The Secrets of Pimsim Cove - 4. Chapter 4

The walk back to the General Store was long. It felt like someone had filled my shoes with lead weights as I slowly shuffled along the quiet streets of Pimsim Cove.

Walking at a snail’s pace, I had more time to look around the small town, unlike earlier when I was running down the sidewalks like a crazy chick. First, when I chased after my grandparents and then, when I tried to recover my stolen bag from the cohort of my evil uncle.

Pimsim Cove was actually a lovely and peaceful town. A wooden bench along the deserted street was calling my name. My feet were so tired and my body ached all over. It looked like the perfect place to sit down and rest for a minute.

It also was a good spot to tackle the unpleasant task of calling Mom. Not that calling Mom was horrible in the least, I loved chatting with her, I just hated lying to her and worse yet, I hated that I didn’t have any news about Dad.

I pulled out my cell phone and called home. Of course, Mom answered on the first ring. I heard here through the loud crackles. “Anna, is that you?”

Taking a deep breath, “Yeah Mom, it’s me.” The reception here was bad. I decided the best action was to talk a lot and very fast to totally dominate the conversation. Well here it goes. “I’m here. Pimsim Cove is kind of nice and Stonebrook and Rosy are so super-duper cute--”

“Let me talk to Rosy!” Dagnabit…she cut me off, now would be a good time to lose cell signal, but unfortunately, no, it got staticy, but didn’t drop the call.

“She and Stony had to go to the store.” That wasn’t a total lie. “I stayed behind since there was a slight hiccup with my luggage--”

“Oh my goodness, the airline lost your luggage?” She exclaimed.

“No...well, not exactly. You see, it was found and now, I have to wait here to get it back! I should have it back today, if not it will definitely be tomorrow.”

I needed to continue before she started asking questions and got all suspicious-mother-like so I just blurted out, “I also saw Uncle Rook and it’s sooooo freaky how much he looks like Dad. Except his hair is longer and he hasn’t shaved in a while. I think he has some ideas about what happened to Dad and went off to check out a couple of things. He and some local guys are stepping in to make things happen.”

Wow, I didn’t know that I could stretch the truth that far without breaking a fingernail, but luckily Mom believed me and that helped sooth some of her fears.

“Oh honey, thank you so much for being brave and doing this for your father.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. “I came here for all of us Mom, for you and Dad and Jimmy. (Sniff, sniff) I just wish I had more answers for you right now.”

I could hear her stifle a yawn and decided it was best to cut the conversation short. I told her to get some sleep as I wiped at my eyes, pushing the tears away before I could start crying. “Get some sleep Mom…I love you and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

***

Sitting on the street bench, I noticed more of those shimmery things on the buildings across the street. They looked like twisty-glass wind chimes and they were hung near all of the windows and doors and a few were perched on tops of the buildings. Glancing up and down the street, I saw that they were all over town. I guess the people here really like their wind chimes.

Resting felt so good, but I really had to get back to the store. I hadn’t realized that I was almost there, until I looked up and saw the sign across the street. My heart did a little summersault, because the General Store was still open.

The same middle aged man who had been reading a newspaper when I came in the last time was still sitting on his stool behind the counter.

“You left in a hurry.” He said when I slinked back into the store.

“Yep!” Keep it simple. Keep it sweet.

I walked straight to the back of the store where I had jammed the crap that I needed to repurchase, because my crazy Uncle Rook was a moron. I gathered everything up in my arms and headed back up to the counter to pay.

Exhaustion was starting to crash over me. When I placed the few items on the counter, the man glanced at them and then gave me a quizzical look.

“You’re not from around here.” He stated instead of asking. I suddenly looked up at him. The dark purple puffy rings under my eyes didn’t grab his attention, but my emerald green eyes sure did.

“You’re Rosy’s grandchild.” Again, he stated the obvious.

“Sir--”

“John Dobbins.”

