Goodbye Lucifer

by John Harold McCoy

  * * *

  Hand in hand, Melanie and David walked out the front door of Grandpa Walker’s drug store and reached the corner of the Boulevard and Stillman Road just in time to see the two girls emerge from Meljac Lane and streak down Stillman towards the Brandell Bridge. As the girls raced by, Melanie managed to get out, “What are you—?” before Jilly’s breathless cry,

  “Mom, my phone—” Then the girls disappeared down the steep bank beside the bridge.

  Jilly and Patty half slid, half tumbled down the bank and splashed out into the shallow river just as the plastic bag floated by almost out of reach. One last lunge and Patty snagged it. Jilly collided with her from behind and both girls sprawled face first into the foot deep water. They came up sputtering and laughing. On hands and knees, Patty raised the plastic bag over her head and yelled a triumphant, “Ta Da!”