red moon over west virginia - 30. the pager

by jeremy witherington

part 30 of 36

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larry handed dick skinner a little black plastic object. keep this on your belt on on your wrist. and keep it on or under your pillow when you go to sleep. what is it? it’s a pager. larry explained to dick what a pager was, and that he should have it at hand 24 7. why can’t they just call me on my phone? this is quicker. and surer. it can’t be hacked. whatever. dick did not ask any more questions. there was a clip on the pager and he clipped it on his belt. * later, they were sitting in the little room they shared over the garage that held the truck larry had picked dick up in. and so far, no other vehicles that dick could see. but he continued to not ask any questions. outside, the afternoon was getting on. larry was watching matlock on the tv. matlock and perry mason and rockford files were his favorite shows. can i go for a walk? dick asked. a walk? you know, just walk around, get some fresh air, look at the trees and the birds. there are not a lot of birds out there. all right, i will just look at the trees, and the sky and the clouds. not a lot of clouds either. then i will look at the trees and the sky? can i go for a walk or not? it is not that big a deal. yeah, you can go. just don’t go very far. how far can i go? not very. just don’t go right up to the house. larry meant the house the willetts lived in. dick had still not seen them. i won’t, dick said. go ahead then. larry turned back to the screen he had paused matlock on, and resumed it. * larry was right. dick could not hear any birds, and there were no clouds in the sky. and no buildings that dick could see. just the willett’s house, and the garage. next

red moon over west virginia - 19. a friendly voice

by jeremy witherington

part 19 of 36

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pete pulled his truck up beside trixie. are you lost, miss? pete asked in his friendliest voice. pete had a very friendly voice, which he had worked on and perfected over many years. not at all. sir, trixie replied, waving her phone in the air so that pete could see it. she could hardly see pete’s face, but thought he looked vaguely familiar. but trixie was always thinking people looked familiar. she was paranoid, and had been studied by world class experts on paranoia. would you like a lift somewhere? pete asked her. no thank you, sir. i am staying at that motel - trixie pointed to the dark shadow of the motel with the phone - that motel down there and i just came out to get a little exercise. you looked like you were running away from something. ha ha! no, i was just doing a sprint. sprints are an essential part of my exercise routine. i see. well, in that case i wish you a good evening. a good morning actually as it is well after midnight. good morning to you too, sir, trixie replied in a no nonsense voice. pete drove off. trixie watched his headlights disappear around another bend in the highway, the bend she had chosen not to take. what was that all about? trixie wondered. she remembered the dead animal - had the man in the truck seen the dead animal? - and the voice! she decided to follow the advice of the world famous paranoia expert, who had studied her for a whole year, dr reich, and just forget about it and not look back. she continued walking briskly down the highway until she returned to the motel. somewhat to her surprise, there was a little light on at the front desk, and the little man who had signed her in was back at the desk. the little man - like all motel clerks, he was about five feet two inches tall and had a little mustache - watched trixie without expression as she approached him. excuse me, trixie said. yes? is there someplace around here where i can get a cup of coffee? maybe a donut or a sandwich or some pie? i mean that i could walk to. i walked up the road a way and could not find any. you must have walked right when you reached the road. yes, i did. that was where you made your mistake, the desk clerk replied solemnly. if you take a left, and then another left when you reach the crossroads, you will quickly come to jenny’s truckstop which is open twenty-four hours a day. and do they have good pie? the best in town. or so they tell me. i am not much of a pie person myself. thank you. should i go back out and try to find this place, trixie wondered. or should i just try to get some sleep? next

