by Jay Brushett
He knocked again. Waited. Nothing.
He sighed. Would this be a wasted trip, was Steve going to ignore him? Or was he not at home? He knocked once more, harder this time.
After several moments, Jimmy heard the rhythmic thud of booted feet coming toward the door.
The door opened several centimetres, and Steve peered down at him through the gap.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“Hey Steve,” Jimmy said, ignoring the man’s animosity and smiling his most neighbourly smile. “I just wanted to let you know that I bought the house — we’re going to be neighbours again!”
Jimmy thought he saw Steve’s face flush a little. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, I thought it would be nice to let you know.”
“You want help moving in, is that it?”
“What? No, no, I wanted to let you know, as we’re going to be neighbours and all.”
“Okay,” Steve paused, as if pained to say what came next, “thanks for letting me know… I guess.”
Steve started to close the door.
“So what’s new with you?” Jimmy asked. “We didn’t get to catch up much the other day.”
Steve stopped closing the door but didn’t open it any wider.
“What’s there to say? We were never buddies Jimmy.”
“Well, we hung out as kids, with all the other kids I mean, playing 500s or whatever. You were always nice to me, I appreciated that.”
Jimmy wasn’t sure what he saw on Steve’s face then, was it almost the flicker of a smile?
“You were a good kid,” Steve said, “not annoying like some of them.”
“Thanks.”
There was a pause. Jimmy tried to find something to say, some reason to keep Steve talking.
“So,” Jimmy continued, “I figure you know a lot about this town, things that could help me out, help me get settled.”
“Garbage collection is Tuesdays,” Steve said.
“That’s it?”
“What else is there?”
“Well…” Jimmy thought he saw his opening, or at least the best one he would get. “Are there any weirdos around? Anything strange that happens? Anything I need to worry about or should be aware of?”
Steve sighed. “I don’t mingle much, you know?”
“Not even at church? I’m sure you see everyone there.”
“I… you a religious man Jimmy?” It was like a light had gone on in Steve’s eyes.
“I’ve had some… troubles… in my life lately — that’s part of the reason I’m back here. And, yeah, I’ve been thinking about trying to find Jesus again. I figure it might help.”
“The Lord can help us all, get us through the hard times.” Steve seemed sincerely sympathetic.
Jimmy saw his chance. “Is that how you dealt with Brad’s disappearance? Your faith?”
Steve tensed a little but didn’t move to close the door. “I… yes, that’s when I found the Lord. My folks had always dragged me to church, even more so then. But I finally started to hear, you know, finally started to understand.” His face hardened again then. “But there’s one thing you don’t seem to understand Jimmy.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Brad is dead.” Steve turned and started to close the door.
“No, he isn’t!” Jimmy said, too loud. He only knew that he needed to say something, anything to keep Steve talking, to get him to reveal something.
“Yes, he is,” Steve said, glowering down at Jimmy.
“Then why do you go out looking for him with your flashlight?” He thought a moment, not wanting to give away that he had seen Steve out and about. “The neighbours have seen you, mentioned it to me.”
“Fuckin’ nosey Jaspers,” Steve spit. “I ain’t looking for Brad when I go out.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you can’t accept that he’s gone, can’t help but look for him?”
“You don’t know shit, Jimmy!” Steve yelled.
“I miss Brad too!”
“Miss?! He’s dead! His soul is gone! Gone!” Steve slumped his shoulders and lowered his voice. “There’s nothing left that was Brad.” Steve paused, breathing deep and raising his shoulders back up. Then he looked Jimmy in the eyes. “While I’m stuck here dealing with bullshit like this.”
“I’m… I’m sorry. I really am.” What had he meant, nothing left that was Brad? Did he mean there was something left that wasn’t Brad?
“Whatever,” Steve said and started to close the door again.
“So, what do you do when you go out?”
Again, the door stopped. “Jesus Christ! God forgive me. What do you want from me?”
“The truth. What do you do when you go out at night? If you’re not looking for Brad what are you doing?”
“And why is that any of your business?”
“I guess it isn’t,” Jimmy said. “I guess I’m curious. I guess I want to know what kind of neighbourhood I’m moving into, where grown men go off to the old playground with a flashlight late in the night.”
Jimmy realized he had given too much away. He had mentioned the playground. The neighbours wouldn’t have told him that, wouldn’t have known that.
But Steve didn’t notice or at least didn’t give any indication that he did.
“What I do is my business!”
“Well can you at least tell me… have you seen anything, well, odd when you’re out at night?”
“And what, exactly, would odd mean?”
“I don’t know… anything strange.”
“My patience is growing very thin Jimmy.”
“When we were kids, we were playing in the woods one time and we saw something strange.”
“You and Brad?”
“Yeah. There was this object.” Jimmy didn’t know why he was telling Steve this, shouldn’t have been telling him. But he couldn’t figure out any other way to pry, to dig, to get Steve to give something away.
“What kind of object?” Steve’s anger had diminished, his curiosity risen. “Where?”
