The Return

Sydney glaced at the GPS on her phone, 2.3 miles to McBee, she felt her heartbeat speed up a little, the sun was gleaming off the leaves of the trees & there was a light breeze blowing through the trees. Welcome to McBee S.C. the sign read, Established Oct. 8, 1901. As she drove through the green light she saw the entrance to a small strip mall, she scanned the signs for Wendy's, Chilli's or MacDonald's.....Red Lobster, that'll do she said as she parked. She had made the last 3 hours of the drive without stopping. I could eat alil something( she said to herself). I wonder if the pecan trees had been harvested yet, I would love some roasted pecans. As she stepped into the Red Lobster she was greeted by the waitress and taken to a table. As she sat waiting for her order she began to think about all the summers she'd spent down here at her grandparents house, they were good times. What can I get you sugar, the waitress said. I'll have a slice of pecan pie & a cup of coffee. As she looked out the picture window memories of eating strawberries right out of the patch and tiny frogs that seem to only appear after it rained sprung into her mind. She heard the sqeeking of the wooden screen door as it opened & slammed shut behind him as her little brother ran out of it. She heard her Nana fussing at him too. She smiled to herself as she finished up her pie and coffee. The barn was huge with several stalls in it for Milly ( the cow) and Fred & Lacey (the horses) she thought of the loft and how it was her favorite place to hide when they played hide n seek or when she just wanted to be alone. She paid for her pie & coffee and got in the car. 2 blocks to go and she'd be on Howard St. As she turned onto the street she smiled at the sight of the front gate, it was still pine green it looked smaller than she remembered, so did the barn the door that loomed so big during her childhood was Small now. She parked the car and got out, she could see the peacan trees on the side of the house and memories of her family shaking them with sheets in place on the ground to catch them flooded her mind. Nana would be cooking & singing gospel music in the kitchen. Fried chicken, fresh buttermilk biscuits, sweet cream butter and honey with as much milk as you could drink. It was good to be home. She reached up inside the lantern light to get the key and unlocked the back door as she pushed it open a truckload of childhood memories tumbled out in a pile before her.