Whistlestop (2 page)

“
I didn’t do
it.”

“
What? You just agreed it
was your fault.”

“
It’s my room, and I’m
responsible for what happens here, but I didn’t make the
mess.”

“
Are you accusing
Lilian?”

“
Miss Goody Two-Shoes,
never. She’s too clean to ever make a mess.”

“
So, who made the mess if
it wasn’t you or Lilian?”

Jeremy looked around the room and then
leaned close to his father’s ear and whispered, “It was
Jeremy.”

Jerry frowned and replied, “So Jeremy
did it and it wasn’t you. Are you saying I did it, or maybe
Grandpa?”

“
No, Dad, it was
Jeremy.”

“
So, there’s another Jeremy
now. Is he one of your school friends or a neighbor?”

“
I shouldn’t have said
that, Daddy. Now I’m in big trouble.”

“
Son, is there a bully
making you be quiet about his shenanigans? You can trust me. I can
fix this for you.”

“
I did it, Dad. I made the
mess. It was me, Jeremy Davis Winslow III. No one else. Just
me.”

“
This isn’t right, Son. You
can’t let someone push you around like that.”

“
There is no bully, Dad, I
swear. I did it; no one else.”

Jerry had no idea what to think now.
Could there be a neighbor boy breaking into his house and
tormenting his son? Why was Jeremy covering for such a punk? “We’ll
call you for dinner in a little bit, okay?”

“
Yes, Dad.”

Jerry patted his son on the head and
walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

“
I’m sorry, Jeremy,” the
little boy squeaked.

The evening passed peacefully, but
Jerry was still consumed by little Jeremy’s words. He was certain a
local bully was terrorizing his son and worse yet, was breaking
into their house to punish him more. After dinner, he had gone all
over the house, checking every door and window, looking for
evidence of tampering, but found nothing. If there was no bully,
could that mean his son had a mental problem? Could he be
schizophrenic, with a good Jeremy being tormented by his alter-ego?
None of the possibilities offered hope, and now Jerry was left
tossing and turning, unable to clear his mind enough to drift off.
At 2:00 AM, he gave up and got out of bed, stepped into his
slippers and left the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.
He looked in on Lilian, who was sleeping peacefully, and then went
to check on Jeremy. He reached out to grab the doorknob, and
quickly pulled his hand back. The knob was as cold as ice.
Desperate to find out why, he pulled off his pajama top and wrapped
it around his hand, and managed to turn the knob and open the door.
It was intensely cold in the room, and he could see his breath as
he approached the bed. Jeremy seemed warm and was well covered,
sleeping soundly. Jerry checked the window and found it locked
closed. Why is it so cold in here, he wondered. Since his son
seemed to be fine, he exited the room and left the door wide open
so the ambient air would warm the icy room. Jerry turned on the
light at the top of the stairs and went down into the kitchen,
where he poured a glass of water and added ice. Then he sat at the
dinette table and thought about what he had just
experienced.

Almost immediately, he felt very
sleepy and found it difficult to keep his eyes open. His eyes
closed and head dropped down onto his chest, suddenly waking him.
His head snapped back up and his eyes bugged out. Through the
window, he could see a dead cat hanging from a tree in the
backyard. His eyes closed again and he soon did not know if he was
awake or asleep. Next, he could see his breath as the temperature
in the room plummeted. He began to shiver uncontrollably. He felt a
hand on his shoulder and spun around to see a pair of large, oval
eyes floating in mid-air, staring back at him. The eyes closed and
disappeared. A voice in his left ear said, “Jeremy, how could you
forget me?”

He jumped to his feet and shouted,
“Who’s there? I have a gun!”

In his right ear, the voice said, “You
don’t have a gun, Jeremy. You can’t fool me.”

“
Show yourself! I’m not
afraid!”

“
I don’t want you to be
afraid, Jeremy. I’m your best friend, but now it seems you’ve
forgotten me. How sad to be forgotten, don’t you think?”

