THE BOY HID INSIDE the vinecovered house until dark. Wanting to go and look but waiting for the cover of night and when it came he began to move about the valley. He carried a cigarette lighter that he used to light his steps. The singular flame on and off again. Not wanting to be seen. He would move some and then he would sit and listen. The rustles of the nocturnal moving around him. Small things that kept his head turning from side to side and kept him alert as he was looking for the big thing on two legs. The humped shadow at odds with itself.
He moved beneath ridges. Rose out of the kudzu onto a bluff. Sank back down and crept along a ditch. He sat down on the ground with his back leaned against a fallen tree. His head leaned back and his eyelids heavy and he was almost asleep when he heard the man talking to himself.
He sat up straight. The voice sounding like it came from all sides and he could not settle on its direction. A steady stream of deranged conversation off in the dark interrupted only by the smack smack smacking of his tongue and gums. The boy moved quietly to his knees. Quietly to his feet. Leaned his head forward as if that might somehow improve his night vision. The voice was moving and then he heard the man stumble and fall. A quick shout of curses that came from directly out in front of the boy. He moved forward a single step and the man seemed to lie still. The boy moved forward again but then stopped when he heard the man move and start talking again and now he could make out his black figure.
The man kept talking. A series of questions and answers that circled around and around and sometimes his voice rose in defiance against his own question and other times he mumbled like a penitent child. He talked and he moved and the boy followed until the man came to a ridge. There he paused. A quick flick and the tiny dot of matchlight. The man making sure of his steps. The man then blew out the match and the boy watched him climb the ridge. Standing on top he struck another match. Gave himself some final command. And then he disappeared down into the cave.