Outrunning Shadows

Chapter 6: The Second Set-up

Chapter 6  -  The Second Setup





         Friday morning. Evan walked along the sidewalk in front of Engrid’s house. He was stopping by to see what she was doing that morning and if she needed any help. As he walked around the side of the house, he could hear a sputtering sound. He walked further to investigate. Today was going to be a yard work day. Engrid was pulling vigorously on the pull rope of her crusty old push mower. She was definitely prepared for battle. Yard work days were the only days that Engrid appeared outside her house without being dressed ‘for going out in public.’ She was wearing a pair of old jeans that had large white splotches on it from when she’d had an accident with a bowl of Clorox back last summer when she tried to sanitize a white plastic stackable deck chair.


         “Do you need any help?” Evan asked perfunctorily.


         She looked up at him.


         “What wrong?” he asked.


         “Nothing,” she went back to yanking on the pull rope for the lawn mower- harder than before. He stood silently watching her. Waiting for her to get frustrated with it and turn the duty over to him. The lawn mower refused to start.


         “Maybe Andrew will buy a nice new riding lawn mower and then I can borrow it.”


         “You could just buy one of your own.”


         “I could. But I would rather him have to pay for it.”


         Evan chuckled, Engrid was definitely frugal. He watched her as her temper rose.


         “Agh.” She finally said and walked away in disgust.


         “Engrid.”


         “What?” she spat.


         “Let me show you something.”


         She walked back over and stood waiting. He pushed the safety bar down on the handle, reached down and briskly pulled the rope and it sputtered to life immediately.


         “Humph.” She said and walked away. Evan started pushing the mower around cutting the grass. Evan didn’t sweat much, even in the hottest parts of the summer. The grass was still a bit wet, but that crusty old lawnmower had cut worse. He looked over. Engrid was sitting on the back steps talking on the phone. He intentionally rolled the lawn mower right past her so she couldn’t hear. She scowled. He kept mowing. Eventually, she went out to the shed and got the weed eater. The lawn mower refused to work for her, but the string trimmer seemed to work fine for her. So, she started trimming around the gazebo and near the azaleas that surrounded it. Her backyard was pretty large, but Evan moved pretty fast, so they were done by about 11:00. They went inside and sat down to lunch. Lunch at Engrid’s was a simple affair. She just sat a bunch of sandwich parts on the kitchen table and she and Evan just constructed whatever kind of sandwich they wanted. There was always sweet iced tea or lemonade to drink. Engrid didn’t care for carbonated things although she would drink the occasional diet soda. Evan had never really developed a taste for them, and so rarely drank soda or anything like it.


         As Engrid spread some mayonnaise on her sandwich she decided she wanted to know the truth. She said, “Evan, I talked to your mother on Wednesday.”


         “And?”


         “She says that you didn’t like Andrew.”


         “She was right,” He said pouring more tea.


         “I like him. I helped him move in yesterday.”


         “Okay.” Evan said through a mouthful of sandwich.


         “Why not? He seems friendly and polite.”


         “He’s an irritating know-it-all.”


         Engrid thought, ‘haven’t passed by a mirror lately have you?’ But decided to keep that thought to herself.


         “I guess I don’t know him all that well. How long did you talk to him?”


         “Half hour or so.”


         “That’s it?”


         “I only met him once- that was enough.”


         “You’ve written him off already?”


         “He was condescending. I had read a lot of stuff on 401k’s, IRA, and such. I know my bond funds from my index funds, thank you very much. But he insisted on explaining them to me like I was in kindergarten. I tried to explain that I knew what all those fancy terms he kept kicking out meant, but he didn’t believe me. I guess he thinks I’m just a dumb redneck hick.”


         “So, he insulted you.”


         “Well, yeah. Then…”


         “Then what?”


         “He kept staring at me and then all of a sudden he would snap back into reality and have no idea what I was talking about. He barely listened to a word I said.”


         “Staring at you?”


         “Yeah. It was creepy. Just this blank stare. You know like, one French fry short of a happy meal, his elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top sort of way.”


         “He’s very smart, you know.”


         “So?”


         “He’s got tons of books. Over 15,000. Most of them are in New York.”


         “So?”


         “Evan, I think you and he could be good friends if you’d give him a chance. You like to read too. Especially with all the time you spent in college in New York City. Maybe he could help you get out of here and have a life.”


