Drive Jimmy!...Just Drive!
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Just a few feet in front of them a small child came to a rearing halt, panting and waving her arms.
Jimmy and Bobby jumped back out of reflex and grabbed their chests. There was no way to tell what was going to appear out of the fog, and in the few seconds from when the panting had begun Jimmy had strange and fearsome images run rampant through his mind. He let out the breath he was holding as he laughed at himself for overreacting. He bent down and put a shoulder on the small girl who had been the cause of his unwarranted stress. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Help...you have to come quickly..." the girl panted, trying to catch her breath.
"What happened?" Jimmy asked, reaching for her other shoulder.
The girl finally caught her breath and was able to articulate her dilemma. "It's my mother," she cried. "She's asleep and I can't wake her up!"
"It's all right," soothed Jimmy. "Where is she?" He glanced over his shoulder to introduce Bobby, and found him still standing in the same position- grasping his chest and staring blankly into the fog. "Hey!" he shouted, slapping him on the leg. "Bobby!"
Bobby jumped and blinked back at his friend stunned. Finally comprehension crept through him and he gained composure. Jimmy pointed back at the Jeep and told him to lock it up, they were going to help this little girl's mother.
Bobby complied and returned moments later. "What exactly do you think we'll be able to do?" he asked, speaking quietly so as not to frighten the girl. "I don't have any equipment here."
Jimmy shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "But if we hit her, we should probably see if she's all right. And maybe they have a phone we can use."
Bobby nodded uncertainly and raised an eyebrow. "And just for the record," he started. "You were driving. So change that 'we hit her' to a 'you hit her' thank you very much."
Jimmy scowled and motioned for Bobby to keep his voice down. They didn't have the time to get into a semantic argument, so he pushed his friend ahead with a silent warning.
They followed the girl into the fog, wondering how in the world she had found them in this mess. But she seemed to know where she was going, so the two men followed closely behind. Neither wanted to lose sight of the other for fear of being lost. And it was easy to become so when trudging in cloudy darkness through farmer's fields.
After a moment of walking into the abyss, Bobby leaned in close to Jimmy so the girl wouldn't hear. "Hey," he whispered. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah."
"You know when we were listening to the girl approaching?" Bobby asked skeptically.
"Yeah, how could I forget?" responded Jimmy with a frown.
"You heard her breathing real hard right?...Like she was running real fast right?"
Jimmy thought about this a moment and nodded slowly, not sure where Bobby was going with this.
Bobby swallowed hard as he tried to continue. "Did you hear her footsteps?"
Jimmy almost stopped dead in his tracks. *No, I didn't.* He thought to himself. He quickly picked up the pace, giving the little girl a tug on the arm to get her moving faster. "There must have been footsteps," he whispered back to Bobby. "We just didn't hear them," he finally answered, more for his own benefit than his friend's.
"Yeah," Bobby answered, insecurely. He looked down at his feet as they stepped one after the other through the thick mud of the field. "But why is it so loud now?" he asked, as his foot made another loud sloshing noise in the mud.
Bobby was right. They were making a considerable amount of noise trudging through the mud, and Jimmy couldn't understand why they hadn't heard the little girl running through it earlier. There were a lot of things he wasn't understanding at this time. But he was certain that he wanted to get to the mother, see if they could help, and get the hell out of Dodge. Their situation was becoming all to surreal.
"Sir," said the small girl startling him. "Can we hurry? My mother needs help."
Jimmy picked up the pace again.
They had been walking through the pea soup for over five minutes and they had yet to reach the woman. *How far back is she?* He thought to himself. He looked down at the girl clinging to his hand. "Was she just involved in a car accident?" he asked curiously.
"Accident?" asked the girl, surprised. "There was no accident was there?"
Jimmy looked at Bobby skeptically, who replied with shrugged shoulders. Now, Jimmy was definite he wanted to get this night over with as soon as humanly possible.
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The fog let up a bit as they entered a clearing.
A huge, looming structure was standing in the middle of an emence field surrounded by dense trees. It stood three stories high and looked to be at least the size of a small warehouse. It was dark and ominous with ivy creeping across the first two floors and winding it's way around the sides. A chimney jutted out from the right corner of the roof, silhouetted by thick fog. There was a large oak door situated smack dab in the middle of the mansion's face with a small entrance light that gave next to no illumination.
