"After The Move"

Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:24:27 -0700 (PDT) From: rtbrno65@yahoo.com Subject: After The Move 1

By Brian Roberson I Telly stood on the sidewalk next to the residential street holding a suitcase. He looked up at the sky with a perplexed expression on his face. Everything that was supposed to be there was there. The pale yellow sun was sitting high in the western sky. There were some puffy, fair weather cumulous clouds sitting in the sky like fat little Buddha's. To the east, a waxing gibbous moon was hanging orange and low in the horizon. There was no wind and all around was silent, except for a solitary crow that was harking away in a tree nearby. The sun looked pale and white, but the sunlight around seemed diffused and reddish. He looked around at the townhouses that surrounded him. They looked very modern, but also very old at the same time. Some were in pristine condition, others were decrepit, some were burned out or looked like they had been abandoned for decades. They were all triangular shaped, with brick trims and cedar board sides. Some were blue, others were brown, others red, or green, or grey, or so decrepit that they no longer had any paint on them. Some were very large, others were much smaller. All around the houses were trees here and there, some which towered high up into the air. There were cedars, pines, maples, oaks. Car ports stood along both sides of the streets. They were open ended car ports with spaces for seven cars in each. There were open parking spaces between the car ports, with spaces for another five cars. There was plenty of parking. Cars of various sorts were parked in the ports. Cars from the 1950's, cars from the 1980's, cars from every decade were represented. Some looked like they hadn't been driven for years, others looked brand new and well cared for. Telly looked all around him. The houses seemed to go in every direction, crowding themselves into the surrounding hills, snaking up and down hills and valleys. Telly could see a huge, 300 + foot radio tower in the distance, it's red light on the top blinking on and off like an eye. He could hear a river bubbling away in the distance. He crossed the street and walked past the car port. He found himself in the middle of a communal area. To his right was a grassy quad area with two crab apple trees, and a large metal pipe arching out of the earth and back down again, a gauge of some sort was on the side of it. To his left, and to his front, were houses. There was a small wooden park bench. Red Bricks made up the floor of the central area, and a small fountain was playing in the middle. He then heard a door open in a house that was just past the second crab apple tree to his right. He saw an old lady emerge from the house, walking a black, shaggy dog on a leash. She guided the dog into the grassy area. Telly walked along the sidewalk and soon found himself facing the woman. She had on a dark pants suit with a white sweater and glasses. Her hair was grey and she looked quite old. "Excuse me? I was wondering if you could help me. I just moved here, but I don't know which house is mine. Can you help me, perhaps?" "You don't know which house is yours? How the hell do you not know which house is yours? That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I`ve ever heard!" The woman snapped while the dog stared at Telly with almost total disinterest. "I...don't know...which one...it is..." Telly said, his narcolepsy starting to seize him. He staggered around with his eyes half shut, his ears ringing and the colors flickering in and out of a fuzzy black and white buzzscape. "Don't know where your house is! You shit kid!" Telly could hear the old ladies voice echoing through his head. "Maybe if you actually looked you would see where your house is. Oh you idiot! You lying idiot! Liar! Liar! LIAR! LIARRRR!!!!!" He was now seeing an image in his mind of a frantic Springer Spaniel dog writhing and barking in a front of a window. The dog was becoming more and more agitated and crazy. Telly started screaming and tearing at his hair in his mind while he staggered and swooned around almost completely unconscious. The world was fading in and out of a dark field and he soon felt himself plunging into a deep, black abyss, screaming at the top of his lungs in absolute terror as he fell. Telly suddenly snapped out of the narcolepsy attack. He had having more and more of these attacks ever since The Move. Sometimes he would have as many as five a day, assuming that it in fact WAS a day that he was thinking back to. He would often have frightening visions during the attack. He looked up and saw that the old lady and the black dog were both gone. He then decided to go into the house