Fallen Stones (10 page)

Jack slid the ring onto the third finger of his right hand, picked up the flashlight and headed toward the doorway. He was going to go downstairs and retrieve the can of gasoline then starting at the top floor he would saturate Washburn's precious rugs and custom draperies with the flammable fluid and subsequently burn the place to the ground. Somehow, the idea of having all of Washburn's treasures turned to ashes gave Jack more pleasure than simply stealing and reselling them ever would have. He would finally get his revenge on the man responsible for ruining his life. He had waited over twelve long years for vengeance and vengeance would be his this night.

As Jack approached the doorway he heard a strange noise, a whisper like sound coming from somewhere behind him. It seemed to call his name in a quiet, drawn out breathy sigh, “Jaaaaaaaakkkk.” The cold chill he had felt several times earlier returned to crawl its way down his tingling spine on invisible icy spider-legs. He also felt a cold sweat forming on the back of his neck and his upper lip. His stomach clenched as he natural internal warning system began screaming to him, telling him something was about to go very, very wrong.

Chapter 4

 

Dinnertime at the Wright household the evening Stephanie received the letter was out of sorts to say the least. There was little conversation between the couple, as both Stephanie and Jason were mulling over in their minds the best way to tell the other of their potentially life-changing news. If it weren't for the kids talking about their respective days at school and the baby yelling for either food or attention, the change in atmosphere would have been much more noticeable. Neither Jason nor Stephanie was aware of the difference, however, as they were both deep in thought about their own individual dilemmas.  

As far as she could tell, Stephanie's news was what she considered to be of the good variety. After all, some relative she had never known had died and left her an inheritance, hopefully a substantial one.  Although at first it seemed as unbelievable and as unlikely as something she might read on a Monopoly "CHANCE" card, Stephanie was finally starting to realize it actually was true.

For a while that afternoon as she waited for the kids to come home from school, she wondered about the mysterious unknown relative, this Emerson Washburn character. What sort of man had he been? Why had her father never mentioned his having a brother before? What was it about this man, which had caused his alienation from his family? Was his exile by his own choice or had the family shunned him and cast him out? And more importantly, why had he named her as his sole heir to his estate? Had he no children or family of his own? Was he like one of those eccentric lonely old recluses she often heard about whom always seem to die all alone wallowing in their own filth, confined to a type of self-imposed prison?

She decided when things settled down she might want to learn more not only about Emerson Washburn, but about her family history in general. She had never really had much interest in such things but for some reason the discovery of this missing relative seemed to spark a sudden curiosity in finding out more about her own genealogy. Yes, she decided she would definitely find some available time to do some research into her own family and maybe even look into Jason's family tree as well.

Across the table, Jason was likewise struggling with how best to present his news to Stephanie. What he had to tell her was for the most part bad news and yet this particular dark cloud seemed to have something of a silver lining. That was assuming they were both willing to uproot their family and relocate fifty miles north. The change of jobs would mean a promotion for Jason and more money, but that also meant more responsibility. It would provide Jason with the job security he no longer had in his present position. In fact, his current position essentially no longer existed. He knew it might be a challenge for his newly blended family but Jason could see no way around the fact that eventually they were going to have to relocate. He was the breadwinner, the sole source of income. Jason had to work in order to provide for his family and for the time being with the economy in such turmoil the only game in town was actually taking place in an entirely different town; the small Schuylkill County town of Ashton.

Both Stephanie and Jason sat in silence picking absently at their dinner, moving the food about as if interested although neither of them was really very hungry. As the mealtime wound down, the two older kids, Jeremy and Cindy wiped their faces with their napkins and got up from the table with a quick “Bye Mom, Bye Dad” before racing off to the living room to either watch TV or play video games.  Seventeen-month-old Sammy was caught up in the excitement and began banging on the tray of his highchair chanting, “Down, down, down.” He always wanted to do whatever his older siblings were doing.

Stephanie wiped the baby's face and hands clean, and then lifted little Sammy down. No sooner had his feet touched the kitchen floor then like two tiny rapid-firing pistons they carried him scurrying into the living room in search of his brother and sister. After a few seconds, the parents both heard the two older children complaining loudly, "No Sammy... Don't touch that.... no, no, no... Mom... Dad!"

This was followed promptly by a halfhearted admonishment from Jason shouting from the kitchen "Be nice and play with your little brother." The delivery sounded less like a scolding and more like an automatic reaction given with little thought or sincerity. A statement he and thousands of other parents before him likely said more often than they wanted to. He looked over at Stephanie and smiled lovingly, but she seemed to be preoccupied with other thoughts.

Stephanie and Jason loved all of their children and tried to never show any favoritism between them, but there was something so very special about little Sammy. They often referred to him as the glue, which helped to hold all of them together. Jeremy and Cindy were unrelated stepsiblings, yet they both were related to Sammy through one parent. Likewise, Jason was not related to Cindy and Stephanie was not related to Jeremy, yet little Sammy was a blood relative to every single member of the family. He was their common bond, the strongest link in the chain that bound them all together. Jason and Stephanie often referred
to their family as a
Yours, Mine and Ours
type of family, making reference to the old 2005 movie which was actually a remake of a 1968 classic.
 

When things sounded like they were under control in the living room, Stephanie returned to the kitchen table and put her hands on the back of the chair with a sigh, seeming to allow all of the concerns of the day to flow out with that single stress-relieving breath. It was then she noticed for the first time, Jason was not quite himself. She had been so busy worrying about her own concerns; she hadn't noticed the cloud of worry, which seemed to envelop Jason like a dark shroud.

"Jason, honey", Stephanie asked, "Baby. What's the matter? I can see something's wrong."

