Chapter 6--Anna

The woman jumped, as did Henry.  Seemed neither was expecting anyone to be there.

Henry heard a small, high pitched, sound come from the woman's open mouth.  It was clear she was trying to say something to him, but was just too scared to say anything. 

Henry proceeded with caution so not to scare the young woman more.

"Um, hello."  He said calmly and quietly.
She stared him down like he was a dangerous creature.
"Are you alright?" Henry asked. "Why are you out here this late at night?"
Henry was so concerned with her well-being that it didn't click with him that her clothing was not of the current fashion.
He stood there looking at her a little longer, then when he thought there was no hope, turned and started to head away.
"Wait," he heard from behind him. " I don't know where I am.  And yes, other than being startled--to say the least--I am alright.  Thank you for asking."
The sound from her voice was so quiet, he almost could continue to walk and pretend he didn't hear her, but he knew he did, and he knew the proper thing to do was to acknowledge that she had spoken.  He turned sideways and looked at her.
"Do you need help?  Or a ride somewhere?" he asked her.
"I, um..." she said quietly.
Henry was getting nowhere with her.  He had to think fast of who could help.  Then the answer came to him: June.

Henry took a step toward the woman, and she took a step back away from him.
"I'm not going to hurt you.  I know someone who can help if you'd like me to take you to her."

The young woman eased up a little at hearing that Henry had a female friend that could help.

"Okay," she said, "that would be lovely."
Lovely? This woman seemed even stranger to Henry now that she's spoken a few words to him.
"Okay then, my car is just this way."  Henry turned again and started to walk.  It was a few steps across the field that he turned and saw the woman hadn't budged from the spot he found her. "are you coming?" He asked in a louder voice so that she could hear.  She just stood there with her hands clasped in front of her.  "What are you waiting for?" Henry started walking back to her.  He was starting to regret offering to help her.  He was cold, tired and it was getting late.  He walked back to her, and when he was just close enough to her, she spoke again, a bit louder this time.
"A gentleman always offers a lady an arm when walking together." she said.
"What? Come on. It's cold out here!"
She turned her head from left to right.
"Arm?"
Henry sighed.  If this is what it was going to take to get her moving, then offering his arm to her would be the least he could do.


Henry had been walking with the woman for a short time when he heard her speak again.
"Anna." she said.
Henry looked at her sideways, "What?"
"My name.  It's Anna."
"Okay then." he said uninterested.
"And yours is?"
"Does it matter?"
"Of course!"
"Why?"
"It's the proper, polite thing to do."
"And what thing is that?"
"To introduce yourself when you meet others you don't know."
Henry sighed.  He just wanted this night to be over with, but he had a feeling this night was far from being over.
"It's Henry." he said gruffly.
"Henry," she said. "Sir Hen.."
"No "Sir", just Henry"
"Excuse me, sir, but it is very rude to interrupt.  Especially when the person you are interrupting is a lady."
Henry rolled his eyes, "and what are you?  The prim and proper patrol?"
Anna glared at him.  Henry stared straight ahead with a straight face.  For someone who wasn't talking much two minutes ago, she sure turned into a chatty cathy with a strong opinion on everything. He thought.

***

They walked toward the front of the museum.  Both looking straight ahead and not speaking.  They were almost to Henry's car when he felt Anna start to pull away from him slightly.  He looked at her and noticed that not only was she looking to her right, but her body was angled to head in that direction.
"Where are you going?" Henry asked.  Anna looked at him in surprised, then looked back to her right.
"I thought..." she trailed off pointing to her right.  Henry's eyes followed the direction her finger was pointing in and saw the front end of an antique automobile sticking out around the corner of the museum.
"That's not my car".  He said.
"Car?" Anna's hand dropped to her side.
"That 'car' is an antique and no longer runs." Henry said half amused.
"What is a 'car'?"
Henry looked at Anna, confused.  "You don't know what a car is?". Anna shook her head.
Henry was getting more irritated.  "That," he said he pointing at the antique, "is a car".
"Oh." Anna said.
"And that," Henry said pointing to his SUV, "is a car."  Anna looked at Henry's SUV.
"That doesn't look like the one over there." she said confused.
"That's because it's been upgraded from that one."  Henry replied. "Come on, let's get going."
Henry led Anna over to his SUV.  He opened the passenger door for her, and she climbed in.  Henry closed the door then went around to the driver's side, climbed in and fastened his seat belt after closing the drivers door.  He looked over at Anna who hadn't put on her seat belt yet.  "Seatbelt?" he said.
"Seat.....belt?" Anna said confused.  Annoyed, Henry reached over and dragged the belt across Anna's lap and chest and clicked in in place.  "seat belt." He said firmly.

