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Although Eric had left abruptly with the others during the ensuing confusion, once far enough away from the group, he took steps to remain separated from them. He knew where he was to rendezvous with Curtiss, and after a short time, he found him waiting exactly where he said he would be.
As Eric approached Curtiss, who had a look about him similar to that of a student who had been waiting to see the school’s principal for disciplinary action.
Before Eric could address him, he babbled, “Look, Mr. St. Clair, about the stone man. I’m sorry I-.”
Eric surprised him by not allowing him to finish his sentence. “Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?” Curtiss continued.
“I mean, I know you put this little excursion together to keep them on their toes and keep them tails a waggin. It’s clear you wanted them to get ‘really’ scared.”
Eric smiled and answered, “Oh, but that’s exactly what they did, my dear fellow. They got ‘really’ scared.”
“Curtiss appeared confused, “They did?” Eric praised Curtiss.
“You damn right they did. Over the years, I’ve seen any number of them frightened, but not all of them at the same time. That is, until this evening. And, certainly never to this extent.”
Curtiss was still confused. “Mr. St. Clair, I need to apologize about-.” Eric interrupted,
“Yes, yes. I know. The tires.”
“The tires?” An even further dumbfounded Curtiss asked.
Eric continued, “I realize I was the one who told you to take the air out of the tires. But I didn’t mean to puncture them as a means of accomplishing it.”
“Puncture??” Curtiss asked. He was unable to get a response from Eric. He realized that his mind was somewhere else. He was clueless about why Eric had not been paying attention. It was related to his mind reliving the past, specifically, savoring the terror he witnessed from his team. Then suddenly, he returned to the present.
Eric turned his attention back to the issue of the punctured tires. He continued, “It certainly added to the tense atmosphere, but one has to ask the question- how are we going to inflate tires that have been obliterated?”
Bewildered by Eric’s statement, Curtiss quickly replied, “Mr. St. Clair, I’m not following you at all.”
“What are you talking about, Curtiss?”
“Sir, I didn’t puncture the tires. Believe me; I wouldn’t do something that stupid. I only let the air out of them as you told me.”
Stumped by Curtiss’ comment, Eric snapped back, “Well, tires don’t puncture themselves!”
Curtiss defended himself. “I swear to you, sir. I didn’t do it!” Eric became annoyed,
“So, the tires just punctured themselves? What do you take me for? Just because you fabricated a monster suit that scared the shit out of everyone, that’s no reason to go and deviate from the plan.”
Curtiss was even more confused. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there. What do you mean a monster suit that scared everyone?”
“That monster suit you and your uncle fabricated. It was realistically frightening. It was almost surreal. The red glowing eyes, which I might add, made all the difference. The,”
Curtiss stopped Eric. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! We weren’t able to come up with any type of suit that would convince anyone the petrified man had come to life.”
Curtiss turned and reached into the bushes and displayed some foam appliances from the bed of his pickup truck. “This is all we were able to put together.”
Eric smiled as the appliances were totally unconvincing. A thought entered Eric’s mind - a terrorizing possibility that immediately turned the smiling facial expression on his face into one of grave peril and danger.
He looked into Curtiss’ eyes. “You’d better not be screwing with me, Curtiss.” He snatched one of the appliances from Curtiss’ hand.
“This! This is all you were able to fabricate?”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. It’s all we were able to put together.”
Eric slowly turned his head and looked into the woods from which he had just returned. “Then, what the Hell was it that we all just saw?”
Curtiss’ attention peaked. “What do you mean, what you just saw? Are you saying you saw something....the Petrified Man? You saw Carl?”
Eric tossed the unconvincing arm appliances to the ground. Eric’s mind began to replay the events that transpired a few moments earlier. “Mr. St. Clair?” Curtiss asked.
But Eric’s mind only continued to hear the terror-filled screams as if they were occurring at that very same moment. The screams became louder until...
“Mr. St. Clair...Mr. St. Clair! What did you see?” A concerned Curtiss asked.
“I’m not sure. But, whatever it was, it was something more frightening than I’ve seen before.”
Another possibility entered Eric’s mind - he asked, “Wait a minute. Could Lester have constructed a suit on his own?” Curtiss responded without hesitation.
“No, I’d have known about it.” Curtiss then said with a half-smile,
“Unless...unless we somehow brought Carl back to life? I confess I never really believed Lester’s legend. Never for once had I ever thought it possible. But, since we didn’t make a suit, we’ve got to...we’ve got to face the possibility of his unexpected existence- ”
Eric interrupted, “That’s ridiculous!”
Curtiss added. “Ridiculous is not asking the most important question.”
Eric asked, “And what might that be?”
Curtiss answered. “I thought you were a smart guy. The most important question for you right now would be - how the hell will you get out of here alive?”