Tied up with String

Davy Houston ambled up the long dirt road toward the familiar old farm house.

It had been a long time since he'd seen his Uncle Harry and Aunt Ettie. He hadn't heard from them since he had his trouble up in Kansas.

But he was in need of a safe place to lay low for a while, and he sure did miss Aunt Ettie's cookin'. Besides, family's family right? They'd be happy to have him stay and help out a bit as they were both getting on in years but the chores sure as hell weren't slowing down. He told himself, shifting the pack on his back as he passed a brown paper wrapped parcel from under one arm to the other. Either way, he figured his good natured relatives weren't ones to turn a man out in the cold. In this part of the country, April still got quite chilly at night. And it was sure to rain in the coming weeks even if it had been uncharacteristically dry this season so far.

As he approached the little white farmhouse, a stout woman with short curly hair graying at the temples stepped out onto the porch drying her hands on her apron.

"Why Davey!" She exclaimed, visibly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Aww-uh, hey Aunt Ettie. Sure is good to see you, it's been a long time."

"It sure has, son." She replied.

"Is uh, is Uncle Harry around?" Davy inquired. "Ya see uh, I got this opportunity, out east. But it don't start for a couple weeks yet. And um, I was just wondering if y'all could use some help 'round the farm while I wait to get started."

"Oh! Well good for you Davey," Ettie said with a warm smile, "Why don't you come on inside and put your things down. You must be tired. He's out back, in the barn. You just wait, make yourself comfortable while I go and fetch him." She held the door open for him and gestured inside.

"Well thanks Aunt Ettie," Davy said relieved, as he entered the cozy little house. "Sure does smell good as ever in here."

"Roast chicken and scalloped potatoes, of course you're welcome to supper." Replied his jovial aunt.

"Well thank you ma'am, that sure does sound nice" Davy said. He had expected as much, his aunt and uncle had always treated him with kindness and hospitality. Although he got the feeling he was not his Aunt Ethel's favorite person in the world, she had always been warm and welcoming to him. And he sure did love her home cookin'.

Davy sat down at the kitchen table. He placed his pack beside him on the floor. And set his brown paper wrapped box in his lap, tucked under the table.

He hoped they wouldn't inquire as to why he carried a mysterious package with him, and why he was so reluctant to let it out of his sight.

Davy pondered the box and its contents.

Excitement and unease turned in his belly. He had gotten lucky, real lucky, when he found that box. Even luckier having made off with it successfully.

He'd seen an opportunity, and strategically, seized it the minute it was within his grasp. He'd gotten away with it too. Anyone would have done the same. The previous owners would have no way of finding him here, halfway across the country. They surely wouldn't report it to the police, as the box's contents were likely obtained through illegal means in the first place.

Now all he had to do was lie low here at the family farm for a few, bide his time, and figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Now that he was set for life.

He settled on telling his aunt and uncle, should they ask, that he was holding on to the package for a friend. And that he had not been made privy as to its contents. He was just to mail it out as soon as he was given an address.

Just then, his Uncle Harry came in from out back, his Aunt Ettie following closely behind.

"Why Davy! Thought you'd run off to seek your fortune out west." His uncle chuckled, "what brings you back to the farm?"

"Heh, heh," Davy laughed, getting up to shake his uncle's well weathered old hand. "From the west to east." Davy replied with a laugh, "I shouldn't need to stay very long, just until I hear from the folks I'll be working for. Happy to help out around here until then Uncle Harry."

"Well," said his uncle. "It sure would be nice to have an extra set of hands around here. I can't offer much by way of accommodations though. Our old spare room has since been converted. Ethel's quilting room now, not much space in there. But the old mattress is put up in the barn, and you're welcome to turn it out and bed down there for as long as you need to stay."

"Well thank you kindly." Davy politely replied.

"I'm sure we'll find plenty for you to do while you're here son." His uncle assured him, grinning. "Now go and get yourself settled, supper will be ready shortly." Davy could hear his aunt busy in the kitchen.

"Thanks again Uncle Harry." Davey said, making his way out to the barn.

