The Vivisectionist (5 page)

After a couple of miles, their path broke out of the woods and followed a power-line cut. Central Maine Power had cut a neat strip through the woods about fifty yards wide. The path they followed meandered through this strip, back-and-forth, under the power lines. Their pace increased as they didn’t have to do any maintenance on the trail.

“Hold up—I think it’s around here,” said Jack.

“What’s around here?”

“There’s a little side trail that goes over to the quarry. I think it’s right around here,” replied Jack.

“Is that it?” Ben pointed back down the trail a few yards.

There was a small break in the blueberry bushes that looked like it was once a path.

“Could be. Let’s find out,” said Jack.

They followed the modest path back into the woods where it soon petered out.

“I don’t think this is anything,” said Jack.

“Boy, you give up too easy—look,” pointed Ben.

Following Ben’s outstretched arm Jack saw what Ben saw: there was a tiny amount of sunlight coming from between the trees.

“Try to keep up,” said Ben as he worked his way through the woods.

When navigating the close branches Jack was at a significant disadvantage with only one working arm. He ducked and dodged, trying to to keep up with Ben. Overhead they could see blue sky between the branches, suggesting a clearing up ahead. At their level, even Ben had a hard time pushing through the dense underbrush.

“Hey, I think I… Whoa!” yelled Ben.

Jack saw Ben overbalanced and disappearing quickly through a gap in the thick bushes. He recognized the scene—it felt like he was watching himself from behind as he fell from the garage loft. All that was left of Ben was his legs at waist-height, and they were slipping away. Jack threw himself forward and grabbed for Ben’s shoe. He knew that if the quarry were on the other side of this bush, Ben could be falling into a deep pit.

Jack managed to get a handful of shoe, with his fingers hooked in next to Ben’s ankle, but Ben’s momentum carried them both forward. Digging in his knees, Jack stopped himself and Ben’s shoe popped off in his hand.

“Ben!” Jack screamed as he thrust his face through the bushes.

“Hey, what are you thinking?” asked Ben—inches from his face.

“Oh man, I thought you fell.”

“I was going to, until you stole my shoe,” replied Ben.

Ben helped Jack through the bushes where he could see that they were on the lip of a small sand pit. Ben grabbed his shoe from Jack and sat down to put it back on.

“I think there’s a path over there,” Ben nodded towards the far side of the pit.

They made their way around the sand and found a four-wheeler path that led through a brief stretch of woods before opening up to a large dug-out area. They carefully slid down the side, to the bottom of the quarry. Four-wheeler tracks all around them suggested the pit had heavy recreational use now. They explored the different areas and worked their way around to a flat rock next to a big pool of water. The water was a strange shade of blue-green.

Protected from the wind, it was quickly becoming very hot on the rock. The boys took off their shoes and socks and dangled their feet in the cool water. They balled up their shirts, and leaned back on the hot rock, using their shirts as pillows as they laid in the sun.

“Do you come over here much?” asked Ben.

“Nope, not very often. My friend Mark showed it to me one time. His dad used to work for the sand and gravel place.”

“Jeez, I’d be down here all the time, this place is neat,” said Ben.

“Well we haven’t really had the chance. I mean, I’ve only lived here a couple of years, and that stuff with that Vigue kid. I couldn’t even leave the house for like two months,” said Jack.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I had to go everywhere with my brother. Doesn’t that kid live right near you?”

“Well, he 
did
. Just a couple houses away,” replied Jack. “My dad used to do some stuff with his dad, but not anymore. Now that guy is really angry all the time.”

“How old is he—the kid I mean?” asked Ben.

“I don’t know, maybe six or something. He was just a little kid,” Jack said and paused, then asked “Hey, what do you think got into our food last night?”

“You know, I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and I think there’s only one answer… The 
ghost of Gabe Vigue,
” Ben laughed.

“Yeah, real funny,” said Jack.

“Wow, lighten up already.”

“Seriously though—that was something big that took down that cooler,” said Jack.

“Probably just a raccoon or something,” replied Ben.

“Have you ever heard of a raccoon figuring out how to break into a food stash hung fifteen feet up?” asked Jack. “How did it know to chew that rope?”

“We’re not talking about any old raccoon here, dude. If you haven’t noticed, that’s one nice neighborhood you live in. You probably have some well-educated animals patrolling those yards,” joked Ben.

They laid in the sun for several minutes without talking.

“You know, I’m starting to get hungry—maybe we should get out moving,” said Ben.

“Yeah, let’s get wet first,” replied Jack.

They deemed the water too cold for full immersion, but decided to dip their heads and splashed around a bit before heading back to the path. On the way out of the pit they found a proper trail back to the power lines and marked it with their swiss army knives—peeling a small amount of bark from selected trees.

The trip back was significantly shorter than their trip out. They made it back to the house a little after noon.

**********

Their raided cooler didn’t hold much in the way of appealing lunch material, so they relented and decided to visit the kitchen. Inside, Jack’s mom was doing laundry.

“There you are—Jack, can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Jack’s mom.

“Just a minute, mom, we’re making sandwiches,” replied Jack.

