Read Online Art for Art's Sake: Meredith's Story by Barbara L. Clanton - Free Book Online Page A

in their mid to late twenties hovered over the open hood of a blue sports car. One of the guys, the one with the weak mustache, leaned into the engine with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. That probably wasn’t the safest thing to do, Meredith thought, and she wanted to get as far away from them as possible. The guy with the dark complexion and dark hair pointed to something deep in the engine and was obviously telling the cigarette guy what to do. The third guy wore a red checkered hunter’s jacket and leaned against the side of the car looking bored. Meredith turned away, but something about them made her uneasy.
    Meredith shrugged off her unease and turned Mikey to face the dark four-gabled Victorian House. “We’re going to take pictures of that house.”
    “Scawey house.”
    “What?” Dani had come around to their side of the truck.
    “Oh, we always pass this old house on the way to kar—, oops, taekwondo, and he calls it the scary house.”
    “Yeah, it does look kind of scary. Is he going to be okay?”
    “We’ll find out, won’t we? Hey, Mikey. Let’s go take some pictures, okay?”
    He took a big breath and exhaled loudly. “Okay, Mewey.” He reached up for her hand.
    Dani went to his other side and held out her hand. He grabbed it without looking. He just stared at the scary house looming in front of them. As they headed down the sidewalk leading to the front gate, Meredith was overcome with emotion at the kindness Dani showed her brother. She looked at Dani through a slight haze of tears in her eyes. When Dani looked back and smiled, Meredith blinked back her tears and mouthed the words, “Thank you.” She dropped her chin slightly to indicate Mikey.
    Dani continued to smile. She said in a low voice, “No problem. He’s sweet.”
    Meredith could have sworn Dani was blushing again.
    With no lights and no signs of life, the house was positively creepy. The chain link fence around the property stood like a metal sentry warning passersby to stay out. Lights from the neighboring stores created eerie shadows across the face of the dark house and yard. The upstairs balcony, quaint by day, was gloomy and foreboding by night. The dark house now seemed cold. Meredith didn’t much feel like a tea party anymore.
    The century-old oak tree that towered over the house creaked and moaned, and Meredith felt a chill go up her spine at the sound. In the dark, she couldn’t make out the wonderful rose color of the exterior, but she held onto the fact that the bright color was there, because otherwise she might lose her nerve and run back to the truck. Why had they come in the dark?
    They stopped in front of the gate that opened up to a concrete walkway leading to the front porch. Meredith let go of Mikey’s hand so she could take her camera out of its case. “Let me take a couple of pictures. I can zoom in on anything you want so if you see something just point it out.” She turned on the flash and snapped a few pictures of the front of the house. She took wide shots to include the yard, but she also took a couple of close-ups. “It’s such a beautiful house, you know?”
    Dani grunted in disbelief. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of creepy right now. We should have come in the daytime.”
    “Yeah, duh. Live and learn, I guess.”
    Dani said, “Hey, Mikey. You want to go up to the house with me?”
    “No.” He pulled her away from the gate that she had just unlatched.
    “Meredith, how about you? Do you want to go up?”
    “I’d better stay here with the scaredy-cat.”
    “Would that be him or you?” Dani laughed and extracted her hand from Mikey’s. She stopped laughing as soon as she stepped inside the yard. The dark shadows seemed to suck away her bravado. The long path to the house was choked with dead grass, but she picked her way carefully over the uneven terrain. She turned her head and said to Meredith, “We should have brought some flashlights.”
    “Dani,” Meredith pleaded, her voice