A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
Oscar knew that the place was a funeral parlor, at least he thought it might be. He could not really tell from its appearance whether or not they had an undertaker who kept the business open all night as well, but one thing was certain—it was definitely too early for him to go home.
His father would never let him forget missing curfew again and his mother certainly did not want any calls in the middle of her late-night sewing circle about Oscar going somewhere with someone without anyone being there to supervise him…And where were those girls anyway?
The older ones whom he usually went out with seemed to have become suddenly shy after last Saturday afternoon’s fiasco at their own house when their parents caught them sneaking around together on the front porch swing before leaving town on Saturday night, especially because both sets of guardians mentioned in passing how pleased they were that the two boys had been so thoughtful and courteous during Mother’s funeral last Sunday.
So this weekend at least there would probably not be any hanky panky until maybe next month, which gave Oscar time to think things over carefully now before deciding what he wanted to do. It was only seven o’clock now but already dark outside.
There was something very quiet about these old buildings, almost creepy. And some of the houses were mostly made up of windows instead of walls…He turned and looked back along the sidewalk toward the gate that led into Mrs. Quinn’s backyard (just like the one that belonged to Jimmy Joyce) just across the street, hoping that tonight perhaps he would meet some other kids his age having fun playing hide ‘n’ seek or whatever…But no lights shone through the darkened curtains here either.
In fact, there wasn’t much activity anywhere except for Mr. Groom’s small restaurant downstairs in the basement, where all the neighborhood men went for breakfast every morning and dinner most evenings, and the doughnut shop located right behind the bank building down on Main Street itself (where the money changers used to hold forth long ago).
It felt awfully spooky just walking along in total silence and darkness everywhere else. Perhaps he should turn back towards home right away then…No. By rights, he ought to still be grounded and strictly forbidden even to leave the yard, even if it weren’t too late yet…Yet.
“Well,” said Oscar quietly to himself under his breath, “this is bound to get interesting.” What to do? Go ahead, surely. Yes. Why not? This place hasn’t seen anyone since Wednesday afternoon except for the cleaning lady coming in sometimes at night to make sure everything was okay. He wondered what the weird feeling was inside him now.
He couldn’t explain how exactly it worked, though you’d think being grounded and not allowed outside alone would always prevent such feelings from getting started at all—and of course, you wouldn’t know anything about how it works, why it has to happen, or anything at all unless you’re a magician.
He couldn’t help it, so just accept it I suppose. That’s the way things are…Let’s see what happens now. Let’s just see. Where was the smell coming from? Over there was Mrs. Dunne’s yard, directly across the alleyway. She was usually pretty good-natured. Not everybody liked to use mint freshener and potpourri like she did.
Most people preferred pine-scented, but those didn’t bother her so much because Mrs. Dunne claimed that no matter how strong those smells got they stayed with her, and she barely noticed them at all. But boy oh boy! that evergreen smell filled this whole town block as far as anyone could remember.
Now that had to be at least three days ago at least, by which point Oscar supposed it must be completely stale and moldy now…Another smell came from farther away and kind of underneath him. Hmmm. That smelled of grass clippings and stuff cut for the lawns.
Why hadn’t he thought about checking out some of the yards? Everyone always saw so many more places than they actually thought about looking themselves…He quickly walked to the end of Mrs. Quinn’s alleyway and peered cautiously past the hedges into her backyard. It was totally empty with all kinds of unfamiliar smells drifting through the dark evening air.
No lights either, nothing visible save the outlines of the houses and trees on both sides, all black against an endless sea of stars above.
Oscar crossed the dirt road slowly and peeked between the hedge rows once again, facing away from Mrs. Dunne’s side of the street, keeping close to the hedge row closest to Mrs. Quinn’s home while also trying to avoid any sudden movements or loud noises that would scare off the possibility of meeting somebody else in the dimness.
Somehow he felt it safe enough to move forward now—even though everyone knew that in the dark ages people would be lurking everywhere waiting to grab you whenever they dared to come down this road after sundown.
Or maybe he only hoped so, for his own peace of mind if not someone else’s sake; but what difference does it make anyway if we don’t even know who to find? We can wait ’til morning just like we’ve been doing every day up till now…”Hello?” he called softly behind him as he slipped past the last row and crouched below one of the wooden fences.
“Do you live around here? Is anybody there? It’s me, Oscar Wilde, Mr. Scott.” Nothing happened. Silence reigned. He heard birdsong from somewhere beyond the hedgerows and even distant sounds of cars on nearby streets. For a minute Oscar froze. There was no answer, obviously.
He continued moving silently inching closer toward the edge of the yard until finally, leaning slightly over the fence on the opposite side to try and peer beyond it, he caught sight of a single lamppost standing directly in line with the direction where he was headed.
A strange place for a lamp post, and very old-fashioned too. The wires were pulled low across the bottom, so instead of sitting on their own legs like normal lamps, these looked like they might collapse and fall anytime soon. And look at its thick, round shape: it looked heavy with age. Perhaps they’d used something other than electricity years ago.
He couldn’t decide yet whether the light on top shone upwards towards the sky or downwards…Whatever the case, as long as you turned your head in the right direction he reckoned he shouldn’t have to worry about bumping into anyone because there wasn’t another house anywhere near here.
Just a couple of abandoned shacks left as kind of ruins within the shadow of several big trees. At least that’s what Oscar decided they were: they appeared to be nothing more than massive dead branches hanging from gigantic trunks, completely without any signs of life whatsoever.
They stood starkly silhouetted against the dark landscape, still wearing last winter’s coating of snow that covered everything around them in a white layer. Off to the west, the full moon cast long shadows all over this side of town.