red moon over west virginia - 18. gerald and pixie

by jeremy witherington

part 18 of 36

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when gerald got back to his tiny room on the top floor (a room which had formerly been part of the servants quarters) the first thing he did was call pixie, the little floozie who was leading him inexorably to his doom. she did not pick up, so he just left a message, call me. he lay back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. the ceiling sloped downward so sharply that it had taken him a long time to master maneuvering around in the little room without constantly banging his head. gerald wondered if he should bother to text pixie. he knew from experience that she almost never read the texts - just noted that he had sent them - so whatever he had written he had to repeat when she called or texted him back. he decided not to text her but to wallow in his misery, and recount to himself, for the thousandth time, the circumstances which had brought him to his present unhappy situation. besides, what could pixie do for him? what would she do for him, if she knew or thought he was broke? so maybe he should not say anything to her about being cut off by aunt agrippina. maybe it was best if she did not know or suspect anything. on the other hand…. pixie was the only “streetwise” person he knew, the only one who might help him navigate his way at all, if he really did find himself “out on the street”… it was a conundrum. and it was something he had to think about too, and gerald did not like to have to think. how unfair it was all was! and it was all terence’s fault ! it was terence, his miserable older brother, and not himself, gerald, or any of the other harcourt siblings or cousins, who had brought the estate so low that aunt agrippina would even think of throwing any of them out in the street. but what did terence care? the “golden boy”, the “twinkly-eyed rascal” that everybody “loved”, was safe and warm in the harcourt family mausoleum, without a care in the world. gerald’s phone vibrated. it was pixie. you called me? yes. about what? um - i was just lonely. lonely? you called me because you were bleeping lonely? i’m sorry. sorry? i will tell you what you can do with your sorry. pixie launched into a stream of vicious vituperative abuse, of the kind that was expected of her, and that gerald loved so much. next

red moon over west virginia - 17. first day

by jeremy witherington

part 17 of 36

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joey’s whole life changed on his first day of school. he met tony, who would become his best friend, even though they did not really like each other all that much. and he first encountered trixie, whose fate would be so intertwined with his, although he did not suspect it at the time. what joey did know is that he was scared. all he could do was pretend not to be scared and hope for the best. tony took notice of joey. tony needed followers, if he was to establish himself as alpha boy of the kindergarten class. joey looked like a good bet. he was not bad looking, did not look too goopy, but would surely follow tony’s lead in all things, hopefully without being too obvious or a suckup about it. tony looked around for one or two more like joey. tony’s competition was barry. barry was the biggest and strongest boy in the class. barry’s dad was also the richest man in town, but this could be used against barry, if tony played his cards right. the teacher had two names, ms wilcox - somrthing. she was old, even older than joey’s mom. but where joey’s mom still looked almost like a movie star, old as she was, ms wilcox-something made joey’s flesh crawl. but now ms wilcox-something was clapping her hands together. this will only take a minute. people, she was imploring the children. she would always refer to her charges as “people”, never “children” or “boys and girls”. this will only take a minute, ms wilcox-somehimg repeated. we all need to know each other’s names. she pointed to a girl and smiled. and what is your name. trixie, trixie replied loudly, looking ms wilcox-something straight in the eyes. next

red moon over west virginia - 3. the rain

by jeremy witherington

part 3 of 36

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bob ford liked to go for long walks in the rain. he received permission from his parole officer, mr chester a arthur, to go for a walk. rain had been predicted for the afternoon and evening of thursday, so bob asked ms emily post, his shift supervisor at the five and ten cent store, if he could leave early “on a personal matter”. ms post had been satisfied with bob’s work in the preceding weeks, so she readily gave her permission. as much as he looked forward to these excursions, bob also felt a secret trepidation whenever he embarked on one. he was afraid of coming face to face with jesse james. bob knew that jesse was dead, shot in the back by himself, bob ford, in a particularly cowardly and treacherous manner, but he still had to struggle against the feeling that he might encounter jesse at any bend in the road of life. so he forced himself to confront his fear, as he was advised to do by the numerous self help books he read on his time off. bob was one of the most despised humans who ever walked the earth, so he had plenty of time to himself, and he read a lot of books, mostly self help books. so, on thursday afternoon he set off. although he liked the rain, there were limits to how much he liked the rain, and he carried an umbrella with him, as well as a ham and cheese sandwich in case he should get hungry. the sandwich had plenty of mustard on it. he had gotten two miles out of town, the sun was beginning to set and he was feeling a bit disappointed that the rain had not begun. and then - just like that - the rain came down. did it ever! the rain came down as it had never come down before. bob could hardly see two feet ahead of him. well, he thought, i asked for it. then he heard a car coming up behind him. he wondered f he should try to flag it down and hitch a ride. after all, he had come out with the express purpose of walking in the rain. next