by Ike Hamill
“George, I will send you home and you can sit in your room all afternoon and miss everything. Is that what you want?”
The boy finally stopped struggling. He tossed his head and his hair moved out of his face. Sarah liked George a lot. He had more personality than a lot of kids twice his age.
“I don’t want to miss the parade,” he said.
“Then behave and I’ll let you go,” Mary said. She looked up to Sarah. “Don’t ever have kids.”
“No, Mrs. Dunn.”
Mary looked back to George and then let go of his arm. The boy was still for a second, like he couldn’t believe that he was free. Suddenly, he bolted away. He disappeared when he darted between two women who were setting up folding chairs.
“Aren’t you going to watch the parade?” Mary asked.
“No,” Sarah said, shaking her head. “I thought it might be too sad this year, you know?”
“Oh, of course,” Mary said. “They really should have planned for this. It seems like they could have kept one of his colts to take his place when the time came, you know?”
“They tried,” Sarah said. “At least that’s what I heard. He was so gentle, but apparently his offspring were a bit temperamental.”
“They used to say my husband was temperamental, too, but he calmed down pretty quick. They probably didn’t give them enough time. Thank you for coming to see Ricky’s show at least. You have no idea how nervous he is. It will be good for him to have a friendly face.”
They both turned. From all the way down at the other end of the road, they heard the warbling echoes of the band starting to play.
“They’re on their way,” Mary said. “I better help with the chairs. First of the old ladies will be here any minute.”
Sarah smiled. “Mrs. Dunn, is there any chance I could borrow your phone for a second? I need to get a message to my brother.”
Mary nodded. She dug out her phone from a pocket. “You’re welcome to try, but I haven’t been able to get anything out of it for the past twenty minutes. I was trying to get in touch with my husband to ask him to get more root beer, but I’m not getting any service.”
She handed it to Sarah, but it was dead. Sarah couldn’t even get the display to register. She handed it back and showed Mrs. Dunn the problem.
“Isn’t that funny,” Mary said. “You know, I bet it’s because there are so many of us on the same tower or whatever. It seems like maybe the same thing happened a couple of years ago when they had that concert up on the hill.”
Sarah nodded.
“When Vernon gets here, we can try his,” Mary said.
“Thanks,” Sarah said. She watched as Mary went to help with the chairs. After a second, Sarah followed behind her to help too.
Chapter 19 : Dunn
[ Speeding ]
AS VERNON DUNN ACCELERATED past the Old South Church, he braced himself for impact. The truck launched over a hump in the road. Every year the town tried to fix the thing and every year the frost heaved it back up.
The truck screeched when it landed, but seemed unhurt. Vernon pushed his speed faster. He had covered for two guys who didn’t show up to the lumber yard, and he was going to miss his son’s big performance if he didn’t cover the next six miles in about four minutes. All he could hope for was the show to be delayed. Maybe the parade would start late or run long.
Vernon leaned forward to try to peer around the next corner. Maybe it was just the near-collision from that morning, but something was tickling the hair on the back of Vernon’s neck. There was danger up ahead and he was speeding towards it.
All at once, he understood what had sparked his intuition.
He rounded the corner and saw the woman walking right down the middle of the road.
Vernon stood on the brakes and his tires locked up. His winch was busted and his four-wheel drive was out of commission, but there was nothing at all wrong with Vernon’s brakes. The anti-lock device kicked in and the brake pedal began to vibrate under his foot. Vernon steered towards the shoulder so he wouldn’t hit the crazy woman. He barked out a laugh—he might actually get stuck in two different ditches in the same day.
The truck ground to a stop just as he pulled up alongside the woman. She turned to look at him.
“Ms. Polhemus?” he asked. She was a relatively new arrival to Kingston Lakes, but she had made the rounds. Vernon had met her at a cocktail party, and then again at Earl Palange’s fiftieth birthday party. Vernon was good with names and faces. It always irritated his wife when he could name everyone in a room faster than her.
She looked at him as if she hadn’t noticed that he had nearly turned her into Polhemus jelly, right in the middle of the West Road.
She blinked.
“Vernon Matthew Dunn,” she said.
He laughed. She almost sounded a little flirtatious. She turned her mouth up into a smile when she purred his name.
“You can’t walk right down the middle of the road like that,” he said. “I nearly killed you.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Do you need a ride to town? I’m trying to get to Ricky’s magic show.”
She was already circling around the front of his truck before he could finish his question.
The door hinges croaked as she opened the door. Peg Polhemus jumped up into the seat like a little kid. Vernon steered his way back onto the road and hoped he wasn’t stuck again. The truck obeyed this time. He didn’t need his son to magically push him out of the ditch. Vernon cut his eyes over towards his passenger. She wasn’t wearing her seatbelt, but the annoying chime hadn’t sounded. If the passenger’s seatbelt warning chime was broken, so much the better. Every time he carried something heavy in that seat, the chime was endlessly annoying.
With his new, unbuckled passenger, Vernon kept his speed reasonable. Yes, he would be late, but he had narrowly avoided killing a woman. It took the near-collision to remind him that being late to a magic show wasn’t the end of the world. As long as he was there when Ricky finished, he would be fine.
