Cartwheels In The Dark, page 1
Cartwheels In The Dark
Karla Jordan
Copyright © 2022 Karla Jordan
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination and/or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Text copyright 2022 by Karla Jordan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
ISBN: 9798776297724
Cover photo by istockphoto
Cover design by pro_ebookcovers
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Doris Irene Worthley. I knew her as simply, “Nana.” She was the most selfless, loving, caring woman I have ever known. Nana, I heard your message loud and clear and I did not quit. This is for and because of you.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I hope you enjoy my debut book! I would love to hear your thoughts once you have finished reading “Cartwheels in The Dark.”
Please consider going to Amazon and leaving a review. Reviews are so important to authors, especially first-time authors.
I can also be contacted at Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and as always, through my website. I look forward to hearing from you!
karlajordan-author.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I want to thank Carlton Worthley, also known as my Dad. Without the love and support of you throughout my entire life, I surely would not be putting forth a book to share with others. Thank you, Dad, for all you have done and continue to do, for your daughters and everyone and anyone that ever needs a helping hand. I am the person I am because of you, and as much as I love words, I will never be able to find the right ones to accurately express how much you mean to me. I would also like to thank my late mother, Jean, for showing me how to never give up. I watched her latch on to an idea and not let go. I thank you, Mum, for your strength because you made me a stronger woman.
To my husband, Dana, who has listened to more of this story and the publishing business than I’m sure he ever cared to,but listened to me go on and on just the same. Thank you for supporting my dream.
Thank you to my “unofficial editor” Cathe. The hours and hours of sending emails back and forth to get it “just right,” I appreciated so much more than you know. Your friendship means the world!
To all my family and friends who have shown me support for this book, I thank you for your friendship and support. You will never know how much you mean to me. Your encouragement and support mean the world to me. I would especially like to thank Mary and Robinfor not letting me put this manuscript on a shelf again. I am truly grateful for all of you.
I also want to thank my high school English teachers who pushed me to be the best writer I could be. They refused to let me settle for “good enough” when they knew that I do it “right” with a little bit of effort.
REVIEWS FROM READERS
“Congratulations for a wonderful debut novel! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Right from the beginning, the prologue grabs you and before you know it, you are deeply involved in the story. There’s also a nice twist or two, but I won’t spoil that for other readers. Very beautifully written and smooth story…just the kind of book I love! Can’t wait for the next one!”
C.K. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
"As an avid reader, I absolutely loved this book! Fast paced and kept my interest! I can't wait to read the next book by Karla Jordan!"
M.P. Maine
"I absolutely LOVE this book! I could not put it down! The story completely captivated me and I couldn't wait to see what happened next for Kallie. I look forward to Karla Jordan's next book!"
K.P. Florida
PROLOGUE
Somerfield, Maine 1975
A single bulb hanging from the splintered old rafter cast a dim light inside of the rickety woodshed. The air was thick with heavy earthy smells that come from days of damp rain and not so much as a drop of sunshine. The fog had swallowed up every inch of ground not covered by trees, and they too were partially lost in the mist.
The sound of metal hitting rock, attempting to slice through hard patches of ground laced with gnarled tree roots, filled the air. A moment of silence and then again-the echoes of metal against rock. Over and over again until there were no more sounds. No sounds at all. No night bird songs. No crickets. Nothing but the sound of a distant owl hooting, to break the silence.
From behind the trunk of the giant maple tree, I stood completely still. In my worn-out nightgown and bare feet, I stood as quietly as I could and waited. With no idea what I was waiting for, something in my bones told me to stay out of sight. A game of hide and seek except there was no game. This was real.
The creaking of the shed door opening startled me. My fingers dug into the deep creases in the bark of the tree as I steadied myself and strained to see through the darkness and the fog. Someone was out there in the woodshed. But who? And why?
It was the middle of the night, and the house was quiet. The other children had been asleep for hours now. I should have been too. I would have been if not for the sounds of dead branches hitting against the thin pane of the bedroom window each time the wind blew. Like a message of Morse Code, the tapping had been enough to wake me. It was only then that I heard the noises outside-the metal grinding against rock. Curiosity got the better of me and I crept outside to see what was going on. Half of me knew that I should not have been there behind that tree. The other half dying to know what was going on out there in the middle of the night. I should have stayed in bed. I shouldn’t have stuck my nose where it didn’t belong. Only it was too late for that now. I was there in the shadows hoping to discover something, though I had no idea what.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night, I saw it. I strained to see clearer, just to be sure but there was no mistaking what was there in front of me. The outline of a body, face up to the night sky, still and not moving. It was a body all right. I didn’t want it to be, but it was. I closed my eyes and counted to ten as though somehow, magically, that would make it disappear.
