Terrible news travels more rapidly than any other kind. The Howards' native community of brick, two-car garage homes was no exception to that maxim, and the news rumored at the coffee shops and business offices whispered facts too terrible to shoulder.
"Hate taking the ribbons down, Ray," spoke one Howard neighbor to another. "Hate untying them from the trees before we learn what happened to Mitchell and Mallory. But still."
The other neighbor nodded. "Oh, I know what you mean, Don. I hoped the police would find the Howards simply vacationing out of country. Hoped the authorities would be able to explain who that dead couple was they found in the Howard home. But it's been a month since the Howards have gone missing, and after hearing those rumors from the coroner's office, these yellow ribbons tied to all our trees don't seem like much of a memorial for Mallory and Mitchell anymore."
"Yeah, Ray, they've come to feel like more of a blight."
"I tell you, what I heard makes me shudder to see all the yellow."
"You think it could be true?"
Ray snipped a ribbon from one of his front yard's tall oaks and crumpled the yellow plastic into his pocket. "I hate to think about having to judge whether or not it is. But I know Coroner Jacobs to be an honest man, Don."
"Then did you hear it the way I did?"
Ray hesitated . "What I heard was this. Heard that the authorities have finally identified those bodies found in the Howard's home, and they don't think they belong to any of Mallory or Mitchell's family or friends. Rumor tells it the authorities had such a time identifying those bodies because they were searching among the living instead of the dead. Rumor tells it the people they found in the Howards' home have been dead for almost twenty years."
Don pushed his trembling hands into his pockets. "Then you heard it like I did. And I also heard those authorities couldn't believe it until they drove into the northern woods themselves and interred those coffins. Heard they didn't believe it when they opened those boxes and found them both empty."
"Well, Don, let's not think of it anymore."
"It's too ghoulish."
Thus all of the Howards' neighbors removed the yellow ribbons from their trees. Mallory and Mitchell had been good, quiet neighbors. Though those neighbors wished they would spot the Howards' car pulling back into their home's drive to dispel the terrible rumors the couple's disappearance spawned, none in that community argued against the wisdom of tearing those yellow ribbons down. For the news was so terrible, and it was best to quickly forget that Mallory and Mitchell Howard had ever been, lest they would have to consider what in the end had seemingly replaced them.