Henry backed up slowly out of his parking spot.  He accelerated the SUV quickly taking turns more sharply than he knew he should have in the snow.  A few times, he felt the car start to slide and worried he would end up in a ditch, but he wanted to get to the grocery store quickly before June left.  He looked over at Anna a few times and saw that she was sitting straight up.  Had he not noticed the handkerchief twisted tightly in her hands he would not have known that his erratic driving was making her nervous.  A few more streets and they were at the entrance of the grocery store.

***

Henry and Anna walked up, arm in arm, to the grocery store doors. He peered inside the glass doors and saw light coming from the cafe around the corner.  He tugged on the door and it opened.  He, and Anna, were now just inside the grocery store.  "Wait here for a moment".  Henry said to her as he unhooked his arm from hers.  He went around the corner and saw the cafe brightly lit.  Sitting at the counter, drinking some tea, was the girl from the museum, June's granddaughter.  And at the baking station, humming a song and frosting an impressive wedding cake, was June.



The girl looked up from her tea.  "Henry!"
"Uh, how did you know my name?" Henry asked while he searched his memory from his earlier encounter with her at the museum.
"I told her when she described the dark, handsome man she met earlier." June said not looking up from her cake. "What brings you here so late?  You know we're not open, right?"
"Uh, no I didn't." Henry said. "The front door was open, and I saw the light"
"Well, that doesn't we're in business, Henry." June sounded tired.  Usually she was very chipper whenever she saw Henry, but this tone was not as pleasant.
"Nana...I'm sure Henry isn't going to order any big orders!" June's granddaughter said. "By the way, I'm Claire." she said smiling.
"Um, nice to meet you, Claire." Henry said. "Look, I need your help." Henry said to June.
"Oh really?  With what?" she said still working on the cake.
"I, uh...well, you see it's...." Henry sputtered out.  June stopped what she was doing and looked at him. Henry let out an exhausted sigh, "I could show you better than explain. I don't even know how I'd explain, or if you'll even believe me." he said.  June stared at him.
"Well, try me.  It must be important if you came here at," she looked at her clock on the wall. It was one of those tacky cat clocks where the eyes went back and forth in time with the second hand. "...this hour and after business hours." she said.  Henry stepped back out of the cafe and disappeared around the corner.  June and Claire leaned over to try to see what it was Henry was getting.  A few seconds later Henry re-appeared.  To June and Claire he seemed to be coaxing something.  They could hear him speaking slowly and calmly. "I hope you are not thinking of bringing an animal in here Henry! There is food here and..." June trailed off as she saw the young woman standing behind Henry.

Chapter 5--The Woman in the Photograph

Henry stood there, staring the photo, for what seemed like eternity.

Who was she?  Why was he so taken with a photo?

"Excuse me?"
Henry seemed confused.  Was the photo talking to him?
"Hello?"
"um...Hello?" Henry said unsure.  Then he heard giggling and that was when he realized the voice was not from the photo, but from behind him.  Henry slowly turned to see the young woman running the museum behind him.
"Sorry to disturb you," she said, "but I need to close up the place for the night."
Night? Henry could hardly believe it.  How long HAD he been standing there?  It was already night?
Henry let out a series of grunts and coughs then finally managed to blurt out "sorry" as he rushed pass the young woman.
As he grabbed his coat and opened the front door of the museum,  he heard giggling again.

***


The cold air hit Henry quickly.  He threw on his coat and stood in the fresh snow that had just fallen on the ground.  His breath surrounded him with each exhale.  He tugged on his coat.
I should head home.  It's getting late. He thought, but he wasn't ready to head home. Instead of walking to his car, he headed across the field to an abandoned building.  This was a building he hadn't noticed before and decided to explore around it.

As Henry was nearing the back of the building he thought he saw something odd in the air.  Almost like a water ripple but instead of being in water, it was in the air.  Curious, he headed toward it.  As he got closer, it seemed to disappear.  He picked up his pace, and rounded the corner.  He was no longer alone. He now stood face to face with a woman, the same woman he had just seen in the photograph in the museum.