Once inside the old barn David muttered to himself. "Stay in the barn," he scoffed. "Good luck getting a hard day's work out of me. Can't even offer a decent place to sleep. Bed down with the cows!" Davy found the mattress, along with some other stored items, in an empty stall all the way down on the far side of the barn. "Well," he muttered further to himself. "At least nobody will be bothering me out here. Except for the cows and chickens.” He snorted. Davy placed his neatly wrapped package in front of him on a rickety old table that he could vaguely remember having been in the drawing room many years ago. He untied the string from the top of the parcel, letting it fall to the sides. Popped open the folds of brown paper, pushing the wrapping from the box, and opened it up from the top. He peered in at the stacks of cash money. Thousands, had to be. He hadn't counted it all yet. Mostly in bills, but there were a couple dozen gold coins too, wrapped up in cloth so they didn't jangle about.

He took in a deep breath of admiration, enchanted by the beauty of what lay before him. Never before in his life had he seen so much money in one place at one time.

He jumped, startled at the sound of a thump on the other side of the barn. He heard the clang of a cowbell, and one of the heifers let out a groan.

He closed the box back up, wrapped and tied it once again, and stuffed it under the dusty old mattress.

He walked through the barn back towards the house. "Supper will be getting on soon," he thought to himself. "best to make my way back inside."

The meal was, as always, delicious. The chicken was tender and juicy, the potatoes rich and creamy. His aunt sure knew how to cook.

After they ate, just to be polite, Davy sat with his aunt and uncle for a spell before retiring to his mattress in the barn. He was so beat, he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Over the course of the following week, he busied himself with an array of farm chores gone neglected by his aging uncle. By the end of the week, Davy was getting antsy. He decided to go into town to see about getting himself off the farm and outta there for good.

Davy was mighty jumpy as he made his way into town, he couldn't stop thinking about the box tucked under his mattress. Was it safe? Surely not. Why, his nosey old aunt and uncle… what's to stop them from turning over that rotten, old mattress and making off with his cash. Calling the police on him maybe…

Just then, Davy saw something that terrified the lights right out of him. There was a big, rumbly, green pickup truck idling outside of the Post Office. Why, it looked to be the same green pickup used on the property where he had stolen the money. Was it the same? Could he be sure? Davy wasn't the kind to take chances, he turned on his heel and booked it the three and a half miles back to the farm. Exhausted and out of breath when he arrived back at the farm, he looked through the window to make sure that his aunt was occupied in the kitchen.

He snapped up the box from under the mattress. Grabbed a hand trowel on a string, and tying the trowel around his neck with one hand as he clutched the precious box with the other, made a beeline for the woods behind the barn.

The sun had already begun to set. He pushed further, deeper into the woods. He shambled through the woods clasping the box to his chest, unaware and unconcerned with the noise his boots made over the crispy dry leaves. Plundering on, until he happened upon a budding fruit tree. The only fruit tree he could find in this grove or any of the others he had passed. He came to a stop underneath its branches and dropped to his knees. He set his box beside him, and taking the hand trowel from around his neck, he began to dig between the roots. Frantically turning up the dirt beneath the tree. He kept on digging and before he knew it, he was staring into a hole about three feet deep.

"I'll be back for it in a couple of days, a week tops." Davy told himself. "I alone know where it's buried. This way, no one no how gonna take what's mine." He figured the tree served as a good landmark without having to leave something more conspicuous behind to be noticed. With a heavy sigh, he dropped the box of cash down into the gaping hole he'd left in the earth. He shoveled the remaining dirt back over top of it, watching his become enveloped in rich black soil. "It's protection, insurance," He assured himself, stomping on the soft earth in order to repack the surface of the forest floor. He snatched up handfuls of crunchy leaves from the ground surrounding him, and sprinkled them over the freshly turned dirt to disguise any evidence of something buried.

"There!" He exclaimed, proud of himself. He turned to head back towards the farm. Trudging back through the woods, he thought about the sort of men that may very well be pursuing him. Hell bent on retrieving their ill gotten gains.

These were the kind of men that would not hesitate to bury him and the rest of his family if they ever did find him. The sort of men that were in the business of doing bad things to turn a profit. The sort of men that a smarter man, never would have stolen from in the first place.

"Well, they can take that money back over my dead body!" Davy said to himself, "And good luck finding it! Ha!"

He was chuckling to himself as he approached the old farm house. The sun now resting on the horizon, ready to drop behind it at any moment. He swung open the side door to the kitchen, and a heavenly scent, rich, and chocolatey, grabbed him by the nostrils and led him straight to the table.