“Mr. Dobbins, if you don’t mind, I haven’t told the McLoughlin’s that I’m here…in town, yet, because…well, because I’m a big fat scaredy cat and I’m sore and incredibly tired. Not to mention that my bag was stolen and I’ll probably be sleeping on that park bench out there...so please, don’t tell them that you’ve seen me.”

He shook his blond head and frowned. “Rosy and Stony are good people and I’d never dream of letting their grandchild sleep out in the cold. We have a cot in the backroom and you’re more than welcome to stay the night. I’ll let the wife know to expect one more mouth for dinner.” Again, Mr. Dobbins stated as if there was no room for arguing.

Sleep out in the cold? Well, it’s not like it was snowing outside since it was the second week of June. His offer was very tempting, but I didn’t feel right accepting charity.

“Thank you, but I can pay you--”

“Nonsense child, but if you like, you can help me stock the shelves until dinner’s ready. We got a big delivery today and it’s always nice to have help putting everything away.”

I smiled at the thought of Ralph grunting at nice, old Mr. Dobbins. “Yes, I know. I caught a ride to Pimsim from Mills Ferry with Ralph this morning.”

He jerked his chin towards the back of the store. “Go on lass, just grab a box from the top of the pile and bring it out here. If you need to use the cart, it should be sitting just inside the doorway there.”

Stocking the shelves was super easy. Open the box, plop the stuff on the corresponding shelf with the same stuff already there. The time passed quickly and when I was carting the last box out, Mr. Dobbins called out to me from somewhere in the back of the store. “It’s dinner time. You can just leave that box there and I’ll finish putting it away in the morning.”

***

The Dobbins’s little apartment was right over-top of their store. Dinner smelled wonderful, but I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

“Oh John, the poor child is at the brink of exhaustion!” Mrs. Dobbins scolded him as she led me from the dinner table. She helped me to a small bedroom with a narrow folding bed that probably would have been very uncomfortable if I laid awake on it for too long. Lucky for me, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

“Sleep tight, dear.” She whispered and pulled my shoes off my worn out feet, then tucked a stray lock of strawberry blond hair away from my face. “I’ll make you a hearty breakfast in the morning.” I heard her say when she was tiptoeing out of the room, but I had already drifted off to a faraway dreamland.

***

Waking up to the deliciously fatty smell of fried eggs, fried ham and fried potatoes would normally make me want to grab my tennis shoes and jog for about ten miles, but incredibly, somehow this morning, it just made my mouth water.

The little bed moaned when I pushed myself up. I stared down at my dirty, sleep rumpled clothes that I had been wearing for the last two days. Eeeeww! Eeeeww! Eeeeww!

Heck, this was my favorite t-shirt. The warm, rich brown color complimented my tanned complexion and I loved the adorable gold stars that decorated the back.

Aren’t Khakis supposed to be able to stand up to the most rugged activities? Well, mine were looking like they had spent a full season on Survivor. My rocket dogs were my only possession that still looked good. Hopefully if anyone sees me, they only look at my feet.

After I ate breakfast, Mrs. Dobbins tried to pack me a lunch for later, but I assured her, “I’m gonna go to my grandparents house today...I promise. I’m not going to chicken out like I did yesterday.” I forced a weak smile to assure her. “It’s time that I faced them.”

“You’ll like them, dear. The McLoughlin’s are really nice people.” She gave me a quick hug and added, “Well lass, just remember, if things don’t work out, we will still be here if you should need us.”

***

Leaving the General Store felt strange and not because I was walking away from the Dobbins’ hospitality, but just walking down the street itself just felt...odd. It felt like...like I …my mind searched for words to describe the feeling…It felt like I was being watched!

I might just be paranoid, but I whirled around and peered into several store windows and doorways. Where was he? I glanced behind me while continuing to walk forward, which wasn’t such a good idea, because I ran smack into a solid brick wall.

“Whoa!” The wall grumbled.