Jerry kept turning around and around
trying to locate the person behind the voice, but the room was
deserted. “Get out of here and leave my family alone!”

“
You made me promise to
stay with you forever, Jeremy. We have a pact that you have
conveniently forgotten. But it is still a pact and you must fulfill
your part.”

Jerry was certain he was now insane.
He gave up on the voice and sat down heavily, holding his head in
his hands. “I give up. Kill me if you want, but please don’t hurt
my family, okay?”

He suddenly felt warm and totally
relaxed. He put his head down on the table and fell asleep. The
voice whispered, “Rest, my dearest friend. You will learn much more
tomorrow, and I will be with you every minute, just like we
promised.”

Hours had passed when Jerry’s eyes
opened and he stretched and moved his head to relieve the ache in
his neck. The sun was just rising and the first daylight shone
through the window. He remembered his dream and jumped from the
chair and pulled open the backdoor. There was nothing hanging from
the tree. The temperature in the room was normal, and he realized
it had all been a dream. The clock on the microwave showed 5:45 AM,
so he went back upstairs to get more sleep. That was one night
better forgotten forever.

As he opened the master bedroom door,
he noticed both children in bed with their mother. He sat on the
side chair, just watching his family sleeping. Their peacefulness
filled him with happiness. Jerry put his feet up on a hassock and
leaned back, closing his eyes. After what seemed like a few
seconds, Lynn said, “What was all that screaming about last night,
Jerry?”

He opened his eyes to see Lynn sitting
up in bed staring at him. Both children were gone. He glanced at
his alarm clock which read 7:45 AM. “What?”

“
Come on, Jerry, you were
downstairs shouting at someone. The kids heard it and that’s why
they came in here to be with me. You scared the heck out of them.
Who was in our house in the middle of the night?”

His mind was confused and he closed
his eyes to concentrate. “I’m sorry, honey. I think I was talking
in my sleep. I had all these crazy visions in my mind. It couldn’t
have been real.”

She rose and walked over to him,
putting her arms around him tightly. “Are you okay, Jerry? Now I’m
starting to worry about you and Jeremy.”

“
I’m fine, Lynn. I probably
was just worried about Jeremy’s problem and my mind raced and went
crazy. Did you think about what I told you last night?”

“
I know most of our
neighbors, and none of them have a child named Jeremy. I will call
the school on Monday and ask them about other boys with that name,
but it seems unlikely that someone could break in here, trash his
room, and make their escape without leaving any signs.”

“
Yeah, that’s what I
thought too, but the way he said what he said was strange. Maybe we
need to take him to a psychologist or something. I hope there is
nothing seriously wrong.”

Lynn kissed him lightly. “You know,
we’re both overthinking this whole thing. I’m sure Brad is right,
and Jeremy just needs an outlet for his energy. Suddenly, we’ve
talked ourselves into believing Jeremy is losing his mind over a
little mess.”

“
You’re right as always.
How about we get everyone ready and go out for breakfast? Then
Jeremy and I can go to see Brad’s team.”

As soon as Jerry pulled his car into
the parking at the ballpark, he knew it was a mistake. He
remembered what happened two years ago very clearly. Brad was an
ogre as a coach, pushing heavy discipline on the six-year-old boys,
and there was no reason to believe anything would have changed. He
could also see the change in his son as they walked toward the
field. Jeremy had been lively and joking around at breakfast less
than an hour ago, and now he was somber and reserved, hardly
speaking or making eye contact. The two climbed into the stands
where the parents of both teams were chatting and rooting for their
children.

The teams could not have been more
different. Brad’s team was tightly regimented and went through
their practice without humor or the mistakes so common to
eight-year-old athletes. Other than their physical size, it looked
like a semi-pro team about to take on a bunch of grade-schoolers.
Jerry waved when Brad caught his gaze, but Brad only smiled
slightly and went back to his work. Jerry left Jeremy in the stands
and went to the concession stand to get a couple of sodas and some
nachos. When he returned, Jeremy was sitting with his head down,
looking at his feet. He seemed frozen in place. “What’s wrong,
Son?”

