Undecided

A Story by Ken Mclaurin

August 24, 2006, a warm fall morning it is 5:30am the alarm is ringing louder and louder, as Shannon slowly awakes she can hear her husband Ken is already up and ready for his first day as the new sheriff of a small town deep in the woods of Virginia called Spirit. Shannon turns the alarm off and gets out of bed she walks up behind Ken kissing him on the back of his neck and whispers into his ear that it’ll be ok and they made the right decision moving to the small town for a fresh start and work being a family. Shannon heads down stairs to the kitchen to start coffee and breakfast before its time to wake up Jake and Molly for school. Ken is now standing and looking in the mirror that’s in their bedroom at the gun shoot wounds he suffered from as a former FBI agent before he retired and moved to Spirit Hill. He continues to button up his uniform shirt and puts on his name tag that reads Sheriff Ken McLaurin. He heads down to the kitchen and grabs his coffee mug that reads Agent McLaurin FBI, he looks to his wife and says Shannon I never thought that at the age of 37 I would be retired from the bureau and the sheriff of a small town here in Virginia, she walked over to him and said well Ken at least you're here with me and the kids and most of all alive. She continued to tell him how thankful she and the kids were to have him still alive. He kissed her forehead and told her he loved her and to tell the kids he would see them tonight at dinner. He headed out the house toward his patrol car and got in and left. Driving down the road toward town Sheriff McLaurin looks to his right and out of the passenger side window he see’s what appears to be a man who looked to be older and wearing a old time hat standing beside the road as he stops and get out of the car the man is no longer there, so he looks around and gets back in the car and continue to drive until he gets into town. He arrives at the station and walks in and is greatly greeted by one of his deputies and the day shift dispatcher. As he walks through and is meeting everyone and heading to his new office he looks at the pictures hanging on the wall of the station pictures that goes back to when the town got its name back in 1869 and it makes him curious on why the town is called spirit hill. He gets to his office and on his desk is a welcome note from Mark James the mayor of Spirit, that’s inviting him to breakfast at the mayor’s office at 8:30 am. Sheriff McLaurin looks at the clock on the wall and noticed it has stopped working and stuck on 10 o clock pm. He picks up his cell phone to check the time instead and its already 7 am, so he decide to call Shannon to see if the kids were up and ready for school with it being also the first day of school and to let her know how his morning is going so far. She is also starting a new job as a 9^th grade English teacher at Gregory James School the only school that is located in town of Spirit-Hill and has a little over 200 students. He wishes her and the kids a good day and puts his cell phone back in his pocket. He decides to go out and check out the town till its time to meet Mayor James for breakfast. As he walks out the office he bumps into Deputy Earl Bernard who is also new in town and transferred from a near by town because of a bad marriage that ended. He ask Deputy Bernard how the job is going and ask if he would like to ride with him around town and show him around. Deputy Bernard was honored to ride along with sheriff McLaurin, being new to town and not having many friends yet he thought it would be the perfect chance for him to get to know the sheriff and maybe become friends. As they get in the sheriff patrol car sheriff McLaurin notice that the clock in his car has also stopped working and somehow is now showing 10 pm as he resets the clock in his patrol car, deputy Bernard begins to tell him that since he been living in Spirit Hills he has notice many clocks not working and stuck on the time 10pm but they both just kind of laughed about it and continued on. The time was now 7:55am and they left the station. As they were driving Deputy Bernard showed the sheriff around town which was actually way bigger then sheriff McLaurin thought, from gas stations to grocery stores, banks to movie theaters and much more. As they got close to the Gregory James school sheriff McLaurin see’s the man he thought he seen earlier on his way to the station after leaving home, he slams on breaks and jump out again with the same puzzled look on his face he had earlier. But somehow the man was gone again as he got back in the patrol car deputy Bernard asks him sheriff what or who did you see? Sheriff McLaurin respond did you not see the man standing on the edge of the wood line beside the school and deputy Bernard responds was no sir I did not. So sheriff McLaurin starts the car and continue on driving as if nothing ever happened. Just passed the school is the towns library and hospital and between them was the mayor office almost the size of the school but only because it was also the court house. Sheriff McLaurin could tell the town has been around for awhile by the way all the buildings have that old look to them and makes him feel like he is back in time. Sheriff McLaurin asked Deputy Bernard what time he had, because once again the clock