The Dishes

Page 3 of 5

I didn't know what to think it was at the time, hadn't seen anything like it before, but since then it's been all over the place.  Movies, tee shirts, posters they sell in the mall, everywhere.  Only they aren't quite the same as what I saw, close, but not quite.  You know, like a police sketch is close to what the suspect looks like, but maybe the nose is a little too wide, or the eyebrows are a bit lower.

It was short, maybe would've been able to look over this bar, but not by too much.  It didn't look like it had any clothes on, but I wouldn't swear to it.  It was about half in the brush anyways, so I wouldn't have seen a belt or a shirt tail or anything like that.  It had a hand on a branch, and I could only see maybe three fingers at the end of an arm that was way too long, like a monkey's arm or something.  The head looked like it was too big for what I could see of its neck, like it shouldn't have been able to hold it up, but it did.  Couldn't see a nose, and it had a thin little black line where its mouth should've been.

Its eyes were what got me the most I think.  It had two big, black eyes, which were more oval than round.  It looked almost oriental, but when I think about them, I think the eyes were really that shape, and not the skin around them.  But they were empty.  I mean, absolutely nothing there.  Not mean, not happy, not curious or afraid.  It was like looking at rocks or an eight ball or something.  And they were just looking at me.

Mind you, I've been thinking about this for some forty-odd years now; it didn't all dawn at me at once.  It's not like I stood there thinking "Wow, it only has three fingers and its eyes are oval."  It stuck in my head pretty well though, and I've been rolling the memories around for a long time.  I might have changed things around a little in that time, like the way your childhood home always seems a lot smaller than the big castle you remember growing up in, but I think I'm still pretty close to the money.

Anyways, we stood there looking at each other for a few minutes.  I don't know what it was thinking, but I was too scared to move.  I'd probably still be standing there if the car hadn't driven by, and scared my new "friend" deeper into the forest.  Even then, I still stood for a second or two, trying to think of what to do next.  Then I decided to do the stupidest thing I think I've ever done in my life, and I've done some pretty stupid things.  I followed it.

I ran across the street and into the brush without thinking about it any more than if I was just going to the bank or something, but at the same time I wanted to run in the other direction.  Wanted to run like Hell in the other direction, but I wanted to keep going just as badly.  I was both scared to death and utterly fearless, if that makes any sense.    Still don't know why I went in, but I did.

Running in the forests around here isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially at night when you can't see a branch in your way or some blackberry bushes ready to trip you up.  I ended up doing little more than a slow jog, and after a minute or so I realized that I didn't know where I was going--I might even have already passed the little bugger and maybe it was following me now.  So I stopped and listened for a bit.  Nothing at all.  I looked around and couldn't see anything, but somehow I knew I couldn't just walk out of the forest now.  I kept on in the direction I'd been going, at a fast walk and going as quietly as I could.

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