Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town (6 page)

Strike!

So, if you've gotten this
far, you're pretty damn lucky. You've survived the Coogan Boys'
onslaughts by utilizing the first three principles. By this time,
they're probably even getting a little frustrated. That means it's
the
perfect
time
to put Principle Four into effect. It's time for you to
strike
! You're going to
give those crazy Coogans a taste of their own medicine by using
several explicit retribution tactics (we'll cover specific examples
as we work through our first three principles). The Coogan Boys
need to finally get what they deserve and, if you've made it this
far, you're ready to give it to them. Trust me, if your strike is
successful, Billy and his boys will
never
mess with you
again.

* * * * *

When David first handed me his "Four
Principles" packet (yeah, it was an actual packet with the above
information in a manila folder - the word "CLASSIFIED" written
across it in permanent black marker) I wasn't quite sure what to
make of it.

Aside from the fact that I
didn't even
understand
it all, I wondered if it could really work. Was David's "Four
Principles" the way to finally beat Billy Coogan?

Once David started really teaching me the
principles, though, I knew he was serious. He'd obviously done this
before, and we spent the last few days "evading" to perfection.

I was convinced; David's
EARS (that's what I started calling his principles - get it? Evade.
Anticipate. React. Strike. EARS) was no joke and it was going to
make the school year a
hell
of a lot better for me.

* * * * *

David started spending nearly every
afternoon over my house, hanging with Trex, and trying desperately
to avoid Dad.

I think it took Dad about two weeks to
finally realize that David was actually a real friend and not just
some kid I'd been bribing to hang out at my house.

One night, between sips of beer and
thunderous burps, Dad actually called me into the living room and
said, "Jimmy, have you been doing that kid's homework or something?
How are you getting him to come over here every night?"

"He's my friend," I told him and shuffled
back to my bedroom. "My friend."

David and I usually ended up making
ourselves a couple microwave pizzas for dinner and heading off to
my room to talk EARS, play with Trex, and avoid Dad. What, did you
really think Dad was going to make us something to eat? Not a
chance!

The days of talking were starting to sink
in. I was really starting to get David's "Four Principles" but they
were also taking their toll on me.

David's habit of not saying much usually
left me to do most of the talking and there were times when I
wanted to say more, times when I wanted to tell David all about my
mother and why she was gone. He'd never ask, though. I knew he'd
never just ask.

I'd tell him bits and
pieces once in a while but never the whole story. I wanted to tell
him about how much I missed my mother. I wanted to tell him how
little my father cared, and how Trex was the only one I had left
that cared about me. But, I couldn't. I couldn't tell David all
those things not just because he wasn't much for that kind of
conversation, but because I didn't want to chase away the only
person that seemed to show any interest in me, as a friend, in
a
very
long
time.

So I didn't tell David much. Just bits and
pieces here and there. And, instead, we stuck to chatting about
homework, playing with Trex, and studying EARS until I knew it
better than the alphabet.

But that couldn't last forever and,
eventually, we ran out of things to say over the sound of my
father's constant beer-induced snoring coming from the living
room.

So, one night, after we'd scarfed down our
microwave pizzas (peppers and onions for me; pepperoni for David)
and tossed Trex some treats, I asked David if he wanted to explore
the woods behind my house.

"The woods?" David asked.

"Yeah," I told him, and thought quickly for
a reason that might get David to agree to check out the woods (what
can I say? I was bored). "We can use the huge woods to practice
some of the techniques from your Four Principles."

"Oh, ok, in that case," he said and nodded
his approval.

After throwing on our jackets and hooking a
leash onto Trex's collar, we snuck out into the hallway (didn't
want to wake Dad) and grabbed two flashlights. I shoved mine in my
jacket pocket and led the way through the kitchen as Dad snored
away on the couch. We swung open the door and ran out into the
fading light of the evening. We were on our way to the woods for a
little fun and adventure and my father not only had no idea, but he
couldn't do anything to stop us.

* * * * *

The sound of crickets and
the high uncut grass (did you really think
Dad
has been cutting it?!) of our
backyard brushing against our legs filled the dusk air and reminded
us just how nice it felt to be outside as the light was dimming.
Trex even stopped a few times to sniff the ground and chew on a few
blades of the lush green grass. The closer the three of us got to
the woods, the more everything seemed to smell like a bottle of
Pine Sol.

I can remember Mom on her hands and knees,
some weekends, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floors. The
entire house would end up smelling like trees. Dad hated that and
usually ended up taking off for the afternoon when Mom started
cleaning.

"This way," I said and pulled Trex along,
motioning to David for him to follow me through the tall, uncut
grass near the back of our large yard. "I think there's an opening
to a trail over here."

Trex sniffed around the
grass at the bases of the enormous trees that lined the back of our
yard and marked the beginning of what always looked, to me, to
be
endless
woods.

I'd sat in my room many nights wondering
just what existed in those woods. Imagining what kind of wild
animals and strange creatures might make that vast forest their
home. Finally, with Trex and David by my side, I was going to be
able to see it all for myself.

Trex let out a quick bark
and sprang forward toward an opening between some
very
tall trees. The
leash snapped tight and tugged at my arm until I started jogging
right behind Trex. I tried to tug back just slightly to get him to
slow down, but he didn't even budge and continued bounding deeper
into the woods.

"Come on," I said and motioned to David to
follow me and Trex toward the barely visible opening to the trail.
"Trex knows where we're going!"

