Jack's mother stood by the cop car talking to Deputy Mel, that was what the giant man had said Jack could call him. They were whispering or at least speaking quietly so he could not hear which would normally have made him nervous, but not today.

He was not scared anymore, although the fire had been terrifying at first... now he was kind of glad it had happened. Because of the fire he met Deputy Mel who was awesome. Running the lights and sirens on the cop car, squad car he corrected himself remembering that is what Deputy Mel had called the black and white sedan, had been totally cool. Even the crazy old building Mel had brought them too looked pretty rad. Deputy Mel did not even seem to notice his stutter. He did not interrupt or finish Jack's sentences for him like everyone else. And Mel had a gun.

He was not happy about the fire. It was sad after all. The house was ruined. 'Burned to a crisp' one of the firemen had said. All of his things... toys, video games, books even his baseball trophy... were just gone. That did make him a sad but mom had saved his glove and bat and he had a few books so he was okay. Maybe they would move away and he would go to a new school. That would be good. No Scott Sawyer would be great.

As Jack watched, his mom put her hand on Deputy Mel's arm and said something. Mel gave her a lopsided smile and they began walking towards the bunk-house. Jack caught up to them and joined them on the creaky front porch. It leaned to the left at a slight angle but then so did the rest of the building. The wooden exterior was dark and rust coloured beneath the swaybacked roof and the tiny windows were grey with accumulated dirt.

Jack tried to imagine what it must have been like when it was first built back in the old days. Had people hitched horses to the sagging railing out front? He thought they probably had and that made the place even cooler in his opinion.

Deputy Mel knelt down and put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Okay, big guy, I've got to go so I want you to take care of your mom. She's gonna need your help I think. Can you do that for me?"

Jack nodded and Deputy Mel put out his hand to shake. Then the big man smiled and headed back to his squad car.

Once he was inside, Deputy Mel rolled down the window.

"If you need anything, you got my number... Ashley." He said and Jack noticed his cheeks were pink.

"Thanks, Mel," Jack looked at his mom and she was blushing as well. What a weird day.

They waved as Mel backed the squad car out and headed back up the long dirt road to the highway.

-~o0O0o~-

Inside the bunkhouse, the floor was cover in a thick carpet of dust. In fact, everything was dusty and smelled like... old. They opened all of the windows and went to work sweeping and wiping down every surface. Mom found a yellowing wooden tennis racket and gave him the job of beating the mattress with it after the two of them dragged the musty thing outside. He whapped it over and over again watching as puffs of dust rose into the air with every blow.

Mom emptied the linen closet into an ancient-looking washing machine and to both of their amazements, the thing worked. On top was something mom called a mangle and Jack watched in as she fed the sheets and pillowcases through it to squeeze out the dirty water. He helped her put them on the clothesline out back to dry, handing her the wooden pegs and making sure to keep the clean sheets off of the dirty ground.

The two of them worked through the rest of the afternoon and Jack was surprised to find he was having fun. His mom talked in crazy accents and poked him in the ribs whenever she passed close to him. There was no T.V. but she had found an old radio and tuned in the local rock station Z109. Niel Young was coming to Toronto for a concert so the DJ was playing all of his greatest hits and giving away tickets. She danced around on the wooden floor in her bare feet to 'Rockin' in the Free World' and 'Harvest Moon' and even tried to get him to join her but that was not going to happen.

Finally, the place was as clean as it was ever going to be. The sheets were on the thoroughly whapped mattress, they would have to share the bed tonight, and the rooms smelled only a little musty. They ordered pizza and ate it on the bed while they listened to Benny Blaze the Z109 DJ talk about the upcoming concert and take song requests.

It should not have been a good day, but it was. It was the best day that Jack could remember since his dad died. He fell asleep with his head in his mom's lap and slept dreamlessly until the men in the dark suits banged on the front door the next morning.