Stranger in the Woods

Saturday was Halloween. Zach didn’t have any leaf-raking jobs, so after he helped his mother decorate the front porch and the yard, he went with his friends to see Bo. Beepee tagged along.

The white-haired giant took them on a tour through the woods, pointing out different plants and describing their uses. He also discussed the textbook Jason and Justin were reading in their Biology class, but the conversation sometimes lagged when Bo became preoccupied, pausing to stare into the distance while Zach and his friends waited, concerned and confused. After the last such episode, Bo exhaled deeply and said, “Would you come with me to my home? I have something I would like to do there.”

He turned without an explanation and started walking briskly away. Zach and his friends looked at each other, as if one of them might know what Bo was up to, then hurried to follow him. No one spoke.

When they reached his cabin, Bo abruptly stopped and faced them. “I have been thinking about doing this for many days.” He grew silent for a moment, and Zach had the feeling that something important was about to happen. Bo said, “In the event that your endeavor with the laboratory is successful and I am able to return to my people, I need to make arrangements regarding the ownership of my home.” He paused while he looked each of them in the eye. “I know that you have been unable to work on the structure that you call your clubhouse, due to the demands on your time required by the rehabilitation of the laboratory.”

Jason waved one loose hand as if shooing away a gnat. “Aw, we don’t care about that. It’s just something to do, is all.”

“I still feel badly about it. You have sacrificed many hours of your time to labor for my benefit, and I am grateful for that.”

“But we want to do it,” Zach said. “We like it. It’s fun. Well, the raking’s not too fun, but we like fixing up the lab.”

Bo stared at him as if he were considering the truth of what Zach said. “I still want to offer you something for it. I cannot pay you because I have no money, but I can do something else.”

“You already did something for us,” Shelby said. “You taught us how to shoot a bow, and you cured my asthma.”

“And other stuff, too,” Justin said. “It’s a fair trade, far as I’m concerned.”

“Even so,” Bo continued, “something must be done regarding this matter I am getting to.” He turned and gestured at his cabin. “If I return to my people, this will stand unoccupied. I would like to give it to you. It can be your clubhouse.”

No one said anything for several seconds as the meaning of his offer sank in. Jason said, “Oh…cool. That would be awesome! I hadn’t thought about what would happen to it when you’re gone. But won’t somebody else find it and use it, or tear it down or something?”

“It is very difficult to find if the forest does not allow it. It is almost impossible to see from the air, too, because of the growth on the roof.”

“There’s a little bit of a clearing here,” Justin said. “Can’t you see it from a plane or a helicopter?”

“The clearing is irregular and should appear natural from above. I cannot say for certain because I have never flown, but I believe it is nearly indiscernible. That is what Dr. Sizemore thought, also.”

“But how will we find it if you’re not with us. Won’t the forest hide it from us?”

“I will ask the forest to allow it. You mostly know the way already, in a general sense.”

“But how about the door?” Zach said. “It won’t let us in.”

“I will tell the door to allow you to enter. That is why I brought you here, now.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“Put one hand on it, all of you at once.”

They hesitated at first, then crowded together before it. Each of them placed a palm flat against the wood. “Like this?” Shelby looked up at Bo.

Bo nodded and joined them, reaching over them with one long arm and setting his huge hand on the door, high above theirs. “Close your eyes and empty your minds.”

Zach did, and sensed only a slight warming of the skin on his palm, so faint that he knew it could have been his imagination. He expected something dramatic, but it didn’t happen that way.

After several long seconds, Bo lowered his arm. “It is done.”

“That’s it?” Zach said as he and his friends lowered their arms, too. “The door will let us in now?”

“Try it and see.”

How does it work?”

“Put your hand back on it, focus, and use your mind to ask it to open.”

Zach did, though he wasn’t sure about the mental part of the process. He closed his eyes and thought, Please let me in. He felt something in the wood release, like a piece of metal pulled from a strong magnet. “Hey, it worked, I think.” He tugged on the handle and the door swung outward, easily. He huffed a laugh that settled into a grin.

“Let me try,” Shelby said, and Zach moved aside. She repeated what Zach had done. She got the same result, and her face lit up. “I just did some magic!” She turned and beamed at her brothers, and neither of them tried to contradict her.

“I’m next.” Jason stepped forward and tried it, and then Justin, and the door responded similarly to each of their touches.

“Now you may enter whenever you wish,” Bo said. “You do not need me with you.”

“That may be true,” Jason said, “but I doubt we could find the cabin on our own yet. You still need to tell the forest not to hide it from us.”

“I already did.”

“We didn’t have to do something special, like become one with the trees or whatever?”

“The forest already knows who you are. It likes you. I only had to ask it with my mind if it would allow you to come here.”

