What Cici thought was the satisfying sound of a rock being pried loose from the garden bed was instead a heavy lid, the top of which had been covered by about four inches of soil. And judging from the stench, Cici learned where the septic tank was. It wasn't a poop smell, thank goodness. It was a very weird odor though, and so she quickly put the lid back.

"Well, why did they decide to dig a garden here?" Cici threw down her shovel and stormed back into the house to get cool again. She had thought that area had been a garden, because of the lush green growth in that square-like plot. However, now she was beginning to think it was only like that because it was near the septic tank drain field.

"Oh well. At least I can get a drink of water now for all my wasted effort." Cici was elated to remember that Em had helped her get the water running again.

Em had cautioned her to boil it before drinking though. "We had a groundwater contamination a few years ago. Lot of tourists discharge into the lake. Made a ton of folks really sick," she explained.

So Cici had used the rusty tea kettle she found in the cabinets to boil up a couple of gallons of water, which she let cool so she could store it in the fridge later. She cleaned the dead spiders out of a Mason jar, and that became her water glass.

"I've got water to drink. I'm going to be okay," she thought as she sipped the cool clear liquid, and gazed at the blue sky above her through the tree branches filtering the sunlight from her kitchen roof. "And where else can I enjoy the outdoors and still be indoors? All I need now is a nice lawn chair, and this place'll be great." A leaf fell from her hair and into her drinking water.

"Or maybe I should just take a bath."

The small clawfoot bathtub in the alcove was barely big enough to fit her. She hadn't used it yet, either, other than to test the water pump yesterday. However, now was the right time for a real test.

She set her drinking jar of water on the nightstand. Then she crouched over the tub's edge to put the stopper in the drain, only to hear a RIPPING noise as she bent over.

"What? No no no..." Cici felt around the back of her favorite jeans, and yes, the seat of it now had a big airy hole. "Terrific." She only had two pairs of pants, and the only other pair was what she was planned to wear for her first day at work tomorrow! What would her new boss or even her young students think, if she came to work with her underwear showing?

Cici squelched her annoyance at this unexpected incident, because she knew it would all be okay. Yesterday, she spied a small sewing kit in one of the kitchen drawers. So she would spend some time mending her pants today. Mrs. Kincaid had even provided some bathrobes for guests at the cabin. So Cici planned to wear one while she mended her ripped jeans. That way she could keep her good slacks clean, in preparation for her first day as a bonafide preschool teacher.

She searched the kitchen cabinets for a dishtowel to use as a washcloth, when she was startled by a gunshot. Somewhere outside the cabin.

"That the style these days?"

Cici whirled around, and was surprised to see a woman dressed all in plaid, with a long-barreled gun in her hands.

"Seems like the holes in young people's jeans keep gettin' bigger and bigger." The woman pointed at Cici's pants. "Pretty soon, you'll be paying fifty dollars for the mere suggestion of denim leggin's."

"Who in the heck are you?!" Cici shrieked.


(to be continued)