In the Shadows of the City (eBook)

Chapter 3

School resumed on time despite the numerous prayers Jack made pleading for divine intervention or some other means to postpone the commencement of second-grade classes. It wasn’t that he disliked learning; it was that he was a shy boy. Having to meet new teachers and classmates was more unsettling to him than the workload ahead. His one consolation was that he was no longer on punishment and would now be able to resume his usual daily activities.

He was so caught up in school and the excitement of being able to play outside again that he didn’t even notice that a new family had moved into the house next door. The place couldn’t have been vacant long; he didn’t recall seeing anyone move in or out of it. He only learned about his new neighbors when his parents talked about them at the dinner table one night.

The next Saturday began as most others. Jack and Henry set out to accomplish all they could before the lunchtime hunger pain became too much to bear. After Henry’s mom made them a few sandwiches, they were at it again, playing a few more games of basketball before exploring beyond the tree line behind Henry’s house and down the steep embankment deep into the woods. There they pretended to explore the jungle and the wildlife that lived therein. That lasted until about six, when Jack had to be home for supper.

Jack made his way up the street, past the nine houses that separated his property from Henry’s. As he stepped onto his driveway, he noticed a set of short, stubby legs protruding from beneath his father’s work van parked in front of the house. They appeared to belong to a child. Jack approached cautiously, letting an inch or so of the body reveal itself with each step. Finally he could make out the young man and saw that he was amusing himself with something as he lay there. Jack called to him, “Hey, watcha doin’?”

The startled boy replied cautiously, “Just drawin’ a picture.”

Jack looked down at the etchings scribbled on the paper and the strange pebbled appearance influenced by the asphalt beneath the page. “On the ground?”

“Yeah.”

“But ain’t it hard to draw on the ground like that? With all those bumps and stuff?”

“Why does it matter?”

Jack shrugged. “It don’t, I guess. What’s your name anyways?”

The boy smiled. “Mitch. I just moved into this house right here,” he said, pointing. “What’s your name?”

“Jack. This is my house right behind us.”

The two boys seemed to hit it off as natural as anyone could, carrying on a pointless conversation as though they knew each other. Mitch stood up and brushed himself clean of the specks of dirt and asphalt clinging to his facade. He was about even in height with Jack but a lot pudgier, especially in the face. His hair was light brown and sat on top of his head in one massive, curly puff. Mitch was noticeably darker in complexion than Jack but nowhere near as dark as Henry.

While still brushing his chest clean, Mitch looked up and asked, “You wanna come check out some of my toys? They’re all out on my back porch.”

“Sure, if your parents don’t mind,” Jack replied curiously. He was used to having to ask for permission to play in someone’s backyard, and with their toys and such.

Mitch had not even thought of having to ask permission to invite someone over to play, and he thought about Jack’s remark with amusement as he escorted his new acquaintance to his backyard.

Jack followed him up the small hill in his front yard and around the side to the back porch. There, amassed in a pile in the middle of the porch, lay a small treasure trove of figurines, matchbox cars, army men, vehicles, and every toy known to boykind. Jack stood there in awe, unable to make up his mind as to what he wanted to go after the most. Mitch scrambled immediately to retain his most prized possession: a rundown, decrepit-looking Winnebago that must have been painted over at least a dozen times. Jack could make out at least three different colors it had been in its short history. “What is that?” Jack inquired with a bewildered expression.

“The Bageler,” replied Mitch with an air of confidence and a proud grin.

Just then the back door swung open violently, straining the springs and hinges on the screen door nearly to failure, and both boys turned their heads in the direction of the startling interruption. A young man who bore a striking resemblance to Mitch appeared in the doorway and then took a few steps toward them. Jack noticed they had the same exact hair, complexion, and build. He stood there for a few seconds, glaring at the unfamiliar boy on his back porch. “Who’s this?” the interrupter beckoned to Mitch.

