Author: Sam

Story: Halloween in Hazzard: 5 of 10

Series: n/a

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

Luke had a faraway look in his blue-gray eyes, thinking back on what’d happened while he’d been in Marines Basic Training. His voice was slow and thoughtful as he spoke. “Now, over the next few days strange things would happen. There was this boy from up New York way that liked to lead recruits into the back laundry room around midnight. I never took him up on the offer, but every man who did would come back shaking and scared. I asked one once what it was the New York boy did to everyone, and he said, 'The boy ain’t done nothin’. He just stood in the dark and didn’t make no noise.' So I ask why everyone was shook up, and the boy says, 'When you was standin’ back there in the dark you felt like you was bein’ watched from the other side, the side that the city boy weren’t on.' When that boy asked me if I wanted a chance, I turned him down flat.”

Shaking his head, Luke slowly said, “But I did have somethin’ odd happen twice in the sittin’ room. Weren’t allowed in there unless you earned the right by doin’ somethin’ extra good. I’d be in there, studyin’ alone, ‘cause it weren’t often two recruits got the reward at the same time. Suddenly, I’d smell perfume real strong. After the second time, I wouldn’t go in there if I could help it.” He grinned suddenly, as if something had struck him real funny. “Since none of the men wore perfume, I couldn’t see where the smell’d be comin’ from. After askin’ ‘round, we found out that some boy kilt himself in the laundry room a few years back, but that never did explain the perfume scent in the sittin’ room.”

Finally, Luke’s attitude got real serious, and he leaned forward. It was obvious by his body language that he was about to tell the real story, the one he’d been trying to avoid all that time. And he started by saying, “I only talked ‘bout this once before, and I don’t wanna talk about it again, so pay attention. It’s the only time I’ll tell it.” Everyone hushed up, though Luke was at least fair enough to wait for Roscoe and Daisy to get back with the round of beers the Sheriff had been obliged to buy.

When everyone was settled, quiet, and listening, Luke started his tale.

“There was several people involved, and to understand fully what happened, y’all gotta understand a little ‘bout the men involved. That boy from Florida I mentioned before weren't the type to take no sass from nobody. He played by the rules. His logs was more accurate than anybody else I know’d and he weren't a very friendly boy.

“There were this boy from California who was real pleasant and liked to talk and was very friendly and outgoing. He was pretty smart, but he weren’t too inventive like with stories. He usually stuck with the truth. And then there was the man from Tennessee. Now he was married, and left his wife back home, of course, but he was older’n most of us there, since we was seventeen or eighteen and he was nineteen or so. He was kinda a quiet, shy man who didn't speak above a whisper and who would never curse nor hurt anyone. He was a good country boy, and was always respectful to ever’body.

“The boy from Vermont was quiet, too, but more of a loner. He tried to follow the rules, but tended to get in trouble a lot. Now, while we was there, he said he used to talk in his sleep, which could get someone kicked outta the military, but he hadn’t done it since he was fifteen. He seemed to think it was pretty impressive that he didn’t sleep talk in English but in French. He was a real light sleeper; jus’ ‘bout anythin’ woke him up, and he never would get back to sleep proper after he was woke. Of course, there was about forty-five other men in those barracks, but they’d all been asleep that night, so I won’t bother ‘bout them.

“This took place a coupla of nights ‘fore we left. It was about change of sentry, and Florida was jus’ getting’ off watch and California goin’ on. For some reason, I couldn’t sleep, so I was up with them at the time. Florida decided to do one last tour of the barracks before goin’ to bed, but he never got further than Vermont’s bunk, ‘cause the boy turned to him and opened his eyes. He started talkin’ low with Florida. I couldn’t hear everythin’, but they was speakin’ English, so, unless Vermont lied to us before, he weren’t sleep talkin’.

“They was talkin’ for half an hour when suddenly Tennessee, the real quiet man, started screaming loud enough to wake the next county. No one woke up, though. Vermont just turned back over and closed his eyes and was back to sleep before a cat could lick her ear, which was strange in itself, since I seen him wake up if someone whisper across the room. But he never stirs and this man just keeps on screaming, still asleep. He was cussin’ and talkin’ real vile, too, and that was somethin’ odd, like Vermont sleepin’ through his screams… Tennessee slept right next to Vermont, in fact.

“By then, California’s eyes were round as pie plates, and we wasn’t sure what was goin’ on ‘xactly. Then, when Tennessee quieted, everyone... every single person… started snorin’. But they snored at the same time and breathed at the same time... all forty-odd of ‘em. It was eerie. Sound at the same time, then silence while everyone breathed, then noise again... several times. Then, just as suddenly, no one was snorin’ anymore.

"Then, all of a sudden the new frame Florida'd put up yesterday fell down, the one with the Sentry Regulations hung in it. It simply slid down the wall. It didn't fall off the wall, or move out and scrape down the wall or nothin'. Those two inch screws never budged, and there was no marks or nothin’... but it was there, flush to the wall one minute, and the next, we watched it slide, still flush to the wall, down clean to the floor!

“I walked over to the sign, which was still against the wall on the floor. Sure enough, no marks on the wall and the screws were in as tight as before... just no longer in the wall. And the paint ain't been scraped... like the screws had gone in, but not come out... or chips would have come away when someone undone it, you know? I checked the screws, no dents, no breaks, nothin’. Perfectly solid, two-inch screws!

“Well, it was pretty quiet the rest of the night, and in the mornin’, when Vermont woke up, he was real su’prised to hear he’d been talkin’ to Florida in the night. Claimed he hadn’t woke up once in the night. But while we was talkin’ to him, Tennessee come over, real quiet like, and asks where was he ‘bout two that mornin’. Seems that while we was busy with the sign, Tennessee’d woke up and didn’t see Vermont anywhere, and he didn’t check in with us, ‘cause we didn’t see nobody. We didn’t see him get out of bed at all. And when asked, he didn’t ‘member Tennessee screamin’, neither… and neither did Tennessee ‘member that.”

Luke crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair and looking dead serious. “I never was so glad to get out of those barracks a few days later when we shipped out.” And with that, it was quite apparent he’d finished telling his story.