“I see. It’s cuz of the tree then,” Revin said in understanding. “Is that why there were all those green crosses made out of leaves at the church too?”

“Yes, they were made using palm leaves,” Dad explained, and then he turned toward Noah. “And just so you know, it’s usually the fool who doesn’t ask about things he doesn’t know or understand.”

Noah didn’t respond, but I think he got the message. He merely stared at the plate that had just been set down in front of him and quickly began shoveling food into his mouth. It also appeared that Becky got a kick out of how Dad had handled the situation.

As soon as everyone finished eating, we drove Becky and Revin home. “Next Sunday you should eat a normal breakfast before church, because we won’t be going out for brunch afterward,” I told her before she got out of the SUV. “We’ll be having Easter dinner around 2:00.”

“Ok, I’ll do that,” she agreed before getting out and heading to the house. As soon as she and Revin went inside, the rest of us made our way back to our house.