by Robbie Lewis Lowe
From Diana's porch, Jeff watched as a red-and-white 1961 Chevy Impala with a dent in the passenger door and a sizeable crease in the rear bumper came rolling down the gravel road that was called Harper Lane. The car turned into Diana's part gravel, part dirt driveway and came to a stop just behind Diana's blue '69 Camarro. Jeff's pickup, parked next to Diana's car -- half in the driveway and half on what Diana laughingly called her "lawn" -- was multi-colored, owing to the large areas of bondo and faded green patches and the scratched up wide white stripe down the side. It was a 1957 GMC. Jeff was proud of it – except when it was parked next to Diana's much newer vehicle. He hoped to eventually restore his pickup and sell it, using the profit to put down on a late-model Mustang. The 1980 models were coming out next month, but he knew he couldn't afford a brand new anything.
A woman with a disheveled bun waved at Jeff from the driver's seat of the Impala. Jeff waved back. The Impala's passenger door creaked open and a skinny, pony-tailed teenager emerged.
"Hi, Jeff!" the girl called out as the woman with the bun put the Impala in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
"Hey, Lucy," Jeff answered. "How's your Aunt Dee doing?"
"Same as ever," Lucy said and shrugged. She trotted up the steps and into the house. As Jeff listened to Lucy and Diana talking inside, the sun slipped below the roof of the Harper place, silhouetting the multiple peaks of the roof, the old trees and the tall chimney. Light shown through a few windows downstairs. A shadow passed over the Harper house. Jeff looked up. The sky was clear. The half moon and the stars shown bright. What cast that shadow? Jeff squinted at the house again. All the downstairs lights were out now, but a small attic window was lit. How many houses here in Shady Lake, he wondered, have actual attic rooms like that? Only the old Harper place!
According to Jeff's grandfather, the Harpers who bought the formerly one-room cabin disappeared almost immediately after the repeal of Prohibition. By that time, they had planted an extensive field of grapes and added several rooms to the cabin. It sat for a few years until a couple named Messmer bought it and added the second storey and the attic. Mr. Messmer died in the Second World War, and Mrs. Messmer moved with her three children about a decade before developers began selling lots in Shady Lake Addition. No one heard from her again, except for the county tax assessor's office, until Mary moved in a month ago.
There was that shadow again! Jeff looked up again at the still-clear sky and quickly back again at the Harper house. Nothing. The light in the attic room was still on. The moon reflected in the darkened windows and gleamed off the east facing parts of the roof. The evening breeze picked up and sent a few dying leaves sailing from their branches to the ground.
Diana's screen door creaked and Jeff started and turned toward the sound.
"You about ready?" Diana asked. "Lucy's got Greg in the bathtub already."
Jeff walked over to Diana and put his arm around her waist. "So, who's playing at Marina View tonight?" he asked as they descended her porch steps.
"Some Eagles cover band," she answered. "I don't remember the name, but they're supposed to be pretty good."
Jeff mumbled, "Cool," but he wasn't registering what she said, he was checking the night sky again.
The drive to Marina View Bar and Grill took fifteen minutes, ten of them spent bouncing over rutted gravel roads. Jeff was quiet the whole time. Diana made a small effort, after the first five silent minutes to make conversation. "Hm" was all she got for answer, so she gave up. When Jeff pulled his pickup intot he parking lot of Marina View, Diana saw their friend Doug Barnes' shiny new GMC pickup.
"Hey," Diana said, "Doug and Althea are here. I thought Doug wasn't supposed to be back from basic till the end of the month."
"Bet you're pleased as punch about it," Jeff said as he shoved the gearshift into park.
"Where did that come from?" asked Diana.
Jeff just opened his door and got out. Where did that come from? he wondered.
Diana watched Jeff walk around the front of the pickup as she pulled her shoulder bag slowly onto her shoulder. She thought about telling Jeff to just take her back home. If he was in a foul mood, she'd just as soon spend her precious free time at home with Greg as out nursing a grown man's fragile ego.
Jeff stopped at the right front fender and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and looked up at Diana. She cocked her head at him and he cocked his head in return. Question asked and answered: I'm okay if you are. Diana smiled and Jeff opened her door.
"Thank you, gallant sir," said Diana as she stepped out of the pickup and placed her hand in Jeff's. Jeff shut the door behind Diana and slipped his arm around Diana's waist.