in his car has stopped and somehow showing 10 pm again. Deputy Bernard told the sheriff that the time was 8:27am so sheriff McLaurin pulled into the mayors office and told his deputy to take his car back to the station he would walk back so he can stop and talk to some business owners to introduce his self after his breakfast with mayor James, the deputy did what he was told. As sheriff McLaurin walked into the mayors office and was quickly greeted by the mayors receptionist Sherri, he introduced himself he noticed the mayor clock was not working and stuck on 10pm, but he was asked to follow the receptionist out back were he would be having breakfast with the mayor. As they were walking down the hall of the courthouse and mayor office, sheriff McLaurin starts to look at the pictures hanging right before walking out the back to meet mayor James, and in this one picture dated back to 1870 the sheriff notice a man in the picture and it was the man he has seen twice standing beside the road and on the edge of the tree line by the school. And he thought to himself there was no way he seen that man because he would be 137 years old. Just as the sheriff was about to turn around Mayor James patted him on the back and said we have needed a sheriff for a long time and asked him if he knew who the man was? Of course sheriff McLaurin admitted that he did not and he continue to tell the mayor how he thought he had seen the man twice already and thought he might be crazy and that his medication for the wounds he got while being in the FBI was causing him to see things that might not be there. Mayor James laughed and told the sheriff that maybe he did see him and laughed so did the sheriff. Sheriff McLaurin turned around and introduced himself to the mayor and followed him out back for breakfast. As they got to the table and sat down Mayor James started to ask the sheriff questions about his last job as a FBI agent and how shocked he was to know that the sheriff took 6 shots to the chest and survived. Sheriff McLaurin told the mayor everything he wanted to know and asked about his wife Shannon who started her job as the new 9^th grade English teacher and his kids Jake and molly who would be attending school at Gregory James. When the mayor was done giving the sheriff the third degree sheriff McLaurin asked him three questions that was bothering him, Why was the town name Spirit Hills? Who was the man in the picture dated 1870? And most of all why do the clocks stop working and show 10pm as the time? When he asked Mayor James these questions the look on the face of the mayor made the sheriff wonder what this town was all about. The sheriff could feel that the mayor did not want to answer at the time and remembering it was his first day as sheriff he quickly changed the subject by asking mayor James if he always have breakfast outside behind his office? And he continued on expressing how old fashion and beautiful he thought the town of spirit hill was at least what he has seen so far, sheriff McLaurin told mayor James how peaceful it was sitting out back because of the well kept beds of flowers and smell of fresh cut green grass with tall fruit trees and a huge oak tree. Mayor James stopped him and explained well you know why I love eating my breakfast out here then huh? Mayor James asked more about his family and sheriff McLaurin told him how Shannon was a stay at home mom while living in Maine because of him being gone a lot with work. And how she decided to teach at Gregory James school because she earned a master agree in education when they were first married, he continued on about Jake 10 year old son beginning 3^rd grade and Molly his 17 year old daughter starting as a junior in school. Sheriff McLaurin asked mayor James if he was married and had kids mayor James sadly declined no kids but yes sheriff I am happily married now for 60 years, sheriff McLaurin almost spit out his coffee at the sound of 60 years and just had to ask the mayor how old he was, figuring he was in his late fifty mayor James said son those were the good days and laughed and told the sheriff he was 86 and explained to the sheriff he has been mayor over 40 years and how spirit hill was founded by his family in the late 1800 hundreds and being mayor was his purpose. Thinking back to the picture of the man he seen before walking out he remembered the date being 1800 something not asking about nor understanding what the mayor meant by purpose to be mayor, the sheriff asked about his wife and mayor James smiled and said she’s my world her name Eve and you can find her at the library, they continue talking for a few more minutes and sheriff McLaurin tells mayor James he should be hitting the road and mayor James agrees and calls his receptionist Sherri who looked to be in her mid forty’s and somewhat mean to walk the sheriff out leaving out mayor James tells the sheriff welcome home. Almost to the front door of the mayors office sheriff McLaurin asked Sherri is the school named after mayor James family and she responded yes and he went on about his day meeting and getting to know the people of spirit hill his new town or as mayor James says his home. As he returns to the station he stops and talk to Rachel the dispatcher on duty now until 6 pm when Julie the night dispatcher comes in, asking her if he