The Treehouse

Three of the Carlson siblings were standing in the afternoon sunshine in their mother's backyard. 

 "It's hard to believe that Mom is going to move." Chloe, the oldest, was talking to her two brothers.

           "Mom's been talking about it ever since Dad died. She said the winters in Ohio are too cold," Cooper replied. Cooper was just one year younger than Chloe.

 "I thought she was just talking about moving, that she would live here forever." Caleb was looking around the oversized yard. "Houses built today come with yards the size of postage stamps. You could never play baseball in my backyard as we did here. I'm going to miss this place." Caleb was two years younger than Cooper.

           Bang! The back door slammed shut; Chloris, the youngest, came outside. She had a can of soda pop for each sibling. "Let's go up to the treehouse, one last time." Chloris was one year younger than Caleb.

           "I haven't been there in years; it might not be safe." Chloe protested. She was always overly cautious.

           The treehouse was a shed built on stilts. At that time, the oak tree next to it provided shade. The children would look out the windows and try to grab the branches. The tree was too far for them to reach. Now the oak tree embraced the structure.

           "The steps look good; I'll go first." Caleb had always been fearless. The wooden steps were sturdy as he climbed to the top.

           Caleb saw a few dried and sticks covering the wooden floor, but otherwise, the treehouse was just as he remembered it. He took a few cautious steps to discover the wooden floor was just as safe as the steps.

           "It's safe!" Caleb stuck his head out the window by the door. "Come on up."

"We spent many fine hours here," Chloe said as she entered the treehouse. "Chloris, I'm glad you talked us into coming up here."

 "We won't have another chance to relive these memories after Mom moves," Chloris told her siblings. "Look! There's my doll." She seized a dust lump that was tucked away in a corner. "I wondered what happened to it." Dust covered plastic face. The once beautiful lavender dress was moth-eaten and covered in dirt. "I spent a lot of time with my dolls up here."

           "We planned many adventures when we up here." Caleb was surveying the neighborhood from the east window. 

 Cooper joined Caleb to take in the view. "We couldn't see the whole world as we thought, but we had a pretty good view of the neighborhood. Do you remember watching Mrs. Rollins sunbath?"

 "She thought no one could see her behind that privacy fence." Caleb laughed.

 "Both of you claimed to have a clubhouse meeting every day that summer," Chloe told her brothers.

           "Mrs. Rollins just happened to sunbath at the same time as our meetings," Cooper explained.

           Chloris took a drink of her soda pop before sharing another memory.  "I used to come up here to write. I think the higher altitude helped my imagination."

 "Higher altitude! This treehouse is on stilts, not the top of Mount Everest!" Caleb scoffed at his younger sister.

           "Even if the altitude isn't that much different, I still did some of my best work up here. I was sitting right here when I wrote a story for my sophomore English class. I won an award for that story." Chloris said.

 "Yes, we all know you won an award. Your ability to make things up is legendary." Cooper teased his sister.

 "That's the reason I became a full-time writer," Chloris explained.

           "I decided to study architecture because of this treehouse," Chloe added. "I thought it would be advantageous to have a house on stilts if you lived in a floodplain."

           "I liked it up here so much that I studied aviation. I love to fly," Cooper said.

           "I became an assistant football coach; I don't think the treehouse had anything to do with that career choice." Caleb grew thoughtful before adding, "it's a wonder that none of us went into law enforcement . . . after that night." Caleb brought a memory they all shared.

           "I thought we agreed to never talk about it," Chloe chastised.

 "Caleb's right to bring it up," Cooper argued. "Mom will be safe when she moves away, so it's finally time to talk about Bernard Jenkins and his mother."

           "I guess you're right," Chloe reluctantly agreed. "It's time to stop being afraid."

           "I think we can all agree that Mrs. Jenkins was a mean old woman," Cooper stated.

 "Remember when she gave us apples for Halloween? We threw them away as soon as we were out of sight," Caleb said.

           "I was too afraid to even a small bite because I didn't want to end up like Sleeping Beauty. Chloe remembered.

           "The fairy tale with the poisoned apples is Snow White, not Sleeping Beauty." Chloris corrected.

 "Whatever. the point is that I didn't want to eat a poisoned apple, and I didn't want any of my siblings to eat a poisoned apple." Chloe replied.

           "Why did we even stop at that house?" Caleb asked.

           "Mom thought we should be friendly neighbors. She said Mrs. Jenkins spent her entire day in that house with her abnormal son. She didn't know what was wrong with Bernard, but Mrs. Jenkins wouldn't let him leave the house," Chloe remembered. "I think Bernard is a couple of years older than me, that is if he is still alive."

 "I don't know if he's alive, but we know that his mother is dead," Caleb spoke their secret out loud.

           Cooper got very serious and started telling the story. "It was supposed to be the perfect night to see Mars. All my friends said Mars was closer to Earth than it would be for the next fifty years. I brought my telescope to the treehouse so I could get a good view. I remember looking at all the stars, thinking about how bright they were. I was getting bored with that when Caleb entered the treehouse."

 "I started looking around the neighborhood." Caleb picked up the narrative. "First, I looked to see if Mrs. Rollins was in her sunbathing spot; naturally, she wasn't there."

           "I came into the treehouse and asked you to check Mrs. Jenkins' apple tree,"  Chloe told her part of the story. "I was sure it would look bizarre because it produced poisonous apples."

           "I followed you to the treehouse and saw everyone standing by the window. I pushed Chloe out of the way so I could look." Chloris continued the story. "I saw Bernard carrying his mother outside."  

           "I remember you said it was strange for Bernard to come outside in the middle of the night, carrying his mother. I took the telescope from you so I could look for myself. I'll never forget watching Bernard dump his mother into that hole." Cooper shivered at the memory.

 "We all watched as Bernard shoveled dirt into that hole," Cooper said. "None of us said it out loud, but I knew she was dead."

 Chloe added to the story. "Over the years, I've tried to think of a reasonable explanation. I thought, maybe she died of a heart attack, and Bernard didn't know what to do, so he just buried her. He might have seen someone bury a dead bird or rabbit, so he did the same thing to his mother. I think that might be possible."

           "There's a huge problem with that theory." Caleb reminded his siblings.

           "Yeah, that note we found nailed to the oak tree is a problem!" Cooper reminded them.

           "I'll kill your mother if you tell," Chloris recited. All the siblings remembered the note.

           "That's when we vowed never to talk about that night." Chloe said, "We just couldn't take the chance."

 "Now, there is a perfectly healthy apple tree growing over Mrs. Jenkins." Cooper was looking out the window towards Bernard Jenkins' backyard.

 "Do you think it's safe to tell the authorities what we know? After all, it's been thirty years," Chloe asked.

 "I think we should wait for another thirty years," Cooper said.

 Caleb pushed Cooper out of the way so he could look, "We should wait. After all, Mrs. Jenkins was a mean old woman, and I don't think anyone misses her."

           Chloe came to the window to look at the Jenkins' yard. "It's been a secret for thirty years; a few more won't hurt."

 Chloris finally took her turn at the window. She saw a big sign by the apple tree. "I can find your Mom."

           That was all the Carlson children needed to read.