“And it said yes?” Justin said.

“In its own way.”

Zach pinched one earlobe with his thumb and index finger and wondered about the dense woods that lay beyond the small clearing where the cabin stood. “I still don’t know if we can find it, though. There’s no path or anything. The forest keeps covering it up.”

“Bring Beepee with you until you become proficient at it. She knows how to get here.”

“Did you ask the forest to let her?”

“She has always known the way.” Bo bent at the waist and put his hands on his knees so that he was closer to the dog. She looked back at him, ears forward, head slightly tilted. “Am I right, Beepee?”

She barked once and wagged her tail. Bo patted her on the head and smiled. “I guess that answers my question.”

Liz spent part of the afternoon getting ready for Halloween. She went to the store and picked up a few more decorations — some fake headstones and large plastic spiders— and set those out with the other things on the porch and in the yard. She had three big bags of miniature chocolate bars. She opened one and poured it into the wide plastic bowl she’d placed on a chair in the foyer.

It was still hours until nightfall.

Zach came home later and was angry when she told him he wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating. “Why not?” The corners of his mouth turned down sharply.

“Because you’re too old.”

“I’m only thirteen. Teenagers used to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood back in Raleigh, and some of them were seventeen!”

“And I always hated that. Most of them didn’t even bother with costumes. They just grabbed a pillowcase to hold their loot and went with their friends, mooching candy that should’ve been going to younger kids.”

“Jason and Justin and Shelby are going, and they’re older, except for Shelby. She’s my age.”

“Did they say they were going? Because Tina told me she wasn’t letting them. I hope they’re not sneaking out. Did they say they were? Tell me the truth, honey.”

“No.” Zach’s face fell. “They didn’t say. I just assumed they were.” He shook his head and his gaze dropped to the floor. “What am I going to do? I’ll be bored, and it’s Halloween. It’s supposed to be fun.”

“Why don’t you invite your friends over and you can watch scary movies and make popcorn? You can have a little party. Tina won’t mind if they come.” Liz gave a small shrug. “Or, if you don’t want to call them, you could help me give out candy to kids who come to our door.”

“Crud.” He looked away. “I’ll call my friends. Can we have pizza, too?”

“I have two in the freezer.”

The doorbell only rang twice.

Liz was disappointed. “That wasn’t very many trick-or-treaters,” she said to the empty foyer when she finally gave up and turned off the front porch light. She cast a disconsolate eye at the candy bowl on the chair beside her. And we still have a lot of that left.

She carried it to the family room, where Zach and his friends were strewn across the furniture like discarded clothing, watching the old black-and-white Dracula movie.

“We’ll help you eat your candy, Mrs. Webster,” Justin said from his spot on the sofa. He was stretched out with his shoes off and his feet on the coffee table, which was littered with soda cans, paper plates, and stray pieces of popcorn.

“That’s fine with me. Why don’t I get some smaller bags and split these up for you and Jason and Shelby to take home?” Zach started to frown and she added, “I’ll keep plenty for you. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks Mrs. Webster,” Shelby said. “This is almost better than trick-or-treating.”

Jason held up both of his thumbs. “We got to have popcorn, pizza, and candy, and we didn’t have to dress up in itchy costumes or walk anywhere.”

“After we spilt up the candy,” Liz said, “I’ll give you a ride home.”

Liz drove the three siblings to their house, and on the way, she paid attention to the homes they passed, to see how many had been decorated. She saw pitifully few jack-o’-lanterns or other things until she turned onto the street where the Rosses lived. The houses there were newer and sported more Halloween trimmings.

After dropping off Jason, Justin, and Shelby, Liz and Zach rode home, and the closer she got, the gloomier she became, as the gaiety of the holiday gradually gave way to the somberness of their street. The hulking Victorian houses stood dark and silent, and weary. We live in such an old neighborhood, she thought sadly. I wish some younger people would move in.

She pulled the car into her driveway and glanced at the For Sale sign at the house next to hers. That would be a good place to start.

* * *

On Sunday morning, Zach used the computer in the family room to print out the picture that Grandpa had taken of him and his friends in front of the tall cylinder in the lab. Then his mother sat at the kitchen table and watched as he trimmed it and mounted it in a small frame that she’d dug out of a box in the closet.

“Where are you going to put it?” she asked. “On the mantle with the others or in your room?”

“I might give it to Jason and them.” That wasn’t what he really planned to do with it, but he couldn’t tell her what that was. I’m going to give it to a giant alien with white hair.

“Then you should print another for yourself.”

“I’ve got it on my phone. I can look at it whenever I want, soon as you give it back. By the way, I think I got a good grade on my last math test. It might be posted online by now.”

“Let’s check. If it’s a B or higher, you can have it.”