"So we're cool?" Diana asked.
"Cool and groovy," Jeff answered.
Inside Marina View, Jeff and Diana were greeted heartily by the barmaid, Jewel. The beehive hairdo Jewel persisted in wearing was the only thing about her that gave away her age. Even in broad daylight, Jewel looked no older than Diana. Some women laughingly (or sometimes not so laughingly) said she must have made a deal with the devil. Jewel said it was just good genes. Before Jeff ordered beers for himself and Diana, a lanky young man with a buzz cut stepped up to the bar and wrapped his arms around both of them and declared, "Jewel, don't you take any money from this fine young man! Their first beer is on me."
Jeff turned with a wide grin to his friend Doug and clapped him warmly on the shoulder. "Dougie! You been scalped, man!"
"Is that your way of saying thanks?" Doug retorted with a melodramatically long face. "Althea!" he called, turning his face toward the ceiling. "Althea, I'm wounded, baby! Come make it better!"
A buxom woman with bright red shoulder-length hair and a wide crimson mouth, came dancing between the little round tables to the beat of a rock-a-billy song on the jukebox. She slid the last few feet into Doug, who responded more melodramatically than before with his arms in the air. "Whoa, don't hurt me," he wailed.
"Oh, quit milkin' it!" Althea scolded. "Just getcher wallet out an' behave for a change!" She let loose a hoarse belly laugh and elbowed Diana. "Boot camp, shmoot camp," she said, "he's my puppy now, know what I mean, Di?"
Diana grinned and picked up the bottle of beer that Jewel slid in front of her. "Right on, sister," she said.
The four sat down together at a table close to the small dance floor. The band was just setting up and the house was still less than half full, so they were able to talk without having to yell. Doug and Althea explained that Doug had sustained a back injury during basic training that got him sent home with a medical discharge.
"Which means," Doug intoned huskily, "that when I make miss Al here an honest woman, I won't be able to carry her over the threshold." He leaned away from Althea and added, "guess I'll have to get a wheelbarrow."
"Oh!" howled Althea, "that'll cost you big, you dog!"
By the time the band finished setting up, Jeff had told Doug and Althea about Diana's new neighbor, Mary, and the strange incident of the spider. Telling the tale made Jeff feel a little silly for getting so spooked about a girl and her spider fetish. Still, he insisted there must be something not right about the little weirdo.
Althea flourisheded her multi-ringed and red-tipped hands dramatically. "Hon," she declared, "there's a little witch in every woman!" She laughed loudly and Diana and Doug chuckled.
"Very funny," Jeff said when the laughter died down, "and probably," he added, wagging his head at the girls, "very true."
More people – most locals, a few weekenders from the city – trickled in. Jeff bought the second round. Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" came on the jukebox. Diana danced with Doug; Althea danced with Jeff. When they returned to the table, Diana checked her watch and told Jeff she needed to check with Lucy. She always phoned Lucy once every hour when she was out.
A few minutes later, Diana returned from the pay phone and grabbed up her purse, saying, "We've gotta go, Jeff! Lucy's all shook up about something."
"About what?" Jeff said as he rose. His face showed his concern, but he asked again, "What's she upset about, Di?"
"I don't know," she answered, stress in her voice, "just all rattled about some lights that keep blinking."
"Probably that drunk, Ben," Jeff grumbled, "playing with a flashlight."
"Whatever it is," Diana answered, "she'd in no condition to look after Greg."
They said quick good-byes to Doug and Althea.
"Call if you need any back-up," said Doug. He winked. "I'll send Al!"
When Jeff pulled his pickup into the driveway, Lucy was standing inside the screen door with her forehead pressed against the screen. Diana had barely set foot on the bottom step of the front porch before Lucy started talking.
"I'm so sorry to ruin y'all's night," she began. Her normally smooth, childish features were pinched and furrowed. She hugged herself tightly and backed up as Diana and Jeff came through the door, then turned to the right and to the left as she spoke. She seemed to want to go somewhere but couldn't decide which way to flee first. "I don't know what to say, I don't even know what all that was."
Jeff looked at the distressed teenager and glanced around, scowling at nothing. "What what was?" he asked.
"I don't know!" Lucy cried, "I couldn't see it!" She began to cry. Diana shot a scowl at Jeff and went to Lucy.
