Evil Heights, Book III: Lost and Found

by Michael Swanson

  "Okay. Okay.” Lee grudgingly turned back to face his entirely way too eager friend. “When we were in the caboose ... she let me kiss her."

  "Oh, man, oh man! Kissing in the caboose!” Ronnie almost howled, then added. “Ooh la la! Does she kiss good?” Ronnie puckered up his lips and made some big, wet smacking noises.

  Lee felt anger rise up reflexively.

  Ronnie surely must have noticed the change in Lee's expression; he quickly backpedaled. “Hey, what's the matter, Lee? Come on don't get pissed. It's me, Ronnie. Remember, your best friend since forever? You know I'd tell you if the shoe was ever on the other foot. You know I would."

  "Yeah, I guess you would.” Lee stared down at his old tennis shoes. “I don't know.” He didn't want to look at Ronnie just right now. “I guess she kisses okay."

  "Just okay?"

  "More than okay."

  Ronnie's eyes got wide. “You like her, don't you?"

  Lee's not answering was more than sufficient.

  "Damn, Lee! Do you really like her? Like really, really?” Ronnie was insistent, but he was obviously trying to step softly, too. “She must be something.” He wiggled his eyebrows lasciviously. “What else did y'all do?"

  Again, the silence was more than enough.

  "Whoa,” Ronnie said in hushed awe. “Second base?"

  Still, nothing from Lee.

  "Third base?"

  Lee could see his shoelaces were tied unevenly, and a seam was coming apart near the toe.

  "You're not going to try to tell me you hit a home run?” Ronnie hushed down and whispered respectfully, “A home run?"

  "Oh yeah, sure, a home run.” Lee looked up when he spoke. “Don't I wish?"

  "But you did get to second base at least, didn't you?"

  Under Ronnie's enthused gaze, a slice of Lee's grin escaped him.

  "Oh, man! Really!” Ronnie was beside himself. “What happened? How'd ya do it? What's it feel like? You gotta tell."

  Lee stared back. “What do you mean, what's it feel like? It feels like what it feels like, stupid.” He was lying. Lee knew exactly what it felt like. He'd thought about every nuance of every second of the experience a thousand times since last Saturday afternoon.

  "Oh, man oh man, this is great!” Ronnie's enthusiasm was undaunted. “Wait ‘til I tell Melissa you've got a girlfriend. She's gonna turn green and bust a gut. Second base, whoa!” Ronnie suddenly drifted away, his eyes glazing over as he was undoubtedly envisioning the event.

  "Guess what?"

  Ronnie didn't guess; he was busy with his imagination.

  "Guess what?” Lee repeated.

  "What?” Ronnie replied, coming back from wherever he had been.

  "Remember the other day when we ... you know,” he pointed between them, “...you and I, were in the train yard?"

  "Yeah."

  "Remember, you got scared?"

  "I remember both of us got scared,” Ronnie replied, stressing the both.

  "Same thing happened when Phoebe and I were...” The words caught in Lee's throat. It didn't help that Ronnie looked as eager as a dog at dinnertime. “...when we were kissing and stuff.” There he'd said it.

  Ronnie looked as though someone had just poured gravy on his bowl of dog food.

  "The same scary stuff happened like with us, only this time it was worse.” Lee was serious.

  "What do you mean, worse?” Lee's somber change in demeanor had infected Ronnie. Talking about things that happened in the train yard was almost always done a tone or two quieter than any regular conversation.

  "We were kissing. You know, standing there, the two of us.” Lee took a seat back on the milk crate. “Then it went all dark, gray-green, you know, that sickly color, like the color of the sky before a big storm hits. Felt the same too, kind of cold and still, and you get that crawly sensation like someone is standing right behind you, but there isn't anybody there.” He thought of another poetic phrase, which sometime stuck in his mind, but didn't say it out loud: “The calm before the storm."

  Ronnie, too, had sat back down and was facing Lee knee to knee.

  "It was so bad she was trembling,” Lee continued. “I had a hold of her, we were hugging, and I'm telling you she was scared. One minute we were kissing, and then you could feel it. There was something there. You know what I mean?"

  Ronnie nodded and whistled sympathetically. “Must have been something powerfully scary. It'd take a lot to make me quit kissing a pretty girl, whoa!"

