George Clooney Comes to Visit Maysville, Kentucky!

Hello everyone! I am taking a break from Ruby this week (sorry!) so that I can relay some information from the life and times of the Fugates! I promise that I will start up the story of Ruby again next week. For now, we will just leave her with the little boy and Gran safe inside the house. They don’t know what I have in store for them…so we will let them be blissfully unaware for one more week. Mwa ha ha!

Anyway, as you all may have heard, George Clooney came to premiere his new movie Leatherheads in Maysville last week. Now, my wife Lisa is one of the biggest George Clooney fans that I know. She has pictures of him on her laptop. She purchases almost every magazine that has him on the cover. She even purchased a mug that he helped design to raise money for charity. She is a Clooney nut! So…it went without saying that we were going to be taking a trip to Maysville!

The trip to Mason County wasn’t bad. We go there quite often with our friends, Rod and Corrinna Middleton of Morehead, to eat at Tumbleweeds and to go shopping. We arrived in Maysville about 3:00 PM and had a nice lunch at Applebee’s. I love their Oriental Chicken Wrap. It is so yummy! Afterwards, we headed out to the Mecca of all stores…Wal-Mart.

We had brought our digital camera with us, but Lisa wanted to make sure that our batteries didn’t run down. So, we trekked into Wal-Mart to purchase some new batteries for our camera. I didn’t say a thing. I knew that if the batteries died while I was taking pics of Lisa and George Clooney that I would soon follow them! Seriously….she would kill me. I’m not joking. She would probably use that George Clooney mug of hers to bash me in the head. LOL. I wonder if that would make the value of the thing go up or down? I do know that it would sure depreciate my value!

The city of Maysville had really gone all out to get ready for George. When we arrived in the downtown area at the Opera House (where the movie would be premiered), we noticed that they had already rolled out the red carpet. There were movie posters everywhere. The reporters were out in droves, trying to get the juiciest gossip and the best camera angles for their stories. Of course, I was just mentally taking it all in. If only I had gotten a press pass from the KY Mountain News…perhaps I could have gotten to interview Mr. Clooney himself!

Lisa and I got to the red carpet about 4:00 PM. George Clooney wasn’t expected to arrive until 7:00 PM, so we had three hours to wait. Three long hours. Three long hours in the cold. Three long hours in the cold, standing on our feet. Of course, I didn’t say a word. Lisa had a gleam of madness in her eye. Of course, it was the same gleam that I saw in every woman’s eye as I looked around the ever growing crowd. These women were out for blood. God help anyone who got between them and George Clooney.

Lisa and I chatted with a couple of sisters and their daughters. They lived in Maysville and had been standing in line since noon! I was shocked….but not too much. The crowd kept growing around us as we waited.

I saw some pretty interesting characters. For example, there were three guys dressed up as escaped prisoners in reference to Clooney’s film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? I thought it was pretty cool. There was also some man dressed up like Colonel Sanders. And of course…as I have previously stated…there were packs of reporters everywhere.

As Lisa and I were standing there, the public relations people from the movie came down the red carpet and started throwing caps and t-shirts into the crowd. Now, I know that these products didn’t cost over probably $5 each, but you would have thought that they were made out of solid gold the way that people were screaming and fighting over them. I actually had a t-shirt in my hand, and some man snatched it out of my grasp. I thought about downing him in the street and bashing his head into the pavement, but then common sense came back to me. Had I just been caught up in Clooney fever? I think so! Either that or a bad reaction to that Oriental Chicken Wrap from Applebee’s. LOL! I guess that it could have been either.

Luckily, Lisa caught a t-shirt. She clutched it to her chest like it was George Clooney himself. A few minutes later, I grabbed a cap. It was actually a rather nice cap. I have a hard time finding caps that will fit me, so I was pleased when this one fit me perfectly. So…clad in our Leatherheads garb, Lisa and I continued to wait for George Clooney to appear. Behind us, the crowd was getting restless. I had horrific visions of being crushed into the metal fence by throngs of middle-aged women, lust-crazy over George Clooney. Was I going to be trampled to death by the feet of a 3,000 women trying to snatch a piece of George Clooney’s hair? I prepared myself for the worst.