“Now, Bub,” she said. His mom directed him into the laundry room while Ben busied himself with his sandwich and pretended to ignore the conversation.

“Jack, do you remember the conditions you agreed to when we said you could camp out this summer?” she asked Jack. Her voice was gentle, but her face stern.

“Yes, we had to keep a clean site, no fires after ten, dinner with the family twice a week,” Jack slowed, “um, shower every other day.”

His mom cut him off—“And you’ll check in if you’re leaving the property? Ring a bell?”

“Oh yeah, check in.”

“Where’d you go this morning?”

“Oh, I’m sorry—we didn’t even think of it. We went to the power lines,” said Jack.

“Jack! You need to check with me before wandering off like that—that is not acceptable.”

“Yes, mom.”

“Okay, yes, but I need to know you’ve gotten the message,” she said.

“Yes, I got it,” he replied.

“Just to be sure—you’ll stay here the rest of the day. You’ll have your shower today, and then you’ll have dinner with us tonight.”

“Okay,” said Jack. He looked at his feet—there was no use arguing with his mom.

“It’s not the end of the world—you can put your stuff away in the rec-room while you’re here. Then you won’t have to worry about that for the rest of the summer.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, then,” she said. “Go eat your sandwich.”

He started to leave, and she called him back. “Jack, one other thing—I put fresh sheets on the guest bed. Tell Ben he can sleep there tonight.”

“We have to sleep 
inside? 
Aw, mom!” Jack whined.

“Just tonight. You can go back to your camp tomorrow.”

“Alright,” he moaned.

He returned to the kitchen with his shoulders slumped. Ben had a mouthful of sandwich. He looked at Jack and raised his eyebrows.

“I got in trouble because we went for hike without letting her know. We have to stay here tonight,” Jack said.

Ben swallowed. “Big deal—just one night, right?” he said and picked up his sandwich again. “I miss TV anyway.”

They both laughed.

**********

After eating and getting cleaned up, the boys spent a couple hours in the basement rec-room. Jack knew the minimum amount of effort he would have to show to get his mom’s approval that he had attempted to clean up his stuff. Ben spent most of the time laying on the couch and reading a bicycle magazine he had found.

When they were finished downstairs, they headed up to Jack’s room. They played video games, watched TV, and talked until they were completely bored. Eventually they invented a game where they shot rubber bands at each other until one of them got hurt. After pausing for a few minutes they would be back to shooting.

“So what’s your dad doing this summer?” asked Jack.

“He’s representing some tribe suing California,” said Ben.

“Huh. For what?”

“Who knows. Ow! You got me right in the eye,” said Ben. They both laughed as Ben rubbed his eye.

They said simultaneously—“It’s only fun and games if someone gets hit in the eye.” That had been their mantra the summer before last.

“Remember the forbidden race?” asked Jack.

“I remember who still holds the world record,” bragged Ben.

They had invented a race in Ben’s basement during a week of rain, two summers before. It had involved rolling an office chair through all the rooms of the basement while gripping the arm rests. The floor was tile and they reached improbable speeds—pushing off against walls and furniture. The race had become “The Forbidden Race” when Ben had knocked over a bookshelf. A crash of books had summoned Ben’s mother who had banned the game. After that they had to race very quietly, and only when they were sure she wouldn’t hear.

For Jack, that had been the last fun week that summer. The following weekend Stephen had shown up. Stephen was the son of friends of Ben’s parents. Apparently, they had played together when they were four, so the parents all assumed that the kids should still be best friends. Jack considered himself Ben’s only legitimate best friend and resented the intrusion.

To make things worse, Stephen felt the need to brag about everything and devise ways to drive a wedge between Jack and Ben.

“Dinner time,” Jack’s mom called from downstairs.

The boys raced down the stairs.

**********

Jack thought his dad would be angry, but dinner went very well. His dad gave him only a little bit of a hard time to enforce his mom’s punishment. It seemed that all was forgiven. After dinner they all watched TV in the family room and then the boys went back up to Jack’s room.

Soon after it began to get dark outside, Jack realized that they had left some food improperly stowed at their campsite. Getting permission from Jack’s parents, Jack and Ben headed out in the dusk to collect their food. When they were almost finished, Ben looked up at the trees.

“Look at that,” Ben pointed to a blue flashing in the leaves overhead.

“Cops,” said Jack. Their eyes followed the light back to its source a few doors down.

The boys dropped their food at the back door and crept around the side of the house to get a better look. Down the block and across a side street, four police cruisers were parked around Mr. Anderson’s house. He was an older man who lived next to the Vigues. Jack crept a bit closer in time to see the police leading Mr. Anderson out of his house and towards a police car.

The Vigues came out of their house and looked on for a moment before Mr. Vigue ran towards his handcuffed neighbor.

“You sick fuck—I’ll kill you,” Mr. Vigue screamed as he ran towards Mr. Anderson. Police quickly restrained Mr. Vigue and attempted to lead him back to his own house. Other officers were setting up yellow tape around Anderson’s house and a state police vehicle, a big van, pulled up in front.