Chapter 4--Changes

Henry lifted the phone to his ear.  After a few rings he heard the voice of a woman on the other end, Michelle, the receptionist.
"Bridgeport Weekly, how may I direct your call?"
"Michelle, it's Henry Banks, could I talk to Mike?"
Mike was the senior copywriter at Bridgeport Weekly, and Henry's boss.
"Oh Henry!" Michelle said with enthusiasm. It had always been clear to Henry, and everyone else at the office, that Michelle had a huge crush on him. She wasn't very subtle about it either. "I was just thinking about you!"
"I'm sure you were," Henry thought.
"It's just horrible what happened!" Michelle cried into the receiver.
"What happened?"
"What...happened?!" her voice rose as she asked him, horrified that he would ask that. "about your father." she whispered.
"Oh, yeah, well...it happens."
There was a small gasp on the other end.  He could tell Michelle wasn't too happy with his response or reaction at his fathers death.
"Can I get Mike? It's kind of urgent."
There was no response from Michelle, there was no sound at all.  He was just about to ask if she was still there when he heard the phone ringing through to Mikes office.  A few rings in, a man answered, "This is Mike."
"Mike, it's Henry."
"How's it going?"
"It's been...going." Henry let out a little chuckle. He liked Mike.  Mike was around his age and was easy going so talking to him was simple. Mike was the only person Henry would talk to if told he could only talk to one person for the rest of his life.
"How is it in..."
He trailed off. Henry knew he was trying to remember where he said he would be traveling to.
"Moonlight Falls." Henry finished off for him.
"That's it. Moonlight....Falls."
Henry knew Mike enough that he knew he was writing the name of the town down so he wouldn't forget again.
"I need to talk to you," Henry started.  There was a lump in his throat.  He didn't want to have to have this conversation. "I need to..." he rummaged his brain for the right words to express what he needed to tell Mike.
"You  need to be relocated?"
Henry exhaled.
"Erm...well, yes."
"I figured." Mike said, "the problem is though, I've never heard of Moonlight Falls so I don't know if they have a paper or who their senior copywriter is."
"They have a newspaper. I've seen a little girl delivering the paper this morning."
"Okay, well, I can't say I'm happy about losing you as an employee.  You're one of the hard working ones here."
Henry waited to hear what else he had to say.
"If you can get a hold of a paper, and give me the info...address or phone,"
"I have one here.  I went out this morning and picked up a paper while out."
Henry searched the paper for a contact info and gave it to Mike.
"Okay, I'll give them a call and see what happens.  Again, I'm going to be sorry to lose you, and if you ever decide to come back to Bridgeport, know you'll always have a job here for you."
"Thanks Mike."
And with that, Henry bid Mike goodbye and hung up.  He hadn't realized until after the call, that he had been holding his breath.  He let out an exhale, a sigh of relief.  Although, he knew that this wasn't over.  Just because Mike was going to call the paper here in town didn't guarantee him a job.  But at least he had enough money, and then some, if he didn't get the job, to survive on.
***ick up the furniture currently in the house, he had to buy new furniture.
He had a pleasant conversation with a gentleman from the store, and had ordered all new furniture. He was worried about the delivery going from Bridgeport to Moonlight Falls, but the gentleman assured Henry it wouldn't be a problem.  He also assured Henry the furniture would be there the next day.  Henry was pleased with the progress he had made so far. He wanted to take a nap, but there was a knock on the door.  The men for the furniture had shown up. Henry saw the large truck in his driveway and two very large, bulky men standing on the porch.
"We have a pick up for Henry Banks?"
"Yeah that's me. Listen, I know I told the store associate I wanted it all gone, but there is some stuff I want to keep."
"Okay, you just tell us what to load."
Henry directed the men to what he wanted out of the house.  When they were done, all Henry was left with was the bookcases, the tv, the wall table near the windows and the bedroom furniture. It wasn't until they had left that Henry realized if he wanted to watch tv, it would have to be while sitting on the floor.  He thought maybe he could bring part of the window seat down that was in the bedroom, but soon found that it was built into the wall.  After deciding he would just have to suck it up until tomorrow, he decided to lay down for a nap, and ended up sleeping through the night.

***

The snow fell lightly and silently.  The sun peaked through clouds every few minutes, but then quickly went back in hiding behind them.  Henry woke up, groggy from his long sleep.  He looked at his watch and saw that it was 9am the next morning.

"wow, I must have been tired."

He stood up and stretched then went downstairs to the quiet, almost empty living room.  Still not in the mood to sit on the floor and watch tv, he made his way into the kitchen and grabbed himself a bowl of cereal.  Not long after finishing his breakfast, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is 'New to You', we have a delivery order for you."

"Oh," Henry said looking to the front door, "you here already?"

"We are about five minutes from you.  We just wanted to confirm you were home so we could deliver your furniture."

"Oh, yeah.  Just pull up the driveway right up to the front door."

"Alright, see in a few."

Henry hung up and went outside to move his car to the garage.  As he was heading back to the front of the house, he saw the truck backing in.  A short, skinny man jumped out of the driver side of the truck.

"Hi are you Mr. Banks?"

"Henry,"

"Okay, just need you to sign here!"

Henry signed the paperwork stating he had received his delivery as a much bigger man got out of the passenger side of the truck.  

