Read The Hollow Tree at Dead Mule Swamp for Free Online

nervous
and flitting from the cupboards to the table and back.
    "Do you think we should use
china plates? Maybe paper is better for a little boy?" she worried.
    "Cora, I think you should calm
down. If you're like this tomorrow, you'll scare the poor child away. He's very
serious."
    "Oh dear, his grandfather was
such a clown. Maybe I'll do everything wrong."
    "Jimmie hasn't had many
chances to laugh. He acts like a little businessman." I chuckled. "A
hungry businessman."
    "That sounds like my Jimmie.
Both parts!"
    "Look, he doesn't know much
about his family, but he used to sneak into my house to think about his grandfather.
He knows about the accident, and that he was in the car."
    "That poor boy." Cora
shook her head.
    "I think you should just do
what you do best. Show him the family history and he'll be delighted."
    "Do you really think so?"
    "I do. Just be yourself, and
he'll like you."
    She shook her head in wonder.
"He could have been my grandson."
    I gave her a little hug, and we
worked together to make the sloppy joe filling, so it would only need to be
heated tomorrow. When I left, she was mixing sugar cookies, convinced that ice
cream was not enough dessert.
     
    Late that afternoon, Jimmie slipped
in from the trees again. I had been watching for him, uncertain whether he
would come on a holiday, but hopeful that perhaps he’d earned some money
running errands or something. Soon, I heard a gentle knocking on the door at
the head of the basement steps. It had taken me a long time to translate the
plan into code, but I thought it might appeal to Jimmie's sense of adventure
and love of secrecy to come in through the cellar. I'd left the door at the
bottom of the hatchway steps open, and suggested he come in that way, and up
the inside basement stairs to the kitchen. That way no one would see him coming
to see me. I opened the door at the top of the dark stairway.
    Jimmie grinned. "That was
fun," he said.
    I smiled back, "I thought you
might think so. How about some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich?"
    "Sure!" he said.
"But you feed me every time I come."
    "I have a son, but he's at
college now. I know boys are always ready for food."
    The tomato soup was in a pan, and
the sandwiches were made and ready to grill. I had been confident he'd be
willing to eat. While I heated the soup, Jimmie pulled another twenty-dollar
bill from his pocket and put it on the table.
    "Here's more for you to keep.
I've got over $100.00 now," he said.
    "Great! I want to tell you
about the lady we are going to see."
    "OK."
    "Her name is Cora Baker, but
she will be happy to have you call her Cora. She knew your grandfather very
well when she was young."
    "Is she that old lady with all
the old stuff in her barn? We were supposed to go there on a field trip from
school, but the bus couldn't get down her road, so it was cancelled."
    "Yes, that's the place. Look,
Jimmie, Cora dated your grandfather for several years. They broke up before he
went to college and met your grandmother, Sandra Sue. She cared for him a whole
lot."
    Jimmie thought about that for a
minute, but didn't say anything.
    "How does that make you
feel?"
    "I dunno. I think maybe I like
it. I like to talk to my grandfather Jimmie, just pretend of course. He tells
me what to do sometimes, when things don't make sense. She's really talked with
him?"
    "Lots and lots. Want to know a
secret?"
    "Yes!"
    "They broke up over a stupid
practical joke, and she's been sorry ever since. But you can't tell her I told
you."
    Jimmie grinned. "It's a deal!
How do we get there?"
    I told him where it was, but he was
worried about Bert finding his bike anywhere near home. He insisted on riding
at least part of the way there. He wouldn't even agree to put the bike in my
cellar.
     
    So, the next morning, I met Jimmie
at ten at the corner of Centerline and School Section Road. He pushed his bike
into the bushes where it was well-hidden, and rode the rest of the way with me
in the Jeep.
    Cora had composed