that he was standing right in front of to see if it was his. It was a large, three story brown house with several windows of various sizes all over it. He went into the small courtyard in front of the house and opened the door. Inside he saw all of the familiar furniture that he was used to seeing, so he knew he had to have the right one. To his right was a kitchen, and he saw his father sitting at the kitchen table. He had a teapot in front of him, and he was sipping on a cup of tea while smoking a pipe and reading an afternoon newspaper. "Hello, Telly. Have you had a busy day?" His father asked. "Dad! How can I possibly know an answer to that question!" Telly shouted in anger. "I'm just trying to make conversation. " His father replied. Telly then dropped his suitcase to the floor and went to a cookie jar in the corner of the kitchen. He pulled out a package of Fig Newton's, pulled a few out of the package, and began eating them at the counter. "Do you want any tea?" Telly's father asked. "No Dad! I don't want any tea!! Why are you asking me that when you know I'm just going to say no?!" Telly screamed. "Doug? Is that Telly?" Telly heard his mom say from upstairs. "Yes, Doris! Telly is here now!" Doug shouted back. "Doug is that Telly?" Telly said in a rude, mocking voice. "Telly, don't be rude towards your mother, please?" Doug whined. "I suppose I'm going to have to go find my room now?!" Telly snapped bitterly as he picked up his suitcase and stomped up the stairs. Telly found an empty bedroom. "Telly?' He heard behind him. He turned around and his mother was standing in the hallway. Telly slammed the door in her face. "AUGHHHHH!!! YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY!!!BOTH OF YOU!!! AUGHHHHHHH!!!!!" Telly began screaming at the top of his lungs in a total rage. He was then hit by another narcolepsy attack. He clutched his head in his hands and began staggering around the empty room as the scene began fading in and out. In his mind he was still screaming, but he was actually flailing around the room like a mannequin in a boat stuck in the middle of a hurricane. "Telly? I need to talk to you. Can I come in?" Telly could hear his mother's distorted and echoing voice bouncing around the room and into his head. The sun was streaming through the uncurtained window. "Telly?" He heard his mother say again. Her voice was reverbing like she was speaking through a ballpark PA. Telly finally spun down to the ground like a top and lay unconscious on the floor right next to his suitcase. **************************************************************************** Telly was taking a walk behind the houses. There was a small road that ran behind there, beyond was an endless, slightly hilly plain that went all the way to the horizon. To the left of the road, a thorn hedge with barbed wire meshed through it ran parallel to the road, dividing the road and the steppe land beyond. It was then that a short, fat kid of about twelve or thirteen came along walking a small white whippet dog. The kid had a crew cut and a swarthy, Mediterranean appearance. Telly recognized the kid as Marion Dunstan. Telly also realized that he was no longer 24 years old, but was now fourteen. "What's up, Hemorrhoid?" Marion asked. "Nothing." Telly said. "My parents are both working. Wanna come over?" "Sure." Telly said. The boys walked off while Telly watched from behind. He was 24 again and was watching his fourteen year old self walk off down the path with Marion Dunstan towards Marion's house a short way down the path. He tried to remember what Marion had wanted to take him to his house for, but he couldn't remember the reason. He followed closely behind the boys, darting behind trees and bushes to avoid being seen. He looked to his right and the old lady and the black dog were behind one of the houses, watching the boys walk off. He heard a buzzing, looked up, and saw a large hornets nest up in a tree. Large black hornets were buzzing in and out of it. He then moved on down the road and wound up right behind Marion Dunstan's house. It was the last house in the row, a dirt path leading up to the street ran between it and the next row of houses. He crept behind the house and looked into the glass sliding door that was behind the house. There, he saw himself sitting on the couch with Playboy magazines spread out around him. He had his pants and underwear down around his ankles. The fat kid Marion was on his knees in front of him, giving him a blowjob while he sat with his head back. Telly recoiled at the sight of this unwanted childhood memory that he was suddenly seeing, put his hands on his head, and began staggering toward the dirt path. The narcolepsy then hit him and he crumpled to the ground immediately