Ray Garton - The New Neighbor

"Miss… Miss… " Jen clenched her fists, wondering if it was a good idea to tell him. Maybe he knew Miss Dupree and she didn't want him to know she lived here.

"What's your name?" the man asked, taking another step toward her and pulling his hand from his pockets.

Jen moved back.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered. "Really. I just need to know – it's important – I need to know about your new neighbor. What is her name?"

"I'm… I'm gonna get my dad now."

He lurched forward quickly. "No, please believe me, I don't mean you any harm. I want to help you. But you have to tell me about your new neighbor. What's her name? What does she look like?"

Not wanting to take her eyes from him, Jen walked quickly backward over the grass until she lost her balance and tumbled back on her behind, landing with a grunt.

"Oh," the man breathed, holding out his left hand and hurrying toward her, sinking the cane into the wet lawn and asking, "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Miss Dupree's porch light came on, spilling light over the lawn, and -

– Jen's fists closed on the wet grass and her throat tightened with fear when the light illuminated the man closing in on her.

His face was melting as he rushed forward, dribbling down one side of his skull like hot wax. He staggered closer, his gloved hand outstretched and -

– horrified, Jen tried to scream but released only a hiss of breath as she reached up and clawed at the hand, her nails digging into the glove's material, and -

– the man balked in the sudden light, then pulled back, slipping his hand out of the glove and the glow of the porch light was reflected dully on the bony silver fingers along which ran thin cables that disappeared into the coat sleeve. He gawked for a moment at the glove dangling from Jen's hand and snatched it away, stuffing it into his coat pocket. He backed up as the lock on Miss Dupree's door clicked.

Jen rolled over and bounded to her feet, rushing toward the door as it opened and voices filtered out from inside. She stopped on the porch and turned.

The man was gone.

Her mind raced. If she told her dad about the man, he'd wonder why she was wandering around outside Miss Dupree's house and might even get angry. If she didn't , she could tell him she was just coming over to see him and meet Miss Dupree, and she wouldn't have to mention the man at all.

But her hands were trembling and her heart was thundering in her chest. Wouldn't Dad want to know if someone like that creepy, hideous man was roaming the neighborhood? Would he even believe her, though, if she described the man to him?

Probably not.

Jen decided to play it safe.

"I don't want you to forget it," Miss Dupree was saying as she opened the door.

"Jennifer! What are you doing here?" George stood in the doorway with Miss Dupree's hand on his shoulder.

Jen blinked up at her dad, afraid he was angry because that was the only time he called her Jennifer. "Everybody was asleep," she said, trying hard not to sound as scared as she felt. "I thought I'd come over with you and… and meet Miss Dupree."

The woman dropped her hand from George's shoulder and stepped onto the porch, smiling. "Well, I'm glad you did, Jen," she said. "I've heard a lot about you and it's nice to finally meet." She held out her hand. Jen took it hesitantly and they shook.

An enormous dog peeked out the door and Jen gasped.

"He won't hurt you," Miss Dupree said. "This is my dog, Sodom. You can pet him."

Jen reached out a hand and the dog sniffed curiously, then licked it. She smiled as she stroked his head.

"We should get home, Jen," her dad said. "You shouldn't be out in this rain. I don't want you getting the bug that's going around."

"It was nice meeting you, Jen. You're welcome over here anytime. You can come walk the dogs for me. They'd love that."

Jen waved to her as Dad led her across the lawn and into the street.

"You know better than to be walking around in this kind of weather," he said with annoyance.

"Well… “

"Well what ?" Now he sounded angry.

"Everybody was asleep."

"What difference does that make?"

Although she didn't know what she was apologizing for – his anger made no sense to her – Jen said, "I'm sorry."

"All right," he grumbled as they went into the house.

In the living room, Jen took off her coat and saw that Robby was gone – he'd probably gone back to bed. She sat down in front of the television again. She heard Dad pop open a can of beer in the kitchen and wondered if he was really angry, the kind of angry that stuck with him for a while.

She was still trembling and couldn't quite catch her breath. If Dad came back into the living room now, she would probably seem more guilty than he already thought she was, so she decided to go to her room. As she headed down the hall, Jen heard him murmur to himself in the kitchen:

"Son… of a… bitch ."

Robby did not wake easily. His eyes felt glued together and his body was heavy as lead. He thought he was on the sofa in the living room, but when he finally pried his eyes open to see who was shaking him, he was staring at the Bangles poster on his bedroom wall.

"Robby?" Jen whispered.

He rolled onto his back and squinted up at her. "What?"

"Sorry for waking you."

"Whassmatter?"

"Are you sure you're awake?"

He rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up. "Yeah, I'm awake. What's wrong?"

She sat on the bed and glanced cautiously at the closed door. "There was a man outside."

"When? What time is it?" He found his clock. "It's only eight o'clock."

"A little while ago. Out on the sidewalk."

"So, what was he doing?"

"He talked to me. Wanted to know who our new neighbor was."

"He talked to you? What were you doing outside?"

"Well, Dad went over to Miss Dupree's to help fix her car, so… um, I followed him over a little later. And there was this man.”

Robby buried his face in his hands and groaned. His head felt like it was filled with sand. "Why didn't you tell Dad?"

"Just listen , okay? He wore a long coat, like an overcoat y'know? And a hat, too, like the ones detectives wear in the old movies. And he walked with a cane and, and he was really ugly , like part of his face was melting, or something. Like the guy in that old wax museum movie we watched last weekend? Remember? You know, the scary one? Wax House , or – “

" House of Wax . Vincent Price.”

"Yeah, that one. And he had a silver hand, like a robot’s hand. He wore a glove over it, but the glove came off in my hand and it was silver . Y'know, all metal? Just like in The Terminator after his skin came off!"

"God, Jen, will you just go to bed, or something, and leave me alone. And quit watching television." He rolled away from her.

"But he was there . He talked to me. He wanted to know who our new neighbor was. He said it was important. I think… well, I think maybe he was, you know, looking for her, or something."

“Whatta you want me to do about it?" he mumbled into his pillow.

Jen got off the bed. "I don't know," she sighed. "I just thought I should tell somebody, I guess. Mom's asleep and Dad's… I think he's mad at me for something."

Robby couldn't ignore the sadness in her quavering voice and rolled over again, facing her. Her lips were trembling and her eyes sparkled with growing tears.

"He's probably just had a bad day, or something," Robby said quietly. "Maybe if you waited till tomorrow – “

"But he was out there tonight !"

Robby sat up. "You’re serious, aren’t you?"