ONE
"Where are we going?" she asked, out of breath from trying to keep up with my quick, long strides. I didn't answer her. "Why can't we take the car?" she added after a few minutes.
"Just watch and learn, kid," I said. She'd never pick it up, though. She didn't pay close enough attention to pick it up. She fell silent.
We had parked the car just inside the city limits at a gas station. You had to leave town on foot. That was the first step. Luckily it was a lovely fall afternoon, good weather for a walk. I'd picked this direction out of town because there wasn't a lot of sprawl to the west. Once you got outside of the city limits it was all scattered houses, trees and rolling hills.
Much to my relief, we hadn't walked far when I heard the first call. It was just behind us and high overhead, but it was unmistakable. I fought my instinct to look and kept my eyes on the road.
"Where did you say we were going?" the kid asked again.
"I didn't say," I answered. "Don't talk, kid. I need to listen." As I was saying it I heard the second call almost directly in front of me and not far overhead. I caught a flash of black in my peripheral vision, and it took everything I had not to look, but I knew better.
"Did you see that?" she asked, startled. "That thing almost hit you!"
"Shh."
"What kind of bird was that?" she continued.
"A raven. Now be quiet. I've got to listen." She stayed quiet after that, walking along beside me as my pace slowed.
After a little more than an hour my legs started to get sore and I started to get worried. Had I missed the third call? I didn't have time to start over. We needed to hurry. I looked over at the kid, wondering how she was doing. Her cheeks were a little red, but she seemed fine. She was young. She could probably walk all day.
That's when I heard it. It was high up and over my right shoulder. I stopped and turned quickly, staring into the sky. There! There it was! The road we were on had veered slightly northwest, but this thing was headed slightly southwest. We'd have to leave the road. I looked to the southwest, but the road was cut into the side of a small hill that rose in that direction. I couldn't see anything past the hill.
"Come on," I said, crossing the road.
"Where are we going now?" she asked, running across the road.
"Up this hill. This way." I looked back, but the raven was gone. I got this suspicion that I didn't correctly remember the direction it was heading, but I what could I do? I had to go with what I remembered.
There was a barbed fence a few feet from the shoulder, but it was easy enough to pass through and we were soon standing at the top of the small hill. I was winded from the short climb after the long walk. The terrain past the hill was more flat, and I could see for a good distance. There it was, looking just like I remembered it. It was still a good walk away, and I was a little discouraged. We weren't going to get there before nightfall.
"What do you see?" she asked.
"Aphter," I said.
"Where?" she asked.
"You can't see it yet."
"Why not?"
"Because you don't know how."
"Can you tell me how?"
"No. You can't tell someone. They have to watch and learn for themselves. Let's go." I started walking down the hill.
"What is Aphter?" she asked, catching up with me.
"A town."
"And we have to go there?"
"Yes."
"Who lives there?"
"Lots of people."
"People who can help us?"
"I hope so."
We walked without talking for a few minutes, listening to the cicadas start their evening song in the trees. A cool breeze blew in from the northwest.
"What sort of people live in Aphter, Simon?" she eventually asked.
"Dead people."
TWO
The sign just said, "Aphter," not "Welcome to Aphter" or "The Aphter Chamber of Commerce Welcomes You!", just "Aphter."
I turned to the kid, but I couldn't make out her face in the midnight dark. "Okay, now you'll need to listen to me carefully and do exactly as you're told, do you understand?"
"Why? What's going on?" She sounded tired. We both were. We'd been walking for at least six hours and my legs were throbbing.
"We're here."
"We're where? We're standing in a field!"
I sighed. "You'll have to trust me," I said. I put my hand on her shoulder, but it felt awkwardly like something someone else would do, so I took it off. "We're here, you just can't see it yet."
"Why not?" She looked around.
"I already told you why not. You need to pay better attention to things." I sighed again, trying to compose myself. "Listen, I'm exhausted, and I'm sure you must be too, so let's just agree to be agreeable, okay?"
"Whatever."
"Okay. You're going to have to take my hand, and you're going to have to close your eyes. Do you understand? This is really, really important. We only get one shot at this. I don't want to leave you behind."
"One shot at what?"
"We're going into town, into Aphter. I can go in because I can see it. You can only come in if you hold my hand and close your eyes."
"Why do I have to close my eyes?" she asked. She was still looking around, as if she could make herself see what I saw by peering intently into the dark or concentrating enough.
"Well, you don't have to, technically, but your brain won't like what it sees if you don't. It will make you sick. Really sick, trust me. We don't have time for you to be sick, so just close your eyes."
