Soon she had made it to the entrance of a forest. She walked between two tall trees and sat down on a big rock at the base of one, facing the side of the farmhouse. From that vantage point, she should be able to see if anyone was coming.
Taylor tilted her head back and squinted up at the trees, where the sunlight was seeping in through the spaces between leaves. The day was a warm one and she suddenly regretted her high socks. After a brief debate with herself whether to go back and change, Taylor decided to stand up, stamp out her cigarette stub and explore the forest some. She took off, high stepping over fallen branches and pricker bushes so they didn’t snag on her socks.
There were many different kinds of birds singing and although Taylor usually preferred the head-banging heavy metal kind of music her step-father called ‘screaming and banging on tin pans’, she enjoyed the songs of the birds. Even if they didn’t always chirp in sync. There was some movement in a bush to her left and she turned in time to see a squirrel dart up the trunk of a tree.
She bent over to examine some mushrooms that were growing between some thick roots of a tree when she caught a glint of something in her eye. She stood back up and peered ahead, but she didn’t see anything shiny. She moved forward a few paces and thought she could make out something white between thick branches. Taylor moved aside some weeds and pressed farther on. Soon she came to a large white vehicle. It was very rusty but it seemed in fairly decent shape regardless. She walked around it, the truck was square. It reminded her of a milk truck she had seen in movies and in some books when she was younger. In fact, she decided, that’s what this must be. A milk truck!
Taylor peered into the driver’s window which was cracked, the glass dangerously jagged. The leather seats were a bit scratched and she thought she saw some small animal droppings, but the vehicle wasn’t too damaged for all that. She tried to remember what her mother had told her about Josie’s farm. It had been abandoned for how long? Thirty years? She thought that was right.
She walked back behind the truck and stared at the handle for a moment. It was very rusty and the doors seemed shut tight. Still, she thought she might be able to open it. With no hesitation, Taylor gripped the handle of the right door and pulled hard. The door squeaked open only a few inches. She worked her fingers into the open and pulled back again, bracing one foot against one of the back tires. The door gave further but it was hard to see anything inside. Taylor shoved at the other door and managed to push it back a ways. She gazed into the back of the milk truck for a moment, letting her eyes adjust. It smelled musty and rotten in there. There were some empty glass bottles along one wall of the truck that shone in the little bit of sunlight that hit them. The rest of the back of the truck was in darkness.
“Okay, here we go,” Taylor said. She rolled up imaginary sleeves and curled her fingers around the first door, to her right. She pulled with all of her strength and the door finally opened all the way, dumping Taylor onto her bottom on the ground. She stood up and looked around the door. There was a metal folding chair set up in the back with something narrow and white on it. Taylor’s heart began to beat faster. She stuck her head closer and then jumped back with a scream. It was a foot! The bones of the toes were unmistakable! It was a human foot, laying on the seat of the chair and it was connected to a leg bone! Taylor looked around wildly. The birds still chirped happily as if nothing had just happened.
Let’s be reasonable, she told herself. Those bones could be from anything. But she knew that statement was wrong. That foot was a human foot, she had taken enough science classes to know that much. Taylor put her hand over her mouth, gathered her wits and looked inside the truck again. There were more bones on the floor of the vehicle, she could now see. Lots of them, and in the order of a nearly perfect skeleton!