         “I’ve got a life.”


         “You’re alone.”


         “I’m not alone.”


         “Yes. I’m 84. You’re mother’s nearly 60. Most of the decent friends you had in high school and college have all graduated and moved off. The wheat’s run off- not much left but the chaff.”


         “Andrew’s dumb enough to move here. That should tell you he’s not all that bright.”


         “Well, it is a bit strange, but it’s a good thing that he moved here. He can show you a whole new world.”


         “What if I don’t want to see a whole new world? I saw a whole other world and didn’t like it all that much. What if I like this one? What if I like knowing my place in it? What if I don’t want to give up my life here and move someplace else where I don’t know anybody and nobody knows me? What’s the point in that?”


         “Well, I’m just saying is all.”


         “So, what do you want me to do?”


         “I don’t know. That’s up to you. He’s going to be at his house tonight, so when you get off at the store, maybe you should pay him a visit. It wouldn’t kill you to be neighborly you know.”


         Evan pondered the merits of that. Sometimes in life we meet people that we just don’t like. But Evan also knew that Andrew probably wasn’t going to go away on his own like the flu. He wasn’t just going to run his course and be gone. He was going to need treatment.


         ‘I’ll treat him,’ Evan thought. ‘With the back of a shovel. Arrogant bastard.’


         Engrid sat quietly eating her pimento cheese sandwich waiting for a response. She was worried that the two primary men in her life weren’t going to get along. Her neighbor and Evan who was on her top 5 list of best friends of all time. It just wouldn’t do for them to be at odds with one another.


         “Will you try to get along with Andrew? I mean, you’re going to be seeing him from now on, so you might as well be on good terms.”


         “I’ll try. For you Engrid, but I’m not promising anything. He’ll have to treat me better if he wants me to like him.”


         “Well, at least you’re willing.” She was satisfied for the moment. Evan stood up to leave. He needed to go get cleaned up before relieving his mother at the store for the afternoon. She said ‘bye’ and Evan walked out the front door. Engrid started putting the things away from lunch. She was still concerned. Normally, she would jump right in and try to fix things. Normally, she wouldn’t rest until Evan and Andrew made nice. But this time, she decided that she would actually stay out of it for once. After twenty years she’d finally realized that the way to manipulate Evan was to put the idea in his head and then leave him alone. Eventually, he would come around and do it on his own terms. Trying to force Evan to do something he didn’t want to do was the height of counterproductivity. She also had a sneaking suspicion that Andrew and Evan were more alike than either would care to admit.


         She was curious to see if Evan did actually go over to Andrew’s tonight. She decided that she needed to create the opportunity. She was going to let Evan make the decision, but she was going to make it easier for him.


         She went over to the phone and picked it up. She dialed Dora’s number.


         “Hello?”


         “What are you doing tonight?”


         “Nothing that I know of…why? Is something wrong?”


         “No. Not at all. Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping in Columbia later today.”


         “I don’t know. It’s a long drive.”


         “It’ll be fun. We haven’t had a night out in ages.”


         “How late?”


         “We’ll be back by ten or ten thirty.”


         “Okay. That sounds like fun.”


         “Good. Well, I’ll pick you up around 3:00 then? That’ll put us in Columbia around 4:00.”


         “Actually, now that you mention it, I heard about this seafood place in Greenville that supposed to be good.”


         “Okay, we’ll go there for dinner. That sounds lovely.”


         “Okay, see you at three. Bye.”


         “Bye.”


         Phase one complete. Enter phase two of Engrid’s plot to bring her two favorite young men together. She got out the phone book and looked up Jacobs McWilliams Investments.


         “Hello? Is this the investment place?”


         “Yes Ma’am. This is Betty speaking, how may I help you?”


         “Is Andrew Garrison available?”


         “Yes ma’am, hold one moment.” Engrid listened to the elevator music. She figured that Andrew was being summoned out of an important meeting. A momentary flash of mild guilt flittered through her mind. Then he came on the line.


         “Andrew Garrison speaking.”


         “This is Engrid. Listen, Dora and I are going to Greenville today to go shopping and eat some seafood. We’ll be back around ten or ten thirty. When you get home, could you keep an eye on my house? I don’t go out of town often and I don’t want anything to happen to it while I’m gone.”


