Mamalade

“The world is becoming a scary place,” I reflected as I drove down a quiet back street, “What with the terrorists and bombings etc.” The car behind me tooted politely. I realised I had been driving a little slower than usual, so I pulled over and let it pass, then resumed at a faster pace.

Just as I passed a sloping driveway, a car suddenly backed out, almost colliding with mine. I only just managed to spurt ahead to avoid being hit.

“Geesh,” I thought, “You can get wiped out in a quiet street!”

The car continued to back across the road, almost hitting another car behind me.

“Stupid idiot!” I muttered, looking in the rear view mirror. I watched as it careened right across the road, mounted the curb and crashed into a fence.

Then I realised… the car was unoccupied!

I pulled over at the end of the street to watch what would happen next. The driver of the car behind drew alongside mine and wound down his window.

“Phew!” he said.

“Looks like we both had a narrow escape,” I said.

“It would have hit me,” he said, “only I had just slowed down a bit because someone flashed their lights to warn me of a radar trap! I’m going to buy a lottery ticket!”

And it probably would have hit me if I hadn’t picked up a bit of speed when another car tooted me! I think we both must have had a guardian angel!

But that wasn’t the end of the story…

I continued on to the service station and got petrol, then I thought, I’d better go back. Someone might need to know how it happened, and what if there was a child in the car? I turned and went back up the street.

The car was still there, on top of the broken fence. But there was no one in sight. No one in the street seemed to be aware that anything had happened. Should I get involved, I wondered.

The owner of the car would get an awful shock, I decided. I’d better let them know.

I walked up the driveway and knocked at the open door of the house. It was a large rambling house and appeared to be in a state of what I call a “creative chaos.” with a wild confusion of bright colours and unusual objects. It reminded me of an arty friend who lives in a similar creative environment.

A small boy came to the door.

“Mummy is round the back,” he said. I pushed my way through an overgrown tropical garden and found a small group of women talking on the back deck.

“Sorry to spoil your afternoon,” I said, “but did you know your car is across the road?”

One of the women shrieked and ran out to rescue her car. The others laughed immoderately. “Guess what, we’ve just had a handbrake incident!,” one called out to someone in the kitchen. “We were just discussing handbrakes failing,” she explained to me.

The woman in the kitchen came out and greeted me with surprise. It was my arty friend who lives in a similar house! She was visiting the people here.

“Do you two know one another?” asked the others.

“Yes,” laughed my friend. “ever since I was three!”

The car didn’t look too badly damaged. The simple paling and wire fence shouldn’t be too expensive to fix. And no one was hurt. That’s the main thing!

I hadn’t been asleep for long when something woke me last Saturday night.

What was that? There was a scraping noise outside my bedroom window. It couldn’t be the cats - they were all inside. Maybe it was the stray cat, looking for food on the patio.

I sat up in bed, pulled back the curtain, and pressed my face against the window to see out.

Yikes! I recoiled in horror. About 2 feet away from my window, there was a body slumped in one of the plastic chairs on my patio!

Could I have imagined it? Cautiously, I peeped again - this time at the corner of the window, without lifting the net curtain.

It was still there. It looked like a tall young man in his teens or early twenties. His face looked ghostly white - it might have been painted. He was wearing what appeared to be a black and white body suit.

What to do? I grabbed my cordless phone from the bedside table. Should I ring the police?

Although he’d scared the daylights out of me, the young man didn’t appear to be a threat. He was probably just drunk.

Suddenly, as I watched, he stood up and walked unsteadily out to the road

Phew! Problem gone!

But as I watched, he was joined by four others, all in black and white body suits. They meandered all over the road. I tried to go back to sleep, but the night visitors were still outside on the footpath in front of my house, talking in low tones. Occasionally one would walk up the road and come back again. They were there for over an hour.

Finally, I saw them walking away down the road. Peace at last! I could get some sleep. Just one last peep through the window…

Horrors! There was a body lying on my front footpath! He must have collapsed and the others had gone off and left him! Maybe they went for help. Would they return or should I phone the police?

I waited a while. I’d have to phone, I decided. If he’d taken drugs, he might be dead by morning. I picked up the phone.

But wait! They were back again! Four black and white forms were squatting around the body.

After a moment, he sat up, then he got to his feet and they all walked away together.

The street was quiet. I lay down and went to sleep.

Sorry, no October newsletter yet. Too busy preparing for Toastmasters and World Vision meetings, sorting stuff for Jumble Sales, playing with grandchildren etc. Back soon.