  "That's just the start of it,” Lee said. “We'd stopped, but were standing together. I still wasn't sure what was going on. Then we heard this noise coming down the cars like someone laughing, though it wasn't a happy laugh. It was real spooky, mean-like. I'm telling you it was something bad."

  Ronnie was looking worried despite the fact that he was sitting fifteen feet up in a tree on a beautiful, sunny day. “What do you mean, Lee, something bad? A ghost?"

  "It's hard to put your finger on it exactly, but it was sort of like how a bully teases some poor kid. It sounded a lot like that big jerk Mark Probst; the one who used to pick on the retarded kids when the teachers weren't looking and Special Ed was out on the playground."

  Ronnie nodded and grimaced. “Yeah, I remember him. That guy was an asshole."

  "But whatever this was it was even meaner than Mark. It was like whatever it was, it was watching and laughing while something real nasty was being done to someone else. You know,” Lee locked eyes with Ronnie, “something real nasty."

  Ronnie swallowed hard. “So it sounded like Mark, that kind of whiney, high pitched taunting and snickering?"

  "No, it was a woman.” Lee was sure, and it showed in his face. “Definitely a woman."

  "Damn!” Ronnie leaned back slapping his hands on his knees.

  "That's not the half of it.” Lee pressed on. “There was this powerful stink that came along at the same time. It was real gross."

  "Maybe she farted she got so scared,” Ronnie interjected quickly, and followed with a weak laugh exposing the fact that he was obviously so nervous he was trying to make a joke out of it.

  Lee scowled and shook his head. “I don't think so. Not unless she'd been eating some of that cafeteria road kill."

  "That bad?"

  Lee nodded his head. “Rotten. Rotten meat. Like the meat department's trash cans out back of the Lucky Seven come about mid afternoon."

  They looked at each other a moment each lost in their own thoughts.

  "Oh, yeah,” Lee suddenly continued. “There was this tinkly honkey-tonk music that appeared along about the same time as the laughing started. It sounded really spooky, echoing, like when you holler down in a concrete tube or yell in a cave, kind of warbling and off key, dragging and speeding up and slowing down like when someone holds their finger on the edge of a record while it's playing."

  "Damn!” Ronnie leaned in. “What'd y'all do?"

  "That's right about when Fat Larry drove up, and it just disappeared.” Lee snapped his fingers. “Just like that."

  Ronnie jumped at the snap. “Damn!"

  "That's not all. Lot's of weird stuff's been happening. Doors at our house keep opening up all on their own. I've come home and found all the doors wide open. And you know how Maggie is about locking doors?"

  Ronnie nodded.

  "We've had about a million light bulbs burn out.” Lee leaned forward and locked eyes with Ronnie. More than a somber tone had crept in. “And get this. Maggie sent me to the store the other night, and something chased me down Seminole Road all the way to Little's icehouse. And Ronnie,” Lee leaned in and touched his friend on the knee without even thinking. “You know me, and I'm telling you I ran for my life. Something was after me."

  Ronnie's mouth was open.

  "Then,” Lee continued in his hushed voice, “last Saturday night when Uncle Ed and his family was visiting us,” Lee must have realized he was touching Ronnie's knee, because he pulled his hand away and leaned way back. “Miss Laura
was telling me about that glass eye I found.” Lee swallowed. He put his hands behind his head, elbows up in the air, and one knee started bouncing nervously. “She said it came from a Yankee captain named Limpkins who was eating people! He'd cut off their legs and arms and stuff and eat ‘em."

  "You're bull shitting me?” Ronnie fired back.

  Lee crossed his heart and for good measure spit in his hand and held it up for Ronnie to slap.

  "Damn!” Ronnie slapped it soundly. “Eating people? A Yankee?"

  "Yeah, a Yankee cannibal.” Lee couldn't seem to tell it all quickly enough it spilled out so easily, “Then Miss Laura, she kind of went a little crazy."

  "She's the one who eats fried chicken with a fork, ain't she?

  Lee nodded.

  "What'd she do?"

  "She let me look down her blouse."

  "No!” Ronnie exploded.

  Again, Lee nodded, but he was grim in contrast to Ronnie's overexcitement.

