Moonweavers (15 page)

“
It’s okay,” she replies in a shaky voice.  “My name is Kim.  My husbands name is Tom.”

“
Kim what,” the officer replies.

“
Kim Jackson.  My husbands name is Tom Jackson and he works at the airport as a plane dispatcher.  Have you seen him?  Oh my God, where’s Tom?  Where’s my Tom?  Where is everybody?”

“
That’s what we are trying to find out ma’am,” the officer replies.  “Where were you when all this happened?”

“
Me and my children were down in the basement.  Tom ordered us down there after he saw a commotion out in the garage.  He ran back in the house, grabbed us up and took us to get in the basement.  He locked the door and told us not to come out until he told us it was alright.  Oh my God, where is Tom?”

“
We don’t know ma’am.  So far, you and your children are the only ones we have found in the whole suburb.  All the windows are smashed and there’s animal tracks everywhere.  There’s a real bad accident down on the highway too.  Looks like the same thing happened there.  All the people in the vehicles are gone as well.  You never saw anything at all, ma’am?”

“
No, like I said, we were down in the basement.”

“
We would like you to get inside the ambulance ma’am so we can take you down to the hospital to get you checked out.  We can meet up again at Saint Mary’s.  If you can remember anything else, it would be a great help ma’am.  Thank you.  You go now and take care of your children and we’ll get back to you with more information hopefully.  Consider yourself very lucky Mrs. Jackson.  From the looks of things, your husband was a very brave man.”

Kim cries hysterically at someone mentioning her husband may be dead.  As the door slams on the ambulance, all that the officer can hear now is the siren and engine as it takes off down the road to the hospital in town. 

An officer approaches the Sergeant and says, “All the tracks lead to the mountain, sir.  We are getting the dogs and we are going to lead some parties outward to see what’s going on.”

“
Okay, but take back up with you and be careful.  We don’t know what the hell this is yet.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Aw, great,” replies the Sergeant as he sees the media van emerge from the edge of the suburbs drive.  The letters on the white van read, ‘JTS NEWS: LIVE AT NINE.’ “How did the news get a hold of this so quick.  We haven’t even blocked off the area yet.”

“
I think the scanner was going crazy,” replied another officer.  “Probably wasn’t too hard to find out about this.”

“
Yea, this will be national within an hour.”

“
You’re probably right, sir.”

The doors slam on the white van and the reporters emerge with their cameras and microphones.  The sergeant hears a ruckus as the police calmly ask the reporters to get back inside their vehicle and leave the crime scene immediately.  The reporters bombard the officer with a ton of questions and an argument begins, but then they calmly do as the officer asked when the guns get drawn.  They are more than willing to reply to the officers demands.  They back the van out and quickly head off to town.  The lady reporter says to the driver and camera man in the van as they leave,
“If those police officers aren’t going to tell us what the hell happened here, maybe the people that they carted off in that meat wagon will.   Let’s head toward Saint Mary’s and see what’s going on.  And where are our choppers?  Our choppers should be covering that accident at least.  Tell them to go and circle over toward the suburbs too.  Maybe we can see something.  A story like this might get us to a major broadcast system, boys, so hop to it.”  Her phone rings. “Hello?”, she answers.  Kelly on the other end of the call is the 911 phone operator.  Kelly replies, “It is crazy down here, girl.  Apparently all the people that were in that accident are missing along with the whole suburb too.  We are getting calls from relatives and everyone else wondering what the hell happened.  They can’t notify them.  I don’t know what’s going on.  Do you?”

“
No, there apparently were a few people that went to the hospital.  We saw them leave in an ambulance.  We are on our way there now.  Keep me posted if you hear anything.”
“I will,” replied Kelly.  “And you do the same.  This is scaring me.” 

The reporter quickly hangs up her phone and calls her doctor friend, Bob, an old boyfriend from college.  Bob answers his phone.

“Yea.  What do you know?”  He obviously knows why she called. 