“My friend Jack. He lives right next door,” Mitch replied nervously. The young man turned his back to the two of them and proceeded back into the house, grabbing the door and slamming it shut again as quickly and with as much force as he’d opened it. “That’s my brother, Randy. Don’t pay him any attention. He always acts like that.” Mitch tried to act nonchalant about the matter, but Jack was a little disturbed at Randy’s harsh attitude.

As soon as they had begun to enliven their imaginations with all the playthings strewn about, they were once again interrupted. A tall, fair-skinned blonde woman opened the screen door and stepped out on to the porch. “Hey, little guy. What’s your name?” she asked as she peered inquisitively into Jack’s eyes.

Jack blushed and could barely work up a response. That was his usual reaction toward adults he didn’t know. “I’m Jack,” he finally managed.

“Yeah. He lives right next door,” Mitch added.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sure you and Mitch are going to get along just fine.” She turned her attention to Mitch. “Dinner’s almost ready, so you’re gonna have to come in and get washed up.” She swung around to meet Jack’s empty stare, just to drive home the point that their playing was done for now.

“That’s all right; it’s almost time for me to eat too,” Jack replied. “I’ll see ya later,” he said as he got up.

Mitch huffed and then rolled the Bageler one more ferocious time toward the edge of the yard and into the fence, sending the action figures flying out in the violent collision. Then he got up and followed his mother into the house without saying another word.

There was a gap at the end of the fence where a massive pine tree towered above the houses, and Jack knew he could squeeze through the separation between the branches and the last fence pole. He had never tried to go that way before, but then again, he had never had a reason to cut through the side of his neighbor’s yard before.

When he opened the back door to his house, he was greeted by his mother, who was putting the finishing touches on dinner as his father sat down to the table. “I was just about to holler for you,” she said. “Go wash your hands. Dinner’s almost ready.”

As he washed his hands at the kitchen sink, Jack told his parents about his encounter with the two kids who’d moved in next door. He told them how many toys Mitch had and how he’d met his mother and older brother. For some reason his family didn’t seem as impressed as he was. Maybe if they could see all the toys for themselves, he thought.

After dinner Jack performed his usual nightly routine. He was forcibly given a bath, the worst part of the day in his opinion, and then he watched about an hour of television before retiring to bed.

He lay there in bed for longer than usual that evening, thinking. Not about anything particular, just staring out his window at the night sky, kind of daydreaming, at night though.

A light flashed on in the room directly across from his in his new neighbors’ house. He saw Mitch and Randy enter the room and move closer to the window. He could hear faint voices, and their heads bobbed up and down, in and out of view along the window’s horizon. Jack could tell they were playing with something on the floor right below the window ledge. He got up and approached the sill, putting his forehead right up against the windowpane; he wished he were there, playing alongside them.

Just then the most remarkable idea popped into his head. He looked all around his room for a small object, perhaps a piece of plastic from a broken toy, something he could use to throw at their window. He knelt down and picked up a button that must have fallen off one of his shirts. Then he walked over and turned the handle on the window, slowly cranking the hinge open as wide as it could go. He winged the button across the twenty-foot gorge separating the two houses, just narrowly striking the bottom corner of the other window.

Mitch and Randy were obviously startled. They both got up and took several nervous steps backward. They couldn’t see Jack in his dark room, and the light in their room prevented them from seeing anything outside. Jack promptly realized this and went to turn the light on.

Now they could see him, and the chill that overtook them a second earlier quickly subsided. Mitch walked over, opened the window, and took the screen out. “What’s up, Jack? I didn’t know that was your window!” he exclaimed boisterously.

“Ssshhh! I’m supposed to be asleep,” Jack nervously interjected.

“Sorry,” Mitch replied, sinking his head into his shoulders. Randy, seeming friendlier than before and perhaps a little inquisitive as to who this kid was, walked over to the window to join the conversation. They talked for a little while, mostly...