“Whew, cold one today!” exclaimed the large, friendly man who had just introduced himself as Jim. 

“Hah, yeah, not too bad though. Starting to warm up now.” I laughed back. 

Climbing into the backseat of the truck, I brushed the stacks of graph paper and graphite pencils that are in the back of every contractor’s truck to the side. 

“All loaded up!” Jim shouted at his other workers, and started settling into the driver’s seat. “Sorry ‘bout the front passenger’s seat, it had something inside it snap a few months back so I just use it for storage now… you let me know if you’re too cramped back there, okay?” 

I smiled back reassuringly. “I’m fine, thank you very much Jim.”

“You ever done any building before? Manual labor like this?”. Jim glanced into the rear-view mirror and briefly met my eyes. 

“Yes sir, I occasionally help out contractors who need an extra hand. Never anything formal but I’m good at carrying heavy things and hitting stuff.” 

We both chuckled. “Well that’s good then. We’ll be doing some work out at the Glenn Arts Center today, never really been there myself... some fancy hippie art place like that isn’t so much my style, but I’ve looked over the work we’ll be doing and it’s simple and solid. Should be an easy paycheck for you.” 

I nodded and cleared my throat. “I haven’t been up there either.” 

He turned the truck off the main road and started heading down a small gravel driveway into the forest above town. I hated walking into these woods as a kid, so dark and quiet, you can barely even hear the sea from here.

“Ah, here it is. I’m going to back the truck up to the side in a minute, but first I’m going to hop out and make sure my idiots are ready to start unloading. We’ll need your help with that soon, but for now can you run inside and let the staff know we’re getting started out here?” He started to get out of the truck without waiting for a reply. 

As I looked around I realized that this area was unexpectedly bright for being so deep into the forest. Dense trees ringed the clearing, but only a few scattered pines stood within the lot. A low and tough coastal garden surrounded the front walkway; a flagstone path leading to the front door of a large, modern, wood and glass building.

I hopped out of the car and began to head towards the front door, and as I climbed the steps towards the covered entryway to the building I could begin to see inside. Stark metal light fixtures with bare bulbs extending from odd angles hung from the ceiling, casting their light onto walls covered in paintings and photographs of the sea. A brass sculpture gleamed in the morning sun, beaming in through a large skylight in the roof above. 

I’d always thought everything in Glenn Bay was so comforting; dusty, casual, a little worn… This place unnerved me.