CHAPTER ONE:
"Your aunt is going to kill me," Jack muttered, twisting his hat in his hands, eyes raised to the lamppost.
"Aunt Jane doesn't need to-whoa!"
In one move, Jack crammed his hat on his head and grabbed the dangling feet of six year old Georgie Banks, who had one hand on the lamppost and the other on Jack's light. He righted the child, planting his feet back on the ladder so Georgie could finish putting the light on in the lamp across the street from his home at Cherry Tree Lane.
Jack glanced around over his shoulder, eyes flicking up to the second floor window. No Jane. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Probably best you get down now," he suggested hurriedly, holding the ladder steady against the post as the youngest Banks practically leapt off the top rung and into his arms. Jack ducked quickly to avoid the torch, plucking it out of Georgie's hand.
"Thank you!" Georgie said politely, throwing his arms around the leerie. "Can I help you with the rest of the lights?" He pulled Jack's hat off his head and plopped it down on his own. Jack shook his head. The boy was constantly nicking his hat.
Jack cast an eye toward the sky, darkening quicker than usual with the threat of rain. "Not tonight, Georgie," he said, "and don't even think about sticking out that bottom lip!" he added as the boy tried to look sad and pleading.
"But, Jack-"
The pout in his voice nearly did him in, but Jack tried his best to stay firm. "No but Jacks," he countered. "We agreed on one light, an' one light only. Besides, it's nearly supper and your aunt will have my skin if you're late." He snatched his cap off Georgie's head and the boy giggled.
As if to punctuate the statement, the front door of 17 Cherry Tree Lane opened and Jane Banks appeared as if summoned. "Georgie!" she called across the street. "Supper!"
Jack crossed the street with Georgie, making sure to check both ways before skipping across the street in tandem with him. He tipped his hat to Jane. "'Ello," he greeted her.
Jane beamed at him. "Good evening," she greeted him. "I hope Georgie didn't hold you up too much," she said as her nephew ducked around her and into the house. "Wash your hands!" she called after him.
Jack shook his head. "Always got time for him," he replied, and meant it. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked backwards on his heels. "I-"
"I-"
They both laughed softly. "I should probably get back inside," Jane said. She turned, half in, half out of the door, then stopped. "Did you…that is, do you want-"
"Oh, I shouldn't," Jack cut her off. "Wouldn't want to impose, and anyway, got a bit more to do before it-"
A crack of lightning interrupted and the sky burst open, pouring rain in torrents down on Cherry Tree Lane.
"-rains," Jack finished with a laugh.
"Well, you can't very well finish the lights in this weather!" Jane said.
"Wouldn't be the first time," he shrugged. "I don't mind a spot of rain."
"Nonsense." Jane pushed the door open wider, grabbed his hand and pulled him indoors. "At least wait until it's let up a bit?" Her voice rose on the last word, turning it into a question.
"Jane?" Michael Banks' voice called from the dining room. "Are you coming?"
"Come on, Aunt Jane!" That was Annabel.
"We can't eat without you!" John echoed.
The blonde looked pleadingly up at Jack, with the same expression her nephew often used to try for one more story, one more light, one more moment of playtime.
This time, he couldn't say no. Somehow, it was more effective with her.
"Until it lets up a bit," he agreed, and Jane smiled brightly. Jack hurried to take off his hat, stuffed it into his pocket. He took off his shoes and gloves, leaving them in the entry. He followed Jane through the living room and into the dining room, just in time to hear Georgie say to the rest of the family,
"And then I almost fell off the ladder, but Jack rescued me!"
Jane turned to Jack with a frown and he ducked his head with an embarrassed grin, even as Michael, Annabel and John all started laughing.
Later, Jack would berate himself for not moving along when he should have, as in the end it was the decision that got he and Georgie into the mess they were in.
Ellen had outdone herself, perhaps motivated by the gloomy day and weather they were having outside. The children were in high spirits with the weekend coming on, and Michael was working with an important client at the bank. Jane seemed to have forgiven Jack for letting Georgie on the ladder by midway through the meal.
Jack was a master storyteller, and at the moment, even Ellen was eavesdropping from the kitchen as Jack finished one and began another. "Have you heard the tale of the Chimpanzoo?"
Georgie waved a hand in the air. "I know what a chimpanzee is!" he cried out. "It's a monkey!"
