Wreath Read Online Free PDF Page A

both hands, like she had seen swashbuckling heroes do in movies. She pretended it was a saber and she could cut someone in half or evaporate them on the spot.
    The marshy area behind the place, with a stream that would have to do for water, housed frogs croaking in an array of tones. She pulled out her notebook and squinted at her entries in the gloom, reading her research notes on creatures and night noises.
    Don’t be afraid.
Frogs will not hurt you.
You will get used to them
.
    She had not expected them to be so loud.
    Unnerved, Wreath chose a crazy van, a maroon color like the cover of an old record album one of her mother’s cousins had. The van, with tiger-striped shag carpet on the floor and walls, looked as though someone had left it in midsentence. Magazines and a faded photo album sat on a fake wood end table, a suitcase of rotten clothes and a stack of paperback books rested in the corner. The windows had been covered with old sheets so no one could see in, nice for privacy but no good for lighting.
    Wreath chastised herself for heading out without a flashlight, mad that she had let the detail slip past her.
    That meant she had likely overlooked other essential details.
    Closing the doors, in the eerie night, she fidgeted with the locks until she made them work. For one frightening moment, she thought she had permanently locked herself in and panicked, imaging her decaying skeleton discovered years later. She frantically dug a pair of rusty pliers from the glove box and forced the side lock open, drawing a deep breath of fetid air when it worked.
    Trembling, Wreath spread her blanket on the rough carpeted floor and laid out her clothes, ate a banana, and put her stick nearby. She lay awake for a long time, afraid to sleep.

    A loud tapping noise caused Wreath to roll over and rub her eyes.
    She needed to get to the door before the knocking woke Frankie up.
    Frankie.
    A sick feeling roiled in her stomach. Frankie was gone.
    Wreath froze and tried to figure out where she was.
    The rough carpet rubbed against her aching arm, her familiar blanket bunched up. A trail of ants inspected the banana she had left nearby.
    The tapping continued, and Wreath reached for her stick.
    “Who is it?” she asked, her voice sounding like one of the frogs the night before. The knocking noise went right on, as though she had not spoken.
    “I’m armed,” she said louder, clearing her throat and trying to clear her mind. “What do you want?”
    She heard the shrill call of a bird, and the noise stopped.
    Crawling to the front seat of the van, she tried to roll the window down to peek outside, but corrosion had jammed it. Tentatively, she pushed against the door and looked, blinded by bright sunshine.
    She jumped back, slammed the door, and waited.
    Nothing happened.
    Then the knocking started again.
    Agitated, Wreath opened the van door, the branch in her hand. A large woodpecker sat at the top of a rotten tree, ignoring her as he tapped at the wood.
    The bird sounded exactly the way the neighbor had in Lucky when she knocked on the front door, soup in hand or with a piece of misdelivered mail. Wreath’s anxiety vanished at the sight of the bird. She looked up at the clear sky and back at her watch. Twelve o’clock!
    She had slept until noon.
    In desperate need of a bathroom, Wreath wondered if any of the rotten trailer houses had commodes. She settled instead on a spot in the woods, embarrassed, and wandered back to her campsite, thankful no one was around.
    As she strolled back to the van, a warm breeze lifted her hair. She yawned and stretched and savored the sunshine. Sadness lurked, but she felt rested.
    Almost refreshed.
    The junkyard looked slightly more inviting by day, and its vastness felt almost safe, like a giant metal cocoon where no one could find her. The panic of the night before seemed excessive.
    Her original plan had not been off base after all. If no one knew she was here, no one could hurt her.
    She rocked