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CHAPTER III

Swift like the cut of a samurais sword came a cold short wind. The leaves of trees clapped their hands in gratitude of the wind, some swept away by it into the distance of Maplewood Dr. The neighborhood was usually quiet, other than the occasionally children laughing near a playground or the sound of a car along the roads near the neighborhood. Cloudy as always, though on this particular day, maybe the sky felt a little happier with Maplewood Dr. , For their was sun shining through. Not much mind you, but enough so to notice.
The girls were gone now, all but Alex. Alex was probably Jane’s best friend. Yes Jane loved all of her friends. Maria, Lauren and Stacy, but Alex was probably the closest one to her. Always laughing together, sharing secrets, there through the good, bad, boys, school and life in general. They were lucky to have each other. Jane’s mother walked into Jane’s room, knocked slightly and opened the door part way.
“Hey you two. Having fun?” Mrs. Ray asked with a smile and those blushed and fat cheeks of hers. She had earrings on and her purse on her shoulder, some of her best cloths.
“I’m going out to the grocery.” She announced still smiling. Her perfume came into the room now, the scent was pleasant but strong. Maybe a bit too strong for the girls liking, let alone anyone else’s. Mrs. Ray’s voice came once more.
“You two will be alright here right?” She asked already knowing the answer. “Todd is at Cody’s house, playing Kalow 5 or whatever.” She said slightly sighing and rolling her eyes, then quickly looked back towards the girls for an answer. No response came from Jane, as Alex noticed, looking at her troubled friend. Alex took the matter into her own hands.
“Oh, yes Mrs. Ray. We should be fine.” Alex said making a smile. Mrs. Ray looked over to Jane who only looked at her back. She nodded, and then closed the door with an “Ok, I’ll see you two soon!” and was gone. Alex tried to muffle a chuckle a bit, it soon turned into a short laugh.
“You’re mother sure likes to dress up for the grocery huh?” She giggled a bit. Jane looked over and saw Alex’s cheeks scrunched a bit due to her giggling, which invited Jane to the idea of giggling too. They both laughed a bit, but not long. Jane was serious again, quiet. She stared off at the floor and finally apologized.
“Sorry Alex, it’s just…weird you know? I know it was a nightmare, and more than likely that’s all it was, but it was so real. Very terrifying too…” Jane glanced toward the floor again, then out her window, not meaning to, but catching the house with her eyes. That thing was always in the way. She only wanted to see the beauty of the trees around her neighborhood, but that old house couldn’t possibly allow that. There were no breaks, no sympathy in that broken down beat up shacks mind.
Alex looked out the window with Jane. She looked about for a minute and then said. “Hey, maybe we should go outside? Hmmm?” Alex put a smile on, trying to show optimism. Jane turned to see her friend’s cute smile. She looked down to the familiar cold floor of her room and after a minute of thinking, looked back up towards Alex, breathed in deep and nodded her head in agreement.
Outside the air was very nice. A bit humid it seemed, but a cold humid, a good sweet humid. The air was crisp, cold but not too cold, and the short wind gusts every now and again would greet the girls, like track runners wave to crowds as they pass the audience, glad to see them again, just as the wind seemed glad to see Alex and Jane again. They began to walk down the road. Maybe they would go to the park or an ice-cream and coffee shop. As they walked, a couple of cars passed them. Jane was pretty quiet. She wasn’t a huge talker like Maria or Alex, but she wasn’t a shy ghost in the graveyard like Lauren either. Alex looked over a bit sad and finally after about seven minutes of not speaking, spoke up.
“Does it really bother you that much Jane? It WAS just a dream, no matter how frightening” Jane’s face seemed to drop some. As if she were very tired, or angry. Alex tried again.
“I mean really Jane, I know it might have been scary, but that’s all it was. Nothing more, just a scary dream. Don’t let this grow into such a big deal.” She asserted her intellect, though her face seemed a bit worried as to what Jane’s response would be. Her eyebrows went apart. Jane said nothing as they kept walking. After a few minutes the silence broke between them once more, this time it was Jane.
“I don’t know Alex.” She began. “It just seemed so incredibly real. My stomach was literally being torn to bits by these things. I could see my entrails in detail, it wasn’t all blurry like most of my dreams are.” She paused a moment. The wind came around the track to greet them once more, it seemed as if it picked up a few friends, for it lasted longer this time. Jane started up again.
“I could feel them Alex, and Hear them, and smell them- they smelt disgusting!” She was becoming a bit tense now, folded arms, each hand grabbing the arm it was folded on top of. She sighed and looked off to the house on her right. It was a beautiful two story white house. No lights were on inside and it looked a little depressing. Pretty though, very pretty, she’d like to have a house like that one day. After her focus came back to walking and not talking, only in blurts every now and then, Alex spoke.
“Well, I mean maybe it was something you ate or a scary movie you saw, or a story you read?” She looked to Jane for an answer. Still the same worried face, with a pinch more caution added to it this time.
“No Alex, I haven’t seen or read any scary stories for a while now, and even if my dream was derived from that long ago, they were no where close to being that horrifying. I doubt it was something I ate, same food I’ve eaten before, and I’ve eaten a lot more and worse before, and nothing happened to me then.” This last part was arguable Alex thought, but she kept it to herself. Alex tried to think of anything else to say, to ask. Jane was beginning to get irritated with this dream situation. Why did it happen? Was it really just a dream? She could easily be making a bigger deal out of this than need be. The more Jane thought about it, the more frustrated she became. Her expression worsened.
“Maybe…” Alex half way began, not knowing what to say. Jane interrupted regardless.