"He didn't say 'chimpanzee,'" John corrected his little brother. "He said zoo." The older boy frowned as he glanced sideways at the leerie. "Wait…"
Jack laughed. "Aye, Georgie is correct as well," he assured John. "For it's chimpanzees who run the Chimpanzoo," he explained. "And it's people that are in cages there, instead of the animals, and-"
The clock in the living room chimed seven, and he paused. Then, he frowned and bit his lip. "'m afraid the story may have to wait for another night," Jack said finally. "I should get back to my routes. There's a few dark streets out there that could use some light."
A chorus of 'aww' and 'no!' met his ears from the children as he pushed back from the table. He smiled apologetically.
"But you didn't finish the story!" Georgie protested. The youngest Banks child looked crestfallen.
"It gives him a reason to come visit again," Michael told his son, and Jack fairly beamed as the other man rose from the table and shook Jack's hand. "Thank you for supper," Jack told him. He grinned at the kids. "Always nice to have a good meal and good company to share it with."
"I'll walk you out," Jane said, standing up and putting her napkin on the table. She pretended not to notice the knowing grin that Annabel and John shared as she followed Jack to the front door. "I'm glad you stayed," she told him. She leaned on the banister as Jack pulled on his shoes. "Stay dry," she added, as an afterthought.
The leerie nodded with a hand on the doorknob. "I'll do my best," he said. "Thank you again for the invitation," he told her. "I'll be 'round to finish the story for the children soon." He smiled. "Poor Georgie'll be hangin' by a thread until then."
"We'll keep him distracted," Jane promised. She toed the rug in the entry. "Have a good evening, Jack," she said finally, deciding that was the best and least awkward way to end the evening.
He nodded to her. "Good night, Jane."
The rain had let up significantly, but sheet lightning backlit the clouds as Jack jogged across the street to where his bike was propped against the lamppost. He shielded his eyes and glanced up the street, mentally counting how many lights he had left to finish. It would be worth it, finishing in the rain, because of the good meal in his stomach that night.
Something moved off to his right, in the park, and he turned to look. But between the rain and the dark and the dark street (at least where he was standing), he couldn't see what it was. Hopefully whatever or whoever it was has a dry place to bear down and-
Hat. He just realized, he'd forgotten his hat. It must have fallen out of his pocket during dinner. He looked back at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, wondering if he should go back for it, or just leave it until the next time. It would give him another reason to stop back and visit (besides finishing the story for Georgie, he reminded himself).
The front door opened and a small figure burst out in a jacket and hat, solving his dilemma. "Look both ways!" Jack called out to Georgie, shaking his head, as the boy began to cross the street. Georgie stopped on the curb, one foot halfway off, looked both ways, and then darted across. "What brings you out in this weather?" Jack asked him, swinging him into his arms.
The answer was on the boy's head, and Jack flicked up the brim of the hat. Georgie grinned underneath it. "You forgot this!" Georgie informed him. "Father said I could bring it to you."
"Well, it's much appreciated," Jack responded, plucking the hat off Georgie's head and placing it on his own. He set the boy down. "And now you'd best get back inside before you catch your death of-"
"I'm afraid going back is not an option," a voice interrupted. A rather harsh, deep voice. The voice made Jack turn, and instinctively move himself between Georgie and the voice.
The voice was coming from the park, just on the other side of the entrance that was across from the Banks' home.
"Move," the voice ordered. "Quickly. Before someone comes out to see what's taking so long."
"I'd rather not," Jack said to the voice, or in the direction he thought it was coming from. "Georgie. Go back to the house." His tone left no room for argument. Georgie had never heard Jack's voice quite like that. All the laughter was gone from his voice. There was something else there. It scared him, almost more than the voice that he couldn't see in the dark and the rain. Jack gave the boy a half push toward the road.
"Don't!" the voice barked, and Jack caught a glint of something in a burst of stray lightning. Cylindrical, shiny. Alarmed, he grabbed Georgie's collar and yanked him to a stop. The boy had said nothing in all this time. Jack felt Georgie latch onto his jacket and wrap one arm around his leg.
"You'll come with me now." The voice left no room for argument, and Jack, worried for Georgie and maybe slightly for himself, felt they had no choice but to follow. He scooped Georgie up into his arms again and allowed the voice to prod them into the park, disappearing into the darkness just as Michael Banks poked his head out of 17 Cherry Tree Lane and called, "Georgie? Time to come in, now!"