For an instant he considered turning and running, thinking that now he’d done it, but then realized that was idiotic of him. One thing he understood—if a person wanted to get away from someone chasing them or following him he sure as hell shouldn’t turn and run the wrong way. He kept moving toward the center of Mrs. Dunne’s backyard, continuing to lean farther and farther over her fence until at last, he caught sight of the edge of something green beneath it.
A patch of grass. So he climbed up and ducked under it, carefully taking care not to let any rustling noises or movement disturb the night silence. He stepped down to the ground quietly and crept around the corner to check things out. “Please don’t say anything,” Oscar whispered to himself quietly.
“I really don’t want to wake anyone up. I promise not to tell them.” Now when he took another step further out into Mrs. Dunne’s backyard a different noise came from behind him, which he assumed was the sound of the two women talking. His heart stopped beating altogether for a few seconds while he waited.
But they went on discussing whatever it had been about before; all quiet voices now…So he pressed ahead and discovered a little area surrounded by four tall wooden fences, each gate made of four separate pieces of wood connected together.
Each side was set high, making it impossible to crawl under. So he’d have to go through those first. There was no one to be seen inside this little enclosure. Whoever built these certainly never intended this place to be explored or entered, which helped ease his anxiety somewhat as he crept along the outermost border looking for someplace to hide…
The doorways facing him were covered in flower boxes whose contents were beginning to bud and filled with neatly trimmed plants. Several of them resembled roses and foxgloves, others were simply decorative. Oscar sniffed a few but found them tasteless. They didn’t smell quite right. But maybe there are better scents coming from elsewhere…
He saw a large section of the backyard that seemed to be taken up entirely with shrubs. They grew a little taller than he did, so Oscar remained in hiding behind the fences, watching what was happening outside.
It looked like the woman from upstairs walked past one of them, and a moment later, still staring straight ahead she called to whoever else was listening in that garden. “Is…there someone there? Are you okay…? If you’re alright please call back! It’s my friend!”
That’s when Oscar realized none of this was real. She hadn’t spoken to herself at all. Even though he knew that Oscar couldn’t help being drawn into the conversation. Who is he kidding?!
How can anybody speak to themselves whenever and wherever they happen to be? This woman must either be crazy or simply make up nonsense words just to hear some kind of response. Maybe it was one of those crazy cults the newspapers keep writing about. Cults make people think they’re speaking to their god.
Why would someone do such a stupid thing anyway?”Why”…”Because”—she said, sounding totally convinced—”this is supposed to be important!”…It was then that Oscar finally got around the other three gates, peeking through between them. But what happened next scared him nearly senseless.
He watched the front door open, the lights went on and he heard someone come inside. In that same instant, the man who was supposedly standing beside him leaped forward with surprising speed and grabbed hold of Oscar, pulling him roughly around so that he landed right in front of the woman standing in the doorway…And although neither Oscar nor the intruder could see each other clearly in the darkness, Oscar felt terrified to death.
The man crouched down so that his face was directly above Oscar, and said very quietly: “…yourself…do not hesitate…” Then the man abruptly pulled his lips off Oscar’s. And Oscar immediately turned and ran…Through the bushes, across Mrs. Dunne’s yard, through the windows of the houses on the opposite side of the road.
He even paused briefly to jump over a small gutter set aside for storm drainage. As quickly as he dared he began to run down the street heading toward the beach.
And after he got away, he picked up his pace again only once he’d reached the end of the block, where instead of crossing a street leading him onto a sidewalk and a more heavily populated neighborhood full of pedestrians, he cut diagonally left and followed a narrow dirt path down along the shoreline…
Once he got beyond the strip of high-rise condos lining the wide expanse of the boardwalk, Oscar slowed his pace and looked around, seeing nothing nearby except for the pale moonlit sand below.
Once he crossed the seashore itself, he broke into a jog and moved faster than ever before…but unfortunately soon came upon a dark silhouette leaning against a lamppost.
Turning quickly around to escape—and barely managing to remain upright without tripping over something behind him—Oscar recognized the person sitting calmly in the darkness watching him with impenetrable black eyes. “Why are you following me? What do you want with me?” the young boy asked fearfully.
A dry breeze caressed the sandy surface of the empty sea, causing him to shiver…At least Oscar thought it was chilly until he noticed the figure before him had grown noticeably warmer since he’d last seen him, which led him to realize that there was someone standing nearby, watching them…
Having learned already how easy it is to mistake an illusion for reality, Oscar was determined to stay alert while treading on unfamiliar territory, especially here among the dunes bordering the oceanfront.
“What do you mean,” the shadow replied coolly. “Didn’t I tell you we share everything together? Nothing happens out here without us knowing about it.” Then Oscar stared at the shadowy figure wondering if perhaps he spoke too harshly…This time a flash of blue light exploded near the top of the tallest hill on the horizon.
The moon glowed, brightened by its energy as two figures soared through space.
One looked much like an eagle flying close to the ground and another resembled a bat with wings that beat in harmony to catch up quickly with their prey. Their talons extended; they plunged toward the body of water.
For just an instant more their winged bodies disappeared below the surface before rising back again from beneath them. They had already reached the dark waters above the vast grassy plain, where two other creatures were floating motionless over the black mud.
In the shadows, one watched as three shadowy beasts hovered silently beside him. He turned his head only slightly so the others could not see the face clearly but he smiled inside when his eyes caught sight of their reflection gleaming on the still water: No, I was mistaken; there are four now!
And then slowly their form dissolved into white-silver smoke that rose in a plume high against the night sky, swirling upward, away, and beyond. Soon even the misty clouds began to dissipate and eventually the creatures vanished completely.
A whisper came from among the bushes nearby:
’They went this way.’
The End