Soon, the magic hour arrived. The people at the end of the line started screaming. We knew that George had arrived. Lisa was practically dancing. She was so excited. She had brought a copy of Time magazine with her that had George Clooney on the cover. She was hoping to get an autograph.

And then…there he was. I do have to say…I was very impressed with the way that George Clooney treated his fans. He totally ignored the press until he had taken ample time to shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures with his fans. He treated his fans very well! When he got up to Lisa, he signed her magazine. He was really pleased to see it. He said, “Wow…my issue of Time!” He signed it and asked how we were doing. Lisa told him that we were fine. I snapped some great pictures while he was signing the magazine for her.

And then…it was over. He went on down the line. But it had been worth it. Lisa was happy. And if Lisa was happy, then it had been worth it to me. I love Lisa and would do anything for her. I am so happy that she got to meet one of her favorite movie stars. And I have to admit…it was pretty cool. Especially when we saw ourselves on Extra! the next day. Now THAT was really cool!

Until next week (and I promise to continue the story of Ruby!)….class dismissed!

Ruby 7

Deep black anger rolled through the shadow’s mind as it raced along the banks of Troublesome Creek. Things had been going so well. It had fed on the adult female…drinking in the greed and laziness of her life force and giving it new purpose. The child would have been next. His was a special gift…and the creature longed to devour that power and take control of it. Even the boy was not aware of his talents.

But then the white elf had interfered. It wasn’t the first time that the power of White had messed with the shadow’s plans. There had been that incident with the creature in the woods…the Dar-koth. But that had been in another time…another life. Someone else’s tale had been told.

The shadow focused its mind on the one thing that it knew…pain. There was always the pain. The pain of the rage and anger it felt out of being cheated from its prize. The pain of hunger. Even pleasure felt like pain. Pain was the one constant in its life. And now, there was the pain of crystal clarity…focusing on finding a way across the flowing water which blocked it from its prey. Ahead, it could see the outline of what it had been searching for…a bridge.

With a howl of victory, the creature sped across the bridge. How had the white elf known that it could not cross running water? The boy’s scent had been so heavy in its nostrils that it could practically taste his life’s blood. And then it had all been taken away. The boy had swum across Troublesome. But he wouldn’t get away….not for long. With a swiftness that is often seen in creatures of the night, the shadow sped along on the other side of the swift waters. It sensed a victory. It was already picking up the scent of the boy once more. Not even the white elf could protect him for much longer.

As the creature ran along, snuffling at the ground, it began to tremble. The pain was increasing. There was only one hope of dulling the pain…making it more of a pleasurable sensation. The boy had to die.

***

A sharp howl and another cry of fear and pain rang out. Alarmed, Ruby gripped the pistol which she had taken from her Grandmother’s nightstand and then stepped outside. With the power being out, the night took on a whole new meaning. The darkness was so thick that it felt as though she could drown in it.

“Gran?” she hissed, “Are you out here?”

At first there was no answer. The only sound that Ruby could hear was the sound of her own fearful, labored breathing. She felt the hot sweat of panic begin to run down her face and into her open, panting mouth. The bitterness of her own body flooded her senses. Where was her grandmother?

She could hear something running in the woods. It sounded like it was coming closer. Someone screamed. It almost sounded like a child.

“GRAN!” she cried out, “Where are you?”

“Hush child,” came the sound of her Gran’s voice….from right beside her, “I’m right here. Do you hear that?”

“Yes Gran,” Ruby said, relieved to find her Gran once again, “I have your pistol. Want me to shoot out into the woods? Maybe it is a wildcat or something….I can scare it away.”

“No Ruby,” Gran said, “Hold off on the shooting. That isn’t a cat….wild or otherwise. I think that it is a child….listen.”

And Ruby listened. The scream came again. Yes…now that Gran had pointed it out, it did seem to be a child’s voice. It was getting closer and closer.

