Albert was driving the wagon down the long road to his house. He stopped on top of the tall hill in front of his house and looked down at the little house where his parents , brother and sisters lived. He then saw his paw walking to the barn . Albert felt the wind blowing a bit more colder than it was yesterday, he nudged the horses on to his home then when he was almost at the bottom, his paw came out from the barn, saw his son coming home and he smiled then waved enthusiastically. Albert pulled up in front of the barn and his paw said, "Hey Albert!"

Albert smiled, stopped the horses then got down, his paw came over and they hugged then Charles asked him, "Well, how was the trip?" Albert didn't say anything, just smiled and nodded his head then Charles slaps him on the upper arm then said,

"Go on inside, your mother just about has lunch ready, I'll put the team up."

Albert nodded his head then went inside. The moment he opened the door, he felt the warmth of the fire going, he loved the smell the fire gave in the little house. He looked over and saw his beautiful mother cooking the meal in the kitchen on the wood stove, she smiled then she asked him, "How was your trip?"

He smiled, took off his coat , turned around and hung it on the coat rack by the door then he said, "It was fine." He goes over to the kitchen sink, pumps some water in then washes his hands, dries them; looked around the house then said, "The house is so quiet without the kids."

Caroline sadly smiled then said, "Grace's first year of school."

Albert looked at her then said, "They'll be home in a few hours."

She looked at her oldest son, smiled then Charles came in the door then said, "It's getting cold."

Albert nodded his head in agreement then said, "It seemed like every mile we traveled, the temperture dropped."

Caroline then said, "Sit down, I'll set the table; everything is ready to eat."

Both Albert and his Paw sit down and as Caroline goes to get 3 plates, bowls, then the knives and forks. Charles then looked at his son then said, "I want to thank you son for doing that delerivery for me , with the mill getting so busy these days; it's hard for Edward and I to get away."

Albert gave a small smile then shrugged his shoulders then said, "Oh, it was no problem, Willie had to go over there to pick up those dishes for his mother so I thought it would be fun for he and I to do this before I leave."

Caroline pours pea soup in the bowls for all three of them and she catches the word "thought" then she asked Albert as she sat down, "It wasn't?"

Albert then said to her, "Oh no, it was! It was just more...interesting. Willie and I stopped outside of Tracy to camp, I know it wasn't to far to Walnut Grove but we were so tired, anyway, when we did; Willie was looking around in the woods and we found this old trail and it lead to this, um, old building that was falling apart. We went in, did some looking around and figured out it was an old prison, he even took some handcuffs we found as a souvernior."

Caroline's eyes go round and she said, "My word!"

Albert looked at his paw, hesitated then asked, "Have you ever heard of a prison out that way Paw?"

At first, Charles shook his head no to the question then he said, "Oh! I remember the old timers talking about a prison somewhere, that must have been it. From what I remember, they closed the place in 1840 sometime, they take the prisoners to Redding now I believe."

Albert nonchantly shrugged his shoulders then Caroline said, "Can we say the blessing now? I got ham slices getting cold as we speak."

Charles smiled then he said, "Well, we can't have that can we?..."

Charles and Caroline closed their eyes for the blessing, Albert bows his head in respect but then he slowly looked at his adoptive parents and he thought,

'What can I tell them? Oh, maw, paw; I also saw this ghost prisoner and he demanded that I tell him where his eyes are. Yeah, that will go over great. What was it? Maybe I dreamed the whole thing but...I know it was...real...what am I going to do?'

Charles finished the prayer then they go on to eat the pea soup with Albert wondering to himself about the whole thing.

A/N-From what I looked up, lunch back then was the biggest meal of the day.

Sand n' Sable