Mystery of the Missing Items

The winds blew cool and stiff in the evening sky. Summer was over, although you might not know it by the warm temperatures during the day. But here in the evening, Fall was here; long sleeve shirts and even sweaters were welcome in the dusk of the day. Samantha and her family were readying themselves for the harvest season. Picking the last of the squash, the last of the fruit off the trees and gathering the pumpkins that had ripened on the vine. Nothing worth hanging onto was left to waste. "Waste not, want not", was drilled into Samantha's head, although she really didn't understand the phrase.

The homestead was manageable, and Samantha's dad saved for a long time to get it. Her momma had packed everything with care just two years ago, for the trip out west. She then unpacked everything and put it into place in the new house that Daddy had built. Everyone did their part, from the oldest down to the youngest. Samantha didn't mind the hard work, for it kept her busy. The worst thing in the world was a lazy "good-for-nothing". She had heard that phrase as well. Often it was applied to her Uncle Owen, momma's younger brother. There were a lot of arguments between Momma and Daddy about Uncle Owen, mostly when they thought all of the children were asleep. Samantha was right in the middle of the children. She had two older brothers, Seth who was 15; Caleb was 14. She was 13, Helen was 11, and Samuel was the baby at 9. Momma couldn't have any more children after two miscarriages, but she and Daddy seemed happy nonetheless. Only talk about Uncle Owen would cause a disagreement between them. Momma had wanted to bring Uncle Owen out west with the rest of the family, but Daddy had put his foot down. He said he had enough mouths to feed, without adding the burden of a lazy man to the mix. Momma had cried, but finally accepted Daddy's decision.

Things seemed to be going well here at the homestead. But lately, there had been some strange occurrences. Momma's garden seemed to be raided a little more than usual. The gate had been left open in the barn. Little things seemed to go missing. A shirt off the clothes line. A jar of fruit preserves. Little things that made Momma nervous. Daddy said that it was probably some pranksters, and when he caught them he would make sure they never bothered us again. Momma would just cross herself, and go about her day. I didn't know what was going on, but I sure wanted to get to the bottom of the missing items. Even if it was to just ease Momma's mind. All Hallow's Eve was still a month away, but spooks were never welcome at any time. Samantha made a vow to herself to solve the mystery of the missing items. She readied herself for bed, and curled up next to her sister and fell asleep thinking how she would solve the mystery.


Word count 512