Outrunning Shadows

Chapter 2: The Manhunt

         Every Sunday morning, Engrid could be found at Oak Grove Presbyterian church. She loved her church, her God, and the people who were part of her community of faith. She’d played the piano all her life. She played the piano in church every Sunday. She went early to practice then went the Sunday School and then attended the service afterwards. Engrid asked around at church but nobody seemed to know anything about him or had run into him. She was disappointed but nonetheless determined as her plans for finding Andrew on Monday became clearer. The rest of Sunday passed in its regular rhythm and then Monday arrived.


Monday morning dawned, once again bright and beautiful. Engrid got dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a blouse and went downstairs to the kitchen at promptly 6:55 to start the coffee pot and put some cheese toast in the small toaster oven. The early rays of sunlight were pouring through the kitchen window as she leaned over the sink straining to read the thermometer attached to a wire outside. Phew, Evan needed to clean that window so she could see. It was 79 degrees already. Summer was never late in coming to this part of the world, Engrid thought as she put her feet back firmly on the floor after standing on tip-toes leaning over the sink- time for coffee and toast. She got all that put together and went outside to get the morning paper. She always dressed before coming downstairs so that she could be fully dressed and decent to appear outside her home to get the newspaper. She thought it was disgraceful some of the outfits people would wear to come out to get the paper. Didn’t these people have any self respect or sense of propriety? She took the Deerfield Tribune back inside and sat at the table. She flipped through and spotted an advertisement for the investment firm that Andrew said he worked for. Seeing that reminded her of her mission for today- find Andrew and convince him to stay with her until he found an appropriate house in which to live.


         Her toast was both done and charbroiled by the time Engrid finished the articles. When she’d finished breakfast, she noticed that it was almost eight. The dry cleaning place opened at 7, so she needed to get her butt in gear so she could put Myrtle on high alert to be on the lookout for Andrew. Myrtle and Dora, who frequently volunteered at the library, were a better at all-points-bulletins than the police ever thought about being. So she resolved to herself that she would go to the dry cleaners first and get that squared away.


         She went out to the front yard and got in her eight year old Lincoln Town Car and back out of her driveway. She took off down the street not noticing a black Nissan Pathfinder coming the other way. She passed it and kept going. She drove past the large oak trees that towered along Oak Grove Avenue. She turned onto Maple Street, which was lined with Maple trees; then onto Broad Street which was wide. Broad Street was the main street through town. It was where the store fronts were, including Grayson’s Cleaners. She passed through the intersection of Cloverdale Avenue. She found an angled parking space on the street. She looked around to see who else was out and about. She recognized several people, but no one she cared to talk to.


         As she angled toward the door of the dry cleaners, it occurred to her that she could just go to the investment firm and ask to see Andrew. So, she turned on her heels and walked around the corner to the investment firm. No luck. He’d taken the day off. So, she walked back around the corner and down the street toward Grayson’s cleaners. She gave no further thought to the occupant of the black Pathfinder she’d passed on Oak Avenue. She was on a mission.


         The occupant of that black Nissan was, of course, Andrew Garrison. He still liked the house. He wasn’t sure what he thought of Engrid, but she seemed harmless enough. He might have to have a boundaries talk with her to maintain his space and sanity, but that wouldn’t be too bad, he’d convinced himself. He pulled up into the driveway and parked. Mr. Miller had given him a key so that he could explore the house alone.


         Andrew went up on the porch and looked around. He tested the porch railing to make sure it was solid. He went and sat down on the swing. It was a very nice swing. Oddly, it faced away from the front door. It didn’t take Andrew long to figure out why. Engrid’s was turned backwards too so that the two swings faced each other. Andrew would have to fix that fairly quickly. He just sat quietly on the front porch. He was a sociable person, but he also liked being alone. The prospect of living in such a nice house all by himself was incredible. Some would say it was a waste of space for one person to live there, but oh well- who cares what other people think. He hoped to change that soon.


         That was one of Andrew’s flaws- he cared a lot about what other people thought of him. He’d lived his whole live fearing the disapproval of others. He didn’t do anything that he thought for a second would bring him shame or embarrassment or do anything that might make others think less of him. He just rocked back and forth on the swing thinking to himself.