I brushed the strands of hair that had become dampened by the mist, from my eyes. Slowly, I opened one eye and then the other. It hadn’t been an illusion created by the fog or by my overactive imagination. No. It was real. Closing my eyes wasn’t going to make it not be so. A body was lying there on the ground in front of the woodshed, perfectly still.
All at once I knew I had to run. Fast. Without looking back, I ran for the safety of the front door to the shack and flew to my bed, my feet barely touching the floor as I ran. Through the shoddy walls of the house, I could hear them-the heavy footsteps coming closer to the bedroom window. I threw the ratty quilt over my head and held my breath.
CHAPTER ONE
Vienna, Virginia 1997
Staring vacantly out the small window beside her, Kallie watched the wispy thin fast-moving clouds pass by and wondered if Maddie had ever seen the view from so high above the earth. Somehow, she doubted it. The older woman always said she had everything she wanted or needed right there in her small town of Bradford, Maine and had no desire to travel anywhere else. She smiled as she remembered how genuinely kind and caring Maddie had been to her from the very first time she met her.
What she must have thought about the barefoot ragamuffin child sitting alone on a park bench, at the edge of darkness with nothing but a well-worn suitcase beside her. Kallie hadn’t thought of that day in what seemed like forever. It wasn’t something she cared to remember. Her entire childhood before she met Maddie was something she would rather forget. It had been tucked away in that place where people put things they don’t want to remember. Sometimes just for a while. Sometimes forever. For Kallie it had been thirty years. It had been then that she left Kahlua Jansen behind and didn’t look back for a single second.
Not that there was anything to look back for. A childhood riddled with poverty and two alcoholic parents wasn’t something she chose to revisit. After the life they had given her, Kallie couldn’t care less if they were doing well or six feet under. From the time she had learned to read and saw her name on an empty liquor bottle she’d found lying under the kitchen table, she realized her parents weren’t the kind of people she was ever going to have an ounce of respect for. They hadn’t proved her wrong.
She did think about her younger sisters from time to time, though. But never her parents. She hoped the girls had grown into successful, happy people but she also knew the odds were not in their favor. None of them had been handed anything resembling a normal childhood. Still, she hoped they had found happiness somewhere along the way, as she had with Maddie.
Her childhood home had been nothing more than a shack, that truth be known, was better suited for farm animals and had more than likely been meant for that purpose, originally. Wooden splintered shingles hung loosely from the sides of the building. Some dangled by the head of a single rusted nail. Others had rotted completely and fallen to the ground in spongy slivers.
Inside the shack, daylight seeped in through holes in the walls. Light and air pushed through the aged rough-cut floors, providing a year-round ventilation system. In the winter, icy air would dance around bare feet brave enough to land on the
The only source of heat had been a small pot belly stove in the kitchen. The tiny cast iron barrel barely threw enough heat to warm the one room, let alone the entire shack. The water pipes froze every winter and running water was a luxury during the long winter months in Maine. Once the water froze, it wouldn’t run again until spring. Even when there was running water, it was always cold. Hot water came from pots heated on the tiny wood stove.
The cupboards were all but empty most of the time. Every so often the government would issue surplus food to the poorer families in town. The children ate well during those days and not so well the rest of the time. Government cheese day was more of a special occasion than Christmas around their place. Regular meals were few and far between. For that reason, they quickly learned to eat what was on their plates. After supper one evening, Kallie had gone out to the shed for an armload of wood as her mother had yelled for her to do. As soon as she opened the door, she’d come face to face with a small animal carcass hanging from the rafter in front of her. The pelt of a racoon still hung half attached to the dinner she had just eaten. She realized then; it was best not to ask questions about what was on her plate. Food is food when you’re hungry enough.
And then there was the constant arguing and fighting between her parents who stayed drunk more than they were sober. If the girls were lucky, they would beat on each other and leave the kids alone. That wasn’t always the case.
No. Kallie had absolutely no reason to want to remember or relive a childhood that would only conjure up painful memories. She had buried as much as she could from that life, a long, long time ago. She was happy to leave them dead…indefinitely. To some people, she knew that would sound cold and uncaring. Until they had walked in her shoes and lived a life like she had, she didn’t give a tinker’s damn what anyone thought about her decision to not acknowledge those people. Maddie was her family and that’s all she needed and wanted.
