A Holiday Trip

Another Christmas Holiday and Allen had twenty days stretching in front of him with little to do and no one to do it with. His parents didn’t celebrate Christmas or any other holiday but at fifteen he told himself he no longer cared. As for the days out of school, though, that did bother him. His 4.0 GPA needed to be constantly stroked and worked to maintain its high gloss shine. Allen intended to research two things over the holidays in addition to writing his draft for his English Thesis. Of course, only the thesis would be turned in as schoolwork. Allen spent his free time researching properties with “No Trespassing” signs on them. He knew he should stop this; he’d been doing it since he was nine, but he loved watching the places, documenting the comings and goings of the people who lived there, then sneaking onto the properties when no one was at home. He would look in windows, explore garages and when he was lucky, even get into the houses themselves! He never took much of any value, just food, if he was hungry, and once, he took a bath set, still in its wrapper, from Bath and Body Works. He was always careful to clean up after himself and very careful not to enter a property unless he had thoroughly researched the owner and knew where he or she was going as well as how long they would be gone. Needless to say, learning about the owner’s routines and work or leisure schedule took the longest amount of the time devoted to the research. Still, spending time alone in someone else’s world was well worth it.

Allen had no friends. He told himself that was fine with him; they would only get in the way and cause problems. It was hard enough staying still for hours at a time; if he had a friend along they would get caught for sure. Allen had a friend when he was in grammar school; his name was Gary, and he lived across the complex from Allen. They were the best friends and spent every day together but then Gary’s parents got a divorce and he moved with his Mom to Florida. Allen swore he wouldn’t ever make another friend again. Eventually, the other children stopped trying to make friends with Allen and now they just ignored him. Allen was surprised when a new guy came up to him in the hallway at school and started making conversation. He said his name was Donald and he lived around the corner from the school. He invited Allen to the mall arcade after school on the last day before the holidays. Allen had been so surprised he hadn't known what to say. Luckily Donald just waved and said see you there. Allen gave a sigh, wondering if he was glad or sad about the fact that he had no intention of playing video games at the arcade with Donald.

The truck stopped at the gate and a tall, slender man got out to open the gate. Allen shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had been daydreaming instead of watching the property! The man got the garage out of the bed of the truck and threw it in the garbage can then got back into the truck. The truck drove slowly past the wash where Allen was crouched and the man looked right at him! Allen held his breath. The tall, dried grass and the creosote brush should keep him hidden, but he relied on the bones of the fallen saguaro cactus to shield him. It was three foot wide and nearly twenty foot long. It didn’t have any arms and Allen didn’t know or care why it had died, only that it keep his hiding spot safe. This wash hadn’t had any water in a long time; it was heavily planted and Allen was glad of that fact. Although the man in the truck had looked at the place where Allen was hidden Allen thought he was still safe. It was a Wednesday and it was nearly noon, which meant the man was on his way to the Coyote Pause Café for lunch. That would give Allen almost an hour to research the property and hopefully get in and out of the house before the man came back. Allen had another ‘No Trespassing’ property down this same road; he wanted to start watching the owners and document their routine. This property was really just an old ranch and the man just a caretaker, no big discovery here. Still, Allen was thorough and intended to follow this through to its obvious conclusion.

Allen followed the wash around the bend then used some exposed Palo Verde roots to climb his way to the top. The run down ranch house was directly in front of him. Perfectly square, the roof had four sides that sloped to the middle in a peak. It was raised on blocks, Allen could see all the way under it to the back of the property. There was a chimney in the center, which Allen knew meant the wood stove would be in the middle of the house. It had a front porch but no overhang and the top step was missing. There was a barn with the side facing Allen completely gone. Allen walked across the yard and went up on the porch. He tried to look in the windows but they were so filthy he couldn’t see a thing. Finally, he tried the front door. To his surprise, it opened! Allen went in and stood still a minute to let his eyes adjust.

The house was an open layout, no bedrooms, no bathroom, and no doors at all. Just one big room. Allen wondered where did the man do his business? There hadn’t been an outhouse that he could see and he’d never seen the man empty any buckets. More to the point, the property did not smell. Allen had been researching this place since Halloween, he’d been all over the 10 acres and if there had been a privy, he would have certainly found it. Allen shrugged and opened the cabinets in the kitchen area. They were all empty, and so was the refrigerator. In fact, the refrigerator wasn’t even on! Allen realized he had missed something very important in his research and he turned to leave, rapidly.

“I know you want to find out more about me and this place, Allen.”

The man was just there, in the middle of the house! Where had he come from? How did he get inside without Allen hearing him? Allen looked up and up. The man seemed much taller inside the house than he had next to his truck. Allen was afraid for the first time in his life. He tried to think of something to say but nothing would come out of his mouth.

The man went to the wood stove and knelt on one knee in front of it. There was a small metal handle in the floorboards. Allen hadn’t even seen it! The man pulled and it rose up, like a trapdoor. Except there wasn’t a root cellar, the house was up on blocks, there wasn’t anything under there except a desert floor; wasn’t there?

“Come here, you Homo Sapiens,” and the man held his hand out to Allen with a sneer.

Allen struggled to resist, every instinct telling him to flee but he walked, stiff legged, and stopped in front of the trapdoor. Looking down Allen saw a swirling green mass, he couldn’t tell if it was liquid or gas, but it seemed to be boiling, so strong was the movement.

“Now look, young person, and see who you will meet when you go through this doorway.”

The man lifted his face off, there was no other way to describe the action, and Allen looked at a long, narrow face, without any hair and a small mouth and tiny nostrils. His eyes had no iris, just large, black pupils and enormously round eyeballs.

The man pushed him into the open doorway just as Allen looked at an alien for the first, but not the last, time.