With a faint click, the light from the flashlight that Gran was holding pierced the air with a stabbing light. She quickly fanned the area….searching for the source of the sound. And then, they both saw it. A little boy came bursting out of the woods. His arms were flailing wildly and his face was a living white sheet. He didn’t even try to slow down…he just kept running.

Handing the pistol to her Gran, Ruby ran out to meet the boy. He wasn’t going to stop….Ruby saw that. So instead, she reached out and grabbed him. He was a collection of wild energy in her arms. Struggling with her, he tried to get away. He kept clawing at her….pinching her.

“Hey….hey now,” Ruby was trying to calm the kid down, “What’s wrong? Is someone after you? Are you okay?”

The boy didn’t answer. He seemed to be in shock. All he tried to do was keep running.

“Ruby?” her Gran was talking to her, shining the light back into the woods.

Ruby was struggling to keep the boy still….trying to keep him from running off again. He kept screaming and screaming.

“What is it Gran?” Ruby puffed as she managed to get kicked in the shins by the boy’s size 7’s.

“There’s something else out there,” Gran was saying, “And it’s coming this way!”

Ruby looked up in time to sense rather than directly see a shadow moving among the trees.

“I think that we had better get back inside,” was all that she managed to say….turning to run with the boy and nudge her Gran along.

That was when the bellow of rage rang out behind her.

Ruby 6

The darkness seemed alive. Forgoing the natural laws, the blackness of night seemed to stretch out its claws….to snatch…to entangle…to trip up the stumbling little boy as he ran frantically in a mad panic from the creature which was pursuing him. Andrew Jones was running for his life.

Back in his room, he had been watching TV. He had just wanted to watch some cartoons until Mommy calmed down. Maybe she would have even saved him a piece of pizza if he was good. But then it had all changed. The Pillsbury Doughboy had popped up on his TV and had told him to run.

“Follow the creek!” the little white man had said, “Go now…and don’t look back.”

Andrew had jumped out of his bedroom window in the back of the trailer. Scrambling down to Troublesome, he had started running along the edge. He had to get away. He didn’t really know what he was running from, but he knew that it was bad.

“Andrew!” a voice called out behind him.

Not obeying the orders of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Andrew stopped and spun around. He saw his Mommy quite a bit behind him, standing beside the creek. She looked mad. He gulped.

“Andrew!” his Mommy called again, “Get your behind back here right now! Just where do you think you’re going?”

And he was going to go back. He didn’t want to upset Mommy. That only brought the belt…or the back of her hand. He took a step toward her.

“No Andrew!” a voice called from across the creek, “Don’t listen! That isn’t your Mommy.”

Andrew looked across the creek. There, on the other side was the Pillsbury Doughboy. He was dancing around, just like he did on those TV commercials.

“Look again!” the Doughboy called.

Andrew looked back at his Mommy. But then he wished that he hadn’t. His Mommy had a huge hole in her stomach. Her guts were falling out of the hole and dragging on the ground beside of her. There was blood running out of her mouth and down the front of her dress. One of her eyes had rolled up in her head, but the other one was staring at him with stony coldness. She was holding a belt.

“Get your little butt over here right now,” the Mommy creature croaked, “Come here and get your punishment. It won’t be too bad if you come right now.”

But now, Andrew could see that this thing wasn’t really his Mommy. A whimper escaped his little lips. He could feel the warmth in his pants as he wet himself. He started to tremble.

“Andrew!” the Doughboy was calling to him again, “Swim across the river. The creature can’t cross running water.”

Andrew looked down at the creek. Troublesome was running fast. The muddy waters looked greedy…hungry for little boy flesh. He looked back up at the Mommy creature. It was running toward him. Andrew saw that it had grown long black claws on the end of its hands.

“Don’t move Andrew!” the Mommy creature growled, “I’m almost there!”

“Andrew!” the Doughboy called, “Move it! If you don’t come now…it will be too late!”

Without thinking about the water…the cold….the danger…Andrew plunged into the creek. He was able to half swim…half walk across the muddy river. Behind him he could hear a shriek of pain and rage. He didn’t turn back.

When he was across the creek, he stood there trembling with fear and cold. He look behind him, half expecting the Mommy creature to be there…grinning and dripping with blood. But it was gone.

