The New Neighbor

hesitantly and they shook.

An enormous dog peeked out the door and Jen gasped.

'He won't hurt you,' Miss Dupree said. 'This is my dog, Sodom. You can pet him.'

Jen reached out a hand and the dog sniffed curiously, then licked it. She smiled as she stroked his head.

'We should get home, Jen,' her dad said. 'You shouldn't be out in this rain. I don't want you getting the bug that's going around.'

'It was nice meeting you, Jen. You're welcome over here anytime. You can come walk the dogs for me. They'd love that.'

Jen waved to her as Dad led her across the lawn and into the street.

'You know better than to be walking around in this kind of weather,' he said with annoyance.

'Well… “

'Well what?' Now he sounded angry.

'Everybody was asleep.'

'What difference does that make?'

Although she didn't know what she was apologizing for – his anger made no sense to her – Jen said, 'I'm sorry.'

'All right,' he grumbled as they went into the house.

In the living room, Jen took off her coat and saw that Robby was gone – he'd probably gone back to bed. She sat down in front of the television again. She heard Dad pop open a can of beer in the kitchen and wondered if he was really angry, the kind of angry that stuck with him for a while.

She was still trembling and couldn't quite catch her breath. If Dad came back into the living room now, she would probably seem more guilty than he already thought she was, so she decided to go to her room. As she headed down the hall, Jen heard him murmur to himself in the kitchen:

'Son… of a… bitch.'

* * * *

Robby did not wake easily. His eyes felt glued together and his body was heavy as lead. He thought he was on the sofa in the living room, but when he finally pried his eyes open to see who was shaking him, he was staring at the Bangles poster on his bedroom wall.

'Robby?' Jen whispered.

He rolled onto his back and squinted up at her. 'What?'

'Sorry for waking you.'

'Whassmatter?'

'Are you sure you're awake?'

He rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up. 'Yeah, I'm awake. What's wrong?'

She sat on the bed and glanced cautiously at the closed door. 'There was a man outside.'

'When? What time is it?' He found his clock. 'It's only eight o'clock.'

'A little while ago. Out on the sidewalk.'

'So, what was he doing?'

'He talked to me. Wanted to know who our new neighbor was.'

'He talked to you? What were you doing outside?'

'Well, Dad went over to Miss Dupree's to help fix her car, so… um, I followed him over a little later. And there was this man.”

Robby buried his face in his hands and groaned. His head felt like it was filled with sand. 'Why didn't you tell Dad?'

'Just listen, okay? He wore a long coat, like an overcoat y'know? And a hat, too, like the ones detectives wear in the old movies. And he walked with a cane and, and he was really ugly, like part of his face was melting, or something. Like the guy in that old wax museum movie we watched last weekend? Remember? You know, the scary one? Wax House, or – “

'House of Wax. Vincent Price.”

'Yeah, that one. And he had a silver hand, like a robot’s hand. He wore a glove over it, but the glove came off in my hand and it was silver. Y'know, all metal? Just like in The Terminator after his skin came off!'

'God, Jen, will you just go to bed, or something, and leave me alone. And quit watching television.' He rolled away from her.

'But he was there. He talked to me. He wanted to know who our new neighbor was. He said it was important. I think… well, I think maybe he was, you know, looking for her, or something.'

“Whatta you want me to do about it?' he mumbled into his pillow.

Jen got off the bed. 'I don't know,' she sighed. 'I just thought I should tell somebody, I guess. Mom's asleep and Dad's… I think he's mad at me for something.'

Robby couldn't ignore the sadness in her quavering voice and rolled over again, facing her. Her lips were trembling and her eyes sparkled with growing tears.

'He's probably just had a bad day, or something,' Robby said quietly. 'Maybe if you waited till tomorrow – “

'But he was out there tonight!'

Robby sat up. 'You’re serious, aren’t you?'

'Yes, I’m serious! He talked to me!' She seemed to sense she had his attention now and stepped forward. 'And his face, Robby, you should’ve seen his face. He was so ugly.”

He knew she was serious, because Jen hated to cry and was on the verge of tears now.

'Well, there's not much I can do about it, Jen. Is there? I mean, what do you want me to do?'

She bowed her head. 'Nothing, I guess. I just… wanted to tell someone.'

'I'm glad you did. But he was probably just out for a walk.'

'He’s not from around here, that’s for sure. And his face… “

”Did you get a good look at him? A really good look? I mean, it's dark out there, you know. And raining.'

She nodded slowly and turned to go.

'You gonna be okay?' Robby asked.

'Yeah. Sorry I woke you.'

'That's okay.'

She closed the door silently.

Robby curled up in bed again, but couldn't relax. He tossed restlessly beneath the covers for a while, then raised up and pulled the shade aside to look out his window.

It was raining hard now and wind made the tree branches wave. There was no one on the street, not even a car. Robby saw nothing more than a cat scurrying across the street, its head ducked low against the rain.

But it was a while before he got back to sleep.

Chapter 7

Midnight Guest

The dark bedroom seemed stuffy and gave George a vague feeling of claustrophobia. He got out of bed, careful not to disturb Karen, and cracked the window. Cold fresh air blew in and he hunkered down, put his face in the draft