A/N: thank you Arlothia for your Alert +, . for the alert + and SachikoisGreato for the add and the review they were much appreciated, here is chapter 2 for you and my other fabulous readers!

Chapter 2:

It was dusty, dirty from years of being unused. As he threw his suitcase up on the mattress, a cloud of dust quickly filled the air; he opened it and grabbed his toothbrush, brushing without any paste. He paused his actions when he saw a travel trunk with numerous travel stickers on it. As he approached it he saw the lock, he pulled with no success. He sighed before pulling his bag off the bed and lying down on the uncomfortable mattress. He laid there momentarily trying to assess his actions, when nothing came to him, he sat up and grabbed the post of the bed, and it gave way releasing a key. He quickly grabbed it and studied it.

"It goes to that trunk," a quiet voice said from the doorway. He looked up and it was Penny.

"I didn't hear you come up."

"I figured, couldn't sleep."She said answering his unasked question.

"Well come on in," he said. She smiled as she walked up to her brother kneeling on the floor. She grabbed the key from him and said, "Yep it definitely looks like it goes to the trunk."

Walter grabbed the key from her and opened up the lock with little ease. He opened it and his face fell as he realized that the trunk was full of sand. Walter was confused, why keep the sand in the tower. "I think they buried something in it, something that they didn't want found."

"Good guess." Penny said. Walter reached into the sand and rubbed his hand firmly but gently on the sand as he pushed it side to side, not even two inches into it he hit something. His hand brushed the sand away finding the edge. He pulled it up the rest of the way letting the remaining sand fall away revealing a photo of a young woman. "She's pretty."

"She sure is. Who do you think she is?"

"Maybe their mother?" Walter suggested.

Penny wrinkled her nose, "I don't think so, their mom at that age would have been in the late 1800's photos weren't like that then."

"Good point."

"Maybe a sister?" Penny asked.

"I guess it is something we will have to find out."

"I guess you're right." Just then they heard a loud bang, they looked at each other and then went to the door of the tower. As they looked out, they saw Hub talking out with a toilet plunger. "What do you reckon he's doing?"

"I don't know, but I am going to find out, why don't you head on to bed and I'll see you in the morning."

"Ok goodnight Walter."

"Good night Penny." As she disappeared down the stairs, Walter quickly went out after Hub to see what he was up to. He ran down the same path he saw him take and it took him to the lake. He was startled when Hub came out of nowhere walking quickly at him almost running him over. He stood by the shore for a moment before he broke out dueling with the plunger. The dogs sat beside him as they watched the scene.

The next morning Walter awoke on the shore next to the dogs, he didn't even remember falling asleep but as he woke up, he quickly ran to the house and met his uncles for breakfast. His sister was helping set the table when he entered the house. She smiled at him and nodded toward his place at the table. He took it and was about to relay the events when Garth walked in taking his own place at the table and started to eat. Hub came in shortly after and was stretching and complaining about his new mattress and still being tired and sore. Walter didn't' touch his food much and attempted to strike up a conversation about where they were for forty years.

"We were in Africa mostly," Garth answered.

"Garth we are not going to gabber on about the 'good ol' days. They are done and over with, time to move on." Hub said. Penny glared at her brother, silently telling him that this was not the time to ask those kinds of questions. And they ate the rest of their meal in peace. After breakfast the four went out to work on the seedless garden.

"Why do we need a garden Garth?"

"Because vegetables are good for you and you could live to be a hundred."

Hub suddenly stopped his work in the dirt and glared at his younger brother. "You know what Garth, you live to be a hundred, I ain't gon' do it." He threw down his hoe and walked away. A horn honked and then they heard a man and a woman say hi to Hub as he passed fallowed by the voice of children. The car turned off and the family got out.

"Hi Uncle Garth, we came here for a nice long visit," the man said.

"The whole weekend, can't imagine how lonely you two get." The woman said. Penny and Walter shared a look. The typical look that said that these people wouldn't be people that they liked and judging by the look on Garth's face, they weren't liked by the brothers. Garth dropped his hoe and walked past them without saying a word. As soon as the uncles were out of hearing range, the man turned and glared daggers at Walter and Penny.

"Who in the Hell are you?" the Man asked.

"Walter and th… This is my sister Penelope."

"Wait Walter as in May's boy?"

"Yes ma'am?" Penny said unsure. The adults turned away and whispered to each other, Penny only caught bits and pieces of what was said but she knew they were talking about her Mother.

"Is May Here?" the woman asked, they shook their heads no. "Well then how long are you here for?" they shrugged. "We shall see."

"We know what you are up to, and you won't get away with it." The man said as they maneuvered their kids back towards the house.

"I don't trust them Walter."

"Me neither Penny, but don't worry, everything will be fine."

"How do you know?"

"I have faith."

"No you don't, you don't have faith in anything." Penny grabbed the hoes and leaned them against the house and slowly made her way up to the house. She and Walter heard slight bits of the conversation between the couple and their uncles as they stood outside the door.

"You need to get rid of them." The woman said.

"Their Momma is going to be back soon enough for them."

"From what we hear, she might not come back, and do you really want to be stuck with the kid?" The brothers shared a look before she continued, "If I were you, I would take them to the orphanage this instant."

"We will take them to the orphanage if we see fit to do so, not otherwise."