“Now Andrew,” came the voice of the Doughboy from all around him, “Run!”

Letting out a scream, Andrew started to run toward a house that he saw in the distance. He kept screaming.

Ruby 5

Ruby let out a scream as she felt the hand clawing at her shoulder. The room was dark…not pitch black, but dark enough so that she couldn’t see much of anything. Why had she dropped that dang lighter?

“Ruby?” came a voice that she instantly recognized.

“Gran!” she felt her shoulder. It was her Grandmother’s hand there…of course.

“What’s going on?” she continued, clutching Gran’s hand, “What are you doing here in the dark?”

“The power went out honey,” Gran said, flicking on a flashlight that cast a sharp, cold beam along the wooden floor of her house, “I was just down in the basement looking for this old flashlight. I really should keep one upstairs in case of this. I thought that I was going to fall down and break my fool neck!”

Ruby took the flashlight and walked with Gran into the kitchen. It was a little cooler in here because Gran had the windows open to let in a little breeze…but it wasn’t helping out much.

“Power’s been going off a lot here lately,” Gran said, “If it keeps going off like this, pretty soon the electric company is gonna’ owe ME money.”

She laughed in slow gentle way that she had. It made Ruby feel good to hear her Gran laugh. There was something about it that soothed her…reminded her of when she was a little girl. She had spent so much time with Gran as a girl. Those had been special times…magical times.

“Let me see if I can find some of those old candles of mine,” Gran opened up some cabinets and started rustling around inside of them. Soon, the kitchen was filled with the soft, warm glow that only candles can give. The flashlight was turned off…to save the battery for future emergencies.

“Lord knows that I’m happy to see you Ruby,” Gran said, pouring them both a tall glass of iced tea from a round glass pitcher that she took from her darkened refrigerator, “But child…what in the world are you doing here so late at night?”

“Well….” Ruby began, hesitating. She wanted to burst right into how she was feeling…how Joe was ignoring her….how she wanted to call him…how she wanted him to call her. But she didn’t want to feel needy.

“Let me guess,” Gran began, taking a small sip of her tea and nodding to herself at the taste, “Man trouble…again.”

“Oh Gran!” Ruby cried out, “It’s Joe.”

“Joe Neace?” Gran asked, “Old man Harlan Neace’s boy? You got an eye for him girl?”

“We went out on a date,” Ruby began…and then it all came spilling out. She couldn’t hold back any longer….and really this was why she had wanted to visit Gran in the first place. She needed to vent. She told Gran all about Tabitha Fraley running off with her boyfriend, the extra hours at work, and her love life….or lack of it. Why hadn’t Joe called her back?

“Now listen honey,” Gran said after listening to Ruby rattle on for a good 10 minutes, “It seems that life is dealing you a hard hand right now. You’ve just got to be patient and wait it out. The cards will turn…they cards will turn. They always do.”

Ruby muttered the words to herself, “The cards will turn.” It was one of Gran’s favorite sayings. Ruby could remember her saying it for years and years. Even when Ruby was a child, that had been Gran’s pat answer for everything…the cards will turn.

Ruby wasn’t too soothed by Gran’s reply, but really what else could she expect? It wasn’t like Gran was running around with a bunch of boyfriends. She just didn’t understand. Oh well…there was no need to rehash this again…she needed to get to work. She hated to leave Gran in the dark…but at least Gran would have supplies and…..

“Hey Gran!” Ruby smiled, holding up the clear Mason jar, “I brought you a little treat.”

“Shine?” Gran acted shocked, “Why child…you know that I don’t drink. But I will take it…for medicinal purposes you understand. It helps to have a little shine in the house you know.”

“Oh of course,” Ruby smiled, knowing that Gran would pour herself a huge slug of the corn liquor as soon as Ruby left. But when you got to be as old as Gran, what could it hurt?

Ruby was just getting ready to tell Gran that she had to leave….had to get to work in order to close down the bar….when there came a loud and frantic scream from outside. Both women looked at each other in shock.

