Chapter 2
The First Day
Paul was already up when I woke up. In fact, everyone else was already up when I woke up. It’s amazing how everything always seems to look different in the morning. The house doesn’t seem so bad with everyone sitting around the table having breakfast. The grotesque car collection doesn’t seem so grotesque and the prospect of a drug dealer next door seems absurd. I even doubt that the guy next door mouthed the word “bones.” I mean, it didn’t make any sense. Even the strange silver pot with the lid on it out in the backyard seems normal. “How did everyone sleep?” I ask. Everyone said they slept fine and the kids looked full of energy and ready to go. We planned to move the rest of our things into the rental today. My dad and husband were going to go load the truck and my mom and I are going to stay and try to make some semblance of home out of the place. I decide to go out front and see if Burned-Out Car Guy is sitting outside. He really seemed to want to say something yesterday and I want to try to prove to myself that everything wasn’t as it seemed last night.
He was out there; sitting on the porch, staring at the road. I didn’t know if I should try to talk to him or not. He had tried to talk to me twice yesterday. It seemed like he had something to say to me. Then he turns, just like yesterday and looks at me. “Bones,” He said. Clearly. I wasn’t imagining what he had mouthed to me last night. “Bones…out there…they are out there…bones!” He points towards my house.
“What do you mean? Bones where? What kind of bones?” He didn’t answer me. He turns back to the road.
“He doesn’t know what he’s saying.” An older woman walks out of the house. “Go inside Roy,” She said to the man who immediately gets up and goes inside without any hesitation. Then she turns to me, “You see, he ain’t right. He ain’t been right for years. Just keep away from him and he won’t bother you none.” She goes back inside leaving me no chance to ask any questions and leaving me convinced that something wasn’t right in this neighborhood or in this house.
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