Rain 14

Rain 14

The two young deputies who were sent down to the bottom of the ravine to check on the identity and condition of the body laying there confirmed that the body was of Thomas Sutton and he was dead. The sheriff asked them to stay put and guard the scene until he figured out his next step. 

    Mrs. Anne Sutton had called 911. She said there was an accident involving her husband. When the first deputy arrived at the house, Mrs. Sutton had calmly explained to the deputy what had happened. 

    She and her husband had walked the trail headed to their neighbor’s BBQ. Their big dog was walking behind them. When they’d  got closer to the bridge, the dog suddenly charged toward something across the bridge, presumably a wild rabbit. The dog sudden and fast charge, had accidently knocked Thomas off balance. Thomas  had hit the top bar of the railing and his weight and the momentum of the impact when his body hit the wooden bar had forced force the bar to break loose from its wooden post. Whit the top bar gone, there was nothing to stop Thomas from falling into the ravine. That was how Thomas Sutton ended up laying broken and lifeless on the bottom of the thirty foot deep ravine. 

     Later, when another deputy had asked Mrs. Sutton to retell her story, she had told him the same thing. The sheriff had interviewed her too. Her story was very much the same. Mrs. Sutton was fully cooperating with the sheriff and his deputies. She even took off her super dark and large sunglasses when one of the deputies, following procedure, asked her to. The sheriff and the deputy saw how red and swollen her eyes were. Aside from answering their inquiries, Anne Sutton kept a low key attitude. 

    She quietly took a seat on one of the lounge chair on the patio behind her house. Sometime her hand would silently wiped her cheeks,  the only sign to show she was crying. Her big dog laid near her feet, content and protective toward her mistress. 

     Seeing Anne Sutton  the way she was, in her stylist, casual blue jean, a thin sweater the color of maple gold wrapped around her torso, with her large dark sunglasses, very composed, keeping whatever she felt tight to herself, giving the sheriff a sense of déjà vu. Mrs. Anne Sutton was a blonde, modern version of Jackie Kennedy when she, too, lost her husband all those years ago.

     The sheriff believed the death of Thomas Sutton was a simple unfortunate accident. But having two men plunged to their death in the same manner at the same ravine in two years period, forced him to carefully dotting all his ‘i’s and to cross all his ‘t’s. He placed a phone call to the CSI and the ME. 

    Anne quietly watched the sheriff work from behind her dark glasses. She couldn't stop crying. But she didn't cry for her husband, she cried for her Jack. 

    She never did see how Jack died. Never saw his dead body, for there was nothing left. But seeing how Thomas laid on the bottom of the ravine gave her a clear picture how her Jack had lain lifeless in almost the same place as her husband. Thomas body would be retrieve by the M.E. then properly burried in the family plot next to his parents, grandparents and series of Sutton ancestor . But Jack’s body had been left alone for wild animals to tear apart. He was so alone. The man who had loved her and all of her faults, had lain there in his last moment on earth all alone, orphaned to the world. The worst part was, she was the one that caused it. 

   

Rain 13

Rain 13.

A few yards past ‘their’ maple tree, the trail begin its slight incline. Anne called for Moose. The dog nowhere in sight. She continued the call for the dog. 

     The trail behind Jack’s house, now the Graham’s, kept its slight incline until reaching the ten foot  long bridge spanning above the narrow thirty foot drop to the ravine that divided the Graham’s property and that of their other next-door neighbor. The same ravine in which Jack’s body had been  found. Anne reached into her pocket making sure the small item she had deposited there earlier was still there. She called for Moose again. And again the dog hadn't came to her. But her husband did. 

     “ Wait up,” Thomas called. He had begun his steady climb through the trail by the maple tree. Anne watched his approach as he came closer and closer to where she stood waiting. 

     Two months after Jack’s memorial service, she finally brought up the subject of separation to her husband. Thomas had waived her off. She persisted. A week later she laid in a hospital with bruises and several broken bones  she suffered from a car accident. The police said, someone had cut her  car’s brake line and that she was lucky to have survived the accident.     Thomas Sutton’s  support  had put the local mayor into office. Thomas Sutton’s financial contribution to the local law and fire departments had help the city balance its budget for many years in the past and would probably help again  in the future. They weren't going to willingly investigate a generous and powerful person like him. Not then nor few months later, when Moose woke Anne up to the strong odor of leaking natural gas in her house where she was sleeping alone. 