"It's okay, Luce," she said as she wrapped an arm around her and led her to the afghan draped sofa. Diana grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and handed it to Lucy. She gave the girl a minute to collect herself. "Jeff," Diana whispered, "go check on Greg, will you?"
Jeff nodded and headed down the hall to Gregory's room.
"So just tell me what you can," Diana said. She smoothed back a strand of Lucy's brown hair that had come loose from the pony-tail. "Did you hear something?"
Lucy sniffed and straightened up a bit. "I guess," she said. She looked at Diana and pressed her lips together before she spoke again. "This is gonna sound so stupid, Di," she murmured.
"Don't worry, Luce," Diana answered with a little smile, "I just came from talking to Doug Barnes and Althea, so how much more stupid could you possibly sound?"
That elicited a little giggle from Lucy and she relaxed a bit. "Well, I got Greg down and came in here to watch t.v. 'Salem's Lot' was coming on. The next commercial, I went to check on him. He was sleeping and he looked fine so I came back in here and I decided to pop some Jiffy Pop. But," Lucy turned her head and looked at the wide window that faced the vegetable garden – and Mary's house. "Well, I thought I saw something outside, far away, like maybe a ..."
"Shadow?" Jeff interrupted.
Diana turned and frowned at Jeff. Exasperated, she said, "Just let her finish, okay?"
"Sorry." Jeff ducked his head and sat himself down in a wicker arm chair – also draped with an afghan.
"Go on," Diana said.
"Actually, at first I saw a girl walking across the yard next door. I figured it was your new neighbor you told me about. Mary, right?"
"Yeah," answered Diana, "that's her name."
"Well, I put the Jiffy Pop on the stove and turned the porch light on, and I went out on the porch to say "Hi". I waved and she waved back. I said, 'Hey, are you Mary?' and she said 'Yes' and started to walk toward me. That's when I saw something further off. I thought it was one of those giant spotlights," Lucy continued, "like the car lots have sometimes to get people to come out when they have a grand opening or something," she said.
"You mean a search light?" Diana asked.
"Yeah, that's it," Lucy answered. "It looked like it was coming from town, but I hadn't heard about any grand opening anywhere in town. Anyway, I introduced myself and she didn't say anything else. She just stood there looking at me. So I said, 'What do you think that light is?' and she turned around and looked, but the light was gone. We just stood there a minute looking but it was still gone. I finally said I had to check my popcorn and I said goodbye and came back inside and turned the stove off. When I looked back out the window I didn't see a search light anywhere. But I thought I saw lightning bugs out there on the other side of your garden."
"Kind of late in the year for lightning bugs," Jeff said. "They were all gone two months ago."
"Yeah, I know," Lucy replied, nodding her head. "And they were kinda big for lightning bugs, too, but they twinkled like lightning bugs, so I figured, what else can they be?"
"Well," Diana began, then paused as she shifted a little on the sofa and glanced out the wide window that faced Mary's house. With the lights on inside, she couldn't see anything outside except for a light in one of Mary's windows. "Did something happen then?"
"Yeah," Lucy said. "They like swarmed, you know, they all gathered together in a bunch, and there were a whole lot of them."
Jeff was leaning forward in the wicker armchair. His jaw was tightening up.
"And they all flew together right toward the Harper house. They went right up to it and then sort of swooped up to the attic window and just hung there, all of them blinking off and on."
Diana asked, "Was there a light on in the attic window?"
"Yeah," Lucy answered, "it was the only light on in the house."
"So they were probably attracted to it like moths," Diana speculated.
"I guess," Lucy said. "But they were doing something up there."
"Doing what?" Jeff asked.
"Getting brighter," Lucy answered. "It was like they were getting a boost or something. They got so bright the whole bunch of them almost turned into one big bundle of light."
"I guess that would look kind of creepy," Diana ventured.
"For a minute I thought I had a smudge on my glasses," Lucy said, "so I took them off to wipe them and made sure they were clean before I put them back on. When I looked back at the fireflies, they were coming this way. They were coming right at me!" Lucy began to tremble and her face pinched up again. Diana knew the girl was going to cry again. She hugged the girl and patted her shoulder.
"I guess that would freak anybody out," Diana said as Lucy laid her head on Diana's shoulder, "even ol' Jeff over there."
Jeff just looked at Diana askance and said nothing.
"You don't think that movie had anything to do with it, do you?" Diana asked finally.
