The sky was getting dark and the wind was picking up. I should have been home an hour ago.

I had been at my friend Charlotte's house and let the time get away from me. It was a good four miles to my house by road, but only a few minutes' walk if I cut through the woods.

I walked fast. The wind was whipping the tops of the trees, making them look like giant paint brushes coloring the sky. A loud clap of thunder made me jump. A drop of rain as big as a quarter hit my face.

"Here it comes," I said out loud. I picked up my pace until I came to a clearing in the woods. This is the part of the trail that we feared, dreaded. Here in this clearing sat the Sailor's house.

I stopped. The rain was coming down in buckets. I looked and didn't see the old Sailor, or his wild dog. There was another bright flash of lightning, and I swear I felt the heat of it. Immediately, a loud boom of thunder shook the ground.

The Sailor's wild dog started barking. I closed my eyes and ran as I fast as could past that horrible house.

When I knew I was well past it, I stopped and checked behind me. The mean dog's barking grew louder.

I ran until I came to the clearing across from my house. I caught my breath and hurried the rest of the way home, looking back often, making sure the old Sailor wasn't following me home.

I threw the door open and ran straight to the bathroom to dry off.

My brother, Tony, looked up from the TV. "You're getting the floor wet. Mama's going to kill you."

"Shut up," I told him.

He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his show. I managed to get out of my wet clothes and put on my pajamas. The sky was so dark, it made the four o'clock afternoon feel like late evening.

The wind blew fiercely and the rain pelted loudly on our tin roof. I grabbed a towel and started wiping up the puddles of water I had made during my wild dash to the bathroom.

BAM!

A loud noise came from the front of the house.

"What was that?" Tony asked, sitting straight up in the recliner.

BAM! We heard again.

I was frozen in place, clutching the soggy towel close to me. Tony and I looked at each other, our eyes wide.

"Turn the TV down," I whispered to him. We were locked in place, straining our ears to hear anything.

"Is someone at the front door?" Tony asked softly.

A loud clap of thunder shook the house, making us both shriek. We ran to my room, locked the door, and sat on my bed, each of us hugging a pillow close.

"Tony, I think the old Sailor followed me home." My voice shook as I whispered.

Tony's eyes grew even bigger.

We heard no more loud sounds except the rain, wind, and thunder. Still, we stayed huddled in my room until we heard Mama's voice.

"Kids, where are you?"

We bolted from my room to hug her.

"Someone was trying to get in the front door," I said.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"We kept hearing banging in the front of the house. It was really loud," I told her.

"Oh? Let's go take a look," Mama said.

Tony and I both clutched onto her as we walked to the dark foyer that led to the front door. No one ever used this door, except an occasional salesman or preacher. Mama switched on the foyer light and opened the big, heavy door. She looked around the front porch before opening the screen door next.

When she walked out onto the porch, the heavy rain blew in.

"I don't see anything... There's nothing out here, kids."

"What's that?" I asked.

The three of us looked out across the field from our front yard and saw a big, black dog running toward the woods.

"That's the Sailor's dog." I said, and a shudder ran through my body.

Mama tapped lightly on my door. "Amelia, can I come in?"

"Yes," I said. "What's up?"

Her hair was pulled back in a long ponytail. She had put on a touch of makeup and a small bit of perfume. She looked so pretty. She was leaving for her job at the doctor's office, where she was a nursing assistant.

"Are you ready for school?" she asked.

"Almost," I said. "We've got twenty minutes until the bus gets here," I reminded her.

She sat down on my bed and patted the spot next to her for me to sit as well.

"Amelia, you know I am so proud of you. I don't know what I'd do without you. You help me a lot. Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, Mama. I don't really do that much."

"You do. You help me take care of your little brother. I wish I didn't have to be gone so much, but we need the money. I hope you understand." Her eyes looked sad.

"It's okay, Mama, I understand."

"I'm going to take a job at the seafood restaurant in Morehead City on the weekends. I will be working different hours, sometimes at night. I don't want to, but I need to. It won't be this way forever, just for the summer season."