     “ Where is the dog? “ Thomas asked as he reached for his wife’s  hand. 

     “ She isn’t here yet,” Anne said. “ Maybe I should go up to the Graham’s house?” 

      Thomas shook his head. “ She’ll come, “ then he called the dog’s name once, twice,” Let’s keep walking. She’ll find us.” So they did. 

     The ten foot long bridge, one of the three bridges along the trail,  came into view. Anne reached into her pocket and quietly took out the item she kept in there. She click the item once then twice. 

     “ What was that?. “ Thomas halted his step and  stood listening. 

     “ What?” Anne returned the question. Her hand with the clicker was back in her pocket. 

     Thomas gave himself sometime to listen again. He  gave  up and continued his walk. 

     They were on one end of the bridge. Anne took out the clicker again. Clicked it once, twice. 

     “ Did you hear it?” Thomas asked. Anne shook her head. By then Moose had showed up atop the small grassy inclined edging the trail. She had that excited look  she got when she saw her mistress. Her ears perked up, her tail wagged. 

     Anne clicked the clicker again, once, twice. Moose’s ears, stood up. Her front legs crouched ready to charge. Her upper lip pulled back showing her sharp teeth and fangs. She growled. 

     “ The stupid dog going to charge on us.” Thomas said by Anne side. His breathing began to catch. He was worried. 

     “ She is. “ Anne agreed. Then turned and began to run for the bridge. Thomas followed. But Moose was on them in seconds. 

      The dog cornered them against the bridge railing, she moved to her left when they moved to their right and vice versa. She had them circled at the middle of the bridge. Thomas yelled at the dog. The dog became more upset, and moved into  a crouching position, jaws open wide, ready to pounce. 

     Anne leaned her body against the railing, Thomas next to her, in his panic had let go of her hand. Anne clicked the clicker once , twice. Moose tightened the circle around them. She growled some more. Her angry saliva wetted her large lower jaw.

     Anne leaned her body harder against the top wooden bar of the railing. She bumped herself to that wooden bar for few times. The wooden bar shook a little before suddenly breaking away from the railing’s two nearest wooden post…..

     ……Thomas who was also leaning on the wooden bar, lost his balance. His upper body falling backward…...

     ……The two lower bars of the railing caught his knees. For a brief seconds Thomas’ arms flailed against the empty surface above the ravine like a broken pair of wings, tried to pull himself upward but unable. A surprise then panic then full of terror played in his eyes......

    ....... He screamed. 

     .......Anne screamed. 

     ........Moose whined.

      The momentum created by the weight and length of Thomas body falling  into the ravine couldn't be stopped. Anne heard the crack of broken bones against the jagged rocks of the ravine’s retaining wall. Then a silent splash of broken heavy object hit the bottom of the ravine where some rain water had pooled together.

     “ Tom?” Anne called.” Tom….Tom….? “ she called and called again. Only part of Thomas body could be seen from where she kneeled  behind the two lower bars of the railing. “Tom… Tom..?” 

     Her husband didn't answer her. 

     Anne reached for Moose to hold her back. The dog, anxious, took her turn to look down into the bottom of the ravine then looked at Anne. Back and forth. She didn't understand what had happened.

      In the last few months, Anne, her mistress, had brought back the game she had been trained to play as a puppy by her original owner. Growls and showing her fangs whenever the dog clicker was clicked twice in succession. Wasn’t  that  the game they played earlier? 

     

Rain 12

Rain 12

To her financial foes, Gertrude Sterling was a hurricane to be reckoned with. She was a person who knew what she wanted and was shrewd enough to get it.  Trice widowed and childless with her wise investment of each of the small inheritances from her dead husbands, she had managed  to put her name on Forbes List for few years in the row. And as her money grew so did  the list of younger men who had become her lover. 

      This shrewd woman in her late nineties happened to meet Jack for the first time at one of those dinner event on the wake of the President Inauguration, where Mr. and  Mrs. Thomas Sutton , her next-door neighbor at her summer home at Morgan Lake were also in attendance.

