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."They are.That's why I'm here.""Huh?""Collecting money for the Save the Old Farts Foundation." His words were as dry as the air."What are you talking about?""Donations for security cops," Charlie said."It seems that Pancho and Cisco over in Chalmers can't keep the homicidal maniacs off our backs, so we're taking the law into our own gnarled and wrinkled hands.There's an agency in Harrisburg where we can get guys for fifteen dollars an hour.""Just at night or around the clock?""Well, since Sam Hershey was killed in broad daylight, I hardly think just a midnight patrol would do much good.""They can't patrol the woods, though," Tom said."You think anybody will be in the woods after this?""Good point." Tom cleared his throat."What the hell happened anyway?"Charlie leaned back and looked up at the porch roof."Bret Walters told me all about it.I think he wanted to share the horror so that if he spread it around it might not be so strong in himself.It must have been terrible."Tom glanced at the screen door to make sure no one else was listening."Go on.The news didn't say much about what happened.They did say 'mutilated,' though.""That doesn't begin to touch it." Charlie turned and looked at Tom."Bret said that Sam Hershey's small intestine was wound around that big old pine tree.""What? You've got to be kidding or Bret was kidding you.""God's truth.I've never seen Bret pale before, but this did it.""Jesus, how the hell—""You want to hear this?""Yes, I want to hear it.""You want to get an old man a drink first? For his heart?"Tom went into the kitchen and came out with two Jack Daniel's on the rocks.Charlie drank half of his in one swallow."His navel—and the skin around his navel—had been torn out, and nailed to the tree—""Charlie—""Nailed to the tree with an old spike.His intestine was wound around it for its whole length.Three times around, Bret said.And that's a thick tree." Charlie's voice was beginning to rasp, and he took another swallow."And the other end was still attached to Sam Hershey."Tom feverishly tried to comprehend the physical logistics, as if imagining the logic of the act itself could help him deal with the madness behind its motivation."But how could anyone.do that?""I don't know.But Sam did.""Sam did? What do you mean?""I mean that Sam Hershey walked around that tree himself.After he was nailed to it.His footprints were in the blood.""You can't mean that it was suicide.""No.Bret said the medical examiner thought that he was driven around the tree.His body was bruised and lacerated.And there was blood and bits of.of flesh on some of the branches, like someone bent them down and was hitting Sam Hershey with them." Charlie shook his head."I've never heard of anything so.ungodly.""Sweet Jesus." Tom muttered."Who else knows about this?""Well, Bret told me, with very little urging.Like I said, though, I suspect that he had to tell somebody about it just to help get it out of his system.And I've told you, because I knew you could take it, after what happened with Martha Sipling.But the details are going to be kept secret.It's been reported as murder, sure enough, but unless the National Enquirer gets hold of it, that's all most people are going to know."Tom smiled grimly."So much for bucolic rusticity.""Bet your damn life on it," Charlie said."So, aside from living in a sylvan village where a homicidal maniac who makes Jack the Ripper look like the Tidy-Bowl Man is terrorizing the populace, how's life been treating you?"Tom couldn't laugh.He shrugged instead."Going though changes.""Woman changes?""That's part of it." He tried to keep his mind on the conversation but could not drive the image of Sam Hershey out of his mind."You seeing my neighbor? I heard you two were spotted sharing an ice cream together.""We had a talk.""Better be careful.Here in Dreamthorp, lesser things have led to shotgun weddings.Does this mean it's off between you and your coed cutie?"Tom was slightly amused, slightly annoyed."Do you know you can be a pretty nosy old man?""One of the perks of the elderly, being nosy.It's in the Constitution." Charlie spun his ice around in his glass, tipped back, and sucked on a cube."How's Josh these days?" he asked out of the side of his mouth."Josh is.Josh.Not much change.""I'd have thought that your.separation from your young female friend would have buoyed him considerably.""Not especially.""Give him time, Tom.""He's a good worker.At the Mobil.Ted told me.He said he's real pleased with Josh.""He's a nice kid.A little confused now, that's all.He's got to put his life back together.That's a hard job for a youngster.""It ain't that easy for us old guys either," Tom said.Nor was it easy for a woman, particularly when she felt that she had never had her life together to begin with.Laura arrived home at 8:30, just before dark.Darkness always came earlier under the trees of Dreamthorp, and she had to poke her key at the lock several times before it slipped in.She entered the house, turned on the lights, checked the rooms to make sure that she was alone, poured herself a drink, and began to worry.She worried about the lunatic who had killed Sam Hershey and, probably, Mrs.Sipling; she worried about the new account the company had landed—a chain of Philadelphia-based auto supply shops; and she worried about herself, the way she thought, the things she did and didn't do.Finally she threw a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and turned on the TV.A Clint Eastwood movie was on, and she ate while she watched the Man with No Name clean up the vermin of Italy's version of the old west.At ten o'clock, when the movie was over, she went upstairs, took a shower, and walked naked into her bedroom.The bedroom shade was up only two inches to let in a little fresh air, but Laura crossed the room in the dark and lowered it.As her fingers fumbled for the light switch, she heard a scuffling sound outside.She froze, then knelt by the window, and pulled back the shade, just far enough to see out.Someone was there.In what she called her backyard, a piece of earth so steeply pitched that one could not easily stand on it, a dark figure moved against the deeper darkness of the ground.It moved slowly, going up the hill toward the back of her lot, pausing, then moving again, now slipping catching itself, moving higher