Old-man Jerry
“If you want to sit here that’s $2.”
“What? That’s insane! You cannot charge people to sit on a bench.”
“I think you should leave now.”
“No! This is a public camp ground. You cannot make me leave”
Jerry pulls out his gun and holds it into his face.
“I said. You should leave. Now!”
Jerry is an old man. A crazy, lonely, old man who lives by his own rules. A social outcast who declared himself the owner of a public resting area along the Colorado Trail. Jerry is a broken man. He has been a social outcast for quite a while and almost half a year ago he came to the conclusion just to stay here. He put down his tent and never left. His hair slowly turns grey and his beard seems to grow endlessly. He gave up all modern technology. He takes his grey van to go to the nearby town to buy essentials, everything else he scabs from hikers coming by or he hunts it himself. He’s started growing some tomatoes but without any success.
“Every day between 6 and 7 pm these chairs and benches are reserved. So nobody can sit down here. You have to go somewhere else.”
“Why? There’s nobody here.”
“I know. It’s this weird old guy that runs around here. If you stay out of his way he won’t do anything. Just a little heads up.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know. He was here before I came and the first night was kind of rough. He almost punched me but then he turned away and left without saying anything.”
“And you didn’t leave right away?”
“I thought of leaving, yeah. But it was already late and I was tired as hell. So I went to bed. The next morning when I woke up I packed my stuff and was already prepared to leave but it seemed he was gone. So I stayed. I’m waiting for some friends to come meet me here. It was only yesterday that I saw him around again but nothing happened. When he saw me he just looked and went back into his tent.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Uhm, about four days. My friends are coming tomorrow and then we go on. He is kind of scary, to be honest.”
“Who is he anyways?”
“I don’t know. I’m Clay by the way.”
“Oh hey, I’m Josie and this is my friend Samantha. We’re hiking the Colorado Trail,” says Josephine.
“Like everybody here does,” answers Clay.
They laugh.
Jerry is on the other side of the wash house. It has a shower and a place to wash your clothes. It’s an old house but at least you have running water. Needless to say that it’s only cold water. But it’s something. Jerry watches the three carefully. He continues with his daily chores but never loses track of the three “guests”. Doing the dishes, washing his underwear, sowing his pants, making a fire for the camp to cook something. He doesn’t want them to be here but he knows he can’t send them away. That would be insane, he tells himself. There’s no reason to do so. Not yet.
It’s dark everybody sits around the campfire. Jerry on one side and the three hikes on the other. Nobody dares to speak. Jerry eats his stew while Josie and Samantha share a loaf of bread with some peanut butter and Clay enjoys a beer with some chips. Clay is running out of food so he has to leave tomorrow no matter what. Whether his friends arrive or not. Even though Josephine and Samantha like the place they decided to go with Clay to the next city and then continue their trip. It’s a silent night. The only thing you hear is the wind and the spit of the fire. The night’s are getting colder. The next time Jerry goes to the city he has to buy a thick blanket to stay warm at night.
The sun is high when Jerry gets out of his tent. He puts on his shirt that he had neatly folded and put next to his mattress the night before. He pulls down the pants that he hangs on the rope he put across his tent. It was a three-person tent so he has more space for an actual mattress and his clothes. He has some stuff stored in his van but most of his belongings are in his tent. He opens the tent door and looks out. Nothing to see. He grabs for his boots which he always leaves outside. Always. He puts on his shoes and walks into the forest which starts right behind his tent. He chose this place as it is quite hidden from the main area, the trees protect him from the wind and rain and so he can rest in quiet when he wants to. Every morning he follows a little ritual. He goes into the woods for about 10 minutes and takes a piss. Then he walks ten more minutes and sits down to take a deep breath. Then he sprints all the way back to his tent zigzagging between the trees. Most of the time he spends in the woods looking for something small that he can eat. Sometimes he fishes. Sometimes he constructs traps for rabbits or squirrels or whatever. He doesn’t want to hunt for boars or deer or anything big as it would be a waste for him alone. One day he found a wild blueberry bush but it hasn’t had a lot left. However, it was a great dessert.
When he comes back to the camp site he takes a walk around it. To see if the girls are still here. He thinks that black-haired girl reminded him of someone but he can’t point out of whom. They were all gone. That skinny guy. The two girls. He comes across the place where the skinny guy had his tent. The grass dried out and there are chips bags in the bushes next to it. Jerry picks them up and brings them over to the trash can. He cares about this resting area. He tries to keep it clean from any trash.
After Jerry washed his cloth he hangs them up. There’s not a lot of sun today but it should be enough to dry them before the sun goes down. He enjoys being by himself. He’s been basically like that for a while now and got used to it. He tried to get back in touch with others but it’s just not working somehow.
He goes back to his tent and sweeps the floor. He carefully takes care of his stuff. “Maybe, I wash the car today”, he tells himself. He folds all his clothes he has inside of his tent. Stacks them neatly. The thick pullovers on the left, jeans and shorts in the middle, then his shirts and all the way on the right are his socks and underwear. Everything is sorted after color but everything faded so it’s hard to tell the white shirts apart from the grey shirts. He puts on his orange vest. One of his favorite items. It reminds him of the old better days. He bought the vest after he passed his exam for his boat licence. The lady in the store who sold it to him said he’d look like a real sailor in it. He knew this was just to sell stuff but somehow he fell for it and because of it he invited her on his first boat ride. A bottle of champagne and a yacht he rented for that day helped to make her fall in love with him. A couple of years late his first son was born.
It’s past lunch time and he starts to prepare everything for tonight. He walks back into the woods and get some of the logs he chopped yesterday. The place is well hidden. Nobody should dear to take them. He always only chops enough for three or four days. If someone takes it he won’t take too much. His ax, he bought it from a yard sale only recently. With that it’s probably four months ago. He uses it not only for chopping wood. It’s a cheap ax. The handle is already worn-out. The head has already loosened. It’s a matter of time when this thing breaks. On the other side Jerry’s become a man of anger and pain. Everything he does he does it with this feeling of being upset with his surroundings. Upset with what has happened. Upset with why it’s him. He grabs about five or six logs. That’s all he can carry comfortably. When he gets back he spies three guys setting up two tents. Not really close to each other but close enough to be in audible distance if you wanted to talk.
They don’t seem to realize that he has turned back. Maybe haven’t even realized that they aren’t alone at the resting area. He walks up to the camp fire pit. There’s still a little bit of ember glowing reddish from last night’s fire. He improved the pit that much that a small fire stays save from any wind. He built a transportable roof in case it rains but the clouds don’t indicate any rain which is good. Jerry watches the three young boys carefully. They’re setting up there tents without any sign of being interrupted. He can hear them mumble but doesn’t quite understand what they are saying. Jerry drops all of the logs on the ground. They all bang into each other when the hit on the ground. The trees around the pit create a loud echo. The boys wince immediately and turn around simultaneously. They all spot Jerry at the same time who just stares back. For ten seconds nobody moves or says anything. 20 seconds. 30. Jerry takes a deep breath. Then he turns around and walks back to his tent. While he’s walking away he can hear on of the guys asking “What was that about?”. Jerry doesn’t even consider of answering. He goes back into his tent, he leaves the door open as it faces the other way and takes a nap.
It’s almost dusk when Jerry wakes up from his nap. He swears as he slept too much. He needs to make fire before it gets dark. He runs to the fire pit. No sign of the boys. Only their tents are left. The logs are still where he left them. Seems like nobody touched them. He stacks three of