unconscious. Telly woke up a short time later. The sun was still hanging in the sky where it had been the whole time. He had a splitting headache. In addition to the narcolepsy, The Move had also been causing him splitting headaches. They usually didn't last long, so he got up and resumed his walk down the path. He soon found himself in a small glade, with a giant oak tree, a cherry tree, and a group of pine trees providing a small canopy. A small spring was gurgling out of the ground, and the water flowed down into a valley beyond where it drained into a creek, which itself drained into a large river that was flowing through. The back of the townhouses were still to his right. After emerging from the glade, he found himself in an open area. The row of townhouses cam to an abrupt halt at a steep hill, although the path continued on past them. He saw two women who were working on what looked like a large garden. One of the women, who was older, didn't even notice Telly. The other one woman, who looked around 18 or so, stopped what she was doing and stared at Telly while clutching her hoe in her hand.. Telly thought she was very beautiful. He gave her a small wave and she immediately dropped her hoe and began walking quickly towards the last house on the end. "Hey, wait! Wait!" Telly called out as he began running up the hill from the path towards the blue painted house. As he began stepping around the garden, he froze when he saw a man sitting in a chair on the back porch, watching him. "Please step no further. This is a sanctuary." The man said. The woman walked quickly behind the man, opened a sliding glass door, entered it, and slid it shut behind her. "A sanctuary?" Telly asked. He looked at the man in the chair. The man looked like he had to weigh at least 400 pounds. He wore a white xxl knit shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and white sneakers with no socks. He looked absolutely huge. In one hand he held a bottle of beer, in his other hand he held a small fan. "Yes. A sanctuary. We are a sanctuary from the likes of you. I would appreciate it if you would please leave. There is nothing for you here." "The likes of me? What do you mean?" "I don't have the time today to explain it to you, assuming that you don't actually know the answer. I have a sneaking suspicion that you do." The man said as he fanned himself with one hand and took a swig of beer with the other. "I...I don't know. All I know is that ever since The Move I've been having these horrible headaches, or I pass out." "Well you got off easy then! Some of us are still trying to clean up the mess that YOU made!" The Fat Man snapped. "That's why we're all here in this house. Don't come around here and try to come off like you're one of The Lost ! I can smell a Phony from ten kilometers away! Don't toy with me!" "I'm...I'm not lying. Why does everyone think I'm LYING!?" "Because after The Move everyone has been lying! Do you really require all of this to be explained to you?" "I don't understand...I don't know what's happening..." The Fat Man's features softened up a little. "Well...maybe you are one of The Lost." The Fat Man then stared at the ground a little, then looked up. "Tans Hansell!" He suddenly yelled out. "What...?" Telly replied. "Oh, I'm so sorry...you ARE one of The Lost." The Fat Man said. He then got up out of his chair, waddled over to Telly, and put his arm around his shoulder. He looked as though it was a struggle for him just to stand. "I'm sorry, but you have to be careful nowadays. Come, come inside. There's a home for you here, if you want a home." The Fat Man then put his arm around Telly's shoulder, and gently guided him into the house. End Of I Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:27:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Brian Roberson Subject: After The Move Part 2 "After The Move" By Brian Roberson II The Fat Man lead Telly through the back door and into the house. The inside was dark, there were no lights on. All around were children of various ages. Boys and girls. They were everywhere. They were sitting on sofas and chairs, two were playing with Hot Wheels cars in front of the stairs. They were sitting in groups on top of tables, in chairs, and on the floor. All were dressed in grungy looking clothes. There had to be at least a dozen in there. They all stared at Telly in silence, except for the two little boys playing Hot Wheels. Telly was looking through the crowd of children for the beautiful young woman he saw, but he didn't see her anywhere. "What is your name?" The Fat Man asked. "My name is Telly." "Children! This is our new resident! His name is Telly! Please attempt to treat him with respect!" The children simply stared apathetically. "How old are