A Halloween Story: Clock Bells

[Jamie Hogan]

They found a piece of rebar and a couple more right-sized chunks of brick and a rusty old mortar spade that Laura told Theo would probably break if he farted on it but he decided to keep it on him anyway. One of the windows in the garage had long since been busted out, and they crawled in to find that the door leading into the house contained no hardware.

The door eased open with the faint hissing of bottom seal against dusty floor and they were in and they immediately heard the voice of Flythe like some mad blathering hermit come wandering down out of a cave "...it is the moonsong that you hear and it is ageless and you will SHUT YOUR MOUTHS and let it sing..."

They came to the kitchen and could tell by the proximity of the voice that he was just in the next room, so Laura put a hand on Theo's chest and motioned for him to crouch, "Okay, I am going to go out there and act like I just stumbled into the house by mistake, and he's going to chase me and when you see me run back in here," she motioned across the entrance of the kitchen, "you will be hiding over there and you hit the next thing comes through that door with the rebar as hard as you can."

Theo nodded and turned to cross to the other side of the doorway and neither of them ever saw the empty beer can and when Theo's foot hit it the sound was like clock bells in an aircraft hangar.

In the other room, for the first time since they'd entered the house, silence.

[Teresa]

I got to the end of sentence one and had to reverse and make sure I'd read the word fart.  Then I thought, Jamie wrote that?  Fart?  Cool.  And I'm thrilled that there was a beer can.  That's life.  Fucking beer cans when we least expect them.  And that last line becomes the silence in the other room.  Perfection. 

 

Floyd and Hogan rule. 

[Stephen Torelli]

Clock Bells... Silence ... Suspense! Good Stuff.

[bolton carley]

bill - you would never phone it in! :)  or is that a hint???

[Diana E. Backhouse]

I don't like the sound of that silence.

[Bill Floyd]

Oh, great.  And here I was just going to phone it in tomorrow.  

[bolton carley]

crap!  now what do they do??  you're scaring the crap out of me.  and i like that laura is brave.  but possibly stupid, too. :)  and the tool that could break from a fart?  only you. :)

[Paul de Denus]

I'm thinking Hogan and Floyd are going to show up with guns blasting- writers can do anything!!!

[Cita]

But, but, but... the PLAN!!  I liked it!  I've always wanted to hit something really hard with a piece of rebar.  Damnit.  I can't keep reading this story.  Somebody good better win.  

[Jeanette Cheezum]

I want more. Who will the victim be? What is going on here? I know I've missed everything and don't have time to go back and read the others. But this did entice me. Great 6.

[Gita]

Oh Mary Joseph and all the saints, why did you have to go and make that happen? They had a plan! They were on the edge of improving the odds!  Some days, Hogan, I want to take your keyboard away.