08-21-2009

Continued from 08-20-2009...

Start Fiction:


     Alan sat at his dining room table looking out his patio door where Rufus was sitting, watching Gary's house. As evening settled in, Alan let his house go dark, wondering if he had been missing something happening at his neighbor's house.
     With the patio door open and the screen door closed, Alan listened as the night critters began singing their songs. The cooler evening air creeped across the dining room floor, nipping at Alan's toes. Rufus stood stoic, unwavering in his attention.
     Night had arrived and there was very little lit in his backyard. The street lights were blocked by the large oak trees filling both front and back yards throughout the neighborhood. The residual light pollution filled the sky, casting a thin veil of light over the connected back yards.
     Alan looked at his stove and saw that it was almost midnight. He had been sitting in his chair for five hours.
     Maybe I am as crazy as my dog, Alan thought. He got up and stood next to Rufus. Looking at the house, he decided it was time to go to bed and put his hand on the sliding glass door. As he began to slide the door, Alan saw a light turn on in Gary's basement.
     "Interesting," Alan said as he took his hand off the door. Rufus adjusted himself, scooting over just slightly. Alan looked down at him and watched his ears twitch, and that's when he heard it, too; clank, clank. It reminded Alan of the sounds when he tore out a chimney on a remodel earlier that year.
     "What the hell?" Alan said. Rufus whimpered. He decided to take a closer look himself, to see if he can figure out what the hell his reclusive neighbor was up to in the middle of the night.
     "Stay here," he told Rufus. He slowly slid the screen door open; just enough to get through. Closing the screen door, he walked through his yard squatting, in a guarded position. Stepping sideways, he felt he had actually learn something from his Tae Kwon Do lessons ten years ago. However, perhaps he should have studied the way of the Ninja instead.
     Alan reached the fence and stopped. From behind him he could hear Rufus whimper; from in front of him the clanging in continued, but he now heard what sounded like a female crying.
     The clanging stopped. A few seconds later, so did the crying. The clanging resumed.
     Shit, Alan thought. There was something potentially really bad happening in that basement.
     Could he call the police?
     Would they listen?
     Would they do anything?
     Could they do anything?
     What would he even say?
     Alan went back to his house, walked up to the patio door and found Rufus on his hind legs pushing against the screen, whimpering quite a bit louder now.
     "Down," Alan said. He opened the door and pushed Rufus back inside, and closed the sliding glass door to keep him in the house. He grabbed the phone and tried to decide if he should call 9-1-1, or the non-emergency line.
Rufus clawed at the glass door, whimpering loud. 9-1-1 it was.
     "9-1-1 operator,"'a female voice said.



End Fiction.