“What in God’s name was that?” Ruby whispered.

“I don’t know honey,” Gran whispered back, “But it sounded scared…or in pain. Go upstairs and get my gun!”

Ruby sat listening again for a few minutes. The scream sounded again. It was closer now….and sounded like it was coming from the woods right outside Gran’s house. There was also another sound….a roaring type of sound. It was hard to describe.

“RUBY!” Gran yelled out, “Go and get my gun girl….something’s not right out there. Can’t you feel it?”

And she could. The air…once stale and hot…had turned ice cold. Shivering, she leapt up and ran upstairs, taking the flashlight with her. She ran to Gran’s bedroom. The pistol was there…where it always was…in Gran’s bedstand. It was loaded and ready to go. Running back downstairs, she clutched the gun tightly.

“I’ve got it Gran,” she said, running back into the kitchen, “Let’s just wait and see if we hear that sound again.”

Gran was gone.

Ruby 4

Her tires crunching on the gravel-lined dirt road, Ruby pulled off of Hwy. 476 and onto Miller Fork Road. It had taken her longer than usual to get here. She had been driving slowly ever since she had almost hit that kid who was playing in the road a few miles back.

What was with that kid anyway? she thought to herself. He had acted like he was a little out of it…or maybe he was just slow. God knew that there were enough drug babies in this county. Of course, with a mother like his, maybe he was just afraid to do or say anything. Ruby was still seething at the encounter with the old cow.

The view of Gran’s old house in the distance made all of her troubles melt away though. In the low light of dusk, she could just barely make it out. But there was no mistaking that old white, two-story farmhouse for anything else but the home of her childhood. She had spent many years coming here…visiting Gran in the summers, helping gather eggs, hoeing in the garden, wading in the creek. She treasured those memories.

But it was darker than she had thought it would be. Flipping on her headlights, she glanced at her clock and was surprised to see that it was already 8:45. She had to be at work by 10! She wasn’t working a full shift tonight, but she had promised Hank, the owner, that she would come in and close. That meant that she would only have time for quick visit with Gran…maybe 45 minutes. At least she could check up on her and give her those groceries…and the moonshine.

She quickly pulled into the driveway and honked her horn three times. It was her special signal that she always did when she visited Gran…to let her know who she was. It was silly…she knew that Gran could just look out the window and see her car. But it was just a little tradition that they had started many years ago when Ruby had first learned to drive. Some things die hard.

Ruby grabbed the groceries and alcohol and started walking up the stone walkway to Gran’s side porch. She noticed again how dark the house looked. Usually Gran would have a few lights on. She wasn’t much for the dark. But Ruby noticed that there weren’t any lights burning in the house. She hoped that nothing was wrong. Concern made her steps quicken.

Walking up on the side porch, Ruby set the supplies down and knocked on the door. She couldn’t hear anyone rustling around inside the house. There wasn’t any television on or anything as far as she could hear. That wasn’t like Gran. She knocked again. Nothing.

“Gran?” she asked, trying the knob. It turned easily in her hand. The door swung open. Inside, the house was as dark as a tomb. The heat rushed out at her. Apparently, Gran hadn’t been using her air-conditioner either. Fear stabbed at her heart. She hoped that nothing was wrong.

“Gran?” she cried out, walking into the house. She tried the light switch but nothing happened. Taking her cigarette lighter out of her purse, she clicked on a little light. The hallway was empty. The flickering light didn’t really help things all that much as she made her way toward the kitchen. It was light…that was true. But the flame just made things seem more surreal…more eerie.

Just then, she heard something shuffling behind her. A hand fell on her shoulder. She let out a scream and dropped the lighter. The room went black.

Ruby 3

Brenda Jones watched from the grimy, fingerprint-covered door of her trailer as the little Ford Focus drove out of sight. The nerve of some people! She smirked as she finished shutting the door and returned to her first love…the rest of the Variety Pizza that she had been shoveling into her face before that woman had stopped outside. She flopped down, almost sitting on the pizza. Little balls of dust flew up in the air. She waved them away lazily with one large grease-stained hand. She really needed to hire someone to clean this place up.