“I… can’t remember exactly, it was over twenty-five years ago. But, well, it was round and shiny. I can’t remember much more than that.”
“So why bring it up?” Steve asked, incredulous.
“I…,” Jimmy was drawing a blank. “It was odd, it stuck out in my mind. It was probably nothing. Something our young minds didn’t understand. Maybe it was an old car part or something.”
“Right,” Steve said, “must’ve been.”
“So, you haven’t seen anything like that when you, you know, go out doing nothing at night?” Jimmy was reaching, grasping, trying to say anything to keep Steve talking. His annoyance was growing, and he couldn’t hide it. He was annoyed at Steve, yes, but also at himself for giving the object’s existence away.
“No,” Steve said, “but I’ll be sure to keep an eye out from now on.”
He slammed the door, barely missing Jimmy’s nose.
······························
SEPTEMBER 5, 1995
Steven got a job today. And it’s a good thing too. George hasn’t been working for a few months now. Being out with the boy every night has taken a toll on him.
George says that he gets good sleep while he’s out there in the woods. Says that it’s the best sleep he’s ever had. But I can tell he’s lying, or at least not being completely honest with me.
Though lying is a sin, I forgive him. He’s doing it to protect me of course, doesn’t want me to know what it’s doing to him.
But I see him wince in pain when he bends over to pick something up. His back is shot. And you can’t work with a bad back, no sir.
And he fell asleep at work one day, a few months ago of course. So the boss had to fire him. He said that it didn’t look good and that George needed to get, and I’m quoting George here, his shit together. That kind of language in a workplace. That Ed Murphy, that was George’s boss, well I never saw him at church a day in
his life so that explains that.
Anyway, Steven, yes. He got a job packing fish down at the plant. Well, it’s crab now, not cod anymore. It pays pretty well too.
Poor boy, I know he wanted to go to school, to university. But we can’t always have what we want. God knows I don’t want to watch George go off every night like he does.
But we’ll be okay. We’re getting by, like everyone else.
······························
HALF AN HOUR LATER Jimmy met up with Rhonda and Larry next to the abandoned building near the playground.
Jimmy filled them in on his conversation with Steve as they walked to the playground.
“I can’t believe I mentioned the probe,” Jimmy said when he had finished.
“You didn’t use the word probe though, right?” Larry asked.
“No, I said object, and I was pretty vague.”
“He’ll think you were rambling, missing your friend, remembering things you did together.”
“Yeah, let’s hope.”
They emerged into the playground and turned toward the woods.
“It looks very different from the last time I was here,” Larry said. “Can either of you remember where it was, which direction?”
“I know which direction Brad went the other night,” Jimmy said.
“That’s a start,” Rhonda said.
They set off, following Jimmy as he weaved between trees and around hanging boughs.
“I get that we’re trying to find the object, er, probe,” Rhonda said. “I get that it’s important. But what happens when we do? What do we do with it?”
“We know that Brad comes back here, again and again, right?” Larry asked. “Or at least that’s the theory. Well, we must assume he’s looking for it too. It calls to him. So if we get it, and move it, maybe he’ll still come to it, even though it’s somewhere else.”
“That’s a pretty big assumption,” Jimmy said.
“It’s not an assumption, it’s a hypothesis,” Larry said. “Besides, we need to find the probe either way.”
“Sure, and I agree it’s important. But, and I want to be clear here, Rhonda and I want to help Brad too,” Jimmy said. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Yep,” Rhonda said.
Larry sighed. “I’m not sure there is any helping him.”
No one spoke for a while after that. They continued pushing through the trees, looking for a muddy pool in a small clearing. Of course, it might not be a clearing anymore, and such a pool would drain and change over time. A needle in a haystack sounded easy in comparison.
······························
STEVE WATCHED JIMMY AND the two others disappear beneath the trees. He stood at the edge of the trail, peering out from behind a thick fir tree.
After a couple of minutes he followed them again.
He had to find out what they knew, how much they knew.
Jimmy had tried to trick him into revealing something. The demons were everywhere, tempting him, trying to bait him.
The Devil wouldn’t have his soul.
Not like he had taken Brad’s. Or his parents’.
No, he would take from the Devil. Take what they were searching for, the object Jimmy had told him about.
Now that Steve knew that others knew about it he had to act. But they wouldn’t be able to find it, no, he had made sure of that years ago.
Yet, he knew how to find it. He had to retrieve the small white orb and let Brad have it. The boy would take him right to it.
······························
IT WAS ALMOST MIDNIGHT when Jimmy, Rhonda and Larry walked into Hopping Mad, a local micro-brewery and bar. The air was heavy with the smell of beer and sawdust, the latter sprinkled all over the floor. Even with it being a weeknight a handful of patrons milled about. Some of them played pool in a corner while others watched baseball on a large flat-screen TV. A few others were mesmerized by VLT machines near the door.
All eyes turned to see the newcomers.
