Saturday, September 25, 2010

The Harrowers, Part Four

I found my grandmother's Browning handgun on the dining room table when I went downstairs that night. She had long since gone to bed, as had her husband and my parents, so now the house was dark and quiet save the blue bars of moonlight spilling over furniture and the creak of wood settling. After checking to see that the gun was loaded, I went outside to Calhoun's pick-up truck; his keys hadn't been hard to snag, just a few sticky fingers on my end and a few loose ones on his. He and my mother were too fast asleep, having drunken their fair share of wine, to hear the truck start with its usual sputter.

I stuck the Browning on the dashboard, then peered out into the blue-black countryside for the way we'd come. Once I'd found it, I flicked on the headlights, switched the rig into gear, and followed the gravel road out as best I could. Upon reaching the main road, I drove down it as far as Marylou had described. Not a single car save my own lit up the darkness. This was typical on country roads, but all too disquieting given the ample population of Morningbird.

When the odometer clocked in a mile, I slowed down to read the landscape. It wasn't long before I caught the porch-light of a farm. Not wanting to awaken the owner of this farm or his family, I pulled off the road into a forested patch, then cut the engine. It ticked idly while I sat there, re-checking the handgun once more and wondering, again, whether this was the best course of action. But by now, you now how quickly my self-doubt rivets back to certainty, even if that certainty's unwarranted. That's what happened here. I stuffed the gun in my pocket, then went outside into the cool and formless night.

The Spinster house looked like it had been built by half-blind cripples. I could tell this from the one porch-light illuminating its front: the paint was a sickly death-white, the boards were split open in several places, and the whole house leaned out like an old man in a grocery store, to say nothing of the tilting weather vane or unrolled hose.

I made my way to the cornfield at the back of this house. A light breeze touched the stalks, and they leaned into each other in a low, rolling hush. Even with the moon as bright as it was that night, I couldn't see far across the field, and crop circles or not, the field itself only looked like a solitary and gently stirring mass. This made me consider that perhaps the whole effort really was a waste of time, since any visitors who came down would be nigh indiscernible--assuming, of course, they came down at all.

All the same, I was determined to wait out the night, knowing it would be my only chance since our family would leave in the morning. Figuring it was already one or two A.M., not long till the sighting-times my grandma mentioned, I decided to sit in a tire-swing nearby and overlook the field. As often happens to children who try to stay up late, despite the errant will of some of them, and despite their resistance to a thousand greater forces, the touch of sleep eventually took me.

71 comments:

  1. Yeah I really enjoy these. Keep it up!

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  2. liked it quite a bit, keep up the good work

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  3. Am becoming an avid reader.

    Loved your description of the cornfield- beautiful and yet still slightly spooky.

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  4. I am going to have to catch up here because this last post was amazing. You have some serious skill.

    Returning the favor, following and showing support.

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  5. This story is really developing onto its own series I'll follow and wait for the rest.

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  6. im gonna print this out and read it. on my ebook. in the dark.

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  7. You got some serious writing skills.

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  8. Really well written, and enjoyable!

    Following,

    Mike
    Lifehack's guide to a better BJ is out now!

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  9. Hey, thanks for the post! BTW you can turn off captcha on your comments by going to settings/comments/scroll down. It saves everyone a few seconds :D

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  10. incredibly well written and a beauty of a pistol to boot

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  11. yea I agree with everyone else that was a great read

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  12. Man, you can't post more soon enough. I'm hooked at this point, although I have to admit this felt like a filler chapter. Got great expectations for what's next.

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  13. indeed the story was very intens. good read.

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  14. Thanks for the read. Waiting for the next one.

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  15. Very cool post bro !

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  16. Hey thanks for the reply. This is an interesting website. Haven't read a good story like this in awhile

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  17. keep it up good work i like this post

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  18. You're an excellent writer!! I'll be following with interest. What's gonna happen next??

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  19. cool story bro :D
    haha I'm just kidding

    To be honest I always like people who are trying to write something, it's always an excercise, and who know? maybe you'll write a book someday ;)

    anyway: 'The life and times of a badass' sounds cool, I'll read the whole thing.

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  20. thx 4 checking me out.
    cool blog, supporting

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  21. I love the vivid description of small details, really makes the story come alive.

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  22. Keep up the good work !
    May The FORCE be With You!

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  23. Just started these today! Looking forward to part 5

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  24. speaking or tornadoes man this storm rolling in might spawn a few crap

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  25. Nice story, looking forward to reading more :)

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  26. wow, I loved reading this, nice job man

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  27. Great read, I'll be back for more tomorrow

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  28. crazy man, makes me want to brush up on the ol' creative writing skills.

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  29. That was really descriptive, imagined tornadoes in my head.

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  30. Good story. Looking forward to Part V.

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  31. nice story. keep up the good work

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