in the house or the garage for all the stuff and I’d rented a storage unit nearby. They seemed to have popped up all over the place since everybody seemed to have so much excess stuff lately. “We can swing by the storage place on the way to your house,” I said as we made our way back across the house. Barry and his company were standing at the front door talking in low voices as we passed.
“I think those thread bracelets would make great gifts,” Dinah said. “We could make them holiday appropriate. A nice orange and black one would be great for Halloween.” We got into my car and headed for the storage place.
“I rented one of the smaller units, so I can’t pull the car in front of it,” I explained as I parked in the lot at the edge of the rows of low buildings.
We passed the office on the end of one of the buildings. “I think that place must be open for an hour a day. The only time I’ve seen it open was when I came here to rent the space.” We began down a walkway between twin buildings. The row of delft blue roll-up doors made it look like a row of mini garages, but then again, wasn’t that what they were—extra garage space.
Twilight was beginning to morph into darkness and the place was deserted. Dinah seemed apprehensive as she looked over her shoulder. “This place is kind of creepy,” she said. “Let’s get the stuff and get out of here.”
“If you think it’s creepy now, just think of what it’s like when it’s completely dark.” The lighting wasn’t the best. Some kind of florescent floodlight did a better job of casting shadows than it did illuminating the place. I had the key to my lock in hand and was checking the numbers on the identical doors to find mine. “I heard that some people have actually been living in these kinds of places,” I said.
Dinah looked at the long row of doors and shuddered. “Not for me. I wonder what people keep in these. Didn’t I hear something about somebody keeping a body in a freezer in a storage unit?”
“I’m sure that wasn’t at this place,” I said. Now she’d gotten me nervous and I was looking around seeing bogey men hanging in every shadow. “I bet all these just have old computers and boxes of baby clothes,” I said. “Or at least I hope so.”
We finally located mine and I undid the lock before rolling up the door. The air inside was hot and musty. To counteract the stuffiness and any bad smells that might be hanging around, I’d bought a bunch of dryer bags filled with lavender buds. I never used them in my dryer, but instead used them as sachets and often tucked one under my pillow since lavender was supposed to help you sleep. I had put the thin paper packets in all the containers of yarn I’d brought. It was also a good bug deterrent.
We moved inside the unit and Dinah began to look around. “If the door was shut it would be like a cave in here,” she said with a little warble in her voice.
“Let’s not talk about anymore scary stuff while we’re in here,” I said.
“Sorry. I was just trying to imagine people living in one of these,” she said.
“If it makes you feel any better, I read that a family had worked out a way to get electricity with a bunch of extension cords and even had some kind of a chemical toilet.”
“It doesn’t,” she said. “Let’s hurry up.”
I had left a flashlight in the unit for times like this. I used the light as I quickly began to sort through the bins of yarn. Dinah sat down in a folding chair I’d stashed along with some other odds and ends of furniture. “I was kind of surprised that CeeCee said we ought to all go to Kelly’s funeral,” Dinah said as I fumbled through a box of yarn. The actress-leader of the Hookers had said Kelly was one of our own and out of respect we should go.
“It figures that Adele would suggest that she go as our representative. I don’t know what she thinks is going to happen. That Kelly will pop out of her casket and tell everybody that Adele is hiding the pieces she made for the sale because she doesn’t want to admit that she can’t do