She had told that woman off though. At first, Brenda had been afraid…that it was Social Services again. She didn’t need that trouble anymore. Lord knew that she was just barely making it right now with her welfare and food stamps. She didn’t need that taken away. Her no-good-for-nothing husband had run off with some blonde three years ago, and she hadn’t seen him since. Not that she missed him much, but it was still nice to have a man around the house. Especially when she had to deal with the little brat. She could hear him sniveling in the back bedroom. God…she hated kids. Especially her own.

“Shut up back there!” she bawled out, spewing chunks of sausage and cheese on her purple muumuu. She brushed them into the floor. Maybe she could get a dog or something…it could at least eat some of the crumbs. She looked down at her People magazine. Angelina Jolie was on the cover. That woman had adopted like 3 kids….and then had one naturally. She didn’t know what was wrong with some people. But that hunk of a man of hers probably made it all worth it. Brenda thought that she could possibly put up with 4 screaming brats if she had something like Brad Pitt to look at all the time. He would be much better than that lazy do-nothing husband that she had married right out of high school. Of course, they had had to get married…thanks to the brat.

She could still hear him crying in the back. It was really starting to get on her nerves. She was trying to focus on The Best of Jerry Springer that she had rented at Movie Gallery. She just loved that show. She half expected to see her husband on it one day. Lord knows that that little blonde that he had run off with was just trash. Not a good God-fearing Christian woman like herself.

“I said to shut up back there,” she screeched, “If I have to come back there….I’m bringing the flyflap. And then I’ll give you something to cry about.”

For a second, she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It looked like something walked by the window. She half expected it to be that woman…coming back to start trouble. But nobody came knocking on the door. Plus, it was dark outside now, and she didn’t think that little Miss Priss would want to be tramping about in the dark. She might trip on one of her high-heels and break her neck. Brenda chuckled at the thought and turned her eyes back to the television. Two women in wedding dresses were fighting it out over some little midget that was dressed in women’s underwear. God…she loved the Jerry Springer show. And at least the brat had stopped crying.

***

In the back, seven year old Andrew Jones had stopped his crying. He couldn’t remember too much about what had happened outside. He had been playing in the yard…staying out of Mommy’s way. She was always telling him to get out of her hair…to go outside…to get out of the way. So…he had been digging little holes in the dirt outside when he had heard….a whisper….a voice…calling to him.

At first, it had sounded like Mommy’s voice….but much sweeter. Then it sounded like his teacher’s voice. But there had been another sound underneath that…a grating sound….like dirt underneath your shoe. It had hurt his ears a little. But the voice had kept calling him….to come…to….he couldn’t remember. Had he wanted to go to the old barn that was in the field across the road? He just couldn’t remember.

But none of that mattered right now. Right now…all that he could focus on was the television. He had been crying…trying to be quiet so that he didn’t disturb Mommy. He didn’t want her coming back with the flyflap again…or worse…the belt. His favorite cartoon, Spiderman, had been on…and he had been watching it. He just wanted to forget that….voice….that grating sound. He couldn’t hear it anymore…but he still felt like he wanted to go to the barn….to run to the barn. There was something good in that barn…he just knew it. Maybe Daddy! But right now….he just wanted to watch Spiderman.

Only…it wasn’t Spiderman on the tv. It was a commercial for cinnamon buns….and the Pillsbury Dough Boy was on the screen. But it wasn’t just a commercial anymore. The Pillsbury Dough Boy was looking at….at him! He was talking to him. Andrew sat..amazed.

“Andrew,” the Pillsbury Dough Boy was pointing at him now, “Listen to me. I need you listen to me and do exactly what I’m telling you. You’ve got to hurry though!”

Andrew sat…and listened…as the Pillsbury Dough Boy gave him some quick instructions.

***

Up front, Brenda threw the empty Variety Pizza box in the floor. She would pick it up later. Right now, she wanted to catch the end of the Jerry Springer special that she was loving so much. The two women had stopped fighting and had decided that they would both live with the midget. Some people were really messed up.

