Free Summer Shadows by Killarney Traynor Page B

room for now. That seems to be the cleanest. Jack, you can stay in the kitchen and play with Yellow Teddy until you wake up all the way.”
    “I want to watch cartoons,” he said.
    Julia laughed, shifting her grasp on him. “So do I, pal, but let’s wait until we have the van unpacked.”

6
    J ulia had spotted a hardware store when they went through town earlier, so she knew exactly where they were going when she piled the kids back into the van. Looking at their drawn, tired faces, she felt guilty about dragging them back out on the road again, but she simply couldn’t let them sleep in the house as it was. Thanks to the profusion of tick-infested grass, sleeping outside in the tent was no longer a possibility.
    She jotted down a quick list of things to pick up at the store just to get started. As she buckled Jack in his seat, she thought of more items, but decided against adding to the list. She didn’t want to try the children’s patience any more than she had already had done.
    She buckled herself in and started the minivan. With more cheer in her voice than she felt, she said, “Well, we’re on our way.”
    Ron, silent again, nodded. Dana wore a wounded expression and kept her eyes focused out the window. Jack was busy eating animal crackers, and didn’t notice that she had said anything.
    Julia backed the car carefully out into the street, noting with some envy the tidy lawns of the pretty houses on either side. She reflected that soon enough, she’d have her house in equally good shape. She wished for a few more hands to help, but decided it was no use moaning about what could not be changed. They would have to do what they could with what they had.
    As they pulled away, Ron craned his neck to look back at the driveway, then turned to her with concern.
    “Shouldn’t we have locked up the bikes?” he asked.
    They had left the bicycles leaning against the side of the house with no chains or locks. Julia wanted to face-palm herself for overlooking them, but she also wanted to spare the boy worry.
    “Oh, no, they’ll be fine,” she said. “They’ll be safe for an hour or so. This is a nice, established neighborhood – the people here won’t be going around stealing unsecured bicycles.”
    “But I thought you said it was a rental community, and that everyone here was outsiders.”
    Julia decided that she’d have to reconsider her policy of full disclosure to the kids on all major subjects. A little mystery, she thought, was a good thing.
    “True, but not this street. Besides, this is a very safe town. I was talking with Mrs. O’Reilly about it. She said the police are overpaid for the amount of work that they have to do.”
    Ron thought about it, and silence settled over the van. Dana stopped listening in and looked out the window again. Julia relaxed, and was not prepared for Ron’s next statement:
    “I guess they need a larger police force here because of the prison.”
    Her foot slipped off of the pedal. “The – what ?”
    “The prison. There’s one on the outskirts of town, near the state nursing home. I looked it up online before we left.”
    Julia did not like the sound of this at all. “There’s a state prison here in town?”
    “Yep.”
    She shook her head, mentally smacking herself again. “Yes, that would be a good reason to have a large police force in town. Is it a big prison?”
    He shrugged as Dana said, “Aunt Julia, are there criminals in town?”
    “Yes, but they’re locked up safe and secure, sweetheart.” Privately, she was thinking about door alarms, shotguns, and German shepherds. She had the first, but was now feeling a keen need for the latter two.
    She knew that any tension or nervousness on her part was sure to be picked up on by the kids, and that she had to hide her fear and stay alert without frightening them.
    Julia changed the subject. “Ron, when we get to the hardware store, why don’t you and Dana go over to the paint section and see what they have