A week had passed, and it was quiet for Abby.
But she spent every night intrigued with Michael's garage, his old photo album and the old newspaper article about the death of his fiancé.
Saturday morning arrived, and Abby slept in this morning.
She woke up around eight-thirty that morning.
She took a shower and got dressed in a cute dress and high heels.
She drove off in her Cavalier down Dorothy Avenue
A little while later, Abby drove her car into the parking lot of the Donohue Funeral Home where there were only three cars parked.
She parked then walked inside the funeral home.
Abby walked inside the Donohue's Funeral Home, where an old tall and lanky white hair man in an expensive suit stood in the entrance area.
"Welcome. Are you here for Mister Osborne?" the man asked in a sweet, pleasant voice.
"Yes, sir."
"Please sign his guest book," the man said when pointed to an opened book on a pedestal located to the left of the doorway of one of the viewing rooms.
Abby smiled at the man then walked over to the pedestal.
Abby noticed that nobody visited Michael so far, and she was the first. She thought that was so sad to die and nobody comes to your viewing to pay their last respects.
She placed the pen back in the book, then walked into his viewing room.
Abby stood near the doorway and saw Michael while he lay so peaceful in the casket at the other end of the room.
She walked down the aisle between the folding chairs and headed up to the casket.
She felt so sad while she stared at his lifeless body.
A few minutes passed, and Abby turned around. She jumped a little startled when she saw Kenneth Mueller three feet from her.
He was now seventy-six years old and wore a suit that looked to be twenty years old. He was bald but wore a cheap toupee. He was still an unattractive man with his red bulbous nose and pot mark scars from his acne youth. "Did you know him?" he asked while he eyed Abby.
Abby fought to avoid glaring at his red bulbous nose that you could not help but notice. She thought of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for a second and had fight off a chuckle. "Briefly. He was my neighbor for a brief period," she replied.
"A brief period? What do you mean by that?" Kenneth replied with inquiring eyes.
"Oh, I just moved in next door to him the day he had his heart attack," she replied while she fought to keep her eyes focused on his eyes and not his nose.
"So I take it he talked with you that day? I mean he must-have for you to visit him here," he asked with more inquiring eyes.
Abby started to feel like she was being interrogated.
Kenneth looked at Abby, and he got this strange déjà-vu feeling. "Have we met before?" he asked while he reached over and touched the top of her right shoulder with his left hand.
Abby felt uneasy with his touch and his comment. "No, but Michael and a few other people have made that same comment. I moved here a few weeks ago from Orlando, Florida."
Kenneth noticed he started to make Abby feel a little uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm Kenneth Mueller. I was Michael's best friend since we were kids. Michael became a professor, and I became a detective, hence the questioning. It's an old bad habit. I'm now retired living in Kingsville," he said with a warm smile to put her at ease.
His warm smile worked and put Abby at ease.
Kenneth extended out his hand, and Abby shook it with a smile.
"I'm Abby Austin."
Kenneth looked at Abby with interest. "This is really strange, but you're the spitting image of someone I once knew. A long time ago."
Abby found his comment interesting. "Michael's fiancé?"
Kenneth found her comment odd and suspicious. "How do you know about her?"
"Michael left his old photo album on my back porch. Then later that night he had his heart attack and was taken away in the ambulance," she replied.
"Where you present when he had the attack?"
"No, the neighbor on the other side of him, named Russ, said he found Michael in his back yard. He called the police," she replied.
"Neighbor Russ," he said then thought about that for a few seconds. Then his eyes lit up a little. "So you live on the other side of Michael?"
Abby nodded that she did.
"You bought Jennifer's old home," he quietly said to himself. His eyes widened little concern. "Why would he give his old photo album to you? That doesn't make any sense."
"I don't know. But I think it's so sad that his fiancé died the day they were going to get married."
"Yes, that was indeed a sad day for Michael," Kenneth replied and did not appear to care about her death while he thought for a few seconds. "Listen, I would like to have that photo album. For my memories of him," he said and looked sincere.
"I don't see why not."
Abby gave Michael one last look. Then she looked back at Kenneth. "Nice meeting you."
Abby walked away.
Kenneth eyed her with suspicious eyes while she left the room.
When Abby got to the door, she almost ran into Jack Curtis, now seventy-six years old and a little chubbier than his high school days. He retired from General Motors twelve years ago and now lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
"Kenneth!" Jack called out the second they saw him down by the casket.