She saw something moving out of the corner of her eye again. She glanced over to the window. There in the dark glass she could see the face of her husband. He was just standing there…staring at her. She was shocked at first because she hadn’t seen him in three years. Slowly though, she felt herself beginning to get mad.

Did that low-life think that he could just waltz back into her life after being gone with that blonde for the last three years? And what kind of man just stands around outside and peers into people’s windows? She looked again just to make sure that it was him. She saw his face…looking white and haggard. Why was he just standing there?

“Oh no you don’t,” she growled, jumping up off the couch. She was going to love this! She had been waiting three long years to give that man a piece of her mind.

“I don’t know what you think…” she started to say as she threw open the door of the trailer. But she never got to finish. For a second, she saw her husband standing there….still staring at her. And then he started to melt…to change….into something so hideous that she couldn’t find the breath to scream. It was the last thing that she saw before the creature burrowed its chomping jaws into her massive guts.

Brenda let out a scream that sounded more like a gurgle. Blood erupted from her mouth and coursed down her muumuu…turning it from a purple to a dark black. Her eyes rolled back in her head as the pain washed over her like a curtain of fire. She staggered back into the wall of the trailer, dragging the creature with her. It still had its head buried in her stomach…as it continued to feed. Brenda let out a little moan….blood pouring from her mouth and nose. She slowly sank to the floor….her fat jiggling. She was dead by the time she hit the floor. The only sounds were the sounds of chewing, slurping, and the breaking of bones.

The creature stopped to lift its head from the massive hole it had made in the woman’s guts. It sniffed the air…searching for the boy. With a roar it sprang up and ran to the back of the trailer. It pushed down the door to the back bedroom…looking for the prey that had evaded it earlier. But it knew before it got there that the boy was gone. The bedroom window was open. There was a faint smell of cinnamon in the air. With a scream of fury, the creature leapt through the window. It would not let the boy escape!

Ruby Part 2

The hills of southeastern Kentucky spread out in a joyless sprawl in the overbearing heat of a late July afternoon. Hwy. 476 cut a dark gray ribbon through the land. It was a swerving, curving bit of a road which would make most people from outside Breathitt County rather ill. For Ruby, however, this road was burned into her mind from countless trips both in a school bus (earlier times) and then a car (later times). She felt as though she could drive this road in the pitch dark with her headlights turned off. It was just a curve to the left here and a sharp turn to the right there….and then repeat.

Ruby sighed and glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror of her black Ford Focus. She looked as tired as she felt. Hopefully a visit to Gran would make her feel better. The groceries that she was taking to her Gran rustled in the backseat, longing to break free of their plastic prison and scatter into the floor. She had carefully tucked the jar of moonshine under the passenger seat. She didn’t want to take any chances. Just because Breathitt County had made the sale of alcohol legal over two years ago, the sale of homemade shine was still illegal.

She looked around as she drove up the old, familiar road. She hadn’t been to visit Gran in over a month, and she was amazed at how much the landscape had changed. In early June, everything had seemed so warm and inviting as the warm sunshine of an emerging summer had painted the area with a sense of joy. Now, the oppressive heat of late July gave everything a wilted, stunted look. She didn’t see anyone or anything out, which was weird for the area. She didn’t even see any dogs. It seemed as though everyone was inside their homes, enjoying artificially chilled air. Maybe even the dogs. She smiled to herself at that thought.

Making a sharp turn in the road, she saw the young boy standing in the road in front of her. At first, she wasn’t sure of what she was seeing. It just looked like a dark shadow of a figure, standing in the middle of Hwy. 476 and staring at her car as it quickly bore down on him. It took a second for the message to travel from her eyes to her brain to her feet. Pushing sharply on her brake, Ruby forced her car to come to a screeching halt just a few feet in front of the child.

Breathing sharply with the surge of panic energy that was coursing through her blood, Ruby felt her face start to flush with rage. The boy didn’t look to be any older than seven. Where were his parents? Probably inside in front of the air conditioner. She quickly pulled over to the side of the road so that she wouldn’t be smashed by a coal truck and hopped out of the car.

