The Silver Doe, Audrey Parker [best time to read books .txt] 📗

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15,

Kaz started awake with a throbbing heart and ragged breathing. His dream of the bleeding heart plant frightened him beyond any other dream he’s had. Not that it was scary, but that the familiarity was too eerie to acquire all at once.
It brought to mind memories of Mae, Tiffany, Gina, and so many more names and faces. But one especially stands out in Kaz’s mind. Her name was Caroline Bowers.

“Hit me again, Kaz.”
“One more ‘til morning, eh, Kaz.”
“Fill me up, Kaz.”
All the drunkards at The Palestine Tavern shoved at each other in an effort to reach the bar and receive their drinks. Many small bar fights broke out in a constant glow. Kaz was bartending, alongside his buddy, Rogar. They had taken up the jobs to pay off their own debts here, and both Kaz’s mother, and Rogars’ father thought they were at a friends’ apartment when they were scheduled to bartend.
The other reason that the boys took the job offer was all the girls. They flirted with Kaz and Rogar for free alcohol and they seceded at it regularly. My. Evans, their boss, never caught on to this charade, as he was always intoxicated with his own brews.
Then one night, a girl came in alone. One glance told Kaz that she was young and a natural beauty. Her skin was cream and roses, and with straight facial features and a tall, hourglass figure, she exceeded all of Kaz’s typical prospects. But that one glance also told him that she would be more than reluctant to talk.
“Rogar,” Kaz voiced. “Cover for me.”
“Sure thing,” he replied, but Kaz had already ducked out of the bar and was making his way over to the girl.
“Hey,” Kaz said, curving around to cut her off from her path.
“Excuse me,” she said.
“You look a little lost,” Kaz said, ignoring her request. “I could give you a tour, since I work here and all.”
“No,” the girl replied briskly. She edged around Kaz, but again, he moved to block her.
Kaz deliberated his answer for a moment, and then guessed, “Well, you seem to be looking for someone. Anyone I can help you with?”
Then it was the girl’s turn to hesitate. “Well, maybe. I have to drive my brother home, and he said he would be here. His name is Dalton.”
“Hhhhmmmmm . . . I don’t think I know that name, but most of the guys hang around either those tables,” – Kaz motioned toward a group of tables in the back left corner where many college-aged boys were drinking and, and Olivea Ausen’s words, being hooligans – “or at the bar,” he finished.
The girl sighed heavily and turned back to the table, as her brother was clearly not at the bar; there was only Rogar talking to a brunette and a redhead. “I don’t see him here. He must have already left,” she assumed.
“Oh,” Kaz said. “Could I buy you a drink, then?” Kaz’s hand was tapping tensely at his side while he asked this. He wasn’t acting like his standard smooth self. Something about this girl, he noticed, was different than all the others who hung around here and were easy for him to pick up. Was it that this girl was dressed only in street clothes – blue jeans and a plain white tee – as opposed to the tank tops, and miniskirts that was the casual around here? Or was it the fact that although she wore no makeup, she easily outshone any and all girls Kaz had ever met? Was it her walk? Her voice? But at the moment, none of that mattered to Kaz. He just had to know her. “But maybe we should begin with our names. I’m Kaz. Kaz Ausen.”
She grinned up at him.
“My name is Caroline.”


16,

the evergreen’s branches swayed lazily in the breeze, raining delicate needles down into Sari’s hair. She laughed one of her clumsy giggles as she shook them off. Then they rained on the ground too.
This wasn’t the highest up she had ever climbed; though it wasn’t the lowest, either. Sari was resting at the tree’s midsection in a group of five branches, all spread out evenly in the shape of a chair. She was facing away form the cabin, which made it harder to keep track of that night’s cooking, but to Sari, it was worth it, for the view was gorgeous.
From her perch in the Living Chair, as Sari had christened it, she could see out into the woods. Buts of foliage cut her view down considerably, but most of the sunset was still visible. The view was spectacular, when it was light enough to see the distance. It showed a shallow valley, overflowed with wildflowers. At one side, the piney woods continued unabridged. Willow trees had long ago taken over a small area at the other part of the valley. A freshwater stream separated the grove from more trees.
“Sari. Sari. Down here,” a voice called from the ground. “Look down here.”
Sari twisted her shoulders to have a glimpse at the base of the pine tree. To her surprise, her friend Clara was smiling up at her.
Sari remembered scrawling out a short letter in her butterfly handwriting when she had first arrived at the farmhouse. She had then walked down to the nearest post office, which was four miles away. Sari had not wanted Kaz to know about Clara; surely she would never be allowed to stay with them, if only for a little while. Sari knew she missed her selfishly, knew that she should not separate Clara from her parents. Also, she knew that she needed Clara like a boar needs water. She was dependent on Clara; her heart told her so.
“Sari,” Clara called again.
“I’m coming,” Sari answered. She began to climb downward as swiftly as possible, in order to reach Clara.
When Sari got her feet steadily back on the ground, they hugged as only best friends could.