Mud coated Rhonda’s left boot, some of it now dried and flaking off. She had stepped into a marshy bit while they trudged, fought their way it seemed, through the dense trees. Larry, meanwhile, had pine needles on his shoulders and in his hair, no matter how many he brushed aside. Pine resin covered Jimmy’s right hand, making him stick to anything he touched, or it to him. The trails that they had followed as children were long overgrown. Their adult size also didn’t help them slip between the nooks and crannies of hanging branches and jutting rocks.
They sat in a corner, away from the other patrons — less chance of being overheard. Larry took drink orders and went to the bar. Jimmy also excused himself to go to the bathroom to try and wash off some of the resin.
“Hold on,” Rhonda placed a hand on his shoulder.
Jimmy stayed where he was while Rhonda went to the bar. Larry moved aside and let her speak to the bartender, a blonde woman whom Rhonda appeared to know, at least a little. The bartender smiled at what Rhonda was saying, disappeared into the back and shortly reappeared. She handed Rhonda something.
“Here,” Rhonda said as she approached the table again. She dropped two small packs of butter into Jimmy’s waiting left hand.
“Butter?”
“It’ll take the resin right off.” She shook her head. “Didn’t you grow up here?”
“I have been away a long time you know,” he said as he walked to the bathroom.
They were all tired, defeated. They had spent fruitless hours trying to find the alien probe. They had come up empty-handed, hadn’t even managed to locate the clearing where the thing had been. The alien probe, Jesus, how crazy is that? Rhonda thought as she waited for the others to return.
So, what now? She didn’t know, didn’t think any of them did. She and Jimmy had hoped that Larry would sense the thing, like Larry assumed Brad could. It was no crazier an idea than anything else that was going on. But it hadn’t worked.
She sat, gazing out the window at the parking lot and so didn’t notice the pudgy, goateed man that approached her.
“Well, well, looky here,” he said.
She turned her head to see who it was, but she already knew.
“Hello Ken,” she said. “How are you? How are Sarah and the kids?”
“I’m good, they’re all good,” he said, smiling. “This is a nice surprise. I didn’t think you ever came out anymore.”
“Yeah, well, I’m visiting with some old school friends that are here from out of town.”
“Looks like you were trudging through the mud with them too.” He nudged her muddy boot with his sneaker.
“We were up to the old playground — we used to hang out there a lot when we were kids — a nostalgia thing, you know? Anyway, I stepped where I shouldn’t have.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you went now.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“Well, we’re gonna bulldoze right through all that in the next few days — that new sub-division is being built there.”
“What?!” she asked, her voice rising.
“Hey, sorry, I thought you would’ve known. It’s been in the papers and stuff. And they had a town meeting for people to voice their opposition, weeks ago.” He paused and took a swig from the mug of beer he had in his hands. “And get this, only one guy showed up. He ranted on about nature and Jesus and the need for trees or some such nonsense. So, yeah, next few days it’ll be gone. We started clearing the forest on the far side a couple days ago.”
“How much do you think you’ve cleared?” Rhonda asked, trying not to seem too interested.
He scratched his head, thinking. “Hard to say, but not much — it’s pretty thick. I mean some of it was already cleared a few years back — the Tuckers did it when they built their huge-ass house up there. You might have been away then. Anyway, they sold that land to the new developers. It’s good work though, should keep us g
oing for a few months. Enough to get my EI for winter anyway. So that’s good.”
“Yeah, that’s all you can ask for,” Rhonda said, not listening anymore. She looked toward the bar and noticed Jimmy had returned from the bathroom. He was standing with Larry at the bar. She waved to them.
Ken followed her gaze. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” He turned to leave and then stopped, looking back. “I’m glad to see you getting out Rhonda, people need to be in the world. You know, we’d love to see you sometime. The kids especially would like to spend time with their aunt. You know, more than a few hours on turkey holidays.”
“I…” she hesitated and then smiled, “you’re right, I do need to get over more. Let’s plan something for sometime soon.”
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll be in touch.” He squeezed her shoulder. “You take care of yourself.”
“You too Ken.”
He walked away as Jimmy and Larry returned and took their seats. Larry placed a chilled mug of beer in front of Rhonda.
“Who’s your friend?” Jimmy asked.
“Not friend, brother.”
“That was your brother?”
“Yeah, and he was, oddly enough for him, very helpful.”
“How so?” Larry asked.
She filled them in on what Ken had told her: the land had been partially cleared a few years before and the rest of it was going to be very soon. They were running out of time.
“So, we’re not sleeping tonight?” Jimmy asked. Then he yawned.
“Not if we’re going to find the probe,” Larry said. “I’ve been thinking too.”
“Yeah?” Rhonda asked.
“The probe will be buried. It was in that pool at the bottom of a hill. It would have filled in over time. Maybe that’s why Brad is in a holding pattern of sorts, why he keeps going back but nothing changes. The probe calls him, but he can’t find it, or at least doesn’t know to dig it up.”
“Well, we do. I’ve got a couple shovels at home,” Rhonda said.
“Let’s get some fuel then,” Jimmy said, standing. “Who wants fries?”
