Bloggaday: Bloggaday 129 – The Funeral Job* Pt 3

Bloggaday 129 – The Funeral Job* Pt 3

“Hey, what’s the deal?” a voice came from across the room and cut into the rambling.

The two looked to a small girl examining a baseball. The boy cocked his head and dug into his pocket only to pull free a knob from one of the church’s banisters. The pair took turns looking at the two spheres before the girl finally acknowledged the room. Her foot inched from the crowd before she fell backwards into a run.

Throwing the knob to the ground, the boy dashed after her, leaving the woman at the center of the eyes in the room. “Kids,” she shrugged and hurried after them. By the time she made her way out of the church, the boy was catching up with the girl in the clearing of the cemetery.

The woman hopped from foot to foot to escape from her heels and ran after the pair. The two ran in circles and began looping back to her. As the girl got closer, the woman grabbed the squirming child. “It’s time to give up the ball.”

The girl chucked it at the boy and said, “Fine, here you go.” As the woman set her down, the child jerked away and continued, “It’s just a stupid ball. I thought it would be something valuable when I saw you sneak in after that man.”

The boy held the ball up before looking at them. “There’s only one name scribbled on here a bunch of times.”

“Let me see it,” the woman said as she snatched it from him. “Who the hell is Alec Hardison?”

The coffin lid swung open with an explosion of saw dust. Another boy, this one younger than any of the others, stood up through the artificial smoke. Couching, he fanned through the debris. He smiled and tossed up a ball before trying to catch it, only to palm it out to the pews. He jumped out of the cushioned interior and scooped up the ball. Spinning the it between his hands, he jumped onto the front row and leapt off of it, stumbling as he started for a window. His head bobbed from side to side as his gaze sprinted between the stained window and the ball. He wheeled back and hurled it through the glass.

Shards of reds, blues and greens rained down on the seal with a thunder louder than the bell high on the roof was ever capable of producing.

As commotion came from outside the heavy wooden doors, he inched closer to the window with crunching steps. He fingertipped the wall and stepped up into the window. As the first person burst into the room, he jumped free of the church and bellyflopped to the grass. The child moaned to his feet and cradled the ball before limping into a run.

As he began clearing the grass, yelling echoed from the church, but he ran right through the noise. What did stop him was the hook of a cane that caught his arm. The boy spun around, almost catapulting the ball. The man lurched forward through the cast on his leg and stole the ball from his hand.

“Ah man!” the boy complained. “Do you know how much work I did to get that ball? I literally spent all afternoon in a coffin!”

The man leaned against his cane and looked back at the church. “I doubt it was as much work as I did.”

The boy rested on his thighs as he finally began breathing. “That was some creepy stuff, man. I thought I would suffocate. I had to face my own mortality. Do you know how traumatizing that is for an eight year old, man?”

The man patted him on the shoulder as he walked by. “I think I have an idea.” As he tossed the ball in the air, he said, “I’ll see you around kid.”

Listening to

Twitter Tag

Exit stage right to my corner of the interweb > \/

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For the Piccaday

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