Two hours later, the men left and Henry had new furniture.  He stood in the living room looking at his new stuff.  The furniture, in his opinion, was much better. But he felt he had to do something about the walls.  The paint of the walls were so dark, and old feeling.  

He went into the dining room. 

What used to be old, and out of style, was now updated to a more modern feel.

Henry was pleased with his new furniture, but he hadn't forgotten he needed to have his bathroom done.  He jumped in his car and headed to see June, the little old woman that owned the grocery/cafe.  

"Back again so soon!?" June was happy to see Henry. The smell of fresh coffee brewing filled his nostrils as he closed the door behind him. He could see that the place was just as deserted as it had been yesterday.  He started to wonder if she got much business, and if the sight of him in her store two days in a row was the most she'd seen of any resident.  

"Hey June," Henry waved to her, "could I get a latte to go, and I was wondering, do you know of any places that sell home improvement items?  I need paint and the bathroom in my house was left undone."

June gave Henry directions to the only hardware store in town as she got him a large latte.

"Oh, I only wanted a small.  I'm sorry I should have mentioned that."

"No fuss...on the house!" she handed him his latte and waved him on his way.  Something about June made him feel like he was talking to his mother.  He sat in his car for a few moments staring at his coffee.  His mother...

He didn't remember much of his mother. She died when he was very young and was raised by his father. What he did remember of her, was that she was incredibly kind, pretty, soft spoken, and smelled like fresh flowers.  

He snapped out of it when he felt a tear fall down his cheek.  He pulled out of June's shopping lot and headed to the hardware store.  

Three hours later he arrived home with the hatchback of his SUV filled with home improvement items: paint, wall and floor tiles, a mirror, caulking, glue, spackling  paste, light fixutres. He had everything but the kitchen sink in the back of his SUV, and he was sure he'd be making more trips. He unloaded his items in the garage, but wasn't feeling very motivated on starting his home improvement.  He then remembered June telling him there was a museum in town, and decided to visit there before starting his projects.

***

The museum was surprisingly close to Henry's house.  So close, in fact, he could see his house in the distance from the parking lot of the museum.  As he walked up the stairs he saw that the museum was closed for lunch.  

Henry looked at his watch.   

"ten minutes.  I can wait in the car I suppose, or I could skip it for today and go home." He frowned at the thought of going home right now because he knew if he went home, he'd want to start his projects, which he really didn't want to start today.  He decided to wait and went back to his car.  He sat in his warm SUV and sipped his latte while the radio played music quietly.  He looked to his right and saw an old, abandoned barn.  He did a double take as he looked over to the barn because he thought he had seen something move over there. He thought he had seen a woman, and not just any woman, a woman very out of place, but when he looked again, there was nothing.  He figured his eyes were just playing games on him when he saw a very young girl, possibly in her late teens, walk up the steps to the museum.  He watched her as she flipped the sign over, unlocked the door and went in.  Henry took it that she was just young looking for her age, turned off his car and went in.  When he entered the building there was a desk in front of him where the young girl stood.  She looked up, startled to see someone there.

"Hello," she said in a very high pitched, yet quiet, voice, "welcome to Moonlight Falls historical Museum."

Henry nodded, and looked around, "is there an admission fee?"

"Admission fee? No..." she was shocked that he had asked that. She watched him rather closely, "there is no drinks allowed, however, and you can leave your coat over there if you'd like."

"Oh," he said as he looked down at his almost completely full cup.

"You can leave it here at the desk while you look around if you'd like."

Henry nodded and walked closer to the desk.  As he got closer to the young girl, she seemed to tense up.  He handed her the cup then headed to the coat rack to hang up his coat.  It was really warm in the museum, and normally he wouldn't leave his coat for something that wouldn't last for more than an hour.

"I see you've met June."

"Hmm," Henry turned around to see the young girl looking at his coffee cup, "Oh, yeah, been there a couple of times."

"What do you think of her?" the young girl straightened up.

"What do I think of her?"  the question seemed to make Henry wonder why he was being asked that, "She's a very sweet woman."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Why's that?"

"Because she's my grandmother."

Henry nodded and smiled, "you're very lucky to have a grandmother like her."

"Thank you, I think so too." She smiled then went back to her magazine she had brought in with her.  Henry took that as an indication the conversation was over, and he was okay with that.  

Walking around, Henry could tell this wouldn't be a long visit.  It was mostly paintings, photos, and a few old news articles about how the town came to be.  He was about to leave when he noticed a pushed back area, like a nook.  He walked over and noticed an oval portrait of a young woman lit up brilliantly.  Henry stared at the portrait for what seemed like hours.  He was mesmerized by the woman in the portrait, and found himself smiling at it like a fool.