you, Telly?" The Fat Man asked. "I'm twenty four." "Well, that makes you our oldest resident then! Aside of course from me. I'm close to double your age. The children here range from the ages of six to...well, twenty four! The oldest until you arrived was Catherine. She's twenty. She's the one that you were chasing after when you arrived at our door!" "Where is she? She's beautiful." "I'm sure she would be impressed to know that you believe that." The Fat Man said sarcastically. Telly then began to feel woozy, so he turned around and stepped back outside. The Fat Man followed him out to the porch, and sat back down in the chair. "Catherine helps me run this place. She was actually the very first to move in. I'm sure she's somewhere in the house assisting with the children, or the chores. That's all she ever really does." "Uhhhmm...I really should tell you...uhh... what's your name?" "You can call me Big Bill." "OK, Big Bill. I really should tell you that I already have a place to live. I live here with my parents. I'm about twelve houses up that way." Telly said as he pointed in the direction he had come from. "Do you now?" "Yeah, I really don't need a place to live, and to be honest, if I did, I probably wouldn't want it to be here." "Are you sure that that you really live there?" "What do you mean?" "Are you really sure that you live with your parents?" "Why wouldn't I be sure of that?" "Are you sure that it's not that THEY live there, and you don't?" "Why should I believe that?" "We have several children here who's parents live in this neighborhood, but the children don't live with them. The Move was tough on a lot of families. Some of them stuck together, but just as many didn't. You might live with your parents, but you don't LIVE with them." "Big Bill, who are what is Tans Hansell?" "Are you sure that you don't know that?" "I'm pretty sure, I guess." "Tans Hansell is the peddler." "The peddler?" "Yes. He's the peddler. If you haven't seen him yet, and I'm almost completely sure that you have, then you will soon enough. Chances are that you just aren't associating the name with the man." Telly then began feeling another narcoleptic attack seizing him. He grasped his head and began to stagger around. "Sit down on the ground until it passes so that you don't smash your head open on the patio, will you please?" Big Bill said calmly as Telly staggered around. Telly then sat down on the ground, slumped over on his side, and lost consciousness. ****************************************************************************************** Telly eventually woke up, and he was in the same spot. He sat up and touched his head, mainly to make sure it was still there, if nothing else. He saw that the sun was still in the same spot in the sky where it had been the whole time. He then heard a noise behind him and quickly turned around. He saw that Big Bill was gone, but that he was not alone. Sitting on the patio was a dark haired boy who looked about thirteen or so. He was surrounded by furs of different kinds, which were strewn on the ground around him. Telly saw the boy gently rubbing a mink stole over his face. He put it down and neatly folded it up. He then took a mink coat that was next to him and started rubbing that against his face. He then heard a commotion in some trees that were across the dirt path behind the house. A group of seven or eight crows were gathered in the large tree that faced the house and were squawking away. Telly looked up at the roof and saw two crows facing the tree. One of them gave out a harsh croak and they both flew off. Telly saw that the boy was now rubbing one side of his face with the mink coat, and the other side of his face with a fox fur coat. Just then, a red haired boy the same age came out with some fishing gear, put it down, and sat next to boy, and started rubbing his own face with the fur. "Why are you guys doing that?" Telly asked. "I don't know, probably because it feels good. " The first boy said as he rubbed his face. Just then, the back door opened and Big Bill came waddling through. "Evan! Take your furs inside so that they don't get dirty out here!" He said as he sat down on the chair. The boy then got up, grabbed the furs, and ran into the house. Telly saw that he only had a t-shirt on and nothing else, his white butt mooned him as the boy ran into the house. "And put some pants on too!" Big Bill yelled after him. The red headed boy then got up and closed the glass door. "Telly, this is Michael. He's going down to the river to catch fish. Perhaps you can go with him and help out." Big Bill said. "I gotta extra pole if you want." The boy said in a thick southern drawl. "So you guys have to fish and catch all your own food?" Telly asked. Big Bill