“What the smurf?”

Then the wall suddenly stumbled and tipped backwards. My head snapped forward towards the direction that I was now falling, which was also right into Mr. Bag-Stealing-Guy’s arms.

Crap! He easily caught me and he smiled when he helped me back up to my wobbly feet. Why couldn’t it have been anyone else in the world but him? He scooped up my journal from the sidewalk, dusted the dirt off, and handed it back to me.

“I think we got off to a bad start, so let’s start over, shall we?” He asked with a slight bow of his dark head. “Hello, I’m Sean D’Gloma--”

“Hey, wait a second, I thought you were Michael.”

His lopsided smile was adorable. “Michael’s my father.” Okay, so he is Cute-Picture-Guy’s son, that’s cool, since Picture-Guy was probably as old as my Dad and anyone over thirty was ancient, right?

I guess I didn’t stop and think about the logic to that one with the whole, ‘Dad’s been kidnapped and Mom’s counting on me to save the world’ issue going on right now. But still, it didn’t matter how cute this guy was, he did steal my bag. I quickly regained my composure and stepped around him, continuing down the sidewalk.

The view from the Dobbins’ apartment let me study the layout of town. I drew a rough map and made some notes inside my journal before venturing out this morning. Sean walked beside me until I stopped right in front of the police station and then his perfect smile suddenly vanished.

“Uh, Anna, what are you doing?” Plastering my best innocent smile on my face, I turned to him and batted my blond eyelashes. I really want my brown mascara back! “I’m filing police reports! Since now, I have to file two reports,” I ticked off on my fingers. “One report on my missing father and a second report for someone stealing my luggage.”

“That’s so not funny.” He grunted under his breath as he grabbed my arm and pulled me past the small police station, forcing me to walking beside him.

“Look, Rook planned on mailing your bag to you after you went back home. Why didn’t you just hop on the next flight back to America when you saw that all your stuff was gone? You’d be safe right now and you would have still gotten your things back, so it’s not like, ‘technically’ anything was stolen.” Sean made little air quotes for emphasis.

My green eyes narrowed in on him. “I want my bag back, right now!” I growled through clenched teeth and poked him in his hard chest for my own emphasis. He backed away from all five feet and two inches of me.

“I don’t have your bag...you saw me give it to Rook while you were spying at the boathouse.”

“Yeah and I also heard him say that you always know where to find him...so find him!” Sean paced around and scuffed the bottom of his tennis shoe on the concrete.

Today, he didn’t look like a bad-ass motorcycle dude. He looked like a normal teenager wearing a pale blue t-shirt, calf-length camouflage shorts and grungy tennis shoes. I was still undecided if I liked his hair slicked down from his helmet, like last night or the wet black mess that stuck out in every direction that he was sporting right now.

He also smelled fresh and clean. Because of him, fresh and clean was a luxury that I’ve had to go without. Now my temper finally exploded and I whacked him in his arm with my journal.

“Fine! You can just go smurf yourself! I’ll find Dad and my grandparents and Uncle Rook without your stupid help!” Stomping off in the direction of the post office, Sean sprinted to catch up with me.

He slowed his long strides down to match my much shorter steps. His chiseled face held no emotion as his bright eyes darted around. I hoped he was nervously wondering what this crazy American was going to do next. My uncle had obviously told him to watch me, or keep me out of trouble, or make me disappear off the face of the earth, or all the above. I wasn’t about to make life easy for him.

Making a sudden left and pushing through the front door of the post office, totally caught him by surprise. Good! He shouldn’t be allowed to know everything that was going to happen. I was now taking control of this train wreck.

Thankfully, there weren’t any customers inside, so I walked right up to the young woman working the counter. The pretty girl looked pleasant, but then her smile suddenly melted when she saw Sean rushing in behind me.

At first, I thought that she didn’t like him, but correction...she didn’t like me! She scowled in my direction as she mentally sized me up, but her smile instantly returned when her eyes licked across Sean’s tall muscular body.