"I don't think so, Di," Lucy sniffed. "I've watched plenty of scary movies. I don't get spooked that easy! Anyway, after that I ran and locked the door," she continued, "and jumped on the sofa, but I could see their light as they flew by. It was like a big streak of light – like a comet!"
She was quiet for a minute. Then Jeff asked, "Was there anything else? Like a strange sound or a shadow or anything?"
Diana shot a "sh" at Jeff.
"No," Lucy answered, her voice muffled by Diana's shoulder. She lifted her head and rubbed her nose. "I don't think they made any noise at all. But by then I was so scared I started crying. That's when I started to call y'all, but the phone rang and it was you. Boy did I jump!"
"Well, I'm sure it was just a freak thing of nature," Diana said. "You were just one of the few privileged people to get to see it," she added, hoping to soothe Lucy's nerves.
"Huh," Lucy responded doubtfully.
"But you did the right thing," Diana continued, "locking the door and coming to call me."
Jeff didn't want to leave Diana and Greg home along even for the twenty minutes it would take him to drive Lucy home, but Diana insisted. While he was gone, Diana checked on Greg again, then went to the kitchen and opened the foil covering on the Jiffy Pop. She scooped out a handful of the popcorn and began eating it as she walked over to the kitchen window. There were no lights on at Mary Messmer's house and no lights, twinkling or otherwise, anywhere but in the night sky. Lucy just thinks scary movies don't get to her, Diana thought. And Jeff is just as paranoid! She chuckled and walked back to the stove. She carried the Jiffy Pop pan into the living room and turned the t.v. on. It was still on Salem's Lot. Diana changed the channel to a variety show. When Jeff came back, Diana apologized to him for having to leave the bar so soon.
"Not your fault," he said. "Besides," he added, cuddling up to Diana, "I can think of better things to do than shoot the shit with Doug and dance with Althea."
Diana laughed and tossed popcorn at him.
Jeff woke the next morning to the sound of a kitchen chair scraping across the floor. Jeff was on the sofa where he slept whenever Diana deemed him too drunk to drive home. It wasn't the case this time, but Jeff refused to leave Di and Greg unattended after Lucy's fright-of-the-fireflies story the night before. Just in case. Now Jeff sat up and said, "That you in there, buddy?"
"Yeah," Greg said. "Mom's sleeping, so I just got me a bowl of Sugar Puffs."
"Good job, buddy."
The chair scraped again and Greg came trotting into the living room. He was already dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and a sweat-shirt.
"Can I go outside now?" Greg asked Jeff.
Jeff rubbed his face with both hands and blinked at the boy. "Sure," he said. As the boy darted toward the front door, Jeff added, "Stay where I can see you from the door, you hear?"
"Okay," Greg called as he closed the door behind him.
Jeff went into the kitchen and filled Diana's tea kettle and put it on the stove. After he put a filter and coffee in Diana's drip coffee carafe, he went out onto the porch to check on Greg, who was squatting next to the fence on the other side of the vegie garden. Jeff could only see the top of Greg’s head.
“What ya doin’, buddy?” Jeff called.
“Petting a cat.” Greg answered.
“What cat?”
“Miss Mary’s, I guess. It came from her yard and I’ve seen a couple of cats over there.”
“I thought you didn’t like cats.”
“I don’t,” Greg answered. “Most cats, anyway. This one seems nice.”
Jeff climbed over the porch rail and dropped the three feet to the ground, and strolled over to where Greg was. It was a gray cat, plush with it’s winter coat. It did indeed seem friendly, and too fat to be a stray. Jeff leaned over and petted the cat. Greg laughed softly. “See,” he said, “sweet as pie.”
“Lou-u!” a woman’s voice called out. Not very loudly. Jeff and Greg looked at each other a split second, then looked back toward the voice -- toward the Harper house.
“Lou-u!”
Before either of them knew it had moved, the gray cat was scrambling up the chain-link fence. And Mary came walking from behind a stray tangle of grapevines. “There you are,” she said, as the cat trotted up to her and rubbed against her dark blue velvet robe. Mary leaned and picked up the cat.
“I hope Lou didn’t bother anyone,” she murmured.
“N-no,” Jeff answered. “He, uh, seems to like my buddy here.” Jeff motioned toward Greg who was staring at Mary.
Mary smiled at Greg. "Aren't you a handsome young man," she said. Mary stroked the cat and said, "Don't you think he's handsome, Lou?"