“I’m afraid you’ve missed the parade already,” he said.
“Oh?” she asked.
Vernon put his window up. She spoke so quietly that he could barely hear her.
“Something wrong with your car, or were you just looking for an excuse for a walk?”
She turned to him, but didn’t reply. The tingling sensation returned to the back of his neck.
“Are you okay? I’m starting to wonder if maybe I should turn around and take you down to Maine General,” Vernon said. He smiled in her direction. She only stared back.
“Okay,” he said. His smile disappeared as he slowed down and angled the truck towards the shoulder. “I’m sorry, but I had an aunt who got aphasia a couple of times right before she had a stroke. No offense.”
He cranked the steering wheel around. “I know you’re a healthy person and all, but you don’t seem to be able to communicate right now.”
He got the truck around as far as he could, but there wasn’t enough room to turn around on the road. He put the truck into reverse. When he turned the wheel the opposite way, he heard the passenger’s door open. Vernon did a double-take and saw Peg Polhemus walking down the road again. Maybe she couldn’t talk, but she was certainly quick on her feet.
“Hey! Peg!” he called.
“Shoot,” he whispered to himself. He turned the wheel back around again and reversed. When he slammed on the brakes, the passenger’s door swung shut. Vernon dropped it back into drive and drove after her. As he started to pull alongside her, she picked up her speed. Vernon accelerated too. He paced her at fifteen, and then twenty miles-an-hour. She hardly seemed to be running, but she had no trouble going faster.
“What the…” he said to himself. When he stomped on the accelerator, she veered away from the road and disappeared through the woods. As he lost track of her behind the trees, it still looked like she was pulling away from him.
Vernon thought about it for a second before he r
ealized her likely destination. The West Road had a curve to it. Peg Polhemus, the new non-verbal sprinting champion of Kingston Lakes, was probably making a bee-line through the woods right for the park on the south end of the town. That’s where the gazebo was. That’s where everyone was gathering for Ricky’s magic show.
The tingle lit up the back of Vernon’s neck yet again. He hunched forward and kept his gas pedal pressed to the floor. The truck began to rattle as it reached its maximum speed.
Chapter 20 : Hazard
[ Speculation ]
LILY WAS LOOKING THROUGH one of the front windows. Gerard was looking through the other. Behind her, Trina paced the floor of the living room.
“Still nothing,” her father said. “I can’t raise anyone on the phone. The computer doesn’t work, and none of the cell phones have signal.”
“There’s another one,” Gerard said.
Lily pressed her face to the window and tried to spot what he was looking at. Gerard’s eyes were sharper than hers. She caught a shadow out near the mailbox. She stared at it until it moved. The thing darted across the driveway. Just for that second, it looked like it was alive.
Her mother came in from the kitchen. She had half of a sandwich in one hand and a napkin in the other. Lily turned back to the window.
“I guess I don’t understand where the concern is coming from,” Wendy said. She took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed before she continued. “Maybe they’re just part of the show. Either that or one of the neighbors is playing with one of their remote controlled robots. Such a thing is not outlandish to imagine.”
“It didn’t appear to be a toy,” Trina said. She had paced over near her cousin and was hovering by the front door.
Lily pulled the curtain shut and left her post at the window. She had seen several of the little things. They were all moving from south to north across the lawn. All seemed to be headed towards the park where the marching band finished up their concert.
“I’m always on the side of caution,” Bruce said, “but I can’t reach anyone on the phone. I suggest we wander down to the park and flag down a police officer. Then, if it is some kind of terrorist attack…”
“For goodness’ sake, Bruce, who said that it was?” her mother asked.
“I’m simply saying what everyone was thinking,” he said.
“I wasn’t thinking that,” Lily said.
“I’m going to the show,” Wendy said. She finished her sandwich and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “We’ve never missed it before, and I’ve been looking forward to a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie all week. Will anyone join me, or are you all too concerned about mysterious robots patrolling the woods?”
“It’s about a hundred yards to the park,” Trina said. “We can hear the festivities going on, so I guess we can assume that everyone is okay.”
“It’s twice that far if we take the road,” Lily said. “But it might be safer.”
Trina nodded.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Wendy said. “Let’s take the path. It’s so pretty.”
“I would like to find out if anyone else is having telecommunication problems,” Bruce said.
“It’s settled,” Wendy said. She moved to the door.
[ Walk ]
As they crossed the yard, they fell into a single-file line. Wendy was at the lead, followed by Gerard and Trina. Lily looked back and waved to her father—he was bringing up the rear. In the distance, the band finished playing. They heard a muffled voice coming through the public address system. Lily couldn’t tell what the man was saying.
When she took her bike to town, Lily didn’t take the narrow path through the woods. There were too many roots and rocks for her to ride it easily. The last time she’d walked the path had probably been the previous summer. Her family always ambled into town on Labor Day—the unofficial farewell to all the Summer People.
Lily watched Gerard, who watched the woods. His head turned this way and that. She caught a glimpse of what he was tracking. The shadow darted from one bush to the next. It didn’t seem to want to bother them. Lily wondered why she had been so afraid.