The house appeared to be older than dirt and slightly out of place for farmland. Jimmy noticed a window on the second floor had lights on, and he could make out the figure of a person watching them. He gulped and tried to shake the eerie feeling creeping down his spine.
The wind had suddenly picked up, causing the trees to wave their long creaking branches, straining them against their rooted structures. Sudden thoughts of white washed butlers dragging chains, and quirkey little men with strange accents crept into his imagination.
The girl dropped Jimmy's hand and ran for the front door. When he and Bobby caught up with her, she pushed the heavy, auspicious door open for them. Then she ran deeper into the heart of the house, disappearing into the darkness.
Jimmy stepped into the hallway after pushing Bobby in first. "Hello," he said quietly. Part of him was afraid to hear a response.
"Hello!" called Bobby, more loudly. "Little girl?!"
A gust of wind rushed past them and the front door slammed shut, it's thud echoing throughout the house. Jimmy and Bobby screamed and raced for the door. Their first instinct was to get out.
*Maybe the woman was just napping and would wake up on her own?* Thought Jimmy, as he tried unsuccessfully to turn the giant door knob.
Bobby was right behind him- apparently sharing the same idea. They were fighting for the door knob when a hand grabbed Bobby by the shoulder. The paramedic couldn't help but scream as he spun around to come face to face with an elderly gentleman wearing an antiquated English tuxedo. Bobby's mouth went dry, and he was about to plead for their safety when the grey haired, sullen faced man spoke up.
"She is in the parlour," he said with perfect enunciation.
"Parlour?" croaked Jimmy, returning the vase he had procured from a nearby table. He had grabbed it out of reflex fear, and now, as he placed it back on it's perch, he felt slightly embarrassed.
"Yes," continued the gentleman. "Mrs.Whittler is in the parlour. You are the two men, Miss Sarah, brought from the road are you not?"
"Yeah," started Bobby, pulling himself together. He stood as tall as he could, portraying a man of no fear...even though he wasn't. "Yeah, we're the men."
"Follow me then," replied the man in a deadpan voice.
Jimmy and Bobby complied in silence and confusion. Neither one wanted to admit to their recent outburst, so they figured if it remained unmentioned- it never happened.
The parlour was located off to the right of the great hallway, and Jimmy and Bobby were relieved when they entered and saw the little girl. She was kneeling beside an unconscious woman; lying on a velvet couch in the middle of the antechamber.
At the far end of the room was a fireplace burning brightly between two large windows. A man was leaning against the mantle smoking a pipe and wearing a navy blue smoking jacket. He resembled an old matinee idol Jimmy had seen in one of Lombardo's classic late night movies. Behind the couch was another woman of considerable age, wringing a delicate handkerchief between her gaudily enjeweled hands.
"Mother," said the girl in a quiet voice. "I have brought help." She gestured to Jimmy and Bobby with her small hand. "Please wake up mother," she pleaded, as she buried her head in the pillow beside her mother's head.
Jimmy and Bobby shared hesitant glances. The ominous building on fire, the odd assortment of people suffering from trauma, those things they could handle. Those things came with the job. But this scene just seemed to reek of bad news.
Finally, Bobby gently moved the girl called, Sarah, away from the couch so Jimmy could take a better look. He waved his friend over, not wanting to be the one in the position of reposibility. Firefighters were renowned first responders, so he figured Jimmy was well enough trained to be the first man in. Bobby then proceeded to a desk under one of the windows and asked to use the phone.
Jimmy shook the woman gently trying to arouse her- with no result. He looked at Bobby. "Are you calling 911?" he asked.
Bobby kept the receiver to his ear as he played with the dials on the phone. He was getting no reception, not even static. He called into the phone knowing he would get no response, but felt better doing it. Giving up, he held the phone out and furrowed his brow. "I'm not getting anything," he pronounced dumbfounded.
"Nothing at all?" asked Jimmy, his blood pressure suddenly dropping into his boots.
"Nothing."
"The magnetic static from the lightening must be causing interference," offered the man leaning on the mantle. "It has knocked down all the power lines in the area and has left us rather stranded I must say," he said matter-of-factly, as he took a puff on his pipe.
Bobby thought about that a moment. It seemed reasonable. Then he shook his head. "What lightening?" he asked, both confused and slightly irritated. "There's no..." He was suddenly interrupted by a loud clap of thunder, followed by a blinding flash of light that lit up the entire room.
