The only things I heard were moon and skunk. I looked back into the shadows and saw nothing but black. I said the only thing that came to mind. “Huh?”
“Are you quite all right?”
“I’m—I’m fine, sir,” I said while leaning over to pick up my crate. Fortunately, the drop had been a clean one and there were no casualties. With my cargo safely secured, I returned to the paved road and started back toward Paul’s. “Just thought I heard something messing around under the trees. Must have been some squirrels or maybe that skunk. Thanks for the heads up. Gotta go.”
“Take care young man, and stay on the beaten path. And remember, beware the Jabberwock!”
Something was familiar about his warning, but I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it before. When I looked back at Mr. Hutchinson, his leathery face was hard. “What?”
“It’s said he has jaws that bite and claws that catch.”
I stood silent and stared at him, wondering if old man Hutchinson was as nuts as Paul and most of the other kids thought he was.
A smile split across his stony face, and he began laughing. “Just a little levity, Master Dwyer. Compliments of Lewis Carroll.”
He was the strangest man I’d ever met. Bonus points for Mr. Hutchinson. “Umm, okay. Goodnight, sir.”
With a nod and a wink, he turned and continued on his way up Spindle.
Only minutes back into my journey, the weight of imagined eyes returned. This time I decided not to look into the darkness for fear of falling under their spell again. My parents say I’m blessed with an amazing imagination, but from experience I knew there were times it could go seriously Dark Side and send me on what amounted to a bad trip. A little spook and nudge would push me over the edge, and down into the rabbit hole I’d go.
I started jogging.
Though my street was deserted, there was always traffic on Belair and Stonybrook. If I could just make it to the end of Spindle where it intersected with the busier roads, I would be safe. It was Survival 101. Creatures of the night didn’t like leaving witnesses when they attacked. Everybody knew that.
All fell silent behind me, but that meant nothing. There were things that could move without making a sound. There were shadow demons. There were wraiths. Such things, though never heard, could be felt when they approached. The nearer they got to you, the more you tingled. From the base of the spine all the way up to the back of the neck and then the brain, you felt the prickle of impending doom. By the time the goosebumps broke out, it was too late. I looked down to my forearms and saw an army of tiny hairs standing at attention.
I broke into a sprint. Ahead a car whizzed up Belair while another passed in the opposite direction. Good, it was busy. With refuge just seconds away, an urgency washed over me. I wasn’t going to do it. Looking back would be a mistake. It always was. But I couldn’t stop myself. I glimpsed over my right shoulder. Something dashed across the street behind me. It was dark and blurred, but it was definitely there. “Fuuaaaaggghh!”
I don’t know what the word meant; it just burst out of me. I think I started to curse but—despite my terror-induced state—I still managed to censor myself and utter something completely dorky.
I kept running, being careful not to lose grip of my cargo once more. A few seconds later, I hung a left onto Belair. Once safe, I eased up and jogged the rest of the way to Paul’s.
His older brother Perry opened the door. As far as brothers went, Perry wasn’t a complete tool. He was okay most of the time, but every now and then he would get a hair up his butt and mess with Paul and me for no reason other than that he could. Of course, Steve did the same thing. It must have been something in the big brother code: be nice for five days out of the week and then a complete dingleberry for the remaining two.
“Why are you all sweaty and breathing heavy?”
“Just getting some exercise,” I wheezed out. “Where’s Paul?”
A smirk rose on Perry’s lightly freckled face, and his blue eyes flared with excitement as he waved me in. “Oh, he’s here. Just can’t come to the door right now.”
Something was up; he was way too happy to see me.
At seventeen and fifteen, Perry and Paul were the youngest of the Perret family. With five girls and three boys, it was pretty much guaranteed something was always going on in the house. But tonight it was strangely quiet.
“Where is everybody?”
“Parents are at a dinner party, same one as yours. My sisters are all on dates, except for Mary Ann. She’s upstairs sick. Rummy’s working.”
I plopped the crate down next to the door and asked the obvious question. “And Paul?”
Perry motioned for me to follow him into the back family room. The smile remained fixed on his face as he pointed to Paul’s tuba case in the corner of the room.
“So!” Perry shouted. “Learned your lesson yet?”
A muffled “Yes” came from inside the case.
“And what are you never going to do again under penalty of a severe butt kicking?”
The same defeated voice spoke. “I’m never going to borrow your bathing suit or any other clothes without asking.”
Perry looked at me. The smile grew wider. “Don’t forget it! Chris is here now, so I guess you would like to be let out, huh?”
Sarcasm oozed through the cracks in the case. “Yeeees.”
Perry thumped the side of it with his foot. “Yes, what?”
Paul responded several seconds later. “Yes…please.”
“There, now see? All you have to do is be polite and show a little respect. That’s all I ask for, not much.”
Perry flipped open the clasps to the case with his foot.
When the final one was unhinged, the lid flew wide. Flush-faced and wild-eyed, Paul looked at his brother and shouted, “I couldn’t breathe in there, you jerk! I could have died!”
“You look fine to me. Besides, serves you right. You should know better than to take my stuff. You’re lucky I didn’t kick your ass in front of Chris.”
“Yeah, I feel real lucky. Now why don’t you split? Go find someone else to bother.”
“Fine. But remember Mom and Dad left me in charge. That means don’t do anything stupid. Also, I’m coming down to watch Saturday Night Live later, so the TV is mine for that. You have until eleven-thirty to watch whatever you want.”
Combat was the first in our lineup of Atari games, followed by Indy 500 and then Star Ship. Somewhere between racing and shooting down spaceships, Perry showed up with a large bowl of popcorn. Saying nothing, he dropped it between us as an apparent peace offering and worked his way into the fun. After three and a half hours of nonstop gaming, Perry exclaimed, “Okay, ladies, time for SNL! He flipped the television dial to Channel 4 just in time to catch the end of the evening news.
“… and so there you have it. David Berkowitz, the infamous Son of Sam killer, will be sentenced in less than a week. In local news a gruesome discovery was made earlier today on the White Marsh Nature Trail in Bowie, Maryland. The mutilated bodies of two dogs were found by Boy Scout Troop 1046. The scouts that stumbled upon the animals described them as ripped to shreds and decapitated. The savagery of the attack has authorities perplexed as the wounds are consistent with those caused by a large predator such as a bear. However, no bears have been sighted in Prince George’s County in years. Furthermore, such violent behavior is not typically associated with the black bear, which is the only species of bear indigenous to the state. Authorities are urging anyone with information regarding