"Jack," Kenneth replied but kept an eye on Abby while she walked away into the entrance area.
Kenneth headed to the door while Jack headed to toward the casket. They met halfway down the aisle.
"You're a sight for sore eyes," Jack said while he looked at Kenneth.
Kenneth patted Jack on the top of his right shoulder with his left hand. "I'll be right back," he said, then rushed down the aisle toward the door.
Jack looked and watched Kenneth rushed out the door. He thought that was odd behavior, but he always thought Kenneth was a little weird.
Jack turned around and headed to Michael's casket.
Outside the funeral home, Abby did not notice Kenneth who stepped outside and checked out the rear of her car while she got inside.
Kenneth removed a small pad and pen from the pocket inside he suit coat. He jotted down Abby's Florida tag number while she backed out of her parking stall. He shoved the pad and pen back into his suit pocket.
"Hey Kenneth," called out Joe Pappas, now seventy-six years old with a head full of white hair and a white goatee. Joe retired from General Motors ten years ago and lived in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina.
"Hey Joe," Kenneth said while he kept an eye over Joe's shoulder and watched while Abby drove her car out of the parking lot and drove off down the street.
Joe noticed Kenneth looking over his shoulder. "Hey Kenneth, you okay?" he asked while he snapped his fingers in front of Kenneth's face.
Kenneth looked at Joe. "I'm fine. So, how are you doing?" he asked.
"Good, but tired of get-togethers at funeral homes," he said and looked a little sad.
"I know what you mean. Let's go inside," Kenneth said then placed an arm around Joe's shoulder and walked him to the door of the funeral home.
After they went inside the funeral home, Dr. Bowman pulled into the parking lot in his new Chevrolet Impala.
A little while later, Kenneth walked through the Detective's Room of the Barbourville Police Department.
He walked over to the desk of Detective Sammy Wallace.
"Hey Kenneth, long time, no see. How's retirement?" Sammy asked, happy to see Kenneth.
"Great," Kenneth replied while he stood at Sammy's desk.
"What brings you here?"
"I need to do a search on the owner of a car with Florida tags. Her name is Abby Austin," Kenneth replied.
"Doing some freelance work?" Sammy asked.
"Naw, just a strange feeling about this girl. You know, once a detective, always a detective," Kenneth replied.
Sammy smiled. "I remember you telling me that when I first became a detective back in seventy-four."
Kenneth nodded that he remembered.
"So, what information you have on this girl so far?" Sammy asked, then motioned for Kenneth to sit down in the chair by his desk.
Kenneth sat down, reached in the pocket on the inside of his suit coat, and removed his small pad. He passed it over to Sammy. "Here's her Florida tag number and her name is Abby Austin. She claims to be from Orlando."
"Go get a cup of coffee while I do some searching," Sammy said while he opened up a program.
Kenneth smiled then stood up. He walked away and headed over to the coffee pot located on a table on the other side of the room.
Kenneth poured coffee into a Styrofoam cup and took a sip. He turned around and walked back to Sammy's desk.
Kenneth walked over and sat down in the chair by Sammy's desk. He took a drink of coffee while he watched Sammy do his searches on his computer.
Sammy looked over at Kenneth. "So far, I'm coming up with nothing on this woman. No known criminal records. She's clean as a whistle."
Kenneth looked a little disappointed. "Thanks, Sammy," he said then stood up with his cup of coffee.
"I'll continue to snoop around on the computer in my spare time. I'll give you a holler if I find anything,"
Kenneth nodded that he was good with that.
He dropped his cup of coffee into Sammy's trash can by his desk then walked away.
Abby spent the rest of her Saturday shopping for some furniture for her home.
She found a couch she liked but figured she might have to save up for a couple of weeks. She hated to buy things on credit and run the risk of getting too deep in debt.
Saturday night was spent buying a 32-inch TV and DVD player with a few DVDs to watch. She figured this would do until she got a larger TV and cable installed.
She placed the TV and DVD player against the wall to the right of her bedroom window.
She watched the Absent Minded Professor movie on the DVD player.
Sunday was also uneventful for Abby.
She spent the day cleaning her house and shopping for some more groceries at the Stop and Save store.
After a lovely Sunday night dinner she cooked in her kitchen, Abby retired to her sleeping bag on her bedroom floor and wore a tee-shirt over her panties.
