GAME ENTRY 5 // "OBJECTS OF LOVE" // NOV 19 - 25, 2007

[cougar_ridge_v2]

A Welcome back, Jack message is written on the wall of his coffee house - because what would Jack’s be without a cryptic message scrawled on his wall in blood red?

If honey's what you covet,
You'll find that I love it,
Because I'll guzzle
Up the thing you prize!

The city's going downhill,
So I'll give it a thrill
And I'll take any gift of love

Hold

Comments

Welcome...home?

[jared_caldwin]

Me and the boys get back in town early Monday morning so that they don't miss any more school than they already have. It's an overnight drive, but they're asleep in the back all the way here from Denver. It was a nice funeral, nothing to cough at, and certainly more than we could afford, but the director told us it had all been taken care of.

We pull into Teabow's driveway and, not surprisingly, all the lights are out. What I'm not prepared for is the note on the door. "Sorry for everything," it says, and it's signed with Teabow's name. My thoughts turn to the worst, because I've already gotten one suicide note in the past few days.

Teabow's nowhere in the house, so I call 911. Barty answers, and I can't tell if he's joking or not when he tells me that Teabow was running the majority of the crime traveling through Cougar Ridge. Nevertheless, he also tells me that the police have swept the house, but despite that we can't stay in it, thanks to the fact that it easily contains more evidence yet that might futher incriminate Teabow, despite the fact that he turned himself in anyhow.

We already have our meager few possessions that survived the fire with us, so it's no problem to drive my truck out to the Four Maples, 'cept for the fact that it wakes Dash Pitt up, and he's a cranky sonofabitch at 3 A.M.

The boys grudgingly share the pullout couch by the window and I take the bed. My eyes are barely open since I've been up all night crying. Still, I undress and manage to crawl under the surprisingly-clean sheets. The last thing I do before I pull the chain on the lamp is pull out the picture my sister-in-law, Lou-Lou's sister, gave me at the funeral. She knew we didn't have any pictures left thanks to the fire, so she gave me one that she had of Louise to keep. I place the frame on my bedside table and, don't call me crazy, kissed her goodnight.

It's all I have left.