Tap tap tap.
“That’s how you do it, son. You hit it just right, three good hits oughta do it every time.”
“What are we building?” Zach wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at the pile of lumber jutting out the back window of the SUV.
“Back before you were born—before we moved into the house on Maple—we lived on some farm land. Your mom grew up on farm land as well. I think it would be good for her to have some animals to tend to out here. Some chickens, so we’ll always have fresh eggs, that kind of thing.”
“Cool! But. . . would we eat the chickens?” Zach looked a bit uneasy.
Jacob laughed. “Well, some people do that, for sure, but that’s not my style. I’m not one to walk outside and kill one of my own animals. I guess that makes me a hypocrite, and some might even say a coward, but no, I don’t think we’ll be eating our animals—just the eggs.”
Zach looked relieved.
“And this,” Jacob said, as he nailed two more boards together at a right angle, “is going to be a goat house. I’m hoping to get it finished today. I’ve hired a local company to come over and put fencing around the property. That’s a bit beyond my ideal scope of work. They should be here any minute.”
The two of them worked for another half hour until the fencing company arrived. Jacob walked over and greeted the crew, showed them the general perimeter of where he wanted the fence, and the men got to work.
“Zach,” Jacob said. “Let’s take a break, get something to drink.”
Monica stood in the kitchen pretending she hadn’t been watching them through the back window. “So, when do I get in on the surprise?” she asked. If truth be told, she’d hated being inside the house by herself, Princess Jasmine or not. She feared the day Zach would have to go back to school. Only two more weeks.
“Well,” Jacob said.
“Dad’s getting us some chickens and some goats!” Zach blurted.
“Zach—”
“Really?” Monica’s eyes lit up and she wrapped her arms around Jacob’s neck. “Oh my god, I’m so excited!”
Hugging her back, Jacob said, “Well, I wanted to surprise you.”
“Are you kidding? It is a surprise! Thank you! And thank you for helping, sweetie.” She gave Zach a hug.
“It’s fun,” Zach said. “I like building stuff.”
“Oh really?” Jacob said. “I’ll remember that.”
There was a knock at the back door which caused all three of them to jump. “Mr. Dresden?” one of the workers called. “Can we have a word for a moment?”
“Hey Zach, how about helping your mother with lunch? I’ll be right back.” Jacob opened the back door and stepped outside to find a burly man in tattered work clothes, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.
“Mr. Dresden—”
“Jacob.”
“Yes, well, you need to see this.” He began walking towards the back of the property and Jacob followed.
“What exactly do I need to see?” Jacob asked, perplexed.
“I think it’s best you just see it. It ain’t something I really have any interest discussing any more than need be.”
Jacob heard the flies before he saw what the man had brought him to see, their incessant humming would drill its way into his brain and refuse to let go. The sight of it would haunt his dreams. There, just beyond the treeline he saw its dead eyes staring, its mouth stuck open as if in shock, impaled on a crude spear stuck into the ground.
It was a kitten about the same size as the one they’d found in their house.
—
Jacob and Zach returned to working on the goat house as if nothing had happened. Jacob had hastily buried the kitten and made the workers promise not to tell Monica and Zach what they had seen. They continued working on the fence, doing what Jacob considered to be a fantastic job. At this rate, they’d have animals prancing around out here by the weekend.
“So, what did he want to show you?”
“What?” Jacob asked.
“The man, the one who wanted to talk to you. What did he want?”
“Oh. It was nothing,” Jacob lied. He was trying to keep his mind on the project at hand but it was hard to think. “Just had a couple questions about the property line.”
“Oh.”
They worked until the sun had begun to make its way behind the trees, and one of the guys from the fence company approached Jacob and said, “Well, we’re gonna knock off. Be back same time tomorrow? Should be finished by lunch, I would think.”
“That’ll do just fine,” Jacob said, shaking the man’s hand. “Thanks for all your hard work today.”
Admiring the finished goat house, the man said, “That’s a fine job you’ve done there as well.” Nodding to Zach he said, “You could learn a lot from your pop, you know. The man has skill!”
“He’s alright,” Zach said with a laugh.
The two of them made their way inside for dinner, and Jacob turned around and took one more proud look at the work they had done, but his eyes drifted to the back corner of the property and a chill went down his spine. He could still see the hastily-dug mound of fresh earth where that poor creature rested.