She thought about it for a minute. "Do I have to keep my eyes closed the whole time?" she asked.
"No. No. Just during the change. Once we're in town, I'll tell you and you can open them. It will only be for a few seconds, and I won't let go of your hand."
"Oh," she said, sounding relieved. "Okay." Then she added, "Are you serious about this? Is this real?"
"Just wait and see," I said, taking her hand. "Are your eyes closed?"
"Yes."
"Good. Keep them closed until I say." I turned to look at the road into town. I wasn't in town yet, so I couldn't tell if anyone was about. The town looked empty, and probably would be pretty dead at this hour (no pun intended), but you could never tell. Taking a deep breath, I stepped onto the dirt road of Aphter and pulled the kid, Amy is her name, with me. I was looking at the ground, so I saw the polished black shoes in time to stop just before running into the police officer less than six inches in front of me.
"That's quite far enough, breather," said his vaguely British accent.
"Can I open my eyes?" asked Amy.
THREE
The cop was on the smallish side of average with short, dark hair and a thick, black mustache. He was wearing a skintight, short-sleeve, light-blue, button-front shirt with a silver badge on the chest and navy blue, skintight, polyester uniform pants. There was a raven perched on his shoulder peering up at me.
"Who the hell told you how to get here?" he demanded.
"N-no one told me," I stammered nervously. I'd never been greeted like this before. Who the hell was this guy?
"Hmmm...," he said, taking a step back and bending to look directly into Amy's face. She still had her eyes closed. "You can open your eyes, little girl," he said. She opened her eyes and was startled to see this strange policeman staring at her. She started to step backwards.
"No!" I yelled loudly, pulling her arm a bit too roughly to keep her from moving back at all. She stumbled forward a bit and almost collided with the cop, but he snapped up and thrust his hands onto her shoulders to catch her. In the commotion the raven cawed loudly and leapt into the air, flying to light on the roof ridge of a nearby house and calm its ruffled nerves.
"Careful there, breather. You'll have her arm out," said the cop, bending to look her in the face again, his hands still on her shoulders. "Are you okay, miss?" he asked, smiling a huge, toothy grin under his mustache. "Let's move a little further in to talk," he said, slipping his arm around her shoulder and leading her a few steps away from the edge of town. She held tightly to my hand, so I followed them.
"Hey, I'm sorry," I said to her, squeezing her hand. "If you had stepped back any farther I would have lost you." She just looked over at me with a blank, bewildered look.
The cop led us into the light of the nearest lamppost and then slipped his hand off of Amy's shoulder and snapped around to peer at us again. "All right now, you two, why the hell are you here?" His accent was hard to place, but there was something very familiar about him. His movements were a little exaggerated, almost flamboyant. His nose and toothy overbite stuck out in a way that I was sure I had seen before.
"Do I know you? Have we met?" I asked.
He leaned in and peered at my face. "No, I don't believe we've met," he said.
"Well where's the sheriff?" I asked?
"I am the sheriff," he replied, with a strong emphasis on the word "I".
"What happened to Sheriff Wayne?" I asked.
The question surprised the odd sheriff, and he put a hand to his chin like The Thinker and considered me for a long pause. "Who are you?" he asked, finally.
"My name is Simon," I replied, "Simon Sayer." I held out a hand to shake, but he just glanced down at it and back up again.
"Well, I've never heard of you, Simon Sayer, but you've obviously been here before. What brings you here now?"
"Just business," I replied drawing my hand back and putting it into the pocket of my jacket. "Where's Sheriff Wayne?"
"What sort of business?"
"You didn't answer my question," I observed.
"We have that in common, it seems." He smiled.
"Am I required to tell you my business, Sheriff?" I asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "I've never observed that requirement here before. Have things changed so much here?"
His smile faded a little, and I could see a little tension pass from him as he arrived a decision. "No, of course," he sighed. "Your business is your business, as long as you don't cause any trouble." He took a pen and small notepad from his front pocket. "Simon Sayer, you said?" he asked, making a note of some sort.
"That's right."
"And your name, my dear," he smiled at Amy.
"Amy," she replied.
"Amy what?"
"Amy Montaigne."
He made a quick note and, with a flourish, snapped the notepad closed and thrust it and the pen into his shirt pocket. "Well, Amy Montaigne," he said, sweeping his arms wide in the dramatic gesture of a sales model, "welcome to Aphter. I am called Sheriff Mercury, but you can call me Freddie."
Hello, friends. How are you today?
Later. Love.
P. S. - Looking for something funny? Todd Levin is funny. Thanks for stopping by.
