The rose, continues;
He opened the front door and his insides jumped
with a start of surprise at the figure standing
there. The man was short, stocky type, wearing
a faded blue uniform of a delivery man. His hat
was pulled as far down as he could get it, to
the tops of his bushy eyebrows. His sandy-blond
hair stuck out in unkempt sprigs from the sides
of his head. What had really given him the start
was the glasses the man wore, with lenses so thick
that it made his scary blue eyes look twice as
big from the magnification. He was holding a small
brown leather satchel.
The look on the delivery mans face was one of
determination,… almost anger which began
to fade into a look of surprise then apprehension
and sudden fear within a few mille-seconds of
viewing the house occupant.
“May I help you?”
The mans face had turned from an angry red to
a flushed pale as he began slowly shaking his
head from side to side,” Nu..na..no,”
he stammered as he began backing down the walkway.
“wra…wrong house!” he wheeled about
and hurried ,half stumbling as he went to his
van.
“What was that all about?” his wife
asked as she joined him at the door and watched
as the man gunned the van onto the street. He
noticed the block letters stenciled on the door
of the older ford van ‘Gateway Couriers’.
“…..never heard of them” he thought.
He then noticed the license plate on the back
of the van was tilted, hanging by one screw. EVL
643, “….hmmm evl equals evil “
he thought as he habitually used a memory tool
he’d adapted years ago. “…..and
643 equals 13,…..evil 13.….”
His mind flashed back to the bag lady this afternoon,
as she pinned the rose to his jacket,” To
pro…..tect you from e…vil….”
He glanced down at the rose again, ”Must
be a day for weirdo’s” he replied. “That
guy took off like he’d seen a ghost! …
…guess he just had the wrong address.”
His wife’s eyes caught the rose once more
as she reached up and unpinned it from his jacket
and slowly turned it in her hands. “It is
so beautiful” she said as she raised it to
her nose to inhale the intoxicating scent. “it’s
hypnotizing watching the color shifts. She carried
it to the large glass curio cabinet and placed
it in a small vase then set it on the shelf behind
the glass door.
“Ready for dinner Tiger….”
CHALLENGE
If you feel inspired to make a graphic and matching
webset for this story. Please submit it at Back
to Basics.
