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Timmy

…

Wade was standing in the kitchen, staring at the cabinet over the refrigerator. It seemed to be sagging. He opened the cabinet door, and saw what looked like an enormous ham, wedged into the cabinet. He stared at it.

Timmy came running in barefoot, from the back yard. “Hey, Dad! What’s new?” The back yard wasn’t exactly safe to run barefoot in, but Angie bought band-aids by the pound.

Wade grunted, “Neighbors.”

“Huh?”

“Next door. New neighbors.”

“Oh,” Timmy said, then paused, “I’m gonna go see ‘em!”

Wade was staring at the ham, trying to figure out where it had come from, because it looked like it was coming through the wall. Belatedly, he responded, “Well, don’t you go pestering them! I don’t think they like pests.”

He heard his own screen door slam. “… nobody likes pests,” Wade continued softly. He reached for a large knife.

Wade figured if he couldn’t get the ham out one way, he’d just carve it out a slice or two at a time. He carved off enough to feed about four grown men, and laid it on a platter. It had a kind of plastic cover on it so he peeled that off. Then he sliced up some potatoes, carrots, and onions over it, and put it in the oven. Angie didn’t like onions.

Wade closed the cabinet door. Maybe now the ham would shrink up a bit, and he could drag the rest of it out of the cabinet. That could come later, though. While the ham was cooking, he’d have some time for a beer or two.

Timmy showed up after supper had cooled. Wade gave him a plate of leftovers. There wasn’t a lot of it. The ham had been remarkably delicious!

Timmy sat down and tucked in. Wade was pleased to see him enjoying the meal. There were a lot of things that he didn’t do well, and cooking was on that list.

Timmy seemed distracted by something. He kept looking down at his foot.

Wade looked at it. His right foot was unusually clean. Sparkling clean, almost, except that the sparkles came from glittering reflections on the surface of his skin. His other foot was still soiled from playing in the back yard.

“So what’d you do over there?” Wade asked casually. He really didn’t care, but he was still curious about his strange new neighbor.

“It’s a really cool place! They keep the lights off, except for some strings of Christmas lights, I think. And there’s real neat furniture around, soft and comfy, and every time you come into the room the furniture’s been moved! They were putting on a puppet show! It was so funny, with all these squeaky voices and scary monster noises! I had a great time! I think they must have a dog, too. I didn’t actually see it, but it came over and was licking my foot while I was laughing myself silly! What a great place!”

“Puppet show, huh?” Well, that explained the sparkles. They probably came from some puppet costume. “Any other kids there?”

“I think so,” Timmy looked a little puzzled, as if he were having trouble remembering precisely, “I didn’t get a chance to talk with them though.”

Timmy stretched and yawned, “The show started as soon as I got there. I guess maybe they must have three or four little kids, probably younger than me.”

“All right,” Wade said, “go get cleaned up, and go to bed.” That way, if Angie scolded him about whether he had told Timmy to brush his teeth, and take a bath, he could say, “Yes, I did! I told him quite clearly.”

What the heck. Tomorrow was Saturday. He could get a bath tomorrow.