has any messages as she is telling him no sheriff McLaurin looks up to the clock and notice the time is correct and it hasn’t stopped so he didn’t bother thinking about the clock and the man he thought he seen anymore. He walks to the break room located beside his office and see deputy Bernard sitting there, deputy Bernard is quick to his feet and saying hey sheriff, sheriff McLaurin asked him about the others explaining how he would like to get to know them more. And tells Deputy Bernard to come over the weekend for a cook out and to pass the word on. Noticing the clock is still correct and its now 5pm sheriff McLaurin tells deputy Bernard and Rachel goodnight as he is preparing to leave and head home. They responded good night sheriff and he headed home to be with his family. Driving through town heading home sheriff McLaurin notice how quiet the town is he see a few people here and there and at the park, out eating and going to watch movies he thinks he will love it in spirit hill he was so use to the fast pace FBI and always on the move that he forgotten how nice it was to actually go home to his family at night with no worries and not be overwhelmed. Driving on home sheriff McLaurin see’s the funeral home that looked beyond spooky. He also notice an old house way in the woods not far outside of town that is fenced up and woods grown up all around it and he is curious to know the history. Arriving home and going inside his wife and kids are already sitting at the table waiting on him to join. And he did just that. He asked Shannon and the kids about there day and he even went on to ask if they seen anything weird with the clocks not working and showing 10pm but they all answered no so he knew it had to be just him and decided not to bring it back up. Shannon told Ken and the kids about how her first day of teaching class went and she loved it she explained to Ken how all the kids seemed so quiet and so smart. Jake and molly were quick to jump in and speak about how they each made one new friend at school today. As they sat and enjoyed their dinner ken looked around the table at Shannon admiring her long blond hair and petite body type with tan skin from the sunlight and light green eyes that he could stare into forever, he looked over at his son Jake who hair was a lighter brown and curly, he had green eyes like Shannon his mom and reminded ken so much of her. Just as ken was about to look at molly she was quick to say Daddy what are you looking at? And he smiled and said sweetie I am just admiring how beautiful you are. He cautioned to look at her, her long brown hair and hazel brown eyes. Dinner was over, the kids went to their rooms to do what little homework they had while Shannon stayed behind in the kitchen to begin cleaning. Ken went up to their bedroom to get ready for a shower for he had a busy day tomorrow he was officially starting his routes tomorrow and meeting the rest of his deputies, As he was taking his shoes off he hears Shannon come in, She is walking towards him admiring his dark complex skin tone and his almost bald looking black hair she reaches out to him and tell him she loves him and goes back toward the kitchen to finish cleaning.

Two weeks have now passed since Sheriff McLaurin and his family moved to Spring Hills Virginia from Maine, its Friday September 1, 2006 tomorrow the 2^nd was Shannon birthday so they were planning on inviting there newly made friends and have the kids invite some of their new friends. Sheriff McLaurin invited Deputy Bernard and some others to come by and meet his family and invited the mayor and his wife. Word got around about the party to the towns almost 700 residents, Spirit Hill was a tight knit town that the Sheriff and his family has yet to find out. Spirit Hill had many secrets and that the town picks who it wants to stay. Ken learned about the job opening as sheriff in Spirit Hill a month after he retired from the FBI he found the job online by accident like it was meant for him while searching for small quiet towns that he and his family could move to and slow down. Because his life as an undercover agent was too much for him and his family too many close calls. He had never heard about the town and could hardly find any more information on it, So he applied for the job thinking maybe that’s what they needed a quiet almost unheard of town. He didn’t even wonder why the town might even need a new sheriff he was just trying to better his family. All his unspoken questions would be answered soon enough. Saturday was now here Shannon birthday, Ken and Shannon got out of bed to begin to prepare for the party and set up all the things, Ken headed down to the kitchen while Shannon went to the kids room to wake them up because like every Saturday they tend to sleep a little later. As she woke the kids up and they headed to meet Ken in the kitchen for breakfast they all planned out what they would do to get the party ready and still having to run into town for more supplies they finished their breakfast and got ready to tackle the task before the party that evening. Ken decided he would take Molly with him into town and get some things for the party. As they arrived into town they went into the town’s grocery store that wasn’t nearby as great as the one back in Maine, but it had all the things they needed.