Moving to Owl Hollow was supposed to be a new start for Katie, recently widowed and finding herself alone for the first time in 15 years. Her life had revolved around her late husband Sam, who was taken from this world too soon at the hands of a drunk driver. Sam and Katie were high school sweethearts who had married just after graduation and although they had never been blessed with children, they lived life to the fullest and were completely and absolutely devoted to each other. When Sam passed, Katie's world crashed down around her and she fell into a dark depression. It wasn't until she received a letter from an attorney in Owl Hollow, Tennessee that she began to emerge from her grief. The letter stated she had inherited a property from a late Uncle she hadn't even known existed. She had no family or close friends. Her own parents had died years before in a boating accident, and she hadn't known her mother even had a brother. She'd never heard of Owl Hollow, and as far as she knew, she had never been to Tennessee.
Katie sold the home she and Sam had shared in the Pacific Northwest and loaded their black Labrador Boo into the Jeep and headed south. Boo sat in the front seat, anxiously awaiting their adventure. He was Katie's only comfort since Sam's death. They had a long drive in front of them, so she patted his soft head for good luck and off they went.
Several days later, after lumpy beds in rundown motels, a night spent sleeping in the Jeep at a campground when they got lost, and horrible convenience store coffee and far from nutritious meals on the go, they finally pulled into the town of Owl Hollow, population 303. It didn't look like much as she entered the town. She passed a small gas station with two pumps, a hardware store that had seen better days, and a tiny cafe' with a sign boasting "The Finest Frog Legs and Catfish on Friday Nights!" There was a bank, a small variety store, a market, a barber shop and a post office with a sign out front that said "Attorney Upstairs" with an arrow that pointed up a rickety set of steps along the side of the building. There was a tavern at the edge of town and an old six-room motel that had long ago been boarded up with a sign that read "No Vacancy." After passing this, the road kept going on but all you saw were mailboxes at the end of long driveways with no sign of the homes they belonged to. There were thick woods all along both sides of the road and occasionally Katie and Boo would catch a glimpse of a light or two peeking through the trees, the only evidence that homes did truly exist along the way.
A few miles out of town, Katie finally saw the cemetery the attorney had said would mark the spot where she would turn to find the homestead she had inherited. She turned left at the cemetery onto an old dirt road and followed it into the woods for what seemed like another five miles until finally there it was in front of her, a small two bedroom farmhouse with peeling paint and a deep porch that wrapped around one side of the house. There were no lights to welcome them, so Katie pulled the Jeep right up to the front of the house and let the bright beams illuminate the walkway and porch steps. Boo seemed to have lost his sense of adventure and cowered on the seat next to her with his ears down and an anxious look in his eyes. Katie took one look at him and said, "The feeling's mutual, Boy!" and patted his head for reassurance. She opened the Jeep door and jumped out and Boo reluctantly followed.
Katie hadn't thought to ask the attorney how long it had been since someone had actually lived in the home. She just assumed it was habitable and that she could move right in. One step up onto the sagging porch told her it had been quite some time since someone had actually spent time here. She could see now that there were vines growing all up through the floor boards and wrapping themselves around the porch rails. The front door of the house wasn't even closed all the way and as she pushed on it, it slowly creaked open on rusty hinges. She shined her flashlight into the entry way and saw furniture covered in dust, moth-eaten curtains hanging from the windows and what looked to be nests here and there along the baseboards where critters had taken up residence over time. As they stepped over the threshold, Katie and Boo were shaking like leaves on the trees and goosebumps formed up and down Katie's arms. She walked through what appeared to be a small living room and into an old kitchen with curling linoleum floors and cupboards with doors hanging listlessly, their contents spilling onto chipped formica countertops cluttered with debris. Katie turned the handle at the sink and was rewarded with a few rusty drips of water, but that was about it. No electricity, no running water and obviously no solid roof over their heads as she looked up toward the ceiling to note that she could actually see the moon shining through a huge hole in the rafters overhead.
Katie decided there would be no more exploring for her and Boo until morning light, so she turned and walked back out the front door to the safety of the Jeep. Another night would be spent cuddling together in the front seat, but they would make the most of it. At least they had each other. What had she gotten them into by moving them halfway across the country to this dilapidated old place?
(read on tomorrow as the story ends with Part Two. . .)
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