“
We just left the scene and there is no one around.  There is an ambulance coming your way.”

“
Yea, we know.”  Bob answers.  “Where did they all go?”

“
We don’t know,” the reporter says.  “We were just trying to confirm what happened.  For something this massive to happen, you would think we would need help from the National Guard for awhile and yet there is not even one body.  Not one.”

“
Something like this has never happened before,” the doctor says. 

“
Well, they gotta be somewhere,” states the reporter.  “Keep me posted if you hear of anything, doc, and thanks.”

“
I will,” the doctor says and the phone goes dead.

                                                       
11

After Patty started to observe how freakish Franks interactions were with just about everything in the house and in and around the ranch, including her, she really did start to believe that he might not be from this planet.  But that was ridiculous.   But he does act like he almost had amnesia.  But other than that, he was the sweetest man she had ever met and she truly cared for him dearly.

Frank comes in the kitchen door after doing his chores in the barn.  He liked to get them done before it got to hot outside, so he was back in the house by 8:00 am. 

Patty yells,
“I’m in here.”  Frank enters the living room and sits next to Patty on the couch.  They hold hands on the couch and Patty reaches in to the coffee table and gets the remote control.  She gives Frank a peck on the lips and says, “I have a few hours before I have to get ready to go to Aunt Shirley’s.”  She gives Frank an evil grin and leans in to kiss him more passionately to the sound of engines reving from a car commercial as it flies around corners of mountains and valleys.  Then magically going through curves through cornfields and beans.  But the two lovers see none of this or even hear it.  But their groping hands and locked lips stop suddenly when the JTS News bulletin appears on the television screen. 

‘
THIS IS A LIVE BULLETIN FROM JTS NEWS SEVEN.  THIS MORNING AT EXACTLY 2:15, THERE WAS A TERRIBLE TRAFFIC ACCIDENT OFF HIGHWAY 57.  IF THAT WASN’T BAD ENOUGH, ALL OF THE VICTIMS HAVE DISAPPEARED ALONG WITH A WHOLE SUBURB JUST WEST OF WHERE THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED.  OUR LIVE RESPONSE TEAM WAS DISPATCHED TO THE ACCIDENT AS WELL AS THE SUBURB.  APPARENTLY, AFTER A COUNT, AT LEAST 112 PEOPLE HAVE DISAPPEARED.  EXCEPT FOR THREE PEOPLE.  THE NAMES HAVE BEEN WITHHELD AT THIS TIME BUT ALL THE AUTHORITIES WHO RESPONDED HAVE YET TO COME OUT WITH ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS.  WE WILL BE STANDING BY TWENTY FOUR SEVEN UNTIL WE FINALLY GET PROPER EXPLANATION FROM THE AUTHORITIES.  THE SUBURB WAS JUST DEVELOPED ABOUT A YEAR AGO AND DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A NAME YET.  IT NEIGHBORS THE SMALL TOWN OF MARBLEHEAD RIDGE.  ANY ONE WITH ANY FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF ANYONE FROM THAT SUBURB OR ACCIDENT, PLEASE CALL THE STATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  LIKE ALWAYS YOUR FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR REWARD FOR A TIP IS STILL ON.  WHICH MEANS THAT IF THE TIP IS VALUABLE, YOU WILL BE REWARDED.
 
THANK YOU AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.’

Patty’s mouth drops and she looks at Frank with an almost empty look in her eye like everything is just drained out of her .  She says, “Oh my, Frank, that was just right down the road.  That’s the new suburb they just built on the way to town.  And what did she say?  Over 112 people are just gone?  How is that possible?  How could that even happen?  I didn’t hear any sirens last night, did you Frank?”

“
No,”  Frank replies.  “We should probably go to town and see if we can help.”  He buttons up his shirt.

“
I don’t know how they could all disappeared,” Patty says.  “I’m going to call Aunt Shirley.  She will know what to do.”  She walks to the front door and opens her purse that hangs off the coat rack.  She digs into it until she finds her phone, hits some numbers and puts it up to her ear.  Shirley answers the phone on the third ring.

