Surface Trap

It was a cold morning for June but Angeline pulled her warm, red sweater tighter around her slim body and locked the door behind her. When she had walked down to the street, she found herself turning around to take another look at her new home. She could hardly believe that she had already been here for two days and it still seemed strange to her. There were so many things that she was unfamiliar with. An old residence has many familiar things that we have become accustomed to but a new residence has many things that are strange and unusual to us, she thought. For the beautiful young woman, moving into the old mansion was a major decision she hoped she wouldn't regret. Angeline sighed as she finally realized that she would just have to give herself time to get familiar with her new home.

Her mind flashed back to the day the real estate agent had told her about the old house on Magnolia Street. She had scanned the newspapers, trade papers and advertisements searching for just this home. Mr. Burns was the real estate agent who had found it for her. It had all the things she thought she would want in a home, even if it had seen over a hundred summers. Mr. Burns had pointed out that the home was in excellent condition because the person who had owned it before had taken excellent care of it.

She had decided to walk down to the local hardware store, hardly a block away on this cool day in June. She wanted to pick up some gardening tools and do some work in the back yard. She loved flowers, plants and all growing things in general. She knew there were a million things she should be doing in the house but she decided she would rather work in the garden and let the work in the house go until later.

"Doing some gardening?" The clerk asked her as she was looking at some small shovels, forks and other implements.

"What gave you the first clue?" Angeline said smiling. Her shoulder-length dark hair, hang down as she bent over selectively inspecting the tools. She stood up as the clerk walked up to her smiling pleasantly.

"Most folks around here do that about this time of the year," he told her extending his hand. "I'm the owner, Mr. Laker. Is there anything I can help you with --- I know just a little about growing flowers, plants and those kinds of things."

"Yes I'm very sure you do and I can use some help," she informed him. She noticed that he was an older man with a balding head, big blue eyes and he looked like he had seen too much sun. His head had been sunburned and the skin was peeling from the top of his head.

"Well, just let me know --- what kind of help did you need?"

"I just wanted to plant some flowers in my backyard, maybe some Marigolds and maybe some wild flowers. Do you have some seeds for flowers like that?"

"Why yes, right over here," he said pointing to the next aisle.

The clerk helped her find the flower seed she needed and put the items in a plastic bag for her. She selected a few tools she thought she would need and he escorted her to the counter. While she fumbled with her purse looking for her credit card, Mr. Laker took a good look at the young woman. His curiosity was getting the best of him.