The day she met Madeline O’Brien had been both the best and the worst day of her life. Her mother, Connie, was drunk which was the case more often than not, the usual kind of day. Her father was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t unusual. He was only ever around long enough for Connie to share whatever booze they could squeeze from the monthly welfare check. After that, he disappeared. Sure enough though, when the first of the month came back around, so did Albert Jansen out from under whatever rock he had been lying beneath since the previous months binge.
Kallie had been playing outside with her sisters for most of the day. It was a beautiful July day in Maine. She and her sisters knew the drill. They were well rehearsed at playing outside and keeping out of their mother’s way. Kallie was alone reading under a shade tree when she saw the door of the shack fly open with force. Out stepped a very wobbling Connie with a stick in her hand. She marched like she was on a mission. Kallie had seen that look on her mother’s face one too many times to not recognize what was about to happen. Someone was getting a whooping for something they had done. Connie headed straight for her! She thought fast trying to figure out what she could have done to warrant the determination and rage in her mother’s steps. Before she knew what was happening, her mother grabbed her arm and shook her back and forth like a rag doll.
“Kahlua! Kahlua! Ya hearin’ me girl? Go! Get in the car and wait for me! Do it NOW!”
“Why Mama? Where are we going?” she asked not knowing what was happening.
“Get ya ass into that car, or I’ll show ya why! Ya hear me? Now, get in the frigging car and do it NOW!” Connie bellowed.
She knew better than to argue with her mother. Especially when she already had a stick in her hand and smelled like she had bathed in cheap liquor. Wherever she was going and whatever the reason, it couldn’t be anything she was going to like. That much she knew for sure. There hadn’t even been time to find her sneakers that were somewhere out in the yard, but she was too afraid to go back and look for them.
Kallie sat fidgeting in the front seat of the car, nervously shifting her tattered old book in her hands. Connie had gone back inside the shack but not before she yelled for her to “stay her ass right there and to not move so much as a god forsaken muscle!” It seemed like forever before her mother came back out of the shack and headed for the car. Her youngest sister, Amaretta, came running toward the car with Ginger not far behind.
“We wanna come too!” they wailed but Connie wasn’t having any of it. She swatted both of their behinds with the stick until they wailed and told them to get in the house and stay there. Her sister, Brandy, who should be watching the little ones while Connie was gone, was nowhere in sight. It was only Kahlua who was going for a ride and that was that.
Her mother drove in silence, sucking on one cigarette after another as they drove down the dusty dirt roads. As they passed Blackwater Brook, where they often swam and had bathed in, on more than one occasion, Kallie recognized where she was. They were heading for town. But why? It wasn’t the first of the month, which meant that her mother wasn’t heading to buy alcohol. And if she were, she would have left Kahlua home as she always did. She couldn’t remember a time when she was the only one going anywhere with her mother. She wished she felt good that she’d been singled out. She wished she could have felt special that she got to go and no one else did. But she could tell by the look on her mother’s face and the way she was furiously puffing on one cigarette after another, that this was not a special occasion. She didn’t know what it was, but something good it wasn’t. She knew Connie Jansen well enough to know that.
They were driving on pavement now and headed straight for the center of Bradford. Somerfield was too small to have it’s own center of town and reaching the pavement brought them smack dab into downtown Bradford. What there was of it, anyway. There was a post office, a gas station, library, and a general store all within one hundred feet of one another. That was “town.”
The car pulled up to the general store and Connie turned off the ignition. After a minute of silently chewing at her bottom lip and blowing clouds of smoke into the air, she tossed a half-smoked butt out the window and looked in Kallie’s direction.
“Okay. That’s that! Time to get out.” she said.
“What? Mama, what do you mean?”
“I told ya to get out of the damned car, now go!” her mother barked.
Kahlua didn’t understand what she was supposed to be doing. Where was she going?
“Where am I going, Mama? I don’t know what you mean.”
“No. Course ya don’t know what I mean. Ya never was too bright I’ll say that for ya!” she barked.
Connie got out of the car, opened the door to the back and took out a suitcase that looked like it had been run over quite a few times before being rescued from the town dump, which it more than likely had. The plastic handle was only half there and there were grapefruit sized holes scattered throughout the tan tweed fabric. She walked around the car, flew open the passenger door and motioned for Kahlua to get out. She did as she was told. She knew all too well the consequences for not obeying her mother. The suitcase thrust into her hands as she was ordered to sit on the bench outside the store.
“Mama what am I doing? Why do I have to sit here? Why do I have a suitcase? Where am I going?” she asked through the tears that were stinging beneath her eyelids.
