Chapter 3: Running Errands

Sam walked down the street enjoying the feel of the brisk air on his face. The air here smelled so fresh. The sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He was halfway to the museum when he walked past the arcade.

Just out of curiosity he turned his head and looked inside. Sam was shocked to see Dean in there playing a video game! Here he had been in the library for the past hour and something, and Dean was shooting space invaders or something just as stupid.

Sam marched into the arcade and stood behind Dean waiting for him to turn around and notice him. After a full two minutes went by Sam finally smacked Dean upside the back of his head.

"What the hell…oh, hi Sam," Dean said sheepishly.

"Hi, Sam? Are you shitting me? I've been looking through musty smelly books and documents and you're here popping quarters into a game."

"It's not just any game," Dean defended. "Don't you recognize this?"

Sam looked at the vintage machine and saw Centipede written across the top. Sam did remember the game. He and Dean used to play it all the time one summer when they were little. Dad had gone on a hunt and left them behind with an aunt who was now long since dead. At the corner of her street was an old time penny candy store with several video games in it. One of them had been Centipede. Every day for two months Sam and Dean would scour the town looking for pop cans and bottles to turn in for quarters so they could play. Sam couldn't help but smile at the fond memory, but still, they had work to do.

"Okay, I'm glad you got to take a trip down memory lane, but need I remind you that we have work to do, and time is short."

"I know, I know," Dean said. "Okay, let's go to the museum." He actually pouted a little as he left the arcade.

They walked the rest of the way to the Nautical Museum and went inside. The place was deserted. The two walked around reading the exhibits. The information provided was very factual and concise, but nothing of what they were looking for.

"Hello, may I help you?"

Sam and Dean saw a man in his mid-fifties standing there. He was tall and well built for his age with salt and pepper hair.

"Hi, I'm Sam and this is my brother Dean."

"Hello," Dean nodded.

"Hi, I'm Jonas Peele. So you two are the new light house keepers George hired."

"Yes, we are," Sam answered.

"How do you like it there?"

"It's really nice," Dean said. "A little far from civilization, but otherwise it's a great place."

"How well did you know the last keeper?" Sam asked.

"Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering why he left his job?"

"That's a question no one can answer," Jonas told them. "No one knows what happened to John."

"What do you think happened?" Dean asked.

"Why are you asking?" Jonas inquired.

"Well," Sam started, "Um…"

"You saw one of the ghosts last night, didn't you?" Jonas asked knowingly. "Was it the boy or the man? Or did you see the other one?"

"I'm not sure," Sam said. "You seem awfully at ease about all this. If I met two strangers claiming to see ghosts I would be a little worried."

"Are you kidding? Everyone here knows about the ghosts. Hell, half of our summer profits are made by luring tourists out here to come and visit the haunted lighthouse."

"So, who are these ghosts?" Dean asked. "Who did they used to be?"

"Well that's up for debate. There have been a lot of people to die out there, especially back in the day. Today if there is an emergency out there we can get a Sno-Cat out there, plus the snow plow does get out there eventually. In the old days the people caring for the light house truly were cut off from the rest of the town. It can be dangerous out there. The cliffs and rocks get ice covered and slippery, one can get lost and freeze to death, some people in the past ran out of food and starved to death, and some even lost their mind from the loneliness and took matters into their own hands."

"You mentioned a man, a boy, and the other. What's the other?"

"Oh, that's the mean one. For the most part the boy and the man seem to be harmless, but the other one is different. No one really knows if it's a man or a woman, but it's angry. Every now and then it throws things, knocks a picture off the wall, and basically does things to scare people."

"Has it ever killed anyone?" Sam asked.

"I highly doubt that," Jonas said with a laugh. "I mean, there has been some unexplainable things happen out there, but I think most of the problems are purely human and not supernatural in nature."

"What about the people who disappeared? This is an island. How do you just walk away and have no one notice? At the very least you would have to take the ferry to leave the island. Surely someone would see you," Dean pointed out.

"True, but then there are lots of boats on this island. John could have gotten a ride from someone passing by."

"Did he pick up his last paycheck?" Sam asked.

"Excuse me?"

"His last paycheck," Sam repeated. "If you're going to quit and take off, you'd want to have as much money as you possibly could."

"I don't know if he collected his last check or not. I'm sure the sheriff looked into it, though."

"Do you have a list of past keepers and the names of their families?" Dean asked. "We're really interested in the old place since we moved in and kind of want to learn more about the local lore and history."

"I have a list of the keepers but not their families. There're only a couple of them where we have information about their families. One would be Charles Butler from 1909. His wife went out for a walk and got lost when a blizzard hit. She froze to death. Charles was so broken hearted he hanged himself from the lighthouse railings. Another would be Michael Fritz. He had a wife, Magdelena, and two sons, Thomas and Daniel."

"Thomas?" Sam asked right away. "When was Michael Fritz the keeper?"

"Back in 1943 if I remember correctly. It was during the second war. It was a tragic thing that happened to that family."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Well, it seems Michael was one of the ones that couldn't handle the seclusion. He had a break down they suspected. He murdered his wife with a fireplace poker. He crushed her skull beyond all recognition. Then he shot himself in the head."

"What happened to the boys?" Sam asked.

"No one knows. They were never seen again. Some people think he drowned them in the lake. During winter that water is cold, really cold. Bodies sink to the bottom under those circumstances."