Jeff chuckled. "Yeah, ol' Gregory here is ladies man," he joked. "Ain't you, buddy?" But Greg only continued to stare at Mary and the cat. Mary was still smiling at Greg when Jeff looked back at her. The cat was looking at Greg's general direction, too, but who knew whether it was smiling. Jeff shivered, and wished he'd grabbed his jacket before coming outside.
"We're both forgetting our manners," Jeff said to Mary. "My name's Jeff. I'm a friend of Greg's mom, Diana. Sh-she lives here."
Mary turned her smile to Jeff. "Yes, I've met Diana. I'm Mary. Mary Rowena Messmer."
"Pleased to meet you," said Jeff. He gently prodded Greg's shoulder with a fingertip. Greg's mouth opened slightly, but he said nothing.
A whistle sounded, startling Jeff. "Uh-oh," he said, "the water's hot! I, uh, gotta go make some coffee. Real nice meeting you, Miss Messmer." Jeff nudged Greg and turned to go, back the way he came -- to the kitchen half of Diana's L-shaped porch.
"My pleasure," Mary answered.
Greg turned on his heels and ran back to the front steps. Jeff shook his head and went to the steps at the end of the porch rather than climb back up over the rail. Inside, he snatched up the tea kettle and turned off the burner. He leaned, tea kettle in hand, to look through the kitchen door. Greg was sitting on the sofa and Diana was emerging from her bedroom.
As Jeff was pouring the boiling water over the coffee grounds, he could hear Diana talking in the living room. "'Morning, Greg," she mumbled. "Whatcha doin', honey?"
"Nothing," Jeff heard Greg reply to his mother.
"You okay?" Diana asked her son. "You look a little pale. What were you doing outside?"
"Petting a cat."
"Really? I thought you didn't like cats."
"I don't. It was a gray cat, Miss Mary's cat."
"Oh." There was a pause. "It didn't scratch you or anything, did it?"
Another pause.
"No. Can I watch cartoons?"
"Sure, baby," Diana said.
By that time, Jeff had replaced the tea kettle on top of the stove and retrieved two coffee mugs from a cabinet. Diana entered the kitchen pulling her bathrobe closed and cinching it with the sash.
"What's up with Greg?" she asked in a whisper as she opened the refrigerator door.
As Jeff poured coffee into one of the mugs, he said, "I dunno. He was getting along fine with that cat until Scary Mary showed up."
"Jeff!" Diana scolded. She poured a little milk into the filled mug and stirred it. "I hope you weren't rude to her. She's my neighbor, you know."
"Hey, I was very well-behaved!" Jeff insisted. "My buddy in there was a little creeped out, though, when she introduced herself."
"He's met her before," said Diana, "across the fence." She sipped her coffee. "He said something about petting her cat. Did it do something to him, scratch him or something?"
"No," Jeff answered. He was holding his mug up as if about to drink, but was staring out the kitchen window toward the Harper house. "Nothing," he murmured. "They just looked at him."
"They?"
"Scary Mary and Lu." Jeff was still staring out the window. "Lu's her cat's name," he said, turning to Diana, "Probably short for 'Lucifer'!"
"Jeff, really. No wonder Greg's tripping out, with all those bad vibes from you."
"Huh!" Jeff groused. "The bad vibes are coming from your new neighbor, Di. I'm keeping a close eye on her even if you won't -- if I have to move in here right now!"
Diana cocked her head slightly. "Hm, well, maybe we'll talk some more about that after breakfast." She smiled and walked to the kitchen window, leaned across the narrow table that held several potted plants and looked outside. She saw Mary's gray cat lying on its back in a patch of morning sun next to the tangle of grape vines. A mockingbird was swooping low, back and forth over the cat. Must have a nest close by and wants the cat to go away, Diana mused. "I guess we might as well till the garden under," she said to Jeff without looking away from the cat. "The fall plants are done producing already."
"They're cursed, is what they are," Jeff mumbled.
"Louise is the cat's name, by the way," Diana said, straightening. "Oh!" she cried out. Her free hand flew to her mouth.
"What happened now?" asked Jeff.
Diana turned toward Jeff and grimaced. "Louise just caught a bird right out of the air," she answered.
Jeff went to the window and looked out in time to see the cat carry the hapless bird off toward the Harper house. He shivered. "Scary Mary and Lucifer!" he declared.
