The rain and storm of the day
swirled and howled against the order and comfort built by the humans below.
Lights flickered in homes as the wind shook electricity poles. Windows rattled,
rain battered against rooves and umbrellas were tossed around by the storm like
cats tossed around a ball of tinfoil.
Greggory Smitt was preparing coffee
when there was a knock on the door. Rain and mist shrouded the figure standing
hunched outside the house. The figure wore a long coat and a brimmed hat. The
collar of the coat was turned up to keep the rain off the neck. Greg opened to
the door to reveal his next door neighbor, Henry Gearhart. Henry looked up with
a warm smile. “Hellooo” He said as he leaned his “Os”.
Everyone
looked like ominous and suspicious figures while standing in the rain and the
friendly neighbor was no exception. “Glad you could make it!” Greg exclaimed.
Henry’s smile broadened as he stepped into the house. The home was warm and
inviting. The front door led into the living room, then from the living room
was a set of stairs to the second floor and in the back was the kitchen. The
living room was decorated in earth tones with an emerald green recliner tucked
away in the back by the television.
Henry took
off his brown loafers and proceeded into the living room. The smell of fresh
coffee lingered in the air. The calm atmosphere of the home pushed back the
raging storm outside.
As Greggory
led Henry through the living room, Henry noticed an old fashioned pistol hung
on the wall. “Where did you get that?” Henry marveled. “It was my great grand
father’s gun. Kept in the family and it still works too!” Greg said with pride.
“Been getting much trouble on this part of town?” Henry joked. “No, nothing
like that” Greg laughed.
The two men
walked into the kitchen, on the table was two cups of black coffee, a small
bowl of sugar, a small carton box of creamer and spread across the table were
papers. Henry stared at the papers as he removed his coat and hung it over the
back of a kitchen chair. “Really glad you could help me with these taxes.
Running my own business this last year has been a nightmare of paperwork” Greg
said sheepishly. He didn’t like troubling his friends and neighbors for help
but Henry was already thinking about the task at hand. “Oh no problem” Henry
said with a smile and eyes that looked lost in thought. Henry snapped back to
the present and sat down.
As the two
men sat down a knock was heard at the door. “I’ll get it” Greg said with a
cheerful tone then walked briskly to the door. “I’ll just get to work” said
Henry as he sorted through the papers. As Greg walked to the front door, Henry
spotted the top of someone’s head move past the kitchen window. Henry stood up
and walked to the window above the sink and looked down and around. The person
was gone.
Greg opened
the door to reveal an ominous figure standing in the rain. “Hello, sir, can I
trouble you for a minute” Asked the man in the coat. The man turned to Greg
with a smile but the smile looked painted on. Cheerfulness was not this
stranger’s default expression, which Greg discovered by noticing the deep frown
lines on the man’s face. Greg was unnerved by the man but tried to remain
polite. “I really am in the middle of something, sorry” Greg said hastily. The
stranger stuck his foot against the door to keep it from closing. “It will only
be a minute” said the man.
As Greg
spoke to the man at the front door, Henry heard the back door begin to open.
Neither Greg or Henry were in very good shape but between the two of them,
Henry had the natural strength and could have been an imposing figure if he
wasn’t so lazy.
Henry kept
close to the wall and moved in on the door. The back door opened then a man in
a dark coat entered the home. Henry hid behind the kitchen wall. A tree branch was
pushed by the force of the wind outside and struck the side of the house. All
four men were startled.
The front
door man jumped into the house, tackling Greg and slamming the door shut behind
him. The man from the back door charged in. Henry panicked and saw an open door
that appeared to be a closet. Henry charged from his hiding space and tackled
the intruder into the closet. The intruder flew backward through the open door,
which was the open door to the basement. The man was tackled then thrown down
the stairs of the cellar, hitting each stair on his way down and landing on the
concrete in a crumpled mess.
Henry stood
shocked for a minute but then ran to help Greg. Greg and the front door man
were struggling and punching each other until Henry charged in and tackled the
man. Greg scrambled to his feet and moved back into the living room while he
watched Henry fight with the intruder. Everything was happening so fast that
Greg didn’t have the mind to jump back in and help.
As the two
fought, the intruder wrestled in his coat for a weapon. The intruder pulled a
knife from his coat and stabbed it down at Henry. The burly neighbor moved his
head but the blade sliced his ear. The burglar tried again to stab Henry again.
All of the grunting and struggling ended in a loud “Bang”.
The
intruder, who was on top of Henry, dropped his knife and clutched his side.
Henry felt blood trickle onto his stomach. Greg stood there with a stern yet
concerned face holding his great grandfather’s old pistol. “I told you it still
worked”
The storm passed and the rain
slowed to a trickle. The rage and chaos of the storm had tried to fight against
the calm and serene atmosphere of the humans living below but the storm was
gone and the houses remained.
Ambulance dragged away two injured
burglars as police asked Greg and Henry a hundred questions. The calm air of
Greg’s home was replaced with the feeling of rattled nerves and slowly calming
adrenaline. As the police officers took pictures and wrapped up their
investigation. A tired recruit in damp boots spotted the fresh coffee and in a
hopeful voice asked “hey, can I have some coffee?”
The head officer scowled and Greg almost started to
laugh. Instead of laughing, Greg just gestured to the coffee maker and said “help
yourself”
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