“Sweetie?” she asked in as nice a way as her shaky voice would allow, “Are you okay? You really shouldn’t be playing in the middle of the road.”

The boy looked up at her. She saw right away that something wasn’t right. He was looking toward her, but his eyes weren’t focusing on her. Instead, it seemed as though his eyes were looking through her. She started walking toward him.

“Are you okay?” she asked. The heat was a raging beast around them. She knew that if he had been outside for some time then he could be suffering from heat exhaustion. She knelt down in front of him. She could see now that his breathing was rapid…and shallow. He was wheezing slightly…and still staring off into the distance. He was staring up into the hills behind her.

“You okay sugar?” she asked again, putting one hand on his left shoulder. She noticed that he was trembling. Like a crazed parrot, she was getting ready to ask him once again if he was okay when he suddenly started screaming and clawing at her. She quickly jumped up but kept her hands on his shoulders so that he wouldn’t run away. She noticed that he was still staring off into the distance. But now he was like a wild animal. She needed to get him off the road. What if something came flying around the curve?

“Hey!” came a sharp voice across the road, “What in the heck do you think ya’ doin’ with my lil’ boy?”

Ruby turned her head toward the voice and saw that it belonged to woman standing in front of a large, rusty trailer. The woman had to be at least 450 pounds. Her hair hung like a greasy mop in strings which ran down her sides. She was dressed in a large purple muumuu which was stained with grease, snot, and other dark substances which Ruby could only guess at. The woman was munching on a large slice of pizza which probably explained the explosion of large red pimples which covered her face. She used her pizza free hand to wave toward Ruby again.

“Get yer’ dang hands off my kid!” the woman screamed out, bits of pizza flying out of her mouth, “You from Social Services? Those people just won’t give up…will they?”

Ruby was in shock. She felt as though she were staring at some circus freak…not an actual person. She forced her mouth to move and heard her voice, sounding squeaky and small, come out in spurts and stutters.

“I was driving…and your kid….um…your little boy….in the road,” she was starting to lose it. She could hear the child still screaming…but it sounded like it was coming from a million miles away.

The woman waddled out into the road. Ruby saw that she wasn’t wearing any shoes and that her feet had a squashed and filthy look to them. The woman came closer and Ruby could smell her coming. With a fat, greasy hand, the woman smacked the boy on the back of the head.

“Get in the house!” the woman screamed, her voice sounding like it should come from a bull instead of person, “You want them to take you away again? HUH?”

The boys, still screaming and now crying as well, ran on across the hot blacktop and into the trailer, letting the door slam shut behind him. Ruby could still hear him inside the trailer.

“And you….little missy,” the woman had a short, pudgy finger stuck in Ruby’s face, “Keep your nose out of other people’s business. I don’t need any more trouble with Social Services. What you all tryin’ to do anyway? Cut me off my food stamps…..my check? Who do you think you are? Do you even have any kids? I won’t lose him. I’ll kill you all first.”

The woman waddled back across the road, leaving Ruby standing there in a fog. She called out to the woman, “I’m…I’m not from Social Services. Your little boy was standing in the road. I was concerned.”

“Yeah, I can see that….the whole world is full of people who are concerned,” the woman yelled back, picking up a rock from her front yard, “Go on, get outta’ here. I don’t need trouble! And you look like trouble…all tarted up like some tramp. Get outta’ here ‘fore I chuck this rock through your car window!”

Ruby stared…amazed at the ignorance of this cow. For a moment, she thought about going at her. But she knew that she would lose. The woman was built like a linebacker. Instead, she just took a deep breath and headed back to her car. Driving off, she made a mental note of the trailer. Social Services would definitely be getting a call.

In the barn across the road, the dark shadow paced restlessly….a low growl coming from his throat. The child had been so close….so close that the shadow had caught the sweet scent of child flesh. So sweet. Now…it was gone. The spell had been weak…the day was still strong…and now it was broken and the boy had run away.

And that woman…she had interfered. The shadow tracked the car from the cracks in the barns walls. It watched and waited as the darkness grew in the air around it. Soon it would be able to leave the barn….and the chase would begin.