The Strange Quilter Read Free

primal level of fear. It just wasn't right. I was paranoid about it, wondering if some terrorists might be poisoning the atmosphere. Soon, we would all drop dead from some kind of WMD poison gas. How would we escape? Where would we run to? “Have we finished with this stakeout gig? The street's quiet. We're the only ones making any noise. Let's go home and get warm.”
    A light went on inside Nell's home. I turned the volume down on the radio and whispered, “Shush. Listen...” The light came from the living room. The large front window's drapes were drawn, but the glow from the light shown through. I now heard a very subtle series of noises. It was an intermittent sound. A metallic clicking noise that originated near Nell's house. It might even have come from inside her house.
    “Are you going to knock on her door?” Ken asked. I could tell he was increasingly nervous about being here. As a detective, he caved quickly when some action finally happened.
    “And scare Nell into a heart attack? She probably just got up to go to the bathroom. I'm beginning to creep myself out being here.”
    “Yeah, we are acting creepy.”
    Nell's house went dim. This little incident was a positive indicator that she was okay. She merely got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, or to use the bathroom, and went back to bed. Nothing unusual. Nothing odd. The only strange thing was her phone call. Maybe she just had a few drinks and got a little weird. It happens. She's a widow and has lived alone for quite some time. I'm not implying she has any mental problems, or that she's socially inept. She's a successful business woman. She just had a drink or two and got a little high. That's not strange. Not like Ken and I, freezing our asses off in the middle of the night, parked in front of her house, listening to the Coast to Coast radio show discussing inter-dimensional visitors.
    A white flash! A light as brilliant as the noonday sun, shining from horizon to horizon, lit the night sky. It lasted less than a second. Blink, and you would have missed it. What was it? I rubbed my eyes, pulled some tissues from my pocket, and wiped the moist haze from the front windshield. I saw nothing unusual outside. All was normal - so what was that? “Did you see that?” I asked Ken.
    “What?”
    “That light! That super bright light! For a split second, it turned night into day.” My heart wanted to burst from my chest. I was shaking now, but not from the freezing cold that had sunk into the marrow of my bones.
    “Yeah, I saw it. I thought it was just me. I get these flashes in my eyes sometimes. It happens when you get older. So, that was real. Wow.”
    “What could it have been?” I thought for a second, then said, “It wasn't a transformer explosion. It was brighter than that. And there was no noise.” Tonight was a night of compounding mysteries. I've been worried, scared, regretful, cold, disoriented, paranoid. It's past time we went home and crawled into our warm bed and turned off the world. Whatever was going on in this neighborhood, I could deal with it better after some sleep. I started the motor, cranked up the heater, and turned the car sharply around to point us back home. Ken didn't voice any complaints.
    “Sorry. I kind of pushed you into this,” Ken said.
    “Yeah, you did. But it's okay.” My mind was already wandering off to thoughts about Friday. The friendship group will meet, as usual. Nell will be there. She will join in the activities. And she will sell us stuff from her store. We always end up buying another piece of fabric, more needles or some new sewing notions. Then, all my concerns about Nell's safety will be put to rest.
    I don't have any answers about tonight's various anomalies: the strange odor, the weird light, Nell's weird phone call. Oh. And I mustn't forget running over the cat; that little accident will most likely break some little girl's heart. I'm upset with myself about that, but you'd think,