Un Piccolo Piccolo Romanzo, (più affari)

 

Milltown Nocturn

I woke her, and after some fussing, she stood and we all left, Doug making sure the door was closed. I hadn’t heard much from Elvin all night.  He was tired too.  Like a kid.

Back over the bridge, out into the partial darkness, we walked.  It’s never completely dark at night under the sky.  If nothing else, cloud cover gives a very subtle grey light.  Within a mile of our place, we came upon Mrs. Steele’s red brick house.  Her lights were on in the kitchen.  She came to the door agreeably as always, little and in a fuzzy robe and slippers.  She invited us in, but I said we just wanted to leave Bubby with her, so he got a good dinner and a rest.

“Oh, ok,” she said, and about then Lou burst out in big juicy sobs and sat right down on the porch steps. In the light from inside the kitchen she looked exhausted, grimy, and stubborn and small.

 *O*

Bubby gave a mighty great dog sigh and sat down beside Lou and leaned against her and looked hard at Mrs. Steele.  She looked back.  She winked.  Bubby winked. I distinctly saw this.

Tiny in her bathrobe, Mrs. Steele stepped over her threshold and bent over Lou.  She found Lou’s grubby hands and held them, saying “Lou, honey, why don’t you come in and have a slumber party here with me and old Bubs?  You can get in my bathtub, and wear one of my nightgowns and tomorrow we can make cookies!”

I stood there with my mouth open.  Finally, I said “hey Lou, that sounds really really nice.  I’d go on in if I were you.” 

She got up and gave me a damp hug.  The three, old lady, young girl and big dog stepped inside, and Mrs. Steele shut the door.

I looked at Doug and Elvin to see how they were taking it and they looked at me.  We all kind of shrugged.  We walked back down the driveway in the dark and headed toward my parents’ house.

It was a cool fall night.  It wasn’t quite raining, but the was slightly damp.

It was less than a mile from Mrs. Steele’s house to our house.  We started out silently walking, then it occurred to me to ask, “hey, um, did you guys forget that the Light said we could have one special ability that they would give us?  I wonder what we could have and when they want the answer?”

Elvin laughed. “I want to be invisible!”

Doug and I both looked at him and then at each other. “Hey… That’s not a bad idea,” said Doug. “That could come in handy and be really funny too! A dream come true, for every kid on earth!”

“Well, let’s see if that is on the menu,” I said to the brothers, “next time we see them.”  We kept walking in cheerful silence.

About a block from home, in the dim light from the cloudy sky, I could see that something was not right at the house.  Something was parked in front of my house, where nothing should be parked.  And it was a van just like the one we saw at the store.  I poked Doug in his ribs and whispered, “look….!” He grabbed Elvin by the back of his coat and said, “shhhh! Look!”  We stood still in the middle of the road.

There were some low bushes across the road from where we were standing.  Doug pointed to them.  He whispered, “hey, let’s go lie low over there on the ditch bank and see what happens.”

We kind of tucked up under the bushes and waited there.  It was late and we were tired.  It had been a busy day to say the least and now this. 

It must have been around half an hour later that we heard men come out of my house and get into the van.  Two men.  Probably the same two from the store.  They were probably the enforcement for Milltown, or part of Milltown.  The van’s engine started up and the headlights came on.  Slowly, it started moving in the other direction from where we waited. 

When we could no longer see their tail lights at all we got up out of the ditch and headed home. I felt damp and chilled.  I was not happy.  I felt just about as happy as Lou had appeared to be.

Mailbox looked normal. They had been parked right by it.  Nothing on the lawn. I was searching around in the pocket of my pea coat when Doug said “never mind.  You ain’t gonna need a key Jen.” I looked at the front door.

The frame of the door was broken.  The door had been kicked open.  It stood halfway open.  It was dark as a dungeon inside my house.  For the first time in my life, I was truly afraid. It did seem like the danger was gone.  But fear rose up like a mist and I stopped in front of my own house, not knowing what to do next. My hands fell to my side, and I wept like Lou.

Doug took hold of my shoulders and moved me over, then stepped up on the little concrete porch.  Elvin was right behind him. Cautiously, one then the other stepped into my living room.  Nothing happened.  Doug flipped the light switch by the door, up then down.  Nothing happened. No power, or maybe the light bulb was dead or broken. He tried other switches.  No lights.  So, no power. I followed them into the house and pulled the door closed behind me. 

For the second time today, we depended on candles. We always had candles because sometimes the power just didn’t work. I had inched my way to the kitchen and fished around in the junk drawer for the candles and matches.  I stuck the candles into a brass candle thing mom kept for that purpose in the living room.  It held three candles, which I lit. In that weak light I looked around to see, if I could, why they had come here.

Slowly, I went up the stairs to the second story.  The boys followed me.  My bedroom looked normal, I thought.  Someone had used the bathroom and hadn’t flush. Nothing seemed broken.  I still felt the alien presence of someone who didn’t belong here, just because they had been here.

Before going back downstairs, I glanced out my bedroom window and remembered the Lights hanging in midair out there. I wished they were back.

We went to the kitchen.  I went back to the junk drawer and found my hammer and ten 16d nails.  Good and long, over three inches.  I asked Doug to nail the front door shut.  I stood holding the candle stand so that he could see to work.  We would have to use the kitchen door to go in and out now.

I thought some more about being invisible.  It sounded silly, but also, very attractive.

Maybe P-Sec was just snooping.  Maybe they had been wanting to arrest us for some reason.  I was glad Lou was where she was. Maybe it was just a threat to scare us and keep us in line.  Maybe it was something nastier, I mean they tried to grab Denise too! 

Doug said we should all sleep downstairs.  He thought I should sleep in my parents’ bed, and they would keep watch and nap in the living room on the chair and sofa.  We still had some jerky, so we ate some of that and drank some water.  We were so tired that we actually slept.

Morning light comes late in October but come it did.  I felt dirty and apprehensive lying in mom and dad’s old bed.  I casually glanced around the room. I saw a soft bluish light coming in from the other room.  I vaulted out of bed and ran into the front room.  

Both boys were still asleep.  One Light in a partial manifestation, rather more translucent than before, was suspended in the air about four feet off the floor, as if waiting.  It was bigger than the one that had stopped Denise's abduction, but smaller than the one in the gym.

Eyes glued on the sphere I said, "hey Doug, hey Doug.  You better wake up!"  His eyes flew open and he sat up. Elvin was moving a little too, now.

The voice that didn't seem to have a location said "you may now choose your special ability." 

Elvin sat bolt upright.  "We want to be invisible!" Doug and I sort of stopped breathing for a minute.

The voice said quietly, "you can't be truly invisible, but you may have the ability to shield your presence from those who wish you harm. You may walk among them unnoticed."  The Light began to fade and appear to pass further and further away until it was a little point of light that moved toward the ceiling and vanished.  We hadn't gotten much of a chance to inquire as to how to operate this gift!

Just then I heard a vehicle pull up in front of the house.

all of it!  In the tenth year of the pandemonium.docx