Incest Justin Thyme by Callicious

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Oh, Sweetheart, your father was a wonderful man, and yes you would have liked him. Perfect? No, but none of us are. Do you remember him sitting with you on his lap reading you stories?"

"That's my favorite memory of him. I used to like to rub his head while he read because his hair was so short it felt bristly and funny. I know he did what was right by serving in the Corps, but sometimes I feel cheated, that I miss out on so much. But then on the other hand, hearing Dr. Meechum talking about Daddy, I'm so proud of him."

"Honey, you should be proud, and you have to pay the biggest price for him serving and defending our country. Not everybody will think he did the right thing, but he had no doubts. Not everybody will think we should have fought in that war, but he was a firm believer that the Iraqi's should be as free as we are. That's why he did what he did. I'm proud of what he did, too, although I miss him so much every day."

"I think about that sometimes when I think of Justin. What if we get married and something happens to him, if he was to go in the Marines or something and be killed. I don't think I could handle it."

"Honey, you can't let worries about what might happen get in the way of your happiness. The secret is to live your life to the fullest every day, and you take what comes. Sometimes it is hard, and you will have hard times, even if he doesn't get killed like your Daddy did. Other people have problems too; you just don't see theirs as clearly as your own. Live your life and make the most of every moment, because you don't know how many of them you have, and most of all, live with no regrets. I don't know who it was that said it, but a quote that I love and live by says 'It's not the number of breaths that you take that count. It is the number of things that take your breath that matter.' Don't let worries about what might happen keep you from enjoying to the full what can happen. I don't regret for a moment marrying your Daddy, and I cherish every memory I ever had with him."

"Thanks, Mom. Are you going to be OK with me being gone to school next year? I hate to go off and leave you all alone."

"I'll miss you, but I'll be fine. You won't be that far away, and you can come home on the weekends occasionally. Don't worry about me."

"But I will worry about you, Mom. You are the best mom I have!" Steph gave her mom a big grin and said, "Let's go do some serious shopping!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandpa climbed the ladder to the ground floor level and went to work trying to find a door latch and I went on up to the second floor level, where true to Grandpa's guess there was a hand crank winch set up. I don't know what else Sam Johnson hid in his cellar, but he was certainly prepared for it. What I couldn't figure out is why no one else knew about the hidden basement, or if they knew they didn't look for him down there when he went missing.

All I found were blank walls made up of vertical planks that were close set together. From the looks of them they were of tongue and groove construction, but I knew at least two of them had to be different. I looked for anything that could be out of the ordinary anywhere, but there were not even any light fixtures or anything on the walls. The light was a simple overhead pull chain light fixture, but it was too high to reach, so it obviously could not be the answer. Giving up I stepped back onto the ladder to return to Grandpa when I saw it. In the hatch in the floor for the ladder I saw a small section that looked like the end of a plank, but it had a small hand hold carved on the underside that was visible only from the correct angle underneath. When I grabbed the plank and pulled on it I heard a click over in the wall. I had the answer for all of the doors in the house from the hidden side.

Quickly I climbed down to show Grandpa the answer and opened his hidden door, which opened into the only closed off bay in the entire carriage house. Why one bay was separated from the others had puzzled us when we first looked at the property, but now made perfect sense. One would not want to use the secret door unless he could first secure the outside doors and prevent anyone seeing it opened.

Once we had the door opened I left Grandpa there to rest for a few minutes while I hurried back down the corridor and retrieved the flood light and extension cord, which I brought back to the carriage house to begin looking for the hidden latch on the outside. Leaving Grandpa outside I reentered the secret passage and swung the door closed. This door, as the others, was ingenious in its design, pivoting in the middle rather than being hinged, which allowed for opening and closing it without having to have a handle to betray its existence. One had only to lean on it very lightly to move it, and after all of these years it had not sagged or moved, but still swung smoothly and silently. When it closed only the slightest "click" of the latch could be heard.

So ingenious was its design however, even with the door open and the actual latch visible one could not discern the location of the actuator. With the door closed we hoped we could descry the outside latch. I called Grandpa on his cell phone so we could communicate our actions and I told him I was going to pull the latch. Carefully he watched and listened for any indication, but found none. I reclosed the door and tried again, and again, and again, and again, but all to no avail. Finally, we gave it up for the day, but left the door propped open, turned out the floodlight, locked the exterior door, and returned to the house. It had been a productive morning, and I was really surprised when I looked at my phone and saw it was nearly two-thirty in the afternoon! No wonder I was hungry!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~