“
They keep staring at me,
Dad. It’s freaking me out. Can we go now?”

“
You’re exaggerating,
Jeremy. No one is staring . . .” his voice trailed off as he looked
at the field. Each of the boys on Brad’s team was staring at them
with abject hatred and disgust in their eyes. He glanced over at
Brad who was laughing.

“
Do you remember now?”
whispered the same voice from his dream. Jerry looked around, but
there was no one else nearby.

“
Let’s get out of here,
Jeremy,” he said, pulling his son up and heading down the
stands.

“
Thank you, Daddy. Those
boys are not nice.”

“
We don’t really know them
and shouldn’t judge others,” he replied as he pulled Jeremy toward
their car. He unlocked the door and his son climbed inside. After
closing the door, he turned and found Brad Lincoln standing inches
away.

“
I thought Jeremy was going
to join the team, Jerry?” he smiled, though his eyes did
not.

“
Sorry, boss, but he’s not
feeling well, and frankly, neither am I. I think we both got food
poisoning or something at breakfast.”

“
I’m sorry to hear that,”
Brad replied. He put his hand on the car door and quickly pulled it
back. “What’s going on with your car? It feels like ice.” He put
his hand to his mouth and blew on it to warm his
fingers.

“
What’s that smell?” Jeremy
said from inside.

“
Yeah, what is that? It
almost smells like cordite or gunpowder,” Jerry added.

Brad chuckled and replied, “It’s
probably me. I took the boys to the gun range this morning. It’s
important that a boy knows how to protect himself, right, Jeremy?
You never know what kind of kook you’re going to run
into.”

“
Yes, sir,” Jeremy
replied.

“
I’ll see you on Monday,
boss.”

“
Okay, I’m sorry it didn’t
work out with the team. I’d like to invite your family out for
dinner this week. What do you think?”

“
Sounds like fun, Brad. Let
me check with Lynn.”

“
Of course, I think if
Jeremy got to know the boys on the team, he’d change his tune. I
know we can get a little carried away at game time. No hard
feelings, okay Jeremy?”

“
No sir.”

“
Good luck with your game,
Brad.”

Brad smiled broadly and replied, “Luck
is for suckers, Jerry.” He turned and walked away.

Jerry hurried and got in the car,
started the motor, and drove out of the lot, heading home. After a
few blocks, the voice spoke in his right ear, “Please don’t go to
his house, Jeremy. He is not as he seems.” Jerry ignored it. A few
blocks later, the voice said, “Now do you remember me, Jeremy?”
Still he acted as though he could not hear. The car was on their
street when the voice implored, “Please say you remember! Please
say my name!” Jerry ignored it still.

After a moment, Jeremy asked, “Why
aren’t you answering him, Dad?”

Jerry slammed on the brakes and pulled
over to the curb. “You heard that voice?”

“
Of course, Daddy, I heard
him talking to you last night in the kitchen too.”

“
Is that the Jeremy you
were talking about?”

“
Yes. Do you know him
too?”

Jerry clinched his eyes and tried to
remember. “I don’t know.”

“
All is truly lost then,”
the voice said.

“
Do you know his name,
Son?”

“
Of course I do,
Daddy.”

“
Please say my name, baby
Jeremy.”

“
I’m not a
baby!”

“
I apologize most humbly,”
the voice said. “What is my name, Master Jeremy?”

“
Jeremy Bumblebee
Mistcatcher Whistlebop!” The voice laughed and soon Jerry was
laughing along.

“
I don’t think this is
funny!” Jeremy complained.

“
We apologize with our
whole hearts, Master Jeremy,” the voice said. “Your attempt was
most honorable; although I’m afraid you made a few mistakes. Would
you care to say it, Old Master Jeremy?”