laughed. "No! We go to the store for that! Haven't you ever gone fishing before?" "I have, just not here." Telly said. "Well you should go with Michael anyway. I don't like him being down at the river by himself. Some very strange things can happen there." Big Bill said. Just then, Evan, the fur boy, returned with two additional poles. He had put on a pair of shorts and some sneakers, and he had the mink stole around his neck. "I...brought...you a pole...Telly." The fur boy haltingly said. Telly was suddenly seized with an intense blast of heartburn. It was so intense that he almost wanted to induce vomiting right there and then. He was concerned that the vomit would burn his mouth when it came up, so he kept it all down. His stomach felt burning and miserable. "OK, thanks, I guess." "Come on, let's go." Michael said. The boys began walking down the hill behind the house and took a sharp right. Telly followed and soon found himself scaling down a rock face which was right next to the house. At the bottom, he found himself in a large, marshy area, and he headed towards the river. The boys walked side by side and were rubbing the fur stole on their faces as they walked briskly through the wet, marshy land towards the river. They then saw a wooden bridge that went over the creek and crossed it. It was right at where the creek drained into the river. Telly noticed that it had become very overcast and misty. They soon arrived at the river. It was about 50 yards wide, and it's swift current made a dull roaring noise. By now the mist had thickened considerably. The tangled limbs of trees, most of which were dead, were hanging all around. He looked over at the boys, and they were both frantically rubbing the stole over their faces and looked like they were about to start fighting over it. Just then, a big wall of mist came in and enveloped everything. He could barely see three feet in front of him. The sound of the river seemed to be all around him, and he became disoriented. "Michael! Evan! Guys! Where are you?" He yelled out, but didn't get any response. "Guys! Where are you?' He then started hearing voices from a large crowd in the distance. The voices were all angrily shouting, crying out, and cursing. They began to get closer and closer. Telly gasped in panic and started running in the direction away from where the voices were coming from. He ran through the thick mist, crashing into branches and tree limbs as he went. The voices were closing in behind him. He then realized that he was crossing the bridge over the creek. Once over the creek the mist thinned out considerably, and he saw that he was once again in the open area. The sound of the river and the sound of the voices behind him intermingled into a single wall of sound. Soon, he heard footsteps on the wooden bridge. He turned around, and to his horror, he saw a mob of people running out of the mist and over the bridge, coming right after him. They were all running on all fours, like gorillas. They were laughing and shouting and yelling as they came after him. Telly saw that they were regular looking people of all ages and from all walks of life. Many were wearing party hats. They all appeared to be enraged, however, and they were coming at him full speed. Telly turned around and tried to run away, but it was as though he were trying to run through water. Soon, the mob overtook him, and he wound up on the ground trying to curl up into a little ball as he was surrounded by the crowd, who leaned over him yelling.. "You're a liar!" One woman cried. "You lie! You lie!" An old man shouted. "Liar! Liar!! Liar!!! A group of children screamed. "You liar!" A man said. "LIAR!!!" Yet another man said. Telly put his hands over his ears and screamed at the top of his lungs. Soon, a thick flock of squawking crows flew over head, blocking out what little sunlight there was. Telly then gave a gurgling shriek and began running full speed towards the path as the crowd silently watched. He then ran full speed back to his house, entered in a panic, and slammed the door behind him. "Hello, Telly. Have you had a busy day?" His father asked him as he sat at the kitchen table with his newspaper and his pot of tea. "LEAVE ME ALONE! WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!!" He screamed at his dad just before he ran upstairs. "Telly? I need to talk to you." He heard his mom say behind him. He turned around, and she was standing in the hallway behind him. To his horror, he saw a skull where his mother's head should have been . He screamed in terror and slammed the door. He then looked outside, and the sun, which had been in a fixed location in the sky the whole time, suddenly and rapidly sank, and the world was plunged into darkness. End of II Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 18:29:57 -0800 (PST) From: rtbrno65@yahoo.com Subject: After The Move part 3 "After The Move" III Telly sat terrified in his still unfurnished bedroom as darkness enveloped everything. Some streetlights in front of and behind the house flickered on. He could hear his parents snoring away in the adjoining bedroom. He stripped down to his boxers and lay down on the floor and tried to get some sleep, but needles and pins began pricking him in the back as he lay there. He also felt like he was being bitten by insects. He decided to try to masturbate, but his penis shrunk in his hand and tried to retreat into his pubic cavity as he did so. Eventually he became frustrated and got up. He climbed the stairs up to the third floor of the house, which was a large, single room with a high ceiling and a creaky ceiling fan that was whirling about above. He went to the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the large balcony. Outside, all was dark. The plains behind the house all stretched on into blackness. The path behind the house was illuminated by sodium street lamps that were placed every couple hundred yards or so. It was because of a street light nearby that Telly was able to see the man crawling towards the house on the path. Telly was looking down over the railing and he saw a long haired, bearded man crawling along the path. He was moving in a slow and slithering manner along the ground. Telly thought that he reminded him of Gollum the way he was moving. He then saw the man look up at where he was standing on the deck. He then slinked over to where the house was, and to Telly's horror, he began to shimmy up the drainpipe. Telly quickly ran inside and locked the sliding glass door. He then remembered that his bedroom window was unlocked. He began running back down the stairs as he heard the man trying to open the door. He got into his room and locked the window just as he heard the man land with a thud on the roof to the dining room that was just below his window. The man was trying to get the window open as Telly ran out the room and down the stairs to the first floor to make sure all the doors were locked. As he went to the sliding door in the dining room and locked it, a face suddenly appeared in the window. It was the face of an infant, except that it was horribly distorted. It looked puffed up and had huge, bugging eyes. Telly screamed in horror and recoiled away from the window. Just then his dad appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Telly? What's wrong?" Telly turned to him in a rage as the hideous looking face continued to stare into the window. "What's wrong is that you don't understand me! You never have!" Telly then went to the front door and he ran full speed out into the street. Eventually he found his way back to Big Bill's house. By then the sun was up and the surrounding neighborhood was bathed in sunshine. As he stood in front of the house, the front door opened. To his pleasant surprise he saw Catherine emerge from the house carrying a laundry basket. She stopped in her tracks and stood still while she stared at Telly. "Hello Catherine." Telly said after a few seconds. "It is Catherine. Right?" "Yeah. It's Catherine. I guess Big Bill told you?" "Yeah, he told me." "Well he never could keep his big, fat, stupid mouth shut. You're in my way." "Sorry..." Telly said as he moved out of the way. "So where are you going?' "To do the laundry, duh." Catherine said as she walked away. Telly turned and started following her. "So where do you do the laundry, Catherine?" "There's a house over here that no one lives in, and it has a washing machine and a dryer." Catherine replied. "So how long have you lived here?" "Since The Move. Just like you. Just like everybody." "So where's your family?" "I don't know. Who cares?" "I don't really understand what The Move is." "That's because you're one of The Lost. I can't stand talking to you people because you're too stupid to realize what's totally obvious." Catherine then crossed the street and entered a vacant house by it's rear door, which was unlocked. Telly followed her inside. There was a washer and dryer sitting in the vacant living room. Catherine opened the lid and began putting laundry into the washing machine. "So what is it that's so totally obvious that I'm missing?" "You woke up today, right?" "I...I don't know." "Well you're awake now. Right?" "Yes...I guess..." "So why don't you know that you woke up today when you're awake right now?" "I...I don't know..." Catherine took a box of Tide that was sitting next to the washing machine and poured some of the powder into the washing machine. "See? This is why I can't stand talking to you people. You don't know anything. Even