“My, my, Sean, what do we have here?” The girl purred. She looked like a perfect blond Barbie doll. Oh puke!

Clearing my throat to get her attention back to me, I wanted to scream at her that I’m the customer…over here…me...not him!

Biting back the bile that was rising into the back of my throat, I asked her a sweetly as possible, “could you please give me directions to 73 Spring Hill Lane?”

Her frown returned and she suddenly looked at me as if I was something the cat had puked up on the carpet. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give out addresses or personal information.”

Her fake professional tone was irritating and then she gave me an icy smile that just dared me to do something about it. Okay, little Miss Clairol. Two can play that game.

I’d been in more post offices than just this one in this rinky-dink little town. I knew there had to be a freaking map somewhere in this place and when I turned around to stomp off…Bingo!

I found it plastered to the wall right behind Sean. I quickly stepped around him and over to the street index. “Spring Hill Lane,” I muttered to myself under my breath.

“Hey, you can’t do that!” Postal Girl shouted at my back as if she had any authority over what was public domain. I flipped her the bird, over my shoulder as I quickly noted the location of where the post office was and studied the streets that led to Spring Hill Lane.

I was a product of Atlanta’s public transportation and could find just about anyplace. I found Pimsim Cove now didn’t I?

“Postal Maps are intellectual property, you stupid cow!” I smirked at the thought of her pretty mouth screwing up into a fierce ugly scowl as she glared at my back and I almost giggled when she gasped. It was even better since Sean burst out laughing at what I just said.

Okay, have location, must make mad dash!

I tucked my journal into my purse. Without any warning, I bolted for the door and disappeared out into the streets of Pimsim Cove. I had to run as fast as I could. I needed to put some distance between myself and Sean.

The element of surprise would give me a head start, but with his long legs, I knew that he would quickly catch up. So, when he did, I just kept on running. Heck, I’ve been on the track & field team at home for the last six years. I wasn’t always the fastest, but I knew how to pace myself and could outlast most of my teammates.

Coming up on the next cross street, I slowed enough to read the street names before returning to my previous pace. Sean tried to grab my arm. He stepped to my right and almost stumbled when he missed me. A glorious grin swept over my face. He might be big and strong, but I was small and fast.

The edge of town rapidly approached and that’s when I noticed that the huge stone wall…the one that Ralph and I saw driving into town yesterday, the sucker really did spanned around the entire town and continued right into the ocean.

Oh goodness, I seriously hope there’s another drawbridge thingy or we are gonna run smack into that wall. Without reducing speed, we came around the next corner. I glanced up and saw that there was a doorway and it was still open. My heart leaped as I pushed further ahead of Sean.

These planks were not as wide as the front gate and the moat was missing. It looked like an ordinary wooden door lying open on its side on top of the ground. The road outside the city walls turned to gravel, which made it extremely difficult to keep up our breakneck pace.

Incredibly, right where the wall split, it was two very different places. Within the wall was a prim and proper city, but outside the wall was a beautiful open countryside.

The small green hills rolled for miles. Charming little houses speckled the shoreline that ran for as far as the eyes could see, before disappearing over a hill. To the right was sparkling blue ocean and to the left was a gentle rolling field with high grass, that was surrounded further back by that thick mysterious forest.

How strange. I noticed that the trenches of the deep watery moat ran in front of the tree line like a deep gash carved into the land instead of remaining against the stone wall.

My Rocket Dogs slipped in the thick gravel. I needed to slow down or I was going to fall on my face. I also needed to slow down to read the house number on the next mailbox.

I had been running so fast, that I forgot to look at the last two houses. Glancing over my shoulder, I was surprised to see that the last house was almost a dot on the shoreline and Sean was several feet behind me, still trying his best to keep up.

“73!” I croaked through my dry, cracked lips.

Sean stretched his long legs out further, but I still reached the front porch first.