  "What do you mean, she let you look down her blouse?"

  Lee pulled at his shirt with both hands. “I was standing, and she was sitting down in the chair. We were talking about the cannibal captain. She spilled a little dip from a chip she was eating and used her hands to pull her blouse open so as not to get a stain."

  "All the way open?"

  Lee nodded.

  "What'd you see?” Ronnie's interest was written plainly on his face. “Did she have a bra on?"

  "Yeah,” Lee grimaced, shaking his head. “Of course she had a bra on. It was Miss Laura."

  A touch of Ronnie's enthusiasm faded. “Well, that's still not so bad,” he finally concluded. Then he added, “I do remember her. She's good looking, too. Hell, Lee, you're going to be a legend. Kissing a girl in the caboose and then a real woman lets you look down her blouse.” He shook his head. “Art will never believe it."

  "Like I care what Art believes?” Lee's face darkened. “Anyway,” he pointed a finger, “this is between you and me. I don't want you blabbing this stuff all over. Right?"

  Ronnie just glared back.

  "Do you want to hear more?

  Ronnie nodded.

  "Then you'll keep this between us?"

  Again, Ronnie nodded.

  Lee felt satisfied by Ronnie's earnest expression. “It gets even crazier. Miss Laura asked me to wipe the dip off."

  Ronnie's eyes got wide. “Like with a napkin?"

  Lee shook his head and held out his right hand wiggling his fingers. “I used these."

  "No way!” Ronnie yelled. “You touched her!"

  Lee nodded.

  "Aw, man! Ronnie exploded. “You're bull shitting me!"

  "No, it's the truth.” The real truth here was Lee wasn't bragging, it was more like he was confessing. “It wasn't all that much. I just picked off the little piece of dip. I'm telling ya, Ronnie, I was about to croak. I didn't know what to do. She was holding her blouse open and giving me the weirdest look. I still can't believe I really did it. Then, no sooner had I done it than I could have sworn I heard this voice come out of nowhere telling me to grab her."

  "So what'd ya do?” Ronnie was so excited he probably didn't even realize what Lee had said about a voice. “Did you do it?"

  "No. Uncle Ed and my dad came back into the room. But between you and me, I don't think I would have done it. Hearing that voice and stuff it was all pretty weird."

  "I could go for a little weirdness like that,” Ronnie came back. “So what happened next?"

  "That's pretty much about it,” Lee came back.

  "Let me get this right?” Ronnie glared down at Lee. “Last Saturday you kissed some girl named Phoebe, touched her breasts—"

  "Not both, just one,” Lee interjected.

  "Okay, just one,” Ronnie corrected himself. “Then you had a grown woman let you look down her shirt and wipe some dip off of her chest?

  "I got drunk, too,” Lee added, grinning.

  "We should call the newspaper with this story.” Ronnie jumped and slapped the roof with both hands. When he again faced Lee he said, “Anything else? Did Marilyn Monroe come over and take a bath with you?"

  "No, we took a shower,” Lee said flatly. “She brought her own towel, too. Look, I don't care if you believe me. But this is what happened."

  "What'd you get drunk on, love?"

  "Rum.” Lee ignored Ronnie's sarcasm. “My dad was mixing drinks for Maggie and Miss Laura, and must have gotten my Coke mixed up with theirs. I'm telling you, it was strong, maybe half rum. If that's how he was making Maggie and Miss Laura's drinks it's no wonder everybody got so crazy."

  "Maggie was drinking?” Ronnie asked incredulously.

  "Yeah, even Maggie,” Lee came back.

  Ronnie grinned. “Did she throw up?"

  Lee shook his head. He'd already decided he wasn't going to say anything about the vision he'd imagined he'd seen of her and Uncle Ed in Patty's room.

  "Did she get mean?” Ronnie pressed.

  Lee shook his head again. “She sort of passed out for a while, I think. It was my dad and Uncle Ed who got mean.” Lee sat forward seriously. “Uncle Ed and my dad started arguing about nothing. In the next second I really thought they were gonna start fighting."

  "No way!” Ronnie interjected.

  Again Lee crossed his heart. “Then, the really weird stuff started happening. It started to get to be about a million degrees in our living room, and when I grabbed the glass eye away from Miss Laura all the light bulbs popped and went out at once—"

  "Like exploded?"