         “Sure, I’d be glad to do that for you.”


         “So, if you see anything strange going on, just go over and check it out and make sure it’s okay.”


         “Sure thing, Mrs. Matthews. Okay bye.”


         Phase two was complete. Enter phase three. She drove over to the dry cleaners and went in.


         She stood at the counter until Evan came through the sheet that separated the back wash rooms from the main customer area.


         “Good afternoon, Engrid,” He said as if he were greeting any customer.


         She launched right in to her story. “Listen, Dora and I are driving to Greenville to go shopping and eat some seafood. We’ll be back late. But, the toilet in my upstairs bathroom has been acting funny. I think it needs a new stopper or something. I’ve got one somewhere, but you might want to pick one up. I’ll pay you back for it. If you could stop by and do that after work or sometime this evening, I’d really appreciate it. Will you?”


         “Sure thing, Engrid- I’ll do that tonight before you get back from Greenville.”          


         “Great! I don’t know what I’d do without you.”


         She turned and walked out of the store and drove away. Phase three complete. By the time she had done all this, it was nearly time to get changed and get ready to go to Greenville. Greenville was a good bit further than Columbia and so she didn’t want to be late.


         When she was dressed and ready, she stood on her front porch and looked out over the freshly cut grass. She put on her sunglasses and said to herself, “Operation Enduring Friendship, has commenced.”


         She drove over to Dora’s and she got in the car. They set off to have their adventure and Engrid was going to let the two boys get to know each other better on their own terms without further interference from her. She decided she had to intervene because she was afraid that neither would take the initiative to try to reconcile their differences. Boys were just weird and dumb sometimes, Engrid decided.





                                                 #





         After work, Andrew drove over to his new house and parked in his new driveway. He got out of his car and just stood in the front yard and marveled. He was actually a homeowner. He had a home of his own. He had grass of his own. He had maple trees of his own. He had a porch, a kitchen, a swing, a walkway, and a driveway all his own. This was more than he’d ever hoped for as a little kid. He walked up the steps one at a time like a kid who couldn’t quite believe it could be true.


         He had invited Paul over to help get things situated. He had to get some things done before tomorrow because his friend David from New York would be here with his books in the back of a Ford pickup truck. Paul was too tired and said he would come tomorrow to help. Andrew understood, Paul had been on the road for a full week. He didn’t want to drive all the way back into town to do work. That was totally understandable.


         Andrew was standing in the kitchen putting drawer liners in all the drawers and making sure that all the drawers were clean. He had several boxes of brand new silverware that had been packed up that he had bought while he was still in school. He had bought a silverware tray and had neatly placed all the shiny new utensils in their appropriate places. Little did he know that Engrid had set him up again and her plot was about to spring an unintentional trap.


         He was done in the kitchen and went into the laundry room to get the freshly laundered sheets to take upstairs to the master bedroom. He did that and tromped up the stairs to put them on. He was so happy with his new sheets to match his new mattresses to match his new bed frame to match his new house.





                                                 #





         Meanwhile, Evan had closed up shop at the dry cleaner’s and went home for supper. When he got there, his mom was sitting in the living room watching Jeopardy. She had cooked dinner and ate her part of it and left the rest on the stove. That was their nightly ritual. She got hungry about 5:30, so she would cook dinner, eat and then go sit down. Evan would come in, eat his part and then clean it up.


         “Mom, I have to go over to Engrid’s to fix the toilet for her. She said it was messed up.”


         “Okay. You go on over there and I’ll clean up.”


         “Nah. I can clean it up and then leave.”


         By the time he finished cleaning up all the dishes and putting the leftovers in the refrigerator, it was dark. He went into their utility room and got a flush valve kit to take over there to install. Even though it was dark out, there was plenty of street light, so Evan decided to walk the four houses down to Engrid’s. It was a balmy night and the crickets were chirping in the azaleas as he walked along. It was nights like this that he loved being a southern boy. He knew that other places in the world were nice in their own ways, but nothing on earth spoke to his heart like the balmy stillness of a southern summer night.


         He kept turning over in his head what Engrid said earlier about being nice to Andrew and welcoming him to the neighborhood. The annoying thing about Engrid is she tended to be right just when you really wanted her to be wrong. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been something he felt pass between Andrew and himself. He couldn’t quite put a name to it, but there was a bizarre and unaccountable magnetism that existed between them. It scared him and manifested itself as animosity. He’d been through it before and wasn’t eager to repeat it.