They all stopped when they heard the engine. Someone was barreling down the West Road. The tires chirped, perhaps on the turn, and the engine sounded like it was about to explode. Wendy started walking again and the rest followed.
The man’s voice stopped. There was no noise at all from the direction of the park. Lily wondered if maybe something horrible had happened. She didn’t even hear the normal bubbling sound of distant voices. Then, the sound of a single trumpet cut through the air. Lily recognized it as a sad sound before she even realized that the trumpeter was playing Taps.
Wendy turned. “For Big Jack,” she said.
“Oh,” Lily’s father said behind her. “That’s kind,” he murmured.
By the time the song ended, they were close enough to hear the announcer.
“And now we have a special treat—The Astounding Dunn will delight you with his otherworldly feats of magic.”
Lily heard a smattering of applause.
At the front of their line, Wendy sped up a little. Through the trees, Lily could see the park. They were nearly there.
[ Show ]
They emerged at side of the clearing just as Ricky walked out onto the stage in front of the gazebo. He looked very official in his dark suit and hat. Lily couldn’t imagine how hot he was in that suit with the noon heat. Music flared through the speakers and Ricky took off his coat as part of his first trick. He didn’t even appear to be sweating—Lily was already impressed.
She turned her attention to Gerard. He was crouching down next to Trina and seemed to be watching something in the underbrush. She followed his gaze, but couldn’t see what had captured his attention. Trina’s arm went up to point at something. Lily turned to see a woman running through the woods. She pulled up to a fast walk as she stepped through the leaves and came out to the clearing. Lily had seen her before. She lived up the hill somewhere near the golf course. She was a relative newcomer to the area.
Trina’s arm dropped and the woman kept moving. She threaded her way through the crowd.
Ricky finished his first trick to some more applause. People seemed too hot from the sun to be really engaged in a magic show, but at least they weren’t wandering away.
Lily saw a familiar face and waved. She caught Sarah’s eye and her friend started to navigate around the back of the crowd to come over to Lily’s side.
“I’m going to go find out if anyone knows about the phones,” Lily’s father said. She turned to see him walking towards the side of the stage.
“Your father will get everything settled,” Wendy said.
Lily moved to meet Sarah.
“I was going to save you a seat up front,” Sarah said, “but you can see just as well standing back here, I guess.”
Lily nodded. “Sarah, I think there might be something strange going on.”
“With the phones?”
Lily nodded. “And the…”
She didn’t get a chance to finish. They were interrupted by more applause and then some gasps. Ricky did something on stage and a cloud of smoke appeared. Even more people clapped at that.
“Mr. Gault said it was the tower on Cemetery Hill. He said an excavator knocked the lines and it killed the cell tower and the internet.”
“But our land line was broken as well,” Lily said.
“It’s all the same,” Sarah said.
Several people turned to look in the sky behind them. Lily looked up and saw a black object hovering just over the lake.
“Is someone shooting a video of this?” Sarah asked.
Lily shrugged. The black thing darted off to the north and attention returned to Ricky as he started another trick.
Sarah leaned close to Lily. “How’s the creep? Has he done anything weird?”
“He hasn’t had a chance. We’ve been preoccupied with these weird robot things this morning. That’s the oth
er strange thing I was talking about. I’ve seen a couple of them.”
“Robots?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” Lily said. “Like little mechanical bugs or something.”
Sarah held out her fingers a couple of inches apart. Lily shook her head and held out her hands, about a foot apart.
Sarah laughed. A couple of people at the back of the crowd looked around as if the girls were being rude. Ricky finished another trick and the people clapped extra loud.
Sarah leaned in and whispered. “If they’re that big, they’re not bugs. It’s funny you should say, ‘robots’ though. Ms. Yettin was running around talking about robots before everyone showed up. Her uncle tried to take her away, but he wasn’t having any luck. She was pointing out all the fat people and yelling at them to hide.”
Lily’s eyes shifted left and right as she tried to take in this information.
The audience reacted well to Ricky’s trick. He raised his arms and gathered a few cheers.
“And now for my final trick,” he said. His voice boomed through the speakers. “If any of our guests here today have heart problems, I’d like to suggest that they make their way out of the park at this point.”
He paused, like he was waiting to see if anyone would take him up on the warning. The only response was a little laughter as someone cracked a joke off to the side.
Ricky stepped onto a box. A mirror was angled at him to reflect the sun.
“In ancient Babylon, the city of Mesopotamia was the home of the world’s greatest wizard, Abil-Ili.”
Lily focused on the stage. Her hand went out and grabbed Sarah’s arm for support. She didn’t like this trick. It was too creepy. As Lily squeezed her arm, Sara eye’s locked onto the stage as well.
The whole crowd was mesmerized. Ricky raised his arms and his voice.
“With a wave of his hand, he could strike a man dead.”
Ricky’s arms shot out and clouds of smoke puffed on either side of the stage. The sound of the little explosion rolled across the lake and then echoed back a second later. Ricky’s whispers were caught by the microphone, but Lily couldn’t tell what he was saying.