She looked at me, wanting me to be okay, to not be upset.

"Mama, me and Tony will be fine. I just don't like you working so much. I hate it."

"I'll be okay as long as you and Tony are okay. You know, we've got to have a new furnace before winter. Remember how we just about froze last year?" Mama asked with a smile.

"Well, I kind of liked all of us huddling together at night in your bed," I said.

Mama got up and touched my face with her hand. "I've got to go. I'll see you guys around five." She turned to leave but then remembered one last thing. "Amelia, I do believe you and Tony heard something the other night. I know you guys were scared. It was storming something awful and the wind was up. I'm thinking something just blew and hit the house. The old Sailor is an oddball, but I'm sure he isn't mean or dangerous. He was old and feeble, last I saw him. I did ask Mr. Claude and Miss Mary Ann if I could give you their number to call if you need them, though, or if you get scared. They said that you could call and Mr. Claude would be right here. I set their number by the phone."

Mr. Claude, I thought to myself. He and his wife were our closest neighbors, about a mile up the road. Mama wants me to feel at ease because Mr. Claude will protect us?

Mr. Claude was the oldest man alive that I had ever seen in my life. His thin, little body was stooped and twisted. He walked crookedly, even with a cane. His head bobbed up and down and his hands shook.

"Thank you, Mama, that's good to know."

She smiled and went to work.

"Come on, Tony, we gotta catch the bus," I yelled through the house.

Tony came running. He really was an okay kid. At nine years old, he didn't complain or whine too much, just kind of went with the flow.

"So, Tony," I said as we made our way to the bus stop. "We don't have to worry about getting scared anymore. Mama has someone that we can call to come to our rescue."

"She does?" he said.

"Yes, she left Mr. Claude's number for us to call. He said he'd come right over."

"Mr. Claude?" Tony asked. "Is he still alive?"

As much as I hated my mother working two jobs, my life could've been worse.

Mrs. Womack was my friend Charlotte's mama. She was a stay-at-home housewife. I never saw her without an apron on or an oven mitt on her hand. The smell of homemade goodies always poured out of her kitchen, and her lovely house was spotless. But Mrs. Womack was wacky.

"Come in, Amelia," Mrs. Womack smiled through red lips. "Please leave your shoes on the porch, dear."

"Oh, yes ma'am, I almost forgot," I said, pulling off my tennis shoes.

"Are you hungry, dear?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. I'm fine."

"I just worry about you and Tony so much, what with your mother never home and all."

"Me and Tony are fine, thank you. Is Charlotte home?" I asked.

"Charlotte! Company!" Her voice sounded like fingernails running down a chalk board.

"Mom, I'm not deaf," Charlotte said as she came down the polished steps. "Hey, Amelia, let me grab my shoes. I'll be right back."

Mrs. Womack smiled at me while looking me up and down. "I hear you and Tony had a scare the other night during the big storm," she said, still smiling.

"It was just the wind, I suppose. We just got carried away," I said.

"Randy says you thought it was the old Sailor."

"Well, you know how Tony and Randy get scared. It was nothing." I wished that Charlotte would hurry up.

"Mother, my little brother and her little brother are both idiots," Charlotte said, finally ready to go.

"The old Sailor has always been a strange man, walking in town with those horrid tattoos," Mrs. Womack continued. "He's a Johnson, you know. That whole family is loony. Story is, he brought a young, Spanish wife home from one of his journeys. His family never took to her. It has been told that the whole lot of them shunned her. She was seen coming to town, shopping, walking the fields, picking flowers or gathering blackberries, until one day, she just disappeared. No one knows what happened to her, or where she went. The family died off, eventually, all but the old Sailor, and there he stays, at the Johnson place."

"Bye, Mom. See you later," Charlotte said, grabbing my arm and heading for the door.

"Charlotte, don't be long!" her mother yelled in her screechy voice.

"My God, let's get out of here," Charlotte said.