"But wouldn't they float back up come spring?" Dean asked.

"After months of being eaten on by the fish, maybe not, and if they did wash up somewhere, it wasn't here on the island. Maybe they turned up on the mainland."

"Well, thanks for all your help," Sam said.

"No problem. Listen, you two are welcome to come to church services tomorrow. Afterwards there'll be a pot luck luncheon. The women around here are pretty good cooks, let me tell ya."

"Thanks," Dean said. "Maybe we'll take you up on that."

"Great. Well, goodbye."

Dean and Sam left the museum and got in the car. It was time to go to the market which was only four blocks over.

The market was actually a pretty large place and they sold a bit of everything. Sam grabbed books, a few CD's, and a large book of cross word puzzles. Dean made sure to get extra pairs of gloves and hats for them

"Let's split up and get the groceries," Dean said. "I'll start on the right and you start on the left and we'll meet in the middle."

"Okay," Sam said.

Dean walked down the isle and started putting items in the cart at random. Sam started in the produce department. He grabbed a large bag of potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. Then he grabbed two gallons of milk after checking the dates and tossed in a variety of cheeses.

It was awesome to be actually shopping for real food. He had used to do this with Jess. About every two weeks the two of them would go to the grocery store and Jess would make a point of selecting everything so carefully. At first he teased her but then he came to appreciate it. In the meat department he grabbed pack after pack of ground beef, ground turkey, and pork chops. Then he grabbed several packs of boneless, skinless chicken. It was funny, he had killed some of the most horrible beasts ever known to hell, but he refused to de-bone and skin a chicken! Now that was truly revolting.

He looked up when he saw his brother driving his cart wildly towards him. He couldn't believe Dean had filled a shopping cart that fast.

"Dude, you done yet?"

"Dean, what is all that?" Sam stared at the cart in disbelief. Dean had put about sixty cans of chili, beef stew, ravioli, beans, Vienna sausages, and Spam in his cart. On top of the can food was Oreos, Chips Ahoy, several boxes of Little Debbie cakes, and two boxes of Twinkies. Under the cart were several cases of coke and even a couple of packs of beer.

"It's called food," Dean replied. "Four years of college and you can't read a label."

"You are honestly planning on living on that for the next several weeks?"

"Well not just this stuff. I figured we'd get some frozen pizzas and some burritos to go to."

"You need help, you know that."

Dean looked in Sam's cart and did a double take. He picked up a package of hamburger and looked at Sam.

"Why are you buying this?"

"Because we are going to need to eat some meat every once in a while," Sam replied sarcastically.

"Bro, that's what the Spam and corned beef hash is for. Seriously, do you even know what to do with this stuff?" Dean asked.

"I believe it's perfectly acceptable to fry it in a pan."

Dean looked at him like he was from another planet. "And you actually know how to do this?"

"It's not that hard. Jess taught me."

"Your woman made you do the cooking?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"No she didn't. It's just that she had late night classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays so it was my job to make dinner on those nights. Trust me, women will only eat so many frozen pizzas before they take it upon themselves to teach you a few cooking skills. It turned out to be really easy."

Dean just shook his head. "Whatever. Just grab what you need and let's go."

"I'm going to need a little more time," Sam said. "I need to make sure I get everything for something I'm planning."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Nothing, it's a surprise. Now go away and leave me alone."

Dean's idea of going away was to follow Sam through out the store always remaining about six feet behind. Every now and then he would let out a long sigh signaling that he was really bored. Sam chose to ignore him and make sure he got everything he needed on his mental list: a small turkey, a box of stuffing, two cans of cranberry sauce, two jars of gravy, canned corn, peas, and green beans, several tubes of crescent rolls and even a frozen pumpkin pie and an apple cobbler pie.

He was pretty sure Dean had never had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, at least not since mom died. He and Jess had celebrated the holiday for three straight years and he had helped her prepare the meal every time. It would be a ton of work but he knew he could do it. He had to make sure to get everything since this would probably be their one and only trip before the holiday, which was in about a week and a half.

"Dude, are you almost done yet?"

"Hold on, I just need a few more things. We need to get two dozen eggs, butter, and we should probably get one more gallon of milk."

"Why? We'll never be able to drink all of this before it spoils," Dean grumbled. Shopping with Dad had never taken this long.

"If you put it in the freezer it'll last for a month."

"Any you know this because…?"

"Once when Jess and I went on a trip she did it."

"Oh for crying out loud," Dean groaned. "Just grab it and let's go!"

Finally they got to the soap isle and Sam grabbed two bottles of detergent and two fabric softeners and announced that he was finally finished.

Ringing up their items took forever and earned Dean several strange looks from the cashier as she examined the items in his cart. The total came to $354, so Dean tossed in the extra $54 from his wallet and they pushed the two carts out to the car and loaded it up.

"All I can say is, if you think I'm going to be doing more than just opening a can and microwaving it you better think again. I don't cook."

"Don't worry; I'm not going to make you cook. Honestly, you're making such a big deal out of this."

"Well, just know that you and I will never do the grocery shopping together anymore more. A person would think you were the Bobby Flay or something."

"You watch cooking shows?" Sam asked.

Dean didn't answer, he just turned on the radio and drove them back home with the song 'Bad to the Bone' vibrating the windows.