"Well, look whose spying!" Lawyer grabbed Walter by his collar and Penny by her arm. Walter kicked the man in the shin, he grunted and let go of them. Walter grabbed Penelope's hand and the two made a run for it. They ran to town, which wasn't much, just a gas station and a small grocery store. The two went to catch their breath.

"I'm going to call Mom," Walter said as he caught his breath. Penny simply nodded and went to sit down on a log next to the road. She heard him talk to someone on the other line. He rambled off some of the names that their mom went by before frantically stating that she just started. He wasn't facing her but when it went quiet, she knew something was wrong. He hung up without another word and walked over to her.

"So?"

"She's not there, she lied to us."

"What?"

"Mom's not there at Ft. Worth."

"What do you mean not…"

"They said that no one could have just started, their classes started in January." He snapped. He stood and walked toward the porch of the gas station, he put his head in his hands leaving his sister to do as she pleased. When she approached him, she put her hands on his knees as she sat down in front of him. She rested her head on her hands and silently let the tears of pain fall. They were left again, she lied again, and they shouldn't be surprised, as always, their mom came first before her kids. When they calmed down, Walter went and grabbed a map; the two studied it deciding that they were going to go to Montana. A car pulled up, but they ignored it, it wasn't until two people sat on either side of them that they realized that they were there for them.

"Where you going?" Garth asked.

"Montana." Walter said.

"Why not Fort Worth with your Momma?" Garth asked.

"She's not there," Penny whispered.

"Mom lied… again" Walter finished.

The brother's shared a look before Garth said, "You two may be set on going to Montana but look at the time, it's late. You are going to need a better map, why don't you come get one from the house."

"That's right," Hub chimed in; a man needs a good map."

Walter looked away from the map and said, "We have been to the orphanage before, we don't want to go back." Penny hung her head as she felt the two look in her direction and didn't say anything. "We should get going," He stood and grabbed Penny's hand, "Which way's North?" They heard some rustling behind them. A loud car horn brought everyone back to the real world. Penny looked toward the car and saw an angry Lawyer glaring at them.

"You know, you two really piss off our relatives," Hub said.

"Why don't you stay for a while, maybe if they realize that you aren't going anywhere, they will go away and leave us all the hell alone," Garth said. "Can you help us out?"

"I guess, we could for a little while." Garth nodded and smiled in thanks as he put a hand on each kid's shoulder and led them to the car. Penny fallowed her brother to bed rather than going to her own room. He pulled out the extra blankets and made a pallet for himself giving her the bed. They lay down without saying anything and they fell asleep. The next morning they woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. Quietly they went down to join the house for dinner. Afterward they went outside and sat on the porch. The brothers brought out two root beers for them and Walter took the chair next to the brothers as Penny sat on the railing leaning against a support. Lawyer and his family sat on the other side of the porch reading and attempting to keep cool in the plain heat.

"How are the root beer kids?" Hub asked after a while.

Walter looked at Penny and smiled before he said, "Great thank you." Lawyer and his family put on fake smiles toward the two, and then just when things couldn't get any worse Lawyer had to add his two cents.

"Uncle Hub, Uncle Garth, I don't want to spoil a perfectly good weekend by bringing up such a touchy subject but, I was wondering if you had a chance to look at the will I left you?" There was no response, "You two really need to think about these things in your old age." A honk broke the tension of the porch and everyone looked at the car as a man got out waving a white hanky begging them not to shoot. Penny and Walter noticed that the family huddled together waiting for the shots. The brothers conversed about how they were going to go after the salesman. Walter was struck with an idea and went and tapped Hub's shoulder.

"What boy?"

"Why not see what he's selling, I mean what's the point of having all that money if you aren't going to spend it?" He looked back at Penny who was smiling in a mocking manner.

Garth sighed, "Why not, we got nothing to lose."

"We'll see what he's selling then we'll shoot him." Hub said.

"Good idea." They walked up to the car, guns still in hand and went to see what the man was selling. As he revealed a spiffy contraption that no one had seen before Walter asked, "What is it?"

"Sport of kings, so simple a kid could operate it."

"Really?" Walter asked.

"Sure, here pull this trigger here," Walter did, "Go ahead release it." Again Walter did as he said, and before anyone could react, he pulled out a gun and shot at the released plate. Walter and the Brother's were in awe; Penny looked indifferent from her spot on the railing.

"That has got to be the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen," Lawyer's wife said.

"Mister you load that thing up and get the hell outta here." Lawyer said.

"Sold," Hub said.

"Oh no you don't my kids won't be around such things."

"Then leave."

"Come on Lawyer let's go." The family loaded up and left the three to their dealings. As they sealed the deal Walter looked at his sister who was smiling from the porch. By the afternoon, the contraption was out by the lake shore and Walter was helping the McCann brothers with it, more like he was running the machine while they shot. Penny stayed in the house tidying up as they had their fun. That night, Penny was upstairs again her brother finally got around to telling her what happened that first night and she was intrigued, she didn't say much but her eyes said it all. It was shocking that he still had such a young mind and that it was no wonder why he was so sore in the mornings. They stayed up looking at the lady's picture from the trunk, still drawing blanks as to who she might be.

As they stared at the picture, they heard the front door open, it was Uncle Hub again. This time, instead of just Walter going, Penny fallowed and once again they were led to the lake side. Walter went to go wake him but just before his hand reached his shoulder, uncle Garth grabbed his hand and said, "Don't, last time I tried to wake him he nearly tore my head off. Just leave him for a while. What are you two doing out here so late?"