Serial blogging, stories to tell. Short stories and micro-fiction!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Timmy's walk home part four.

Timmy’s dad, Gordon, was on his way home from work at about the same time that Travis, Chris, Earl and Billy were getting home after being chased out of the empty lot by a cop. He was cruising home in a great mood. He got out a little early and planned to take Timmy and Alice out for dinner at the A&W drive in. Gordon always got excited for his son when school let out for summer and he wanted to do something special for him.


He pulled into the driveway with “What is Life” by George Harrison blaring on the radio. He sat in the driveway, in his car despite the heat, and waited for the song to finish. Gordon loved summertime. He hopped out of the car when the song finally finished and did a little shuffle step up the walk to the porch. He entered the house, it was warm but comfortable. Alice had every window open and the fans running on high.

Gordon walked to the kitchen and dropped his lunch pail on the table. “Timmy” he yelled. No answer of course. “Where is that kid?” He asked the empty room. He saw Alice through the window. She was out in her garden, weeding or seeding he could never tell the difference. Gardening wasn’t his thing but it made her happy and when she was happy, he was happy. Gordon popped open the fridge and grabbed a cold one and walked outside.

Alice was on her hands and knees planting seeds in the freshly turned soil when Gordon sneaked up behind her and pinched her. “Ouch” she shrieked and jumped to her feet. “You’re home early” she giggled.

“Bob wasn’t looking so I stepped out.” Gordon grabbed his wife and gave her a kiss. “What do you say to A&W for dinner tonight?”

“Sounds good to me.” Alice answered. “Timmy will be excited to hear that when he gets home.”

“What do you mean ‘when he gets home’? He’s not home yet?”

“No… wait, what time is it?” Alice suddenly realized that she had lost track of time.

“It’s ten to four.” Gordon said.

“Oh my god! Where’s Timmy? He should’ve been home half an hour ago.” Alice said slightly panicked.

“Uh, well, maybe he stopped at a friends house.” Gordon said, not wanting to add to Alice’s panic. “I’ll call Kevin’s house and see if he’s there.”

“But he always comes straight home.” Alice’s mothering instinct was revving up.

“Well I’ll just call and see.” Gordon knew his son was a good kid and probably just got sidetracked and lost track of time himself. He walked back into the house with his beer and grabbed the phone. Alice followed close behind.

“Hello, Mrs. Brown is Timmy there?” he asked sure that the answer would be yes.

“No, he’s not here. Let me ask Kevin if he’s seen him.” Gordon could hear the muffled voices behind Mrs. Brown’s hand covering the receiver and then she came back on. “Kevin hasn’t seen Timmy since school let out. Sorry. Maybe he’s just gotten off to playing somewhere. Try the park. I’ll let you know If he stops by here.”

“Okay, thank you Mrs. Brown.” Gordon hung up the phone. Alice’s face was white with worry. “She hasn’t seen him.” He told her.

“Where could he be?” She asked in a slightly frantic voice. “Why don’t you go and walk back to the school and see if you can find him. I’ll call his other friends.” Gordon could tell that Alice was trying not to let panic take over. She worried constantly about Timmy.

“Okay, I’ll hike to the school. I’m sure I’ll find him in someone’s front yard.” Gordon gave his wife another kiss and ran out of the house. He got to the sidewalk and turned right. He walked a little faster than he could admit to. Gordon wasn’t sure whether he was worried about his son or not yet. He was.

He marched down the block, looking left and right, calling his name. He was sure he’d see him on some swing set somewhere. Four houses down the block and he hadn’t seen him yet. His steps quickened. One more house and he reached the crosswalk. He trotted across the street and yelled “Timmy” a little louder than he intended to.

Mrs. Morgan happened to be in her front yard, watering her flowers. Gordon asked her if she had seen Timmy. She hadn’t and she had been in her yard since two thirty this afternoon. She promised to keep an eye out for him and tell him to run straight home. Gordon kept walking and calling his son’s name. The worry was really getting to him now and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

Two houses after the intersection he walked past the empty lot. Gordon only glanced past the fence at all the junk that lay beyond. He called Timmy’s name a couple times and kept walking. He intended to walk all the way to the school but when he reached the next intersection Gordon stopped. He stood still for a minute and felt his entire body go numb. It was almost as if he had just lost something that he greatly needed. He looked around him and the whole world look different. Colors dulled, sounds of children playing across the street muted. His body felt heavy, like he was walking in syrup.

The empty lot. He knew it. Even though Timmy was told to never play there, Gordon knew. Timmy’s in the lot. Gordon turned around and headed back to the lot. Running by the houses he just past. He was running now but he felt as though he was moving slower than before. Too slow.

He reached the gate and spread it open. Thank God the idiot who owned this lot never locked it up tight. Gordon squeezed through with little struggle.

“TIMMY!” Gordon yelled, nearly screamed.

“TIMMY!” No answer but he knew he was here somewhere. Sometimes dads just know.

Gordon looked around and spotted the book bag and log cabin on a barrel next to the gate. The cabin was broken up but he recognized it as the one he and Timmy glued together a couple of months ago.

“TIMMEEEY” He yelled again and ran into the lot.

Gordon felt a little foolish looking into an old car and somebody’s old ice shanty but he just knew his son was close. But why doesn’t he answer? He tried desperately to keep the worst out of his mind but it kept sneaking up on him. “What if this is bad, really bad?” Some part of his mind kept asking him.

That’s when he saw it. An old Fridgedaire laying on it’s back with the door shut. The world seemed to shrink away from him. He started to walk forward to the fridge. It was taking too long, it’s like the fridge was crawling away from him.

He finally reached it after an eternity, grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. Timmy was inside. For a moment, Gordon’s heart started beating again. The next moment Gordon realized how still his son was and his numbness was replaced with a sudden emptiness. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Timmy and lifted him out of the fridge. His clothes were drenched with sweat and his body was incredibly hot and limp.

“Timmy.” He cried. “Timmy stop foolin’ Daddy’s got you” Gordon stroked his son’s face and felt the still warm tears that streaked down his cheeks.

“NO NO NO NO! I’M NOT TOO LATE! TIMMY WAKE UP!” Gordon screamed at his son. Fathers tears were streaming down Gordon’s face. He pulled his son tightly into his arms and rocked him as if he were still a baby, whispering no no no.

The sun was still shining brightly but everything looked blurry and gray to Gordon and he rocked his boy. He kept thinking, “This is not happening, This is not happening!” But it was. Time stood still.

A sudden gasp broke his train of thought. He looked down into his son’s face and saw his eyes flutter open.

“Dad?” Timmy croaked. “I’m sorry”

5 comments:

Lindy said...

Well thank God. I was on the edge of my seat. Good story Jesse.

Anonymous said...

Great job Jesse!

Anonymous said...

Hey are you a professional journalist? This article is very well written, as compared to most other blogs i saw today….
anyhow thanks for the good read!

Unknown said...

WOW! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Cool post you got here. I'd like to read something more about this matter. Thanx for sharing that material.