      Neither Anne nor Jack ever knew what gave them away. But the sharp eyes of GeeGee Sterling had seen what was going on between the two of them. By the following spring, she had asked Jack to showcase his mastery in carpentry by refurbishing the woodwork at her  summer home at Morgan Lake. 

      Naturally Jack had refused such offer. He would be spending time in a place where Anne was so close in proximity to him yet just beyond his reach. Besides, he hadn't been working solo for many years, he was more a contractor than a carpenter by then. But GeeGee Sterling didn't get the nickname “Huricane” by not being able to  get what she wanted.

     She took over the finances of several construction projects Jack’s company was working on. On the eve of the financial meltdown that crippled many construction companies including the stable company Jack had invested in, GeeGee’s help meant a better chance to stay upright during the turbulent ride and perhaps surviving it in the end. Jack didn't have another choice but to take the job. Thus, began the rumor about GeeGee Sterling being in love with Jack, the carpenter. 

    Three days after Jack arrived at her estate and began his work, GeeGee Sterling called on her next door neighbor for a favor. 

     “ Thomas, darling, “ she said, “ would  you mind loaning me your darling wife for few hours? I need her to keep an eye on certain things…..things which noisy neighbors like to talk about. If you’ll understand what I mean.” Who could say ‘no’ to GeeGee Sterling? Certainly not Thomas Sutton. 

     Yet, when Anne arrived at her neighbor’s house, her elderly neighbor had excused herself to take her long over-due nap. “Meanwhile would you mind to keep Jack company.? “  GeeGee Sterling had politely asked. 

      Long naps, phone calls or series of corespondent which she needed to finish in her private study became GeeGee excuse to leave Anne and Jack to spend time together. Perhaps in some way, GeeGee Sterling was a hurricane many people had to reckon with , but to Anne and Jack, she was a much sought gentle, refreshing rain on a hot summer day. 

     GeeGee Sterling’s performances of her phantom love toward Jack was deserving of an Oscar. She invited Jack to ‘refurbish her house’  every summer after that. And occasionally, she invited Jack to her other homes too. Rumor of her ‘love’ for Jack deepened. 

     So it was no surprise that when GeeGee Sterling passed-away few years later, she willed her summer home at Morgan Lake to Jack. None of her nieces and nephews contested it. Her neighbor at Morgan Lake, including Thomas Sutton, kind of expected it.  

      That fall, the first year Jack own the house next to the Sutton’s, he purchased and planted that maple tree on the border of their property line. 

      “ I ….I..couldn't give you anything without Thomas wondering what the gift was for and  who it was from. I only….this tree….it’s…my token….to let you know that I always be there for you…..well….whenever you need me. This tree….Thomas wouldn't suspect anything, because it’s  planted on my side of property line. “ Jack was never shy with words. Seeing him stutter like he did made Anne want to laugh and cry at the same time. “ I hope you like it.” Jack added. 

     All those years, Jack had loved her the way she needed to be loved. He had only asked her to marry him, once. When her answered had been no, with an explanation that she couldn't abandoned her parents’ and  children’s happiness, Jack never brought up the subject again. He accepted her the way she was.            

     In her parent eyes, a divorced woman was a failure. If their only child were divorcing her husband for another man it would definitely drive her parent straight into their graves from the sadness and a sense of failure on their part in raising a proper daughter. 

     And for her children, Thomas always been too busy with his business and love affairs to pay attention to them. Anne  was the only parent their children could count on, when they found new loves, heartbreaks, made their way on to adulthood, marriages, then their own lives. How could she walked away from them too?

      So, Anne had been afraid to return the love Jack had given her. Afraid that if she had, she would selfishly chased her own happiness and abandoned her parent and children. And if she stayed with Thomas, her separation from Jack would be unbearable. She would turn into one of those dessert flowers, withering then lying dormant while waiting for the next rain. Then there was Thomas. How would she endured to be touch  by him, when her heart belong to someone else? 

     But seeing Jack with the maple tree he was planting for her, amidst others young maple  trees which he had purchased and would planted to cover his gift, Anne knew she couldn't deny the truth what her heart felt all along. She loved Jack, no question about it. Loved him, whatever the cost. She wouldn't mind to lie withered then dormant for few months waiting for her Jack, or for a millennium. Jack was her rain.