Bobby stood speechless as torrential rain began to beat against the windows. "Oh that storm," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He quickly hung up the useless phone and crossed the room to join Jimmy. He knelt down beside him and examined the sleeping woman with feigned concern. "My professional opinion says she's okay," he said, standing to leave. "Gotta go."
Jimmy wanted to agree with his friend and get the hell out of there, but the woman was still unconscious and needed help. "Just relax," he said looking up at an anxious Bobby. "Let's just check her out and then we can get going." He reached for a glass of water on the ornate coffee table and contemplated it's usefulness.
"How does she look?" asked Bobby, as he knelt down again. This time with more medical training on his mind than fear.
"She looks asleep," observed Jimmy. He looked around the room, trying to find a friendly face. "How did this happen?" he asked no one in particular, since no person was forthcoming.
"He is trying to kill her!" cried the elderly woman, speaking for the first time since they had arrived. She pointed a knobby finger in the direction of the fireplace and began cursing vehnememtly at the man.
"Oh be quiet you old hag," sighed the unfrazzled man. "You always think I'm trying to kill her."
"You are trying to kill her!" she cried again. "My daughter is going to die!" The woman behind the couch began shaking and crying as she threw her head back dramatically.
Bobby rushed to her side and ushered her to a nearby chair. "Now hold on a sec," he started. "Nobody is going to kill anyone. She's probably just asleep like my friend said." He looked to Jimmy for assurance.
"One way to find out," replied the firefighter, drawing back the glass of water. Then he paused to reconsider his next move.
The woman sitting in the chair fanned herself with her handkerchief and leaned back to rest her head. Feeling confident that she was all right, Bobby joined Jimmy back at the couch. "What are you going to do?" he asked slowly.
Jimmy seemed distraught and slightly apprehensive as he continued to stare at the full glass in his hand. "This," he said, quickly throwing the water on the unconscious woman.
And when she suddenly sprang into a sitting position, he dropped the glass and turned to Bobby. "I think everything is under control here now," he said. "Are jobs done."
Bobby patted his friend on the back, relieved to see the woman awake. "Good job, Doctor Doherty."
"It's nice to be able to help," he replied placatingly. "Now let's get out of here before the real freaky-freaky's come out of the woodwork."
"Right behind ya," smiled Bobby dramatically.
"You can't leave us here like this!" cried the old woman bolting upright in her chair.
"Watch us," mused Jimmy under his breath. Then he raised his voice. "We really have to get going."
"Yeah," chimed Bobby. "Our friends will be wondering what happened to us."
"Can't you do anything about the power?" asked the little girl concerned. "You were so helpful with my mother. There must be something you can do?"
Jimmy pushed Bobby forward, figuring it was his turn to take the reigns.
And when Bobby looked into the girl's bright green eyes, he found it hard to refuse. This sudden urge to help overcame him and he found himself complying with her plea. "I'll take a look, but I can't promise anything," he found himself saying.
In the blink of an eye Jimmy was right beside him urging him to change his mind- he'd had enough.
Bobby shrugged and gave a thoughtful glance. "It can't hurt to take a look," he offered.
"Fine," stated Jimmy, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "You look around, I'm going back to the Jeep to get our cell phones. With any luck they'll be working now. And by the way, we just left it out on the road you know. I'll go get it and meet you out front." He was more than ready to get out of this house and back on the road.
"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!" cried the distinguished man at the mantle. He stepped to the window in a dramatic gesture and turned to his intended audience- the storm. "You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!" He finished his performance with a bow and crooked smile. Then he turned to his guests waiting for their gratuitous applause.
Jimmy took two steps back towards the door, staring strangely at the obscure man. "Now *that*, is a strange man," he whispered in Bobby's direction.
"It was Shakespeare!" proclaimed the gentleman. "Don't you know anything?" he asked irritably.
"It was a wonderful rendition, sweetheart," cooed the mother from the couch. She looked adoringly at her husband and offered her hand for him to join her on the couch.
That was enough to convince Jimmy that something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark! He turned on his heel and headed straight for the front door.
Bobby followed Jimmy into the dark hall and gave him a last piece of advice before he started back to his Jeep. "Be careful out there," he said in a hushed tone. "Don't get lost."
"Don't worry about me, buddy," smiled Jimmy nervously, peering over Bobby's shoulder down the hall. "You're the one staying behind with the Addams family." With that, he turned and began a slow trot toward the road. After a few steps his gentle gait turned into a full throttle sprint.
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(Read on...Please.)