The Mysterious Stranger

       As the years flew by like the sound of leaves blowing in the wind, everything seemed to go back to normal in the quiet little town of Starlight. As for Kate Johnson, she will always remember the journey that she took five years ago. Left with mysteries and secrets to unlock that would change her life forever.

 Active now eleven years old, Kate loves to still climb trees and walk with her dad before school everyday. She would walk alongside him still calling him “Slowpoke”and then run off laughing like kids do. The house that she and her parents live in is much bigger than before. It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large attic to explore. Although Kate didn’t know it at the time, she was about to unlock hidden secrets of the past tucked away in her attic.

 One Monday morning while Kate was getting ready for school, she came across an old photo of a little girl and young man. The picture was wrinkled and had burn marks on it like it would have been in a fire.Kate finished getting ready before going downstairs to show her dad. On her way down she kept staring at the photo and wondering who this is? Where did it come from? Could this be her mom? She showed and asked her dad these questions about the photo. He took the photo from her, told her she should forget about it, go to school and he would talk to her when she got home.

 While walking down the street, Kate could not understand why her dad would not answer her questions about the photo and why he stopped walking her to the bus stop. On the bus Kate sat near the window pretending she was an airplane flying through the sky. She was having so much fun that she almost forgot to get off the bus when it stopped in front of her school.

 When she got to class her teacher Ms. York was writing on the board the assignments for the day. Kate read all the things on the board before writing them down in her notebook. “Math worksheets on three digit Addition, Subtracting and beginning Multiplying facts pages 57-70,” “English worksheets on Capital letters and punctuation usage in short paragraphs pages 18- 25 “Spelling using correct grammar and punctuation, and for homework a two page paper of your choice” Kate knew if she wanted to get started on ideas for her paper then she had better get her work done and fast. After completing an assignment she would check it off until she was down to her last one of the day.

 After school was out at three-o’clock Kate didn’t even stop to talk to her friends, she was so excited to get home and start on her paper. When she got home she said hello to her parents and told them about her homework paper to write,Kate was asked by both of them what she planned to write about? As soon as her dad heard the word ‘Family’ come out of her mouth he looked at Kate,shook his head and left the table. Kate stood there for a moment thinking to herself what she said to make him mad and leave the room? Her mom told her she didn’t do anything wrong, her dad was having a bad day and to go upstairs to pick a different topic to write about.

 While Kate was in her bedroom trying to think of other things to write about her stomach started to rumble. At first she tried to ignore it thinking it would go away but after fifteen minutes her stomach was still making noises so she decided to go downstairs to get something to eat. On the way downstairs Kate could hear voices two of the voices she heard were her parents the third was a voice she didn’t recognize. As she listened close to the conversation she heard things like “she already found a photo that I told her to forget about who knows what else she will find in the attic”On her way back to her room Kate wondered what was so important about the attic, why was she always told to stay away and what did her dad mean by who knows what else she’ll find?She kept tossing and turning thinking and dreaming about these questions that she couldn’t wait for morning to come. Kate waited until her parents were asleep before tiptoeing her way to the attic door. When she got there she realized the door was locked she pulled and pushed but the door wouldn’t budge, so to not wake her parents she went back quietly to her room.

 The next morning was like any other morning. Kate woke up, got dressed, went downstairs to eat  breakfast, and then ran back upstairs quickly to her room. Thinking to herself, this may be her only chance with her parents in the yard for her to check out the attic. She made a dash to the attic door with a flashlight in one hand and a bobby pin in the other. After she wiggled the door open, she then turned on the flashlight to look around.Towards the back of the room she came across a box of old clothes that were ragged and had holes in them. Some of them looked like something her dad would wear, and the rest were baby clothes. On the other side of the room was a trunk sitting all by itself covered up by a sheet. It was dark brown with the name Emma written on the side. With a bobby pin and flashlight in hand, Kate opened the trunk and looked inside. She saw more baby clothes, some old photos of a family, and a purple blanket with the name Emma on it. As she looked more closely at the photo, it was then she realized that the man in the picture was the same one that took her to St. Louis five years ago. Kate closed and locked the trunk, locked the attic door and made her way back downstairs with the picture, as soon as she made her way downstairs the doorbell rang, quick as a flash Kate ran to the door and opened it to find a young man standing there carrying a large green bag. He introduced himself and asked if he came in to talk to her parents? Wondering who this stranger was and how he knew her name ran to get her parents while he waited in the living room. When her parents saw the green bag on the floor their eyes were both filled with tears and ran to hug and kiss him, seeing the look of confusion on her face the man bent down and said “I see you have a paper to write about family want to know more?” Took her by the hand in the kitchen for a story. He began by introducing himself to her as Tom Johnson and told her that this was the town where he grew up with his parents and baby sister until he left to  join the Army when he was seventeen. Kate looked at the man and said  that’s cool that you have the same name as me.” Her mom just looked at her and smiled while Tom finished his story. He also told her that he always made it a point to come back home to visit or call when he could. The last time he came home was because of a fire at his parents house where his sister Emma lost her life he made a trunk with her name on it while his mom had made a blanket in his sister’s favorite color with her name on it as well. He also helped his parents bury his sister and rebuild their house before going back on duty. Seeing both her parents and Tom’s eyes filled with tears, she left her mom’s lap to sit beside him. In order to get him smiling again, she asked him if he ever got married or had kids? He told her that while he lived in Germany, he met a nurse named Katherine and fell in love. They had a baby girl who they named Kate, but when their daughter was nine months old, his wife died. Seeing that he was still in the service and traveling, he called his parents for some advice. His parents and him both agreed that it would be better for his daughter to grow up in a stable home, so he brought his daughter home to his parents to help raise in Starlight. By this time, Kate asked if he saw his daughter and his parents? He took her hand, smiled, and said every chance he got. Kate’s mom and dad looked at their daughter, smiled, and said we want you to meet our son and….your father! “