         He got up, unlocked the front door, and went in. He walked all through the house upstairs and down. It definitely had a little old lady feel to it: the way the carpets looked, the colors of the wall, the patterns of the wall paper, the patterns of linoleum, it all screamed ‘to grandmother’s house we go.’ That’s why Andrew liked it. He never had a grandmother or a home. One set of grandparents were Yoopers up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The other grandfather was in the US Foreign Service with the State Department and so they retired in Costa Rica. His actual parents were missionaries in South America. They’d lived in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Currently, they were building a church in Bolivia. Andrew caught malaria when he was 10 and typhoid when he was 12. Those issues are what led to his parents sending him to live with his uncle. They decided that they couldn’t give up the mission field but they didn’t want to risk their son’s health. So, rather than living in the Amazon jungle with his parents, he lived on military bases around the world with his uncle. There was a rumor that his uncle had been a spy earlier in his life but when Andrew moved in with him, he was a lieutenant colonel with the US Army and so moved all over creation. His off-campus apartment in college was the longest he’d ever lived anywhere. He had friends and contacts from Germany to Japan. He had lived in a dozen countries and almost that many states. Yet all he wanted was to buy a house in Deerfield, South Carolina and live there the rest of his life.


         In some ways, he was deep in the throes of a quarter life crisis. He was 25 and realized that he’d never had a home. He had no idea what home or family or any kind of connectedness felt like. He’s never had the same friends for more than a year or two. He barely got all his books unpacked and arranged correctly on the shelves before he had to pack them all back up again. He had almost fifteen thousand books. Most of them were novels and classic literature. He didn’t have much with him in South Carolina. Most of his books were in a self-storage unit in upstate New York on his uncle’s dime. He lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in college and then worked in the financial aid department for a couple of years after he graduated, mainly because he didn’t want to move again. He was sure that this was his last move and then 70 years from now, they would find his cold, dead body on the kitchen floor.


         He stood in the vacant upstairs bedroom looking around. He already loved this town and its odd assortment of people. The question was: could they love him? Andrew also tried to convince himself that this was going to be an amazing adventure, living here. Getting to know the people, watching them age and die and knowing that he was in that succession and that people will actually cry and grieve when he dies. The idea of having people care about him and for him to care about was almost more than he could stand. He stood in the middle of that empty room and did a complete 360 and just breathed in the air of the history. He knew that this house was filled with love and warmth. The joy and happiness of this house’s past just exuded from the walls. He couldn’t be in this house and not be happy. He had no specific memories of anything that had happened here, but just to hear Engrid’s stories from yesterday, this was going to be an amazing place to live.          


         He went back downstairs to the front living room. He was going to need to go to the furniture store in town and buy a lot of furniture. For the time being, however, he was content to just be there. He went back outside and sat on the front steps and watched the occasional car pass by on the street. Each time a car passed, the occupants waved, and he gladly waved back.


#


         Meanwhile, Engrid was hot on his trail. She pushed open the glass door of the cleaning store. Myrtle, Evan’s mother, was ringing up a customer’s bill. She noticed Engrid and smiled widely. Engrid smiled back. The store was very nice and clean. Evan made sure of that.


         “How are you today, Engrid?”


         “I’m doing fine, thank you. Say, have you seen a man…”


         “For you or me?”


         Engrid just scowled playfully.


         “As I was saying…have you seen a man? His name is Andrew Garrison, he’s 25. Medium height and build. Kind of tussled black hair and dark, sort of mysterious eyes.”


         “Yes. But Engrid, he’s a bit too young for you. He’s more my speed.”


         “The hell you say.” Engrid blurted out then grinned, “If you had a daughter maybe. But otherwise, he’s mine- you keep your grungy mitts off.”


         Myrtle just smiled. Engrid was so full of crap it’s not even funny.


         “So what if I’ve seen him? If he’s yours and he ran away, that should tell you something, don’t you think?” She said sticking her copy of the last customer’s bill onto a metal spike that held several paid bills.


         “Oh hush. See, he’s looking at buying Rose’s old place.”


         “Really?”


         “Yeah. He came around with Miller yesterday to look at the place. I don’t know where he’s staying, but I thought I would offer to let him stay with me until he gets a place. It’s the only civil thing to do.”


         “What does any of this have to do with me?” Myrtle asked, folding her arms not sure what Engrid wanted from her.


         “I don’t know where he’s staying until he finds a place. I thought if you’d met him maybe you knew?”


         “No, I don’t know. I’m not nosy.”


         “Oh hell’s bells Myrtle you were the one voted most likely to be a staff writer for the National Inquirer at the church luncheon last year.”


         Myrtle just pursed her middle aged lips and looked at Engrid.


         “So you can’t help me?” Engrid clarified.


         “Sorry. Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you.”


         “Why not?”


         “Client/cleaner privilege.”


         Engrid just scoffed and walked out, letting the door close really hard behind her. Well, she couldn’t very well case the whole town today and she doubted Dora would know anything- she would call on the phone when she got home. So, she decided to go home and see if Evan had turned up there.


