The Tiger and the Moth

Chapter 18

Emily walked in front of him until they were out of the the Crescent in and in the back yard. There was a light mist and some puddles around the hotel.

"So how long have you been working here?" Emily asked.

Donald laughed. He pulled a matching yellow hat out of his jacket pocket and put it on.

"A long time," he said. It continued to mist outside. Emily hugged her arms together.

"I thought there wasn't a gate back here," Emily said.

"It's just hard to see. Let me show you the garden where the vegetables, and fruit trees are harvested. It's near where we keep the livestock."

"Livestock?" Emily said.

"We have chickens, cows, and goats to keep this property as a renewal and source for the town. The Toole family use to own most of the fields in this town, almost all the way to highway." Donald continued walking towards the gate. Trees narrowed into a path, and it took her into a small meadow behind these trees. The meadow had another gate around it and inside were a couple of goats, a horse, two pigs and some chickens.

"They make a lot of the food used for the family that lived here and it continued to be used in the hotel."

"They are so quiet. I had no idea they were back here," Emily said. "I've never seen animals up close like this."

"Where are you from?" Donald asked.

"Nearby," Emily said.

"You strike me as someone living here but from far away who hasn't quite settled in yet," Donald said.

"Yes I guess so," Emily said. "This is not my home." They walked past the animals and into the small meadow with the trees and towards the larger gate and trees the lined the back of the hotel.

"How long has the Crescent Hotel been here?" Emily asked.

"A long time. Since the country was founded," Donald said. Because of the church, people would build gates around them."

"There's a church?" Emily asked. Donald opened the iron gate doors, and kept it open for Emily. She went through and followed Donald towards another meadow twenty feet or so ahead.

He crouched down and pulled some grass and leaves away, reveling a small flat stone.

"Graves," Donald said.

Emily swallowed hard because she felt like there was something caught in her throat.

"Is the church still here?" she asked..

"It was burned down in a fire," Donald said.

"Amazing," Emily said.

"Yes well, the large gate surrounding the outside woods of the house doesn't get talked about much. You see, it use to surround a large forest that contained many things inside. One day, the forest burned down when the second church burned down, and all that was left was the burned iron gate. I remember this place as a boy. My parents moved in here soon after the fire because the land was cheap. It was clear, all this here. They built their house, and we continued to house livestock and animals for the hotel ever since."

"Was the hotel burned down?" Emily asked. Donald looked around as if she didn't say anything.

Donald rubbed his hand along his beard. "It was quite remarkable back then," he said.

"But there is nothing in the gates now, right? Except the farm animals you have now?" Emily said.

"I still have the small place at the center," Donald said, pointing through the woods. Emily could see an outline of the house. The mist began to rain harder.

"We should head back," Emily said.

"Yes," Donald said.

They walked back to the gate. The gate was sturdy and rusted over, but was beautiful. It surrounded the land around the meadow where the church once stood and now where Donald's house is. They walked back to the lobby of the Crescent.

"Tell Larry I stopped by," Donald said. He walked out the front door, and shut it behind him. Emily went to the kitchen to get some water. As she was pouring a glass, she looked straight ahead.

"Can I have some of these candles?" she asked Kat.

"For what?" Kat said.

"The Festival tonight. Didn't you know?" Emily said.

"Okay. Take all of them," Kat said. Emily took them and walked out. She put a jacket on and went out towards town holding the candles in her arms.