old Patty Sue… Patty Sue. Yeppers. Sweet girl. Suck a hood ornament off a Chrysler New Yorker.
“What has happened to all the people do you suppose?” He asked.
“Where have you been grandpa?”
Oh now that just sucks, this twit calling me grandpa, I’m only fifty…I think. When was my birthday?
“That’s silly, I’m no grandpa, I’m only fifty.”
“Ok gramps, I’m only twenty eight.”
The light hit her arm just right, and he saw the needle tracks that went all the way from her wrists to her elbow, and beyond.
Uhuh! Turkey tracks! This gal ain’t fresh off the tit, so what right has she got calling me grandpa? Huh? Huh? She likes the junk, the snow, the…well…what ever it is, or isn’t, they shoot up with nowadays. If it is an is, it can’t be an isn’t, can it?
“I ask you where you have been, and you ignored me.” She didn’t sound like a doper, in fact, she sounded sharper than a tack.
“I told you I’m a writer, I have been in my cabin in the mountains writing. Do you want to read my manuscript?”
“Maybe later Dad.”
“For goodness sake, I’m not your Dad, or your grandpa!” He yelled.
“Well you don’t have to get so snickery about it!”
“Why don’t you tell me where the people went, and I might forget you insulted me?”
“Why, the light took them!”
“Nawwww!” That sounded like a braying jackass, you silly boy. What will she think? On second thought it makes no matter what she thinks.
“If I’m lying, I’m dying, and I have my health, thank you. The light took them up into the sky, and they didn’t come back neither.”
Oh, I’ll bet, with those turkey tracks up, and down your arms, I’ll just believe anything you say… crazy twit.
“That’s impossible for light to take anybody up into the sky. I mean, that’s crazy insane. How did it do that?”
“A very big space ship came grand pappy. It shined a blue light, the bluest of blue, and people went up into the ship in the light.”
“Nawww!” Theres that braying jackass again, quit doing that! That’s worse than her calling me grandpa any old day!
“Did you see this? Or dream it?”
“I saw it stupid!”
“Your coffee is boiling over.”
“Oh, I’ll get us some cups.”
She brought the coffee, and it was so hot he burned his tongue. He blew on it to cool it.
“So what are you going to do now that all the people are gone?”
She pursed her lips, and looked at him a few seconds, “I’m going to sit right here in my apartment until they come back. It’s the first time in years I’ve got good sleep.”
“Speaking of sleep, I need to find a place to stay the night.”
“You can sleep with me if you want.”
“I thought you said I was a grandpa?”
“Well…grandpa’s gotta get their rest too don’t they?”
Grand pa’s do, but he doubted he would get much rest this night. He didn’t. Ol’ Patty Sue clap. Yessiree Bob. Running around the college campus making sure every boy on campus got a load of skitters.
He smelled the coffee boiling over the next morning, and there she was, pretty as a picture, sitting with her legs drawn under her, reading his manuscript. This delighted him more than boiled coffee, so he moved the coffee off the stove, poured himself a cup, and sat down across from her watching her lips move just slightly.
He stared at her as she read page after page, gently laying the pages back in order. She wasn’t so bad after all, and unless you looked closely, you couldn’t see the turkey tracks at all. She was interested in his manuscript wasn’t she, so she couldn’t be all that bad. Means ol’ pappy’s got something.
I wonder how she will like it? I’m sorry I called you Patty Sue clap. I didn’t mean it, not really.
Oh but you did, you did. Theres something wrong with you, and she is reading your manuscript. It will tell something about you. Let the cat out of the bag so to speak old boy, old snocker. Oh what cat, there is no cat, and the people have been taken up in the light.
She read on, and on, until she gently laid the last page on the stack, gently, ever so gently, then she pursed those lips of hers, the lips that had tasted so delicious the night before.