         Andrew was still sitting on the porch watching the cars, listening to the birds chirping in the large oak tree at corner of the property, down by the street. It was so peaceful and serene. He remembered a time a friend of his whose family lived in mid-town Manhattan had invited him home for Christmas. He remembered how he detested the city. It was so loud, dirty, crowded, expensive, and just oppressive that he was ready to go back to his uncle’s army base in Oklahoma. This place was a living post card it was so pretty and well cared for and the people were friendly. Who wouldn’t want to live here, Andrew mused to himself.


         He stood up, locked the door and walked down the brick steps to his black Pathfinder. He got in and started the engine. He backed out of the driveway and onto the street. He drove slowly past, looking up at Engrid’s house as he passed. The azaleas were in bloom and the sense of history and tradition was downright palpable. As he was picking up speed, a white Town Car hurtled in his direction and swerved into Engrid’s driveway. He knew Engrid was home and that he’d escaped just in the nick of time, so he kept driving, hoping she hadn’t spotted him.


         She hadn’t spotted him necessarily, but she had spotted that it was a strange vehicle for this neighborhood. She stopped, whipped her head around and watched the black Pathfinder disappear out of sight.


         “I wonder who that was,” Engrid said aloud to her backseat.


         She went in the house and called over to the library to talk to Dora, but Dora didn’t know anything either. Engrid didn’t think she would. Dora never cared much for gossip. She was it as stirring up unnecessary trouble. Dora often said that she had enough trouble as it was without creating more. At least that saved a trip to the library. She probably should go and read something, but who has time? Where was Evan? He still hadn’t appeared. Even though he did not have a set time to arrive, he was late because his consultation was needed.


         She went out into the back yard to see if she could reach the kitchen window herself so that she could clean it so that she could read the thermometer without endangering her life or her crowns by leaning over the kitchen sink. She went to the supply shed at the very back of the property hidden behind an ivy trellis and got a stool, a piece of board, and a five gallon bucket. She also got two empty tin cans, some water and soap. She put soap in one and left the other as clean water. She loaded all the pieces of the puzzle into a wheelbarrow and struck out for the dirty kitchen window. This was why Engrid was dangerous doing yard work by herself. By the time she crossed the yard, she didn’t have much water left in the cans, so she took them inside for a refill and carried them back outside after pushing the screen out so she could get to the glass. She put the stool on the ground and pushed it into the loose soil so that it was level. She laid the board across the stool and put the bucket on that so that it wouldn’t just go over the stool. She then took a paper towel and the can of soapy water and got into the wheel barrow and climbed up onto the stool/bucket contraption. Now, she could reach the window- at least most of it. She swished the dirt around in a circular motion and tried to get it off, but mostly she just smeared it. How in the world did this window get to be so filthy? She noticed Evan approaching.


         “Engrid, what are you doing?”


         “I’m cleaning this window- the thing’s filthy.”


         “You’re gonna need more water than that, Engrid.” He said looking up at her. For once, she was taller than him. This was a rare treat for her. At 4’11, she rarely stood taller than anyone else. Evan was about 5’10, so he was used to seeing the top of her head, not the underside of her chin.


         “Now how am I supposed to get more water without breaking my neck getting on and off this thing?”


         He quietly walked away. She watched him to see what he was doing. In addition to being unbelievably beautiful in a rugged, wholesome way, Evan was also a whiz bang problem solver. He walked over to the corner of the house and lifted an overturned bucket. The bucket was concealing a neatly rolled water hose.


         “Well now why didn’t I think of that?” She asked, carefully putting her feet back in the wheelbarrow to get down.


         “Don’t you need soap?”


         “I dunno. Oh, Evan, by the way, we may have a new neighbor.”


         “Really? Who?”


         “This bachelor guy named Andrew.”


         “Where’s he from?”


         “All over, but mostly Memphis.”


         “That’s a nice town I’ve heard.” He nodded his head as he took aim at the window. He let a powerful jet of water fly out and blasted the dirt off the window. How did that dirt get up there in the first place?


         “It’s supposed to be very nice in Memphis- especially this time of year.”


         “Supposed to be,” Evan said absently, intent on getting as much dirt off as possible before he had to actually scrub it himself.


         “Why do you suppose he doesn’t have a girlfriend?”


         “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want one?”


         “Why wouldn’t he want one?”


         “Well, I’ve got an octogenarian that runs me ragged- I can’t imagine what a 20 something would do to me. I wouldn’t be able to walk.”


         “So it’s my fault you don’t have a girlfriend?”


         “Awww, now Engrid, you know that’s not true. I don’t have a girlfriend because I would rather spend my time doing other things.”


         “Like what?”


         “Like cleaning dirty windows, running a business, working with your plants.”