      Her heart bubbled with happiness. She was free to love Jack River. 

      She took steps to wrap Jack in her arms…..

     “ Hello, neighbor.” Thomas’ voice came up from behind her. His footsteps crunched  on fallen leafs only few feet away. Soon, his arm circled Anne’s waist with full possessiveness of a rightful husband. 

     When Thomas, hand-in-hand, took her back to their house while busy muttering the ironic of a man like Jack, who work with wood but planted trees, Anne turned her head to look back at her Jack.  And there he was looking back at her, grinning ear to ear his usual ‘brighter than the sun’ grin,  happy that she had loved his gift, forgetting there was another man holding her. Jack had loved her that way. Loved her and every faults she had. She couldn't help herself but mouthed, ‘ I love you.’ 

      Jack’s wide  grin looped around the sun and back. 

      Later, Jack said, “ Tom held you differently today. Do you think he knows?” He asked. With GeeGee Sterling gone, it was harder for Anne to find excuses to visit Jack without drawing questions from her husband. 

      Anne shook her head. She wasn't sure. The presence of other women in Her husband life was easier to read than his thought and mind. 

      Frankly, Thomas had known. 

      The day the Sutton’s and most of the residences at Morgan Lake were busy closing  their summer homes, Thomas went to Jack’s and murdered him. The dog groomer who had been keeping Moose and Jack’s weekly housekeeper, found Jack’s body or remnant of his clothing, lying tangled in the ravine under the trail bridge behind Jack’s house. By then, a week had passed after Jack’s planned two weeks trip to California. Three weeks had gone by since Jack was murdered. The coyotes and other wild scavengers had gotten to Jack’s body before it was found, there was almost nothing left of Jack. 

     The dog groomer and the housekeeper both initially become person of interest. But they had strong alibis and almost zero motives to kill Jack. The state coroner had theorized that Jack  had slipped then fallen to the ravine. The skull fracture was caused by his head repeatedly hitting the jagged rocks of the retaining wall around the ravine during the fall.  An accident. The only thing that didn't  add up to that accident theory was Jack’s missing cellphone. If the animals took it, the investigator surely able to trace the fragments of it’s components. They had combed the area with their special equipment with no success. Someone had taken it from Jack. The question is who and why? 

 

Rain 11

Rain 11, 

What would she say, when she saw Jack? Would Jack remember her? Almost two years had passed since they’d been together. How many women had come and gone since then? Had any of them stayed? Anne didn't know what to expect from Jack. She only knew she had to see him. Perhaps to apologized for abandoning him. Perhaps just to see that he was alright. 

     But in the midst of devastation caused by the first hurricane she ran into, she forgot her original reason for being there. The goodness in her forced her to do more than just look  for Jack. She volunteered to work in a temporary kitchen under a big tent where people could boil water for tea or coffee and warm up soup to be serve to the newly homeless homeowners and volunteers alike.

     Anne and another volunteer were making the round,   offering hot coffee and rolls when she felt the blatant stare from someone working on the roof of a house.  When she looked up, there he was: Mr. Jack River. A hammer in one hand, a tool-belt strapped  on the waist and a super huge grin on his face directed at her. He was beaming brighter than the morning sun. “ He remembers me.” Her heart sang and she very much wanted to run to him, to touch him.   But she was a married woman looking at her former lover. She couldn’t just openly announce it to the world. A quiet respectful smile and a nod of acknowledgement, that was all she could return to Jack. 

      Later in the night, Jack had found his way to her. 

      “ You made it, “  Jack said with that happy grin of his, as thought Anne was only late for a simple date instead of the almost two years separation. 

     Anne had began to voice her apology but realized Jack didn't need any apology or explanation from her, he was simply glad that she  was there and nothing else matter. When they shared their first kiss after all those months separation, as hard as Anne tried, she couldn't find the slightest trace of other woman’s lingered on Jack’s lips, she could only taste her own. 

      Jack River was not Thomas Sutton. 

      For the rest of the year and two years after that, whenever she could free herself from her life as a good wife and mother, Anne had followed hurricanes and tornados as the only way she knew how to see her Jack. Until, GeeGee Sterling came to the picture.