"I'm not so sure," said
David as he laughed. A laugh! I'm not sure I'd
ever
seen David truly laugh before!
"But if Trex says so..." He may have been a bit skeptical, but
David followed along all the same.

Trex may have been the first of us to reach
the opening, but we weren't far behind and, once through the
pathway of trees and under some thorny branches, he slowed down,
giving us a chance to take it all in.

"These woods are HUGE," said David as he
looked up and around him. His eyes were wide and bulging at the
corners just a little. "HUGE!"

It was odd to hear David
initiate the conversation and proved to me that he must have really
been awed by just how expansive the woods really were. Oh, and it
also proved that he's not, in fact, a 1) Robot, 2) Ghost, or 3)
Alien - you know, because those things wouldn't show
any
emotion,
right?

Trex tugged at the leash again to lead us
deeper into the woods, but I pulled back just hard enough this time
to actually get him to stop in his tracks and look back up at me,
waiting for my next command.

I needed a few more
minutes to really breathe in these woods. This was the first time
I'd
really
had
the guts to go
in
them (having David and Trex with me made it possible) and I
wanted to savor the moment, even if David wondered what the hell I
was up to.

The early evening light was fading fast as
the sun took its last few winks in the sky. It would soon be time
to flick on our flashlights so we could see where we were headed.
That was okay, though. The dying light felt nice on our backs and
the tunnels of light shooting across the inside of these woods was
about as mesmerizing a sight I'd ever seen. It was beautiful and,
wherever we ended up going, I knew we'd be in for quite an
adventure.

Chapter Twelve

The deeper we trekked into the woods, the
quieter the night grew around us. It was as if the darker and
thicker the trees, the more they impressed upon you their presence.
They sucked you in and built themselves up around you, closing you
into the darkness and eerie quiet of the night.

Even so, we didn't care. We had our
flashlights and Trex. He led the way through the thick brush and
our flashlights kept us from smacking face first into a batch of
thorns or a huge branch.

"You sure that dog knows where we're going?"
David asked. He sounded a little worried, but not so much that he
actually suggested that we turn around.

"Actually," I said, with a bit less
confidence than probably made David comfortable, "I'm not really
sure. I don't care where he takes us, as long as he can find our
way back out."

David suddenly stopped walking and turned
his flashlight on me. I could tell he wasn't exactly happy about my
response or how far we'd walked into the woods just by following
Trex.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "We'll be
fine, right?"

My question didn't make him any less
annoyed.

"Well, we came out here to practice some
EARS and face some fears, didn't we?" I shook my head and chuckled
a little at the fact that my own anxieties had me making stupid
rhymes. "Shit..."

David laughed. He
actually
laughed
!

"It's cool, Jimmy." He pulled the force of
his flashlight off me and pointed it back towards Trex. "I'm sure
we'll be just fine."

* * * * *

Trex barked loudly as he crouched down low
and stuck nearly his entire snout into some type of hole next to a
fallen tree stump. I pointed my flashlight in his direction and
tried to see just what had gotten him so excited.

"What is it, Trex?" I asked. "Did you find
something, boy?"

I heard the rustle of
leaves and dirt as David walked by me and slightly ahead of us. The
moonlight in front of him cast his shadow right over us and I
could
feel
the
cover of black over me and Trex.

I knew we were deep now - deeper than I'd
certainly ever been in these woods - and a bout of the sweats set
in as I realized that the only thing I could see behind us were
walls and walls of darkened tree limbs and a barely-worn dusty
trail.

We'd been walking through the woods, and
following Trex, for probably about thirty minutes now but there'd
been nowhere to stop. There was no opening, no clearing, for us to
find any chance to rest, chat, and practice some of the techniques
that David had laid out. The only thing we'd seen were dark batches
of trees, surrounded by dark batches of who-the-hell-knows-what.
All we had were our flashlights and Trex's nose - which was now
buried deep in some animal's hole.

I lost sight of David and his flashlight
while trying to see what Trex had gotten himself into and trying to
figure out how I could coax him out of it.

"Jimmy!" I heard while on my hands and knees
next to Trex. "Jimmy, come here!"

It was David - I mean, who else would it be
all the way out here - and he sounded rushed. Scared maybe? No, not
David.

"Jimmy!"

"I'm coming," I shouted back and yanked on
Trex's leash. He gave a quick yelp and shot up to his feet, pulling
his dirt-covered nose out of the hole. "We're on our way!"

I turned my flashlight back toward the small
path between the trees and Trex pulled ahead of me, leading the way
through the darkness toward David.

"You've
got
to see this," I
heard him say as we rounded the corner behind a thick pine.
"It's--"

"--Amazing," I said,
finishing his sentence as Trex and I stopped right next to David.
And
amazing
is
exactly what it was.

Chapter Thirteen

The three of us stood, slack-jawed, and
staring straight ahead at what had to be one of the most surprising
and beautiful things we'd ever seen in our lives.

David on the right. Trex in the middle,
resting back on his haunches. And me on the left. It looked like
something you'd see in a movie, right at the moment of clarity when
the main characters come together and see what they'd been missing
the entire time. This was one of those times when everything moved
a little bit slower and the John Williams score started to
crescendo up to a roar.

Our flashlights were still on, but our arms
hung limply at our sides, the flashlights creating tiny circles of
light on the forest floor by our feet.

Trex tried to let out a furious bark but all
we heard rumble from his snout was the tiniest yelp. He was clearly
just as stunned as we were.

"What do you think--"

"--shh," David said quietly, but just loud
enough to keep me from asking a question that neither of us would
be able to answer. "Doesn't matter."