         “You’d rather grow flowers than give them to anyone? Well that’s the dumbest thing I think I’ve ever heard.”


         He just scowled. The window was clean enough, so he pinched the hose and went to shut off the water. She had gardening gloves on and her hands on her hips. Engrid and Evan had been through this before. Sometimes they argued like an old married couple even though there was a full sixty years between them.


         “Well, regardless of whether you have a girlfriend or not, we’ve got to work on Mr. Garrison- he wants one, I can tell.”


         Evan just shook his head.


         “What? Well, it’s true. He’s lonely, Evan. Poor boy’s got no family, he’s new in town, we’ve got to take care of him.”


         “‘We’ don’t have to do anything. If you want to set up a total stranger go ahead, but leave me out of it.”


         “But I need your help.”


         “Engrid, no. Leave him alone. There are people in the world who like being alone- I promise.”


         “Well I know, but…”


         “No ‘but’s’ Engrid. Stay out of his social life. Please.”


         “But you haven’t even met him. If you’d meet him, maybe you know a girl that would be good for him. You can tell me who you think would be a good match and I’ll do the rest.” She started gesturing with her hands as she spoke, “Listen, I’ll call Marge over at the post office I have to go by there today anyway and…”


         “No.”


         “That’s it.”


         “Engrid, listen to me, stay out of it.”


         “That’s it,” she wasn’t listening anymore, “Marge has a daughter that’s about his age. Didn’t she get married last summer? I can’t remember. I should call. No, then Marge’ll know what I’m up to.” She clasped her gloved hand over her mouth as she thought out loud. “I could call Dora, she’s probably still at the library. He seemed very literate and book smart, so maybe she knows someone who would be a good match. I could call that cute Ashley girl, but I doubt he would want to date a produce manager at the grocery store.” She kept rambling to herself.


         Evan just walked away. Engrid on a mission was worse than Lucy Ricardo. Rose was worse than Ethel. The two of them together all these years were more than any man could bear. No wonder their husbands croaked early in life. So, Evan contented himself to re-roll the water hose and put it back under the bucket while Engrid paced around the wheelbarrow thinking.


         Evan walked over to take the wheelbarrow back to the shed.


         “Well, can you think of anybody?”


         “No. And I’m not going to. And you shouldn’t either.”


         “Well, he’s about your age, maybe a year or two younger- that’s why I was hoping you would know someone suitable. He’s 25, so that makes him about 2 years younger than you, right? You are 27 aren’t you?”


         Evan just rolled his eyes and grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and rolled it away leaving Engrid to her thoughts.


         As he was walking away he could hear her continuing to talk, “He’s smart and knows about music and literature. He’s very well dressed and physically fit. He gets along well with people. Who around here would do well with that? Who in the world wouldn’t do well with that, but who around here would be good for him? I’m drawing a complete blank. I just don’t know who I could invite over to dinner and have him here. Maybe I could bring several people. No, that would be too obvious, it needs to seem incidental.”


         Evan was long out of sight, and she was still going. Evan didn’t seem the least bit interested in the new stranger. Engrid thought that was a bit strange, but oh well. Evan reappeared from behind the ivy trellis.


         “What else needs doing, Engrid?”


         “Nothing that I know of right now. I was just going to go over to the post office, I need some stamps.”


         “Engrid…”


         “I know what you’re going to say it’s okay…it’s over. I’ll leave him alone out of respect for your wishes. It’s just that I could tell he wished he had a girlfriend or a wife even yesterday when I talked to him. We talked for over two hours you know.”


         “You bugged him for two hours?”


         “I did not ‘bug’ him. He was a willing contributor to the conversation, so don’t make me out to be the bore. What’s with you today?”


         “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, sitting down on the back steps.


         “Normally you would have a list of people. We’ve done this for other people. Why does helping the new guy out such a problem for you?”


         “It’s not a problem. It’s just that if he is going to be your neighbor you have got to learn to respect his privacy. I know you and Rose didn’t have much in the way of rules and maybe in twenty years you and this guy will be the same way. I just don’t want you to presume too much and end up ruining your potential friendship with him.”


         “Since when do you know so much?”


         She stood up and walked in the back door leaving Evan on the back steps.


         Engrid was irritated with her houseboy. That’s what some people in the neighborhood considered him- Engrid’s houseboy- even though he stayed mainly in the yard. He stood up and walked away from the house. She slammed the door. They really were like an old married couple some days. She stormed back into the kitchen, snatched off her gardening gloves and threw them on the counter. She was in no condition to drive around town so she poured herself some water and sat at the table a minute. She fumed for a few more minutes, but eventually cooled off enough to go about her business.