“
Highway Blues Bar and Grill.”

“
Aunt Shirley?”

“
Oh Patty, thank God you’re alright.  I been just hearing all kinds of horrible things.  What’s going on down there Patty?”

“
I don’t know.  We just saw the news and I called you to find out.  It seems that everybody is missing.  Except for Mrs. Jackson and her kids.”

“
We been busy as hell.  I haven’t really had a chance to call you, hon.  I sure could use the help if you could come in and give me a hand.  This is probably the best place to find things out.”

“
If you really need me, Aunt Shirley, sure, I will come in.”

“
Okay then, get your butt down here.”  Shirley hangs up the phone.

Patty puts her phone back into her purse.  She tells Frank. 
“Look, Frank, we are in dire need of money and I am going to have to go back down to Aunt Shirley’s bar.  It’s important that I have you watch the animals.  I don’t know exactly what is going on, but I will find out more tonight.  When I get home, I will tell you all about it.”
“Sure, Patty.  I have no problem with that at all.”

“
Thanks a lot, Frank.  Shotgun is loaded if there is any trouble.  Those wolves come around, just shoot the hell out of them.  Think you could handle that, Frank.”

“
I’ll give it my best shot.”  Frank replies.

“
I don’t have another phone to give you so I can’t call you, but I will be back as soon as I can.  God, I just hope they find all those people.  That’s just creepy as hell.”
Frank grabs her, pulls her close and says, “I’m going to miss you something fierce.”

Patty replies with a playful moan.  She says,
“When I return, you’re mine.”

They proceed to make out for another three minutes but before Patty can get too heated, she has to go change and get out to the job at Shirley
’s.  Not wanting to pull apart from her new love, but knowing it has to be done, she runs up the stairs to change in to some tight jeans and a shirt.  As she runs down the steps tucking in her shirt, she says to Frank, “You can have anything in the fridge you want.  Just help yourself.  If there is any lunch left over, maybe I can bring some home.  I think today is meatloaf.  God knows you love that, right?”

Frank laughs. 
“Yep.”

Frank and Patty walk to the front door holding hands, looking each other in the eyes for a few moments before they embrace.  Patty caresses his cheek and says,
“Take care of the ranch, snookie bear.  I will be back soon.”

Frank lightly caresses the back of her hand on his cheek. 
“I will, my love and kisses it.”

Patty
’s eyes start to water just a little as she looks deeper into his eyes.  She thinks to herself, ‘That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me and one of the sweetest ways.’  She gently kisses his cheek.  “I’ll be back soon,” she whispers in his ear.

The warm breath in his ear makes him tingle all over his body.  She pulls away and goes to the truck.  Right before she grabs the handle, she turns around and blows Frank a kiss.   Frank watches.  She starts the engine, backs up the truck and drives around the circle drive into the road next to the mailbox.  As soon as she hit
’s the blacktop, the tires begin to peel and smoke pours out the back of the truck.  She leaves a burn mark the size of a block before she slows the truck down.  She honks on the next turn and drives quickly down that road too.  Then she was gone.  Nothing left but traces of smoke and dust.  Frank sighs and walks back into the house.  He glances at the television as he walks by the living room towards his favorite room, the kitchen.  He turns towards the kitchen door and sees the lady in the blue jean jacket and an Indian with war paint on his face, sitting at the kitchen dining table, giving Frank an evil stare as he walks into the room.  He stops in his tracks and looks wide eyed at the two at the table. 

“
You sir, seem to be getting awfully friendly with my daughter,” Tab says, twiddling her thumbs at the kitchen table.  The big Indian just turns and looks at the two.  “And what exactly are your intentions?”  Tab asks.  Her thumbs stop twirling.

Frank replies,
“I am in love with her.”

“
And she feels the same way?”

“
Well, I think so, but she hasn’t said it.”