Chapter 11
To this day, I believe if I'd have jumped any higher, I'd have hit the fluorescent safety light above me.
When I landed I whipped around with a yelp, only to discover Elvira standing behind me. I'm still wondering as to how she was able to sneak in through a door that squawked like a parrot every time it swung.
However, I was so relieved at the time to see her that I got her in a bear hug .
"Dodge?" she asked with a bit of a gasp.
"I'm so glad you're here" was my muffled reply.
"Do you need something?" she asked.
"Yes". I said, shaking like a tool shed on a fault line, "I need to see your old man. Is he home?"
"Yeah", She said, "Now could you loosen up honey? You're crushing me".
I relaxed my grip, and after she regained the breath I'd accidentally knocked out, she lead me out to her mustang.
**
"W-W-What'd you need at the shop?" I stammered, the chill falling off and my nerves smoldering.
"Oh, nothing". She said, "I just wanted to visit you. When I didn't find you at your house, I just drove around to your shop".
"I-I-I-It's a g-g-g-good th-th-thing y-y-y-you d-d-d-d-did." I said, my teeth chattering harder than they had that morning.
"What's wrong?" she asked, "You're starting to scare me!"
"I-I-I-I c-can't t-t-t-tell you". I said, "I j-j-just n-n-need to t-t-talk to y-your d-d-daddy, that's all".
By that time we were easing into the Guilders' yard. I didn't even wait for Ellie to stop before I unbuckled and sprung from the moving coupe. Then I rocketed for the front door, and once there I hammered on it as though my life depended on it.
To my fortune, Mr. Guilder answered.
"Hey Dodge." He said, "Are you alright? You look paler than Death".
"Fu-F-Funny you say that. I ju-ju-just s-s-saw so-so-something t-t-terrible". I chattered, my knees about to buckle.
"Steady Dodge". Mr. Guilder said, "What was it?"
"I-I-I c-can't tell you here. Can w-we t-t-talk in your garage?"
"Okay". He said, stepping out onto the porch just as Ellie was coming up the steps.
"What's wrong Dad?" she asked.
"I don't know yet". He said, "But you'd better go get Dodge some coffee and bring it out to the garage. He looks like he's been out in a blizzard".
Elvira obediently walked into the house to fetch the coffee and Dennis and I stepped out to the two car garage at the edge of the house.
**
When we got to the side door he opened it up and flicked on the lights. We stepped in, and I collapsed onto a shop bench with sweat pouring off in fifty-gallon buckets.
"Get a hold of yourself Cunningham, you're making me nervous". He said.
"Y-Y-Y-You should be". I said.
"What do you mean?" he asked, his face going stern.
About that time Ellie stepped in with the coffee and when she handed it to me I began to suck on my cup like a shop-vac.
The caffeine barely managed to calm my nerves, and I still shook pretty hard after I polished off the cup.
"Can you speak?" Dennis asked.
"Y-Y-Yes". I sputtered, quaking hard enough to rattle my part of the bench.
"Well tell me what you saw". He said.
Lucky for me, Ellie had gone back in the house by then, because at the moment I didn't want to scare her with what I'd witnessed.
"Y-Y-Y-You w-w-won't b-believe me". I said.
"Try me". He said with a demanding tone.
"I-I-I-It w-was a m-man a-at the g-g-garage. He-he h-had a c-cut in his st-st-sstomach".
"Is that all?" Mr. Guilder asked with a twinge of annoyance.
"N-N-N-NO!" I exclaimed, "The c-cut… It-it had l-light c-c-coming through it".
"Coming through it?" Mr. Guilder asked. It was then that I saw a spark of uneasiness enter his face. Regardless, I continued.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes Sir. B-B-But tha-tha-that w-wasn't all. He looked like sssomething from a zo-zo-zombie movie".
"What did he look like?!" Mr. Guilder asked, with his voice now urging expedience.
"He l-l-looked li-like the f-f-fonze if he'd been d-d-dead for fo-fo-forty years. He had sh-shredded l-lips, and a j-j-jacket that smu-smu-smelled like a t-t-taaaxidermy shop. He said t-t-to give y-y-you this". I said, handing him the scrap of paper that was still frozen in my hand.
"He a-a-also s-s-said to t-tell you that he s-s-said hi".
"Who?!" Dennis asked.
"M-my-my b-big brother Ar-Ar-Arnie". I said.
Mr. Guilder's face dissolved into abject fright. I saw his hands start to shake as hard as mine were as he clutched the piece of paper. After a second he just barely recovered himself.
He looked at me with his eyes sparking and said, "Tell me this is a joke!"
"N-N-N-No s-s-s-sir". I said.
At this I saw his head drop, and in a hard, low voice said, "This shouldn't be happening, not now".
"W-W-what is it?" I stuttered, my nerves working back into a pure frenzy.
"We're in trouble, you and I". He said, his aging eyes boring holes in mine.
"Huh?" I squeaked. After all, I may have seen the ghost, but I didn't think I was going to be involved otherwise.
"I thought you may have been related to him". Mr. Guilder said, "Lord, why'd this have to happen?!"
"What?!" I howled, my eyes bulging in their sockets.
"Your brother…he's back!" Mr. Guilder screeched.
"And?!" I asked, my right hand white-knuckling the worktop.
"And if he's back, than that means that SHE'S…!" Mr. Guilder boomed, his face now as pale as mine.
"WHO?!" I hollered, now foaming at the bit.
It was then that Mr. Guilder took my hand and thrust the paper back into my hand.
"Read it!" he demanded, sweat pouring off his forehead.
***
The scrap turned out to be a piece from the Taos Guardian newspaper. It was a report on a brutal hit and run on a road just east of the town. As I read further I came to the part where a lone witness, a homeless man who happened to have been relieving himself behind a tree, described the vehicle as being a red and white car of Fifties styling, although he wasn't sure of the exact year model. Towards the end it said that the vehicle was seen heading east.
It was then that my sulky memory dredged up what I thought was only a thing I'd dreamed of on Saturday evening.
"Holy!" I yelped, "I thought it was only a nightmare!"
"WHAT?!" Mr. Guilder thundered.
I said, "I dreamt I s-saw this car…it tried to run me down".