The Sexton House

Episode 9

Who would come
over at seven in the morning? I groggily
walk to the front door, hoping it’s just
Charlie telling me I don’t have to come
to work today.

I unlock the door, pulling it towards me.

“Hello! My name is Maggie. and I am from Roland High School.

One of my teachers assigned us to write a
story on something that interests us, and
I was hoping I could interview you about
this house. I’m a big fan of ghost
stories.” By the time the young girl is done with her little speech I am
ready to sit down. It’s too early for me to
be dealing with teenagers.

“Uh…maybe a different time, I guess? I
mean you do have all summer right?” I
don’t really want the young girl to stir up
anything else about this house, but she
just seems so overexcited and I don’t
want to be the one to crush her dream.

“Correct, but I like getting things done.

Plus, there’s a lot to this house and it’s
story I want to be able to get every
detail- it’s very important that this
assignment gets done properly,” Maggie
explains, flipping her
hair behind her shoulder.

“Well, I have to work today, so maybe
some other time?” I try to reason.

“How about later? I’ll come by after you
get off work.”

“Uh-”
“What time do you get off work?” I’m
guessing she doesn’t take no for an
answer.

“I get off at four today,” I tell the
pushy girl.

“Okay, I’ll see you then!” she practically
screeches. Maggie waves ‘bye’ and
hurries off the porch, getting into her
VW. I shut the door and lock it.

“That was weird,” I say to myself.

“What was?” my mother asks, coming
into the living room.

“Nothing. It was just some girl selling
biscuitss,” I lie, because I really
don’t want my mother to find out why
she was really here.

“Oh, really? Did you buy me any?”
“No, I’m sorry, I’m trying to cut back on
sweets.” It’s an even a bigger lie then the
first one.

“I’m off to work, I’ll be back around six.”

I tell my mother ‘six’, hoping she’ll stay
out until then so I can talk to Maggie
without her knowing.

“I’m going to look around town. Be safe,”
she tells me, kissing the side of my
cheek. I wipe it off when she’s not
looking.

---

“Harry, you’re late” is the first thing that
comes flying out of Charlie’s mouth as I
walk over to the shed.

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry, my mother is in
town.” Charlie’s head pops up, at the
word of ‘mother’ I’m guessing.

The same old tombstone of Daniel Sexton
catches my eyes. I take a seat near his
stone, resting for a minute. It’s only
three o’clock right now and I get off in
an hour, so a ten minute break won’t
hurt.

A small, penny sized jewel catches my
eye, it sits in the middle of the stone in
between Daniel and Sexton. I haven’t
noticed it before, the last time I was here
I guess I wasn’t paying much attention, I
was too caught up in why Daniel was
buried all alone at the back of this
cemetery. I’m still not for sure if he’s
even related to Anna Sexton or not, he
could be a cousin or something.

I rest for a few more minutes before I
get up and start heading back to the
shed. Maybe Charlie will let me leave
early, since I did clean up the whole
graveyard. As I’m nearing the small
building I see Charlie sitting on his a-s,
eating what looks like a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich.

“Are you hungry? I got an extra one,” he
offers me, but I deny.