up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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."They are.That's why I'm here.""Huh?""Collecting money for the Save the Old Farts Foundation." His words were as dry as the air."What are you talking about?""Donations for security cops," Charlie said."It seems that Pancho and Cisco over in Chalmers can't keep the homicidal maniacs off our backs, so we're taking the law into our own gnarled and wrinkled hands.There's an agency in Harrisburg where we can get guys for fifteen dollars an hour.""Just at night or around the clock?""Well, since Sam Hershey was killed in broad daylight, I hardly think just a midnight patrol would do much good.""They can't patrol the woods, though," Tom said."You think anybody will be in the woods after this?""Good point." Tom cleared his throat."What the hell happened anyway?"Charlie leaned back and looked up at the porch roof."Bret Walters told me all about it.I think he wanted to share the horror so that if he spread it around it might not be so strong in himself.It must have been terrible."Tom glanced at the screen door to make sure no one else was listening."Go on.The news didn't say much about what happened.They did say 'mutilated,' though.""That doesn't begin to touch it." Charlie turned and looked at Tom."Bret said that Sam Hershey's small intestine was wound around that big old pine tree.""What? You've got to be kidding or Bret was kidding you.""God's truth.I've never seen Bret pale before, but this did it.""Jesus, how the hell—""You want to hear this?""Yes, I want to hear it.""You want to get an old man a drink first? For his heart?"Tom went into the kitchen and came out with two Jack Daniel's on the rocks.Charlie drank half of his in one swallow."His navel—and the skin around his navel—had been torn out, and nailed to the tree—""Charlie—""Nailed to the tree with an old spike.His intestine was wound around it for its whole length.Three times around, Bret said.And that's a thick tree." Charlie's voice was beginning to rasp, and he took another swallow."And the other end was still attached to Sam Hershey."Tom feverishly tried to comprehend the physical logistics, as if imagining the logic of the act itself could help him deal with the madness behind its motivation."But how could anyone.do that?""I don't know.But Sam did.""Sam did? What do you mean?""I mean that Sam Hershey walked around that tree himself.After he was nailed to it.His footprints were in the blood.""You can't mean that it was suicide.""No.Bret said the medical examiner thought that he was driven around the tree.His body was bruised and lacerated.And there was blood and bits of.of flesh on some of the branches, like someone bent them down and was hitting Sam Hershey with them." Charlie shook his head."I've never heard of anything so.ungodly.""Sweet Jesus." Tom muttered."Who else knows about this?""Well, Bret told me, with very little urging.Like I said, though, I suspect that he had to tell somebody about it just to help get it out of his system.And I've told you, because I knew you could take it, after what happened with Martha Sipling.But the details are going to be kept secret.It's been reported as murder, sure enough, but unless the National Enquirer gets hold of it, that's all most people are going to know."Tom smiled grimly."So much for bucolic rusticity.""Bet your damn life on it," Charlie said."So, aside from living in a sylvan village where a homicidal maniac who makes Jack the Ripper look like the Tidy-Bowl Man is terrorizing the populace, how's life been treating you?"Tom couldn't laugh.He shrugged instead."Going though changes.""Woman changes?""That's part of it." He tried to keep his mind on the conversation but could not drive the image of Sam Hershey out of his mind."You seeing my neighbor? I heard you two were spotted sharing an ice cream together.""We had a talk.""Better be careful.Here in Dreamthorp, lesser things have led to shotgun weddings.Does this mean it's off between you and your coed cutie?"Tom was slightly amused, slightly annoyed."Do you know you can be a pretty nosy old man?""One of the perks of the elderly, being nosy.It's in the Constitution." Charlie spun his ice around in his glass, tipped back, and sucked on a cube."How's Josh these days?" he asked out of the side of his mouth."Josh is.Josh.Not much change.""I'd have thought that your.separation from your young female friend would have buoyed him considerably.""Not especially.""Give him time, Tom.""He's a good worker.At the Mobil.Ted told me.He said he's real pleased with Josh.""He's a nice kid.A little confused now, that's all.He's got to put his life back together.That's a hard job for a youngster.""It ain't that easy for us old guys either," Tom said.Nor was it easy for a woman, particularly when she felt that she had never had her life together to begin with.Laura arrived home at 8:30, just before dark.Darkness always came earlier under the trees of Dreamthorp, and she had to poke her key at the lock several times before it slipped in.She entered the house, turned on the lights, checked the rooms to make sure that she was alone, poured herself a drink, and began to worry.She worried about the lunatic who had killed Sam Hershey and, probably, Mrs.Sipling; she worried about the new account the company had landed—a chain of Philadelphia-based auto supply shops; and she worried about herself, the way she thought, the things she did and didn't do.Finally she threw a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and turned on the TV.A Clint Eastwood movie was on, and she ate while she watched the Man with No Name clean up the vermin of Italy's version of the old west.At ten o'clock, when the movie was over, she went upstairs, took a shower, and walked naked into her bedroom.The bedroom shade was up only two inches to let in a little fresh air, but Laura crossed the room in the dark and lowered it.As her fingers fumbled for the light switch, she heard a scuffling sound outside.She froze, then knelt by the window, and pulled back the shade, just far enough to see out.Someone was there.In what she called her backyard, a piece of earth so steeply pitched that one could not easily stand on it, a dark figure moved against the deeper darkness of the ground.It moved slowly, going up the hill toward the back of her lot, pausing, then moving again, now slipping catching itself, moving higher up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]