SHORT STORY - Dream home

Paula D. Lennon, Contributor

Shanna wiped the beads of perspiration from her brow as she arose shakily from the faded wicker chair on which she had collapsed in the backyard. Earlier, Shanna had been enjoying life in the sheltered hilltop home in Montego Bay that she had moved into just three months ago.

Her home was blessed with a 180-degree view of the Caribbean Sea, which glimmered in enticing shades of blue during the days, while remaining resolutely indigo during the nights.

It came with a whole acre of fruitful land, including plenty of open space for the two elderly mongrels to aimlessly race each other or recline at a good distance from each other after a territorial fight. Shanna was not a big fan of dogs, but they came with the property and she was loath to banish the innocent creatures.

This was once her aunt Audrey's house, a house Shanna had coveted throughout her 35 years on the planet, and she could barely contain her joy at finally obtaining her dream. She could sit outside in the evenings basking in the wonders of the creation while grading her students' test papers, just as her retired aunt had done before her. Miss Audrey could be quite stern with the youngsters, but it clearly did them no harm.

Crash landing

It was now 4:30 p.m. on a weekday and the serenity of the area had been completely shattered less than an hour earlier. A tour helicopter had made an emergency landing in Shanna's yard and had come to rest at a precarious angle with one of the landing skids at least two feet below the surface of the carefully manicured ground. Shanna had never even allowed a gardener to stick a hoe into the land, so keen was she to ensure that the landscape met with her own standards.

She had carefully maintained that play area, too, a lovely piece of mature lawn where schoolchildren could recline on weekends while completing their coursework. Her aunt had always told her that she loved having children on the land, and indeed Shanna remembered back in the day how she and many schoolmates would play happily in the grounds, shrieking at the sight of a sly mongoose or an idle bullfrog.

Shaken up

The pilot and his female passenger had emerged shaken, although unscathed. Shanna was aware that the pilot had called the police shortly after she herself had done so, but the information he had relayed was totally different from hers. For her, there had been an aircraft accident on her land with no fatalities. The passenger, however, had run screaming down the driveway, having noted that the hapless mongrels that had been frantically digging under the landing skid had emerged with what appeared to be human limbs. The local police had duly arrived, having provided a less than timely response to the various distress calls.

As Shanna, led by a gruff policeman, approached the excited crowd, they began murmuring.

"Watch Teacha a come."

"Si Teacha deh."

"Officer, it must be an animal. Officer, you hear me?" Shanna cried. The officer steadfastly ignored her.

"A daag bury deh so man, a nuh smaddy. Teacha nah do dat."

The hushed whispers grew louder and more slanderous by the minute.

"Mi know seh Teacha hantie never gaan a nuh farrin an lef' house gi har!"

"A Teacha kill Miss Audrey and dash har roun' a back deh!"

Shanna could see the ravenous newspaper reporters at the gate, microphones aloft, jockeying for position. The TV crews had arrived too, with, their antennae up, overjoyed that the minor story they had trundled along to report had mushroomed into a possible murder, and all before the 7 p.m. news deadline. Shanna mechanically approached the braying mass of blurred faces and colours.

"Officer, I didn't kill anybody. I swear!"

Just then the coroner appeared behind her. "Officer, I need to do further examination, but I can tell you this ... those are children's bones and they have been there for a good few decades."

Shanna's legs gave way beneath her despite the policeman's valiant attempt to hold on to her. Her aunt really had wanted the land for the children.