  Lee shook his head. “No, they didn't exactly blow up or anything like that. But they made this popping sound. A tink. It's funny, but I swear every time it happens I can feel it a split second before, like a shiver or something. I know it's weird, but that's about the only way I can describe it. It's a little like in the winter when you getting in the car and you know when you touch the door handle you're gonna get a shock."

  Ronnie nodded. “Yeah, I know that feeling."

  Lee seemed satisfied Ronnie had caught his drift. “There was that shiver.” He snapped his fingers. “Then every bulb went out."

  "All of ‘em?"

  "All but the night light down the hall near Patty's room. Then there were these voices, screaming, yelling, that weird music again, only different this time.” His hands were working while he was trying to explain, and he was in such a rush he'd gotten the events a little out of order. “No that's not right,” he corrected himself. “First it was the smell that came back, like in the caboose, and then it started to get hot, and that's when I thought my dad and Uncle Ed were gonna get in a fist fight."

  "Over what?” Ronnie broke in.

  "I told you I don't know. Over nothing. It was just like one second they were drinking beer, cutting up, and listening to Miss Laura tell her story about the cannibal Yankee captain, and then they were going to kill each other."

  Lee leaned back in again closer to Ronnie he was himself so excited. “And that's right when it happened. I snatched the glass eye away from Miss Laura, and all the light bulbs in the house went ka-bloowie!” Lee slapped his hands together causing Ronnie to jump. “And we're all there in the dark with all this freaky noise coming out of the walls, and then all the little girls, Patty, Belinda and Mary, back in Patty's room started screaming and crying, hollering out and yelling they saw a monster!"

  Ronnie's eyes were wide. “Did they?"

  Lee shook his head. “I don't know. I don't think so. I think they probably just woke up in the dark and were scared. But that feeling was the weirdest thing; just before a light bulb goes out you actually feel this kind of a ... a..."

  "Like that shock, right?” Ronnie interjected. He was sitting up, teetering back and forth on the edge of his crate.

  "Yeah, but it's more like when a spring is just about to let go. Like something's been released."

  "How long's all this been going on?” Ronnie was shaking his head, and he really was doing a good job of looking worried.


  "Ever since we moved in,” Lee replied. “I bet we've burned out a couple of dozen light bulbs a week, at least."

  "What's your dad say about all this?"

  It was Lee's turn to shake his head. “Thanks to Maggie he blamed me for leaving the doors open, and Uncle Ed told him he thinks all the bulbs keep burning out because of an electrical problem. And he doesn't remember anything about fixing to punch it out with Uncle Ed. It's like I'm the one who's crazy."

  "Damn!” Ronnie said again. “I think I'd move out of there."

  "Yeah. Sure.” Lee was shaking his head. “Where would I go? Move in with you?"

  Ronnie grinned toothily. “I know Melissa would like that."

  "I think I've got enough going on with girls right now,” Lee came back warily.

  "No really,” Ronnie was serious. “You should get the hell out of there. Living there in Cherry Heights you're too close to the Ballard house and the train yard. Why do you think I don't come around since you moved? You know it's not like you moved to China; you're just on the other side of Spit Creek."

  "I don't know,” Lee replied. “I just figured you had other stuff going on, and I've been grounded and working and stuff."

  "Lee, let me tell you.” Now Ronnie's eyes showed just how concerned he really was. “I get the creeps around there. Last summer, when we were taking the wood from the wrecked houses to build this tree house, I couldn't get out of there fast enough even in the day time. Bunches of times my hair would stand on end and I was sure there was someone behind me. Last Halloween, when all y'all went over there to throw eggs, why do you think I went home? That place gives me the willies."

  Lee could see Ronnie was being honest with him.

  "I still can't believe you worked over there all by yourself,” Ronnie continued. “I think I'd rather be blindfolded and fight Jeff with one arm tied behind my back."

  "That bad, huh?” Lee reached out and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. “Don't worry about it, Ronnie. I'm sure there's got to be a sane reason for everything that's been happening. Like in the train yard, when all that spooky stuff started happening, Fat Larry showed up. That's what I told Phoebe. It must have been his radio we heard, and it just sounded funny echoing through the cars."