if someone explained everything to you from the beginning, it would be as though they were speaking Chinese or something." She then turned on the washing machine and water could be heard rushing into it. "I'm sorry...I can't help it..." Telly said. He was starting to feel one of his narcoleptic episodes coming. "Look, do you see that over there?" Catherine said as she pointed behind him. Telly turned around, and in the floor of the vacant dining room, was a round opening about the size of a manhole that was filled to the top with water. "Yes." Telly said as his eyes blinked open and closed. "You have to jump into it." "Why?" "Ughhh...'why' `why' `why' ! That's all you know how to say!" Just jump into it. Jump into it now!" "I'm not jumping in unless I know why!" Telly yelled. He could feel the attack fully coming in, and the surrounding room was fading into black. "Goddammit because you have to! Don't worry! It'll take you wherever you want to go!" Catherine's voice echoed through his head. He then felt her push him from behind and he plunged into the dark water with a splash. Less than a second later he was sitting on a front porch facing a deserted street. The sun was setting in the west and he was sitting on the porch with several other people. To his left, on the ground by the porch, was a similar round opening filled with water. He then heard a woman coughing next to him. He quickly turned and saw Connie Garko sitting by him. She was sitting on the porch in a pair of jean shorts and t-shirt, smoking a cigarette. "Hey Connie." Telly said. "Oh. Hi Telly. Good to see you again." She said in a heavy New Jersey accent as she drew on her cigarette again. She was in her early fifties, blonde, and had freckles all over her face. She, her husband, daughter, grandson, and son in law had been his next door neighbors once. "So where's Max?" Telly asked. Max was Connie's husband. "Who knows? Who cares?" Connie replied. Just then one of the other people on the porch got up. It was Joey, Connie's four year old grandson. He was wearing a t-shirt and a dirty pair of underwear. "Grammy I have to go inside." The boy said. "Do you have to go potty?" She asked. The boy nodded in affirmation. "Hi Jo Jo." Telly smiled at the boy with a wave. "Hi Telly" The boy smiled and waved as he pronounced Telly's name "Terry". He then turned and rushed into the house. The other two people on the porch were a woman with black hair who was talking loudly to a bearded man who bore a striking resemblance to the man whom Telly saw climbing up the side of his house earlier. "Who are they?" Telly asked Connie. "How the hell should I know?" She replied apathetically. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here." "If you don't know why you're here then you need to go somewhere else." She said as she flicked her cigarette out into the road. "So I need to go back in there?" Telly asked while pointing to the hole ion the ground with the water. "You can if you want but I wouldn't. Those water portals are bullshit. They only take you where you think you want to go. They don`t take you where you need to be." Connie replied. "There's a creek out back!" The black haired woman replied loudly as she got up. "It'll work much better! Come on! I'll show you!" She then grabbed Telly by his hand and they ran to the back of the house. Behind the house was a small creek. It was rocky and had an unpleasant smell. "So what am I supposed to do?" "Go into the creek and run! Run! Run as fast as you can! When you can't go any faster, then dive in!" "But it looks shallow." "It doesn't matter! As soon as you can run no faster, then dive in! Dive in head first! Go ! GO! Run!" The woman laughed. Telly stepped into the creek and started running as fast as he could as the woman laughed and cheered behind him. All around him were tires, rocks, old books, bottles, and the odd diaper or two. As soon as he could run no faster, he dived head first towards a group of rocks. He then found himself in the hallway of a house. He could smell dinner cooking in the kitchen. A large Doberman Pinscher came into the hallway, saw Telly, and turned around and fled in fear. Telly could sense that he did not belong in this house, and didn't know the people, so he snuck out of the house as quickly and as quietly as he could. Outside he found himself on a street. Houses and shops lined both sides while passerby scurried past him. Cars and a couple of busses lumbered slowly down the street. He crossed the street and began walking down the sidewalk towards a group of about ten people who stood watching something on the sidewalk in a circle. When Telly approached the group, he saw that they were all surrounding a colorfully dressed man who was selling items out of a large