“Maybe you should stop probing Alex, maybe it was just a dream, maybe I’m crazy, or maybe those fricking things are actually out to get me! How should I know?! I mean, it’s not like I’m the knower of everything that ever happens to me!”
Jane stopped and the anger slipped away as she looked at Alex, who looked surprised, then sad. Her fists unclenched and she sighed.
“I’m sorry Alex…it’s just very hard.” Jane said looking apologetically at her, though taking her eyes off her friend to look at the ground or past her every now and then. Leaves began to fall from the trees and the wind came to say hello once more.
“It’s alright, I guess it is pretty weird.” Alex agreed, trying to fit on a smile. They were fine with each other, that wasn’t going to hurt their friendship, besides Jane has a pretty good excuse for that outburst. The two continued along down their neighborhood. Walking along, a figure came into view, and this time it was human.
“Oh- the kids all around they play and shout, fun and games- what they’re all about Annd if you ask me why I sing, I’ll tell you the reason that I bring. They rake and tear you in the night and if you scream- tis their delight- FORR in your screams and troubled mind, they love to prod and play and hide…”
The sound of a man singing came from two houses in front of Jane and Alex. They could see the man now, him and his old fashioned hat, his white dress shirt and suspenders, with an old classic brown belt, kaki pants and brown loafers. He was about 5’11 and probably had 70 years or so on him grey hair, if I even needed to say that.
As they drew closer, they could see he was sweeping away at the leaves and dirt on his driveway. The great dane that was laying down on his front lawn looked up with it’s ears perked, eyeing the girls. As the man was nearing the end of his task, the wind blew more vigorously, and from the sky it seemed, leaves floated downwards, scattered about his driveway. The man put the palm of his hand on the end of the broom stick, as the bristles rested on the ground. He slowly looked upwards toward the trees, maybe even the sky, and glared with a sour stretch on his face. “Mmm…” he grunted to himself, beginning to sweep again.
The girls were getting closer now, and already knowing who it was, called out “Hey Mr. Hooper!” the smiled and waved, approaching him. The dog began to bark now, and ran over, only stopping to sniff and then great them, realizing who it was.
“Oho you’re so tough Paunchy!” Alex kid with dog, and rubbed his belly. Paunchy’s tongue found it’s way out of his mouth and dangled in joy at his belly rub. Mr. Hooper looked at them till he recognized them after a few seconds.
“Oh ohh! Hello hello girls, sorry about that, I suppose my eyesight is beginning to go now too eh?” He chuckled and coughed a bit. “Mm- mmm” he cleared his throat and then looked up at them once more. Waving, a way of apology. Jane broke his wave and said,
“No need for apologies Mr. Hooper, we don’t need any explanations. She said smiling at him. Alex looked up to Mr. Hooper now too, and stood up. Paunchy flipped over, shook his head, went over to Jane and began whining and nuzzling her hand. He then barked, wanting attention and a belly rub.
“Oh Paunchy Hush now!” Mr. Hooper snapped at his dog. “Dang ole’ dog, always yipping about something.” It was funny how he would always refer to his dog’s bark as “yipping” rather than a fog horn, it was only a great dane after all. Light chocolate colored.
The girls giggled a bit, not caring if the dog barked or not. They always loved Paunchy. Mr. Hooper began to chuckle along with them, not really minding it either, just trying to be polite to them.
“Well well now, can I get you girls anything? Water, soda, a car?” He was always such a nice man and polite, good sense of humor and a nice social record. Jane laughed.
“No no, thank you Mr. Hooper.” She smiled and Alex added in, “We’re going to the park.” Like a little 5 year old, just wanting to state what was going on. Mr. Hooper perked up a bit, he himself loved nature.
“Oho well now is that so?” He smiled. “Well you too have fun. I must continue sweeping these leaves off of my driveway. Confound it!” He began. “I nearly forgot to water the plants! Glad I had my good luck charms to help me remember, thank you!” He said jokingly and went to get the water pale. Alex interrupted him to question.
“But.. Mr. Hooper, did it not just rain this morning?” She asked, quite sure she heard rain outside. Jane’s bedroom around nine. He turned half way and over his shoulder said, “Why…yes, yes it did.” He went back to continue when Jane interrupted this time.
“Well don’t waste your water Mr. Hooper, it’ll probably rain tonight to- He cut them off and said “Oh, it’s not a waste. It’s one of the most important, if not THE most important task I must do every day, watering my plants is essential, rain or not I still must water them.” He smiled a bit, the old wrinkled scrunched eyes smile of his. As he began to turn once more Alex asked,
“But.. if you don’t mind me asking… why, Mr. Hooper?” He turned around fully this time, a few seconds of looking and then simply, with a perk in his voice “If I don’t, something might happen. That is all, I don’t want to risk anything happening, so I must water them.” He gave a quick smile. The girls smiled back. Both of them thought this was a bit odd. They glanced at each other, knowing what each other was thinking. 'Talk about this later'. They turned back to Mr. Hooper
“Well, alright.” Alex spoke. “I guess we’ll be on our way then Mr. Hooper. Good bye!” Jane added “Bye Mr. Hooper!” The waved and began to walk again. Paunchy barked twice and then settled back down. Mr. Hooper waved and practically said to himself for he spoke so quietly, “Good bye.” He went to fetch the watering pale, smile fading away, face becoming serious. He looked up into the clouds and down to the old house, the beat up one, the old time house, the one in front of Jane’s, he looked on for a few seconds, then went back to his work and Muttered something, cold and spiteful, very quietly, but deeply to himself.