         He walked up to Engrid’s front door and unlocked it with the spare key that he had. He had had a key to Engrid’s house since he was fifteen. She had given him one in case something happened and she had an emergency and couldn’t get to the door. She had told him that if she ever called an ambulance at night, she would call him and he would come let the paramedics in so they wouldn’t break down the front door. He went upstairs to the bathroom to see what the trouble was with the toilet


                                       


                                                 #





         Andrew went around to all the beds and made them just like his military uncle had taught him. Every corner was fold tucked and there wasn’t a wrinkle or ridge to be found. He had put bath mats in all the bathrooms. He liked the non-skid daisies that Rose had in the tubs and shower stalls. Since he was thirsty, he went down to his nice, clean kitchen with all its new appliances and its new table and chairs and all its new silverware to get a glass of water. As he was standing at the sink, he noticed movement over at Engrid’s. He realized he hadn’t put a clock on the wall in the kitchen yet. He had a mantle clock in the parlor, so he sat his glass down on the counter and went in the parlor to see what time it was. It was only 8:30, so Engrid and Dora couldn’t possibly be back from Greenville yet. He went back to the kitchen and looked at the movement through the window over the sink. The person moving around upstairs was way too big to be Engrid. The silhouette of the person in the bedroom window was that of a man. Andrew crouched down low to the counter so as not to be seen by the intruder in Engrid’s house should he glance out the window and see him staring back from his kitchen window.


         Andrew peered over the window sill and watched the mysterious stranger in Engrid’s house. What should he do? Engrid said that if he saw anything suspicious, he should go investigate. He didn’t really care to get shot tonight. He got down on the floor and crawled over to entranceway leading to the living room. Once out in the central hallway moving toward the living room, he stood back up again. He hurried into the living room and picked up the portable phone and took it back to the kitchen. He pulled the curtains closed in the window, but left enough space so that he could keep an eye on the intruder.


         “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”


         Andrew sat on the floor with his back up against the cabinets in front of the sink.


         “Yes, this is Andrew Garrison, I’m at Maple Avenue in Deerfield.


         “Yes. We have you located. What is your emergency, sir?”


         “There’s an intruder in my neighbor’s house.”


         “Are you sure it isn’t your neighbor?” She sounded a little patronizing.


         “No, my neighbor is a little old woman who lives alone. She and a friend of hers went to Greenville today. They said they wouldn’t be back until around 10 tonight. The silhouette of the person in her house is definitely a man. Can you send someone to check it out?”


         “Of course, Mr. Garrison. Are you in any danger?”


         “No, I’m fine.”


         “Okay then, I’ll let you off the line and I’ll send a response team there immediately.”


         “Thank you.” Andrew pressed the off button and breathed a sigh of relief. Engrid’s house had been broken into and he was there to save the day. Engrid would think a lot of him for having saved her things from being stolen. He sat on the floor and waited for the sirens to come down the street. He heard nothing. He got up on his knees and looked out the window. The figure was still there. He was leaning over in the bathroom. It seemed odd, but Andrew had never witnessed a robbery in progress before so maybe that was something robbers did. He saw the light click off in the bathroom, then the bedroom. He could see the glow of the lights over the stairs. Then those lights went off and the house was dark again. He was getting away. Where could the police possibly be?


         The whole world outside lit up with blue and red lights.


         “Freeze, this is the police,” a voice boomed statically from a megaphone.


         Andrew jumped up and looked out of his window. The police must have snuck up quietly and waited for the intruder to exit the house before springing their trap. It was a good idea to keep the intruder from trying to barricade inside the house. Andrew ran to the front parlor where he had a better view of the front of Engrid’s house. He saw the intruder standing on the front porch with his hands high and lifted up. The police quickly approached the shadowy figure and put handcuffs on him and lead him to a waiting squad car. With sirens going full blast, the four police cars peeled away from the curb with the intruder bound in handcuffs in the backseat. Andrew was so happy that he was able to help make the world a little safer. When the sirens started up, everyone appeared at their windows and doors to see what had happened. Peace and justice had prevailed, that’s what had happened.