Abby sat on her sleeping bag with her back against the wall. She had a glass of wine in hand while she glanced at all the photos in Michael's photo album. She looked like she was reminiscing about old times when she glanced at the photos.
Her doorbell rang while she took a sip of wine.
She placed the photo album on the floor.
She got up with her wine glass in hand and walked out of her bedroom.
She walked to the door.
She walked down the hallway then walked into her living room.
She headed to the front door and peeked through the peephole.
"What does he want?" she said then opened up the door.
Kenneth stood outside on her front stoop and his eyebrows raised, as he liked seeing Abby in her tee-shirt and bare feet. I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I wanted to pick up Michael's photo album before I forget."
"Ah, sure. I'll be back," Abby said then closed her front door then set her wine glass down on the floor.
She rushed through her living room, down the hallway, and into her bedroom.
Abby rushed over to the photo album on the floor. She picked it up then looked at it for a few seconds.
She opened up the album to the fourth page. She removed the picture of Michael and Jennifer kissing.
She glanced at the picture of Jennifer and Kenneth by her Corvair. For some strange reason, she felt compelled to keep it. She removed it then tucked both pictures under her sleeping bag.
She rushed out of her bedroom with the album in hand.
She rushed down the hallway then into her living room.
She rushed to her front door. She opened it.
She stepped to the threshold of her front door. "Here you go," she said while she handed him the album.
"Thanks," Kenneth replied while he grabbed the album.
Abby gave him a fake smile, then closed and locked her front door.
She walked over and peeked out living room window and watched while Kenneth got into his Impala, started it up and backed down her driveway.
"I hope I never see him again," she said as he started to give her the creeps.
She picked up her wine glass off the floor with her left hand.
She walked out of her living room and headed down the hallway, then back into her bedroom.
Abby stood in by the doorway of her bedroom. She stared at her sleeping bag then over at the closet.
She walked over to her closet and opened up the door. She reached up to the shelf and removed that old newspaper.
She glanced at the article about Jennifer's death. Her eyes started to well up. "Why am I upset over a girl that died in sixty-one?" she said while she wiped away some tears that ran down her cheeks.
Abby got curious while she looked at her bedroom window. She placed the newspaper back on the shelf in the closet.
She walked out of her bedroom with her glass of wine still in her left hand.
Abby walked down the hallway and into the kitchen.
She placed the glass of wine on the counter then opened up one of the counter drawers. She removed a key from the drawer then headed to the sliding glass door.
She unlocked the sliding glass door and slid it opened.
She stepped out to her porch.
Abby rushed through her backyard and headed over to Michael's garage.
She went to the door and unlocked the padlock. She swung open the left door.
She stepped inside the garage and flicked on the light.
She walked over to the right side of the time machine.
She pulled up on the door handle. The door swung with a whishing sound.
She got inside the time machine and sat down on the seat.
She looked at the console.
"This doesn't look difficult."
She looked determined while she stared at the console.
Abby got out of the time machine and closed the door, and it made a whishing sound and click when it locked.
She left the garage flicking off the lights.
She padlocked the door then headed off through the grass back to her home.
After she entered her kitchen, she placed the padlock key back in the empty drawer under the counter.
At Kenneth's house in Kingsville, he sat in a lazy boy chair in his den drinking whiskey and water. An opened Jack Daniels bottle, half-full, was on the small table by his chair.
Kenneth was on his sixth drink and was feeling pretty good since it was more whiskey than water.
Kenneth had Michael's old album sat his lap. He opened up the album to the first page and glanced at the school photos of Michael, then six years old and Jennifer, also six years old. He touched Jennifer's photo with love in his heart.
He turned to the second page and glanced at the pictures.
He only focused on the pictures of Jennifer and could care less about the pictures of Michael.
He turned to the third page and glanced at the pictures. He focused on the picture of Jennifer in a cheerleader outfit. He really liked that photo, as the sight of her shapely legs started to get him horny. He poured more whiskey into his glass. He took a huge gulp from the glass then set it on the table by his chair.
He fumbled with the photo album while he lowered his pants and boxers down to his ankles.
Kenneth placed the photo album down by his knees. He started pleasuring himself with his right hand while he stared at the picture of Jennifer in her cheerleaders uniform.
The photo album slid off his knees and dropped to the floor the instant he had an orgasm.
Kenneth pulled his boxers and pants up and got off the lazy boy chair.
He walked out of the den to clean himself up.
The photo album lay on the floor upside down by the chair.