trunk that he had. He was a blond man in his twenties, stocky and slightly overweight with acne and stringy blond hair that went down just to his shoulders. He was wearing a pork pie hat, a collared shirt, and a pair of shorts and sneakers, all of which were colorfully tie-dyed. He was pulling various items out of his trunk as he spoke to the crowd in a high pitched carnival huckster- like prattle. The items ranged from tire irons to cheap perfume to an actual brick of pure gold. "Ladies and gentleman! I present to you! A bottle of the finest perfume ever to be produced in Tangiers! A fine gift for your ladies and a pleasant surprise for your gentleman!" The peddler barked as he held up a small bottle of perfume with an atomizer attached to it. "It's piss!" A man in the crowd laughed. "Au Contraire my good Sir! This is of the rarest and the finest quality! It was the private stock of an actual Sultan with a harem of twenty! Only this and this alone, was good enough for his lusty flock! Perhaps it can have the same effect for you!" The crowd laughed as the peddler held the bottle out to the man. "Okay I'll take it. What do you want for it?" "You may have this as a personal gift from me! Just be aware that I may require a favor from you in the future!" "Don't do it!" A black man in the crowd warned. The peddler scowled as he handed the perfume to the man. "Pay no attention to my sable friend here! He is still mad about his losses to me in a game of chance!" "All of you, walk away now while you still can! You can't trust Tans Hansell as far as you can throw him! I trusted him once too! Save yourselves from his web of deceit!" The Black Man shouted to the crowd. Telly then realized that this was the Tans Hansell that Big Bill had spoken of. The crowd all smiled at each other and half of them walked off. "Well thanks a lot! You ruined my sale!" Hansell shouted at The Black Man. "Don't worry, Tans. You still have all these other pigeons. They're probably Lost. You can sell them anything, they`re so goddam spaced out and clueless." The Black Man replied. Telly looked around him. There were several other men and women besides himself who had stayed around. They all had blank expressions, a couple were smiling, and one woman appeared to be having a narcoleptic attack like the one's he had. "You, Sir!" Hansell said to Telly with his arms out. "You look as though you are in need! What is that I can provide for you/ Would you like a house? Or a car? Perhaps an item or two from my trunk?" "Oh sure, go for the stupidest looking one." The Black Man said. "No...I...I... don't really need anything now." "Oh come come! Everyone needs something! I can provide whatever it is that you want. Just ask! If it's not in my trunk, I still may be able to provide!" "I...I want Catherine to like me..." "Catherine is a sweet girl! I would like to have her myself! However, she belongs to Big Bill. They might not be lovers, but they are as tied together as is possible to be! Catherine does all the chores in that house. She cares for the children, she does the laundry, she cooks, she makes sure that Bill always has a cold beer on hand! She will never part from that! " Tans Hansell replied. "Hey Man! Did you really just try to get Tans Hansell to pimp for you? " The Black Man laughed. The rest of the crowd laughed to except for the woman, who collapsed unconscious onto the pavement. "You ask me for something that I cannot provide." Tans said. Telly looked down sadly at the pavement, turned and walked away. As he walked off he heard Tans coming up behind him. "Wait! Wait good Sir! " Telly turned around and saw Tans standing next to him. "Here, take this!" Hansell then put a small object in his hand about the size of a golf ball. It was wrapped in wax paper. Telly opened it and saw a burnt, carbonized object. It looked like a piece of metal that had subjected to extreme heat. "What is this?" "It's what you need. You don't realize it now, but you will." Telly then watched as Hansell turned around and returned to the crowd, shouting and pitching like a carnival barker. Telly looked at the peddler , then back down to the object, which he placed into his pocket. He then turned around and began walking away in the direction he had been going in before. He soon got past the buildings and saw that he was in a big traffic circle. Beyond he could see that all the roadways were choked with cars that weren't moving. Some of the cars had been abandoned, some on the road and others off. People were wondering around in a daze. It was then that he realized that he had to walk home. He turned in the direction of where he was pretty sure his neighborhood was, and started threading his way through the abandoned cars and the dazed passerby. End Of III