“Oh, my goodness Nick, this is so good. No it’s not good, it’s great. It’s the greatest thing I have ever read! How on earth did you do it? Is shows pure genius. It’s even lighter than the bluest of blue light that took the people. I was caught up in the light as I read it.”
“You liked my manuscript?”
“Yes my dear sir, I didn’t just like it, I loved it! Will you come fly away with me?”
“Where too?”
“Why, into the blue light of course!” Suddenly the blue light flooded the room, and the two of them were lifted off their feet.
Nick came slowly awake, and got painfully out of bed; his whole body was stiff, and aching. He turned to look back at the bed, and saw the filthy sheets, slick with filth unbelievable. He drew back from that bed, and stumbled into the kitchen, and the total filth almost blew him back. Chairs askew, cereal boxes strewn helter skelter over the floor. A rat sat on the kitchen counter licking its paws, and watching him. Absolutely filthy pots and pans stacked deep in the sink with burned moldy crud on them. The floor was thick with dried food, and urine. He wretched in the kitchen floor before he knew he was going to wretch, but the puke added nothing to the unbelievable filth.
He stumbled into the sitting room, and saw the stove caked with boiled over coffee, and coffee grounds all over the stove, and the floor. He walked over to his desk to look for his manuscript, and as he thumbed through the three hundred pages or so, all he saw was garbled scribbled non-sense done with pencil.
How long have I been insane? Weeks? Months? Years? He fell down on his knee’s, “Oh God, give me one more chance, please, please!” When he said that the years of guilt rolled off him like dirty bathwater down a drain. He felt light headed, and wondered if he was going to drift back off into insanity again.
He got up from the filthy floor after praying, and looked out the window at the clean forest. He could barely stand to look at the filth, but he needed water. He managed to find a clean glass, and drank three glasses of water. He drug his tired body up the stairs, and found a clean pair of pants and shirt. He walked out back, and was able to get the generator going, and then lugged the heavy battery charger to his car.
He sat down beside the car, and waited while the battery charged. When he turned the ignition the car started, sputtered, and died. He turned the key again, and with a sigh of relief the engine caught, and ran.
He then walked around back, and lugged the gas can around to the wood pile and sloshed it over the wood. He took a match to it, and the whoosh of the gas singed his eyebrows a bit before he could back off. He got in the car, and headed back down the mountain.
He pulled in at the station/grocery store, and began filling the tank on his car. The store owner walked out, “Have a good winter up there Mr. Jordan? Saw some smoke up that way this morning.”
“House caught fire, I’m going back to New York.”
“Happens to those old places, had two burn down last year.”
The gas pump shut off as the tank reached full. He hung it back on the pump, took out a hundred, and handed it to the man, “Keep the change.” He got in the car, and saw the man scratching his head in the rearview as his tires threw gravel back at the pumps.
He got a little De Javou when he came to the part of the little town where he turned right to get to the main highway. He half expected a shopping cart to roll by with an invitation to the local basketball game, but all he saw was the morning traffic as he turned onto the number nine highway.
He arrived at his house which had been closed up all winter. He threw open all the doors, and windows, and then went into the study to call his ex in At
lanta.
“You sound different Nick.” Her voice did not carry the same tone as when he had last spoken with her.
“I am different.”
“Did you write the book?”
“No…I tried, but I failed.”
“You know you could work for any newspaper in New York Nick.”
“I know… I’ll make a living somehow.”
“Nick…stepping away has given me a chance to see that what happened wasn’t your fault, and I treated you so bad. Would I be out of order if I asked if we could give our marriage another chance?”
“Not at all, I was kind of hoping you might say that. I’ve been lonely without you.”
“Nick, I know this might sound empty to you, but I love you.”
“No, it doesn’t sound empty; I think we both have been a little lost. The only thing is, I’m going to go to church on a regular basis, and you would have to agree to that. I do love you.”
“I’ll be on the redeye in the morning Nick.”
“I’ll be here when you get here.”
The end
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