17,

It started as only one night, and only one drink, but stretched into many pleasurable evenings.
As their relationship grew, Kaz discovered everything about Caroline: her family, her favorite card game, her fruit preference, everything. He also gave her everything. That’s why when Caroline wanted to meet his mother, Kaz obliged without dispute. He arranged to bring Olivea over to Caroline’s house the very next day, to meet her and her brother and parents.
As the purple pansies danced to a song only they could hear, Kaz and Olivea Ausen ambled up the front pathway to the Bower’s house. Their house was reasonable sized, with pale yellow siding a plenty of windows. Trees and flowers sprouted from the ground and window boxes, and ivy tangled up and around the chain-link fence on one side of the yard. The grass was neatly cut, but the lion-head doorknocker blew that out of Kaz’s mind. Its mouth was open, teeth bared, lips pulled back, and its mane was unruly. Kaz was fearful to even touch it, but he also knew that his mother wasn’t about to.
Caroline pulled open the door almost immediately after the knock sounded, and beamed when she saw Kazs’ face.
“Hey, Charlotte. Parents home?” Kaz said coolly, but only because of his mothers’ poaching eyes. He took her hand in his, and traced circles into it with the flat of his thumb. Inside of him, fireworks were imploding.
“Yeah, they’re in the den.” Caroling lead Kaz and Olivea down the hall and into a room with red-gold walls and white wicker furniture. The left wall was a glass panel, and a backward image of the room in front of them was shown.
A 42’’ flat screen TV was backed against the far wall, and a preseason football game was on. Carolines parents and brother was situated on the couch and in the one chair. Their expressions were furrowed when they were directed at the TV, but smiled when the glanced Kaz and Olivea.
The woman stood up from the couch. Her hair was a braided rope of fire trailing down her back, and her eyes were gray. They were lit up like Christmas lights.
“Hello, I’m Grace, Caroline’s mother.” She smiles again and holds out her hand to Mrs. Ausen.
“Olivea. This is my son, Kaz.” She shakes Graces’ hand with her free one. Her other one was latched through her sons’.
“And this is my husband, Jay, our son, Dalton, and our daughter, Caroline.” she continues. “It’s nice to finally meet you both.”
“You, also,” Olivea responds. She had let go of Kaz’s arm, not because she could feel that he wanted her to, but because something about Grace’s presence had eased her in a way that was unique. Her aura, it would be called.
“Eeeehhhhhhhh.” Jay, who had hovered in the back ground, on the couch, let out a groan that was painful to those who had only heard it.
“Oh, Dad. Is that your headache again?” Caroline asked comfortingly. “You should go lie down.”
“I guess I will,” Jay responds wearily. He rises from the couch, where he was sitting, and crosses to the doorway. “It was nice meeting you, Kaz and Olivea.”
“You too,” they muttered in unison. He left through the doorway that they had entered through.
The evening continued on pleasantly and Jay was almost forgotten. Towards the end of the night, when Dalton was anxious to go meet with his friends, and Olivea’s eyelids were drooping heavily with sleeplessness, Caroline remembered her father, and treads up the stairs to check on him. She was not gone two minutes when Grace offered to show Kaz’s mother her studio, since she made her living as a painter. They ambled to the second floor after Caroline, leaving Kaz alone with her brother, Dalton, which he couldn’t help but be despaired about.
“So . . .” Kaz started, willing Dalton to also make an effort at conversation.
“Listen, Kaz, I know that there’s no easy way to say this, but I need you to stay away from my sister.” Daltons voice was low as he inquired this. “You seem like a nice guy, but I don’t think you’re the right person for her. Dalton rose from the white wicker chair that he had been stationed in the entire evening. “My boys will find you, if you choose not to listen.”
The gates in Kaz’s mind closed abruptly when Carolines older brother spoke his expectations. He suspected that Dalton had been waiting all evening for the words he had just said.
“I’ve seen what happens to girls who date boys like you, Kaz,” Dalton finished. “and Caroline’s nature is too frail to put up with that.” He exited the room, and Kaz distantly heard the front door slam behind him after a seconds pause.
That was when it happened.


18,

Across the dirt clearing, through the heavy and scarred wood door, passed the kitchen, the conjoined dining room and living room, and into the second of the two narrow bedrooms, two girls were situated on an old twin bed.
One had hair that reached her elbows and was the color of a mouse, and a tall, but also slim frame. She was clothed in worn blue jeans and a baggy t-shirt, and a black bag decorated with pins bearing mottos was at her feet.
The other girl had caramel locks, identical to Kaz’s in both color and texture that stretched just passed her shoulders. Since this girl was facing toward the doorway, it was possible for Uncle Joel to see her button nose and raised eyebrows. But her eyes were what caught him off-guard. They were a deep shade of green, and they immediately reminded him of his sister, Olivea, when they were children and