I Smell A Mystery

by Adrienne Stevenson

About the Author: Adrienne Stevenson's stories have won or placed in short story contests of Capital Crime Writers and the Canadian Authors Association-National Capital Region, with two published in Byline. Her poetry has appeared in over forty print and online journals and anthologies in Canada, USA, UK, and Australia.

Excerpt

Me and Terry—my twin sister—were cleaning out Aunt Martha's place last week. The old girl up and died just after she moved into one of them retirement apartments across town. After the funeral, her lawyer called and asked if Ma could go through her things, since the Will said she could take whatever she wanted from the house. Auntie's lawyer wanted it cleared this week, so the agent could list it. Something about getting the will probated.

As far as Ma's concerned, we could shovel everything into a dumpster.

Terry said we should go and see what we might find. See, Aunt Martha—she was Ma's aunt, really—was a hoarder her whole life. You know how it is with hoarders—most of it's junk, but now and then there’s a treasure or two. So we rode our bikes over to Auntie's house.

We scouted around the bungalow. Stuff crammed everywhere. Mountains of magazines and papers, shelves of knick-knacks and books, and dishes and cans hiding the kitchen counters. Nothing compared to the basement though. Boxes of jars, shelves of pickles dating back ten years, stacks of scrap lumber, a work bench piled with unfinished bird-houses and feeders; tubs of birdseed, piles of old towels, curtains, more dusty magazines. Sure didn't look like much of a prospect for treasure.

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