Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

‘Sure, sure,’ he muttered disgustedly, pressing down on the gas pedal. Three o’clock in the morning and the town fathers expected him to creep through their lousy hamlet. Mr Ketchum watched the dark buildings rush past his window.

Goodbye Zachry, he thought. Farewell, pop. 67.

Then the other car appeared in the rear-view mirror. About half a block behind, a sedan with a turning red spotlight on its roof. He knew what kind of car it was. His foot curled off the accelerator and he felt his heartbeat quicken. Was it possible they hadn’t noticed how fast he was going?

The question was answered as the dark car pulled up to the Ford and a man in a big hat leaned out of the front window. Pull over!’ he barked.

Swallowing dryly, Mr Ketchum eased his car over to the kerb. He drew up the emergency brake, turned the ignition key and the car was still. The police car nosed in towards the kerb and stopped. The right front door opened.

The glare of Mr Ketchum’s headlights outlined the dark figure approaching. He felt around quickly with his left foot and stamped down on the knob, dimming the lights. He swallowed again. Damned nuisance this. Three a.m. in the middle of nowhere and a hick policeman picks him up for speeding. Mr Ketchum gritted his teeth and waited.

The man in the dark uniform and wide-brimmed hat leaned over into the window. ‘Licence.’

Mr Ketchum slid a shaking hand into his inside pocket and drew out his billfold. He felt around for his licence. He handed it over, noticed how expressionless the face of the policeman was. He sat there quietly while the policeman held a flashlight beam on the licence.

‘From New Jersey.’

‘Yes, that… that’s right,’ said Mr Ketchum.

The policeman kept staring at the licence. Mr Ketchum stirred restlessly on the seat and pressed his lips together. ‘It hasn’t expired,’ he finally said.

He saw the dark head of the policeman lift. Then, he gasped as the narrow circle of flashlight blinded him. He twisted his head away.

The light was gone. Mr Ketchum blinked his watering eyes.

‘Don’t they read traffic signs in New Jersey?’ the policeman asked.

‘Why, I… You mean the sign that said p-population sixty-seven?’

‘No, I don’t mean that sign,’ said the policeman.

‘Oh.’ Mr Ketchum cleared his throat. ‘Well, that’s the only sign I saw,’ he said.

‘You’re a bad driver then.’

‘Well, I’m—’

‘The sign said the speed limit is fifteen miles an hour. You were doing fifty.’

‘Oh. I… I’m afraid I didn’t see it.’

‘The speed limit is fifteen miles an hour whether you see it or not.’

‘Well… at — at this hour of the morning?’

‘Did you see a timetable on the sign?’ the policeman asked.

‘No, of course not. I mean, I didn’t see the sign at all/

’Didn’t you?’

Mr Ketchum felt hair prickling along the nape of his neck. ‘Now, now see here,’ he began faintly, then stopped and stared at the policeman. ‘May I have my licence back?’ he finally asked when the policeman didn’t speak.

The policeman said nothing. He stood on the street, motionless.

‘May I —?’ Mr Ketchum started.

‘Follow our car,’ said the officer abruptly and strode away.

Mr Ketchum stared at him, dumbfounded. Hey wait! he almost yelled. The officer hadn’t even given him back his licence. Mr Ketchum felt a sudden coldness in his stomach.

‘What is this?’ he muttered as he watched the policeman getting back into his car. The police car pulled away from the kerb, its roof light spinning again.

Mr Ketchum followed.

‘This is ridiculous,’ he said aloud. They had no right to do this. Was this the Middle Ages? His thick lips pressed into a jaded mouth line as he followed the police car along Main Street.

Two blocks up, the police car turned. Mr Ketchum saw his headlights splash across a glass store front. Hand’s Groceries read the weather-worn letters.

There were no lamps on the street. It was like driving along an inky passage. Ahead were only the three red eyes of the police car’s rear lights and spotlight; behind only impenetrable blackness. The end of a perfect day, thought Mr Ketchum; picked up for speeding in Zachry, Maine. He shook his head and groaned. Why hadn’t he just spent his vacation in Newark; slept late, gone to shows, eaten, watched television?

The police car turned right at the next corner, then, a block up, turned left again and stopped. Mr Ketchum pulled up behind it as its lights went out. There was no sense in this. This was only cheap melodrama. They could just as easily have fined him on Main Street. It was the rustic mind. Debasing someone from a big city gave them a sense of vengeful eminence.

Mr Ketchum waited. Well, he wasn’t going to haggle. He’d pay his fine without a word and depart. He jerked up the hand brake. Suddenly he frowned, realising that they could fine him anything they wanted. They could charge him $500 if they chose! The heavy man had heard stories about small town police, about the absolute authority they wielded. He cleared his throat viscidly. Well, this is absurd, he thought. What foolish imagination.

The policeman opened the door.

‘Get out,’ he said.

There was no light in the street or in any building. Mr Ketchum swallowed. All he could really see was the black figure of the policeman.

‘Is this the — station?’ he asked.

Turn out your lights and come on,’ said the policeman.

Mr Ketchum pushed in the chrome knob and got out. The policeman slammed the door. It made a loud, echoing noise-as if they were inside an unlighted warehouse instead of on a street. Mr Ketchum glanced upward. The illusion was complete. There were neither stars nor moon. Sky and earth ran together blackly.

The policeman’s hard fingers clamped on his arm. Mr Ketchum lost balance a moment, then caught himself and fell into a quick stride beside the tall figure of the policeman.

‘Dark here,’ he heard himself saying in a voice not entirely familiar.

The policeman said nothing. The other policeman fell into step on the other side of him. Mr Ketchum told himself: These damned hick-town Nazis were doing their best to intimidate him. Well they wouldn’t succeed.

Mr Ketchum sucked in a breath of the damp, sea-smelling air and let it shudder out. A crumby town of 67 and they have two policemen patrolling the streets at three in the morning. Ridiculous.

He almost tripped over the step when they reached it. The policeman on his left side caught him under the elbow.

‘Thank you,’ Mr Ketchum muttered automatically. The policeman didn’t reply. Mr Ketchum licked his lips. Cordial oaf, he thought and managed a fleeting smile to himself. There, that was better. No point in letting this get to him.

He blinked as the door was pulled open and, despite himself, felt a sigh of relief filtering through him. It was a police station all right. There was the podiumed desk, there a bulletin board, there a black, pot-bellied stove unlit, there a scarred bench against the wall, there a door, there the floor covered with cracked and grimy linoleum that had once been green.

‘Sit down and wait,’ said the first policeman.

Mr Ketchum looked at his lean, angled face, his swarthy skin. There was no division in his eyes between iris and pupil. It was all one darkness. He wore a dark uniform that fitted him loosely.

Mr Ketchum didn’t get to see the other policeman because both of them went into the next room. He stood watching the closed door a moment. Should he leave, drive away? No, they’d have his address on the licence. Then