Jason looked up and as he eyes met Stephanie's he felt the all-familiar pangs of love he experienced every time their eyes met. She was the one true love of his life. He realized it the day they met and sometimes just thinking about just how precious she was to him was overwhelming. This only made the news he was about to deliver all the more difficult.

"Well..." Jason hesitated taking a deep breath, "I have some unpleasant news.” Stephanie visibly tensed, as her fingers felt as though they would dig into the back of the chair, which now seemed to support her and prepare her for the bad news she was sure would follow. “My boss, you know Walt, called me into his office and gave me some unfortunate news. It's not good news and it's something we cannot repeat to anyone. Stephanie nodded her head silently. You remember that project I've been talking about for months; that new machine tool?"

"Oh no!" Stephanie said with audible concern, "Don't tell me they didn't agree to give you the money. Not after all the work you put into it!"

Jason shook his head and explained, "No, that's not quite it. The project had too good of a payback for them not to approve it.”

“Well...then what happened? What is the problem?”

Jason replied, “They didn't approve it for our facility."

"I...I don't understand," Stephanie said. Then she asked, "How can it be approved yet not approved for your plant?"

"The project itself was definitely accepted," Jason corrected, “but corporate does not want the machine to be located in our plant... they want to send it to the Ashton facility, up north in Schuylkill County."

"What?" Stephanie complained, "You know more about that project than anyone up there. How can they do that?"

"Unfortunately, they can and will do whatever they choose, Steph. They're paying the bills and paying my salary." Jason said, "The Ashton factory is a non-union facility with a great track record for quality, productivity and management-shop employee relations, while our place has a strong and radical union with a history of a confrontation with management. And our production numbers are in the toilet too. Remember three years ago when the union went on strike for several weeks?”

“Yes. How could I forget? You had to go out with your other office coworkers and run the machines in the shop. That was a bad one and the company almost closed the plant over that strike." Stephanie said, "But I thought they both came to an agreement and everything worked out."

Jason explained, "Well, not quite. You see, the company agreed to many of the union's demands just because they felt shutting down the plant in the middle of a strike was bad public relations, plus they needed to keep producing product. However, the boys at corporate have a very long memory and while the union was bragging to the media about how they brought the company to its knees, the suits must have been planning a way to eventually get what they wanted. They always get what they want in the end. And here is the really bad part of the story. Not only are they putting the new machine in Ashton, but they're also moving our entire machining operation up to that facility. All that will remain in Lancaster is some assembly, sales, purchasing and product design."

"But you're a manufacturing engineer," she said, suddenly realizing the implication of what Jason had just said then she asked. "What will happen to you? Are they going to let you go, you know, are they going to fire you?" She pulled out the chair and carefully walked around it, deciding to sit down for the news, which she was certain, would follow.

Jason took another deep breath and said, "Well, that's up to me, or I should say up to us." Stephanie said nothing, just stared at Jason with some confusion. “Bottom line is, I can either take the layoff and go try to find another job somewhere else…” He hesitated for a moment and then with as much enthusiasm as he could muster said, “… or I can take a promotion and be the manager of manufacturing engineering at the Ashton Plant.”

“What?” Stephanie asked again, her face beaming with surprise and pleasure.

“Yep,” Jason said with a bit of obvious pride. “More money…more responsibility…a definite promotion.”

Suddenly, Stephanie began to shake and for a moment Jason was afraid she was going to cry, until he realized she was actually chuckling, laughing. To say the least, this was not the reaction he had expected. He could have understood anger, frustration, sadness and worry but laughter was not at all what he would have anticipated.

“Steph, are you OK?” he asked perplexed. Then, being an engineer and a man, he unsurprisingly tried to smooth things over somewhat by offering a more palatable solution. It was his nature to find solutions to problems. He quickly suggested “I mean...there are many ways we can approach this...I could commute back and forth for a while...and then in a year or so if the job works out we could find a place to live either up in Schuylkill County or even somewhere in northern Berks County… I mean…if that is what you…I mean we…want to do...and if it didn't work out, I could continue to commute until I find another job closer to home. Don't worry, Steph; there are a lot of solutions to this, I promise you.”

Stephanie leaned back in her chair not looking at Jason but staring at the floor while shaking her head in amazement. She said, “Well, honey, it looks like you're not the only one with a surprise today.”

Jason suddenly got an extremely concerned look and asked “What? You're not…not pregnant again are you?" He slapped his hand against his forehead in surprise. Jason had recalled from when Stephanie was pregnant with little Sammy her emotions seemed to be a bit topsy-turvy and her mood swings were many. He feared Stephanie's strange out of place laughter might be attributed to a pregnancy.

The question caused Stephanie to burst into fresh fits of deep belly laughter. When she calmed somewhat she said, “No, silly, I'm not pregnant. Here look at this.” She handed him the manila envelope with its ornate gold-leaf return address. She had been laughing so hard that tears came to her eyes. She dabbed them with the sleeve of her shirt.

“What's this?” Jason asked as he read the return address. “H. Mason Armstrong? A lawyer? I hope we aren't being sued. I don't get it.”

“You will... Just read it,” Stephanie said still chuckling.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked. "This wasn't exactly the greatest news I just dumped on you."

She replied, “I'm not really sure why I am laughing. I think I'm either just amazed by the strange turn of events today or perhaps I am simply relieved. This has been a really bizarre day. Please, just read the letter, honey. You know how I always say things happen for a reason, even things that seem to be bad at first? Read the letter and you'll understand.”

Jason gave her a quizzical look and then read the letter first by quickly skimming, which was his habit, then after looking up wide-eyed at his wife; he read it again using his finger to follow across the critical lines, just to make sure he had read it correctly.