3. The Kid in the Barn

A few hours later found Everest Camara standing back to admire her handiwork in the bedroom. She had just unpacked and put away the last item in her suitcase.

The bedroom was wallpapered in a designy warm blue that reminded Everest of a calm sea in a feel-good fairy tale novel.

To her pleasure, the queen-sized bed was four-poster and had curtains, a tester, and a colourful hand-woven quilt rug at the foot. It has always been a childhood fantasy of hers to sleep in a four-poster bed, like all those storybook princesses. She had laid the clean bed sheet and spread she had found folded on top of the bare bed and was delighted that the colours matched those in her fantasy.

There was even a huge chandelier shaped like a reindeer's complex horns. Or was it an antler? Or a moose? Anyhoo. It hung just ahead of the bed and Everest knew if she angled the curtains, she'd be able to see it while on the bed. The closet was also large, almost walk-in size and the ornate drawers were beautiful. There was an ensuite too.

Sighing in pleasure, she went to draw up the window curtains. The windstorm had died down not long ago and the dark clouds gone, although the sky remained a bit dark. The atmosphere looked calm again. A hint of the sun barely peeked out from the skies.

Oh, bliss

She picked up her laptop from the small table at the foot of the bed and made for the kitchen. She had found the cabinets stocked with foodstuffs (God bless Bonnie Casss) and had thrown together pastry ingredients to bake a large steak and kidney pie. It should be done in about an hour.

She placed her laptop on the cold kitchen island and powered it to life. The architect in her strongly plucked at her to open a design software, but she resisted. She was determined to spend at least a week here before going down to any work or project. And although she convinced herself the works were going to be leisurely projects to kill boredom, her fingers still itched and her creative juices bubbled.

She was just opening Whats-app when she heard a sound to the side. She paused, at first not convinced it had been a sound, but then the sound came again. More audible this time.

It sounded like a heavy thud, then like something hitting wood. Everest was slightly alarmed. Her first thought had been a burglar but that was ridiculous. In this middle of nowhere, definitely not possible.

Then her mind went to the wilds around her. Her pulse jumped to her throat as she imagined some wild, feral animal tearing its way through the wooden walls towards her.

She stood up straight and swallowed, turning away from the island to where the sound was coming from. What could it be? A jaguar? A racoon? An elephant?

Telling herself to stop being ridiculous, she bolted the patio door and then made for the front of the house. The chilly air engulfed her as she stepped off the porch. Everest shuddered and rubbed down her arms, not sure if her goosebumps were from the cold or the fear. She looked up towards the road and quickly calculated how long it would take her to reach it.

The house was on a long piece of land, picket-fenced only at the front and sides. There was a large space in the front and sides of the house. Coming up to the house from the picket gate was a bit of a ten-second walk through a dirt path with green and colourful shrubs spread out on both sides. And of course the ubiquitous alfalfa.

The sound came again and she looked to her right. She thought she heard a human voice this time but thought it wasn't possible. It was coming from the right side of her house, apparently near the kitchen wall.

She turned towards the right of the house to see a small building ahead. It was a shed or a small barn. The building entrance was just by the start of where she reckoned the kitchen to be. The double doors were wide open, but the building was too far and the interior too dark for her to see what was going on inside.

Berating herself for not grabbing a makeshift weapon on the way out, she walked slowly towards the building. A confused frown set on her face as she heard another sound this time. It was definitely a human voice. A kid's voice.

What on earth?

Walking faster towards the shed, she wondered what a kid was doing around that side. Where did he or she come from? Hadn't Bonnie Casss said no one lived around except a rancher?

When she reached the wide entrance of the shed, she decided to stop and observe what was going on inside first so as not to alarm the kid. So she stopped by the side and gripped the framework to peek in.

The voice came again and then she was able to make out the figure of a small kid crouching on the floor, a box full of toys to one side and some of the toys spread out in front of her. Yes, it was a girl. Judging from the voice and rough pigtails that hung down her back.

"No, I won't play with Mr Potato Head, Woody," the kid was saying.

Everest could now see that she held a red-cheeked cowgirl toy in her hand and she shook it from left to right as she spoke. There was a cowboy propped up against a big stone on the floor and an egg-shaped, large-eared toy in front. Everest smiled. Humpty Dumpty?

The girl picked up the cowboy with her other hand and shook him. "Don't be naughty, Jessie."

She dropped the cowboy and picked up Humpty Dumpty. "Em-excuse me? Can't Little Bo-Peep play with me instead?" The girl reached for a doll in a pink dress and curved piece of plastic and the scene clicked to Everest.

"Toy Story!"

The girl twisted around, eyes wide with fear. Her eyes went wider on seeing her and she rushed up from the ground, dropping the little shepherdess. She shuffled further away, eyes darting behind Everest before going back to her and eyeing her from head to toe.

"Who are you?" she asked in that innocent baby voice of hers. The alarm in her large grey-green eyes remained.

Everest put on her best smile, anything to not startle the kid. The girl couldn't be older than five. Six, tops. She had a mop of thick dark hair that was pulled down into two braided ponytails. Seriously, was there no hair salon in this town?

She looked back at the kid. Her smooth pecan-brown skin seemed to glow in the gloomy room. And her large, smoky-green bambi eyes seemed to have gone rounder.

She looked very cute in the dungarees and flowery yellow top she had on. There were no shoes on her small feet.

The girl shifted from one bare, dusty foot to the other, blinking.

"Hello. I'm the new tenant of this house. My name is-"

"No! Leave me alone!" The kid picked up the fallen Bo-Peep and darted out of the barn, faster than Everest could react to the outburst.

"Huh?" She turned and watched her disappear from view. What was that about?

She looked back at the box of toy sets, which she could now see spelt 'TOY STORY 3!' and was designed with the characters from the animation.

A small plastic tag stuck out from the other top edge of the box and she bent it towards the light to read 'Property of Ilene. No 3, Coven's Lane.'

She remembered the landlady saying the lane's name. So, the kid definitely was from the street. Where else could she be from? There was no residence in sight for miles.

Everest walked out of the barn to peer out at the road. If she lived on that lane, then she had to be from the rancher's home.

She gulped. She hadn't been planning to meet her neighbours for as long as she could avoid them. Ranchers were generally rowdy people, even though books and movies usually depicted cowboys as hot stuff.

But she had to return the toy set anyways. From the look on the kid's face, she wasn't likely to come back to the barn anytime soon and she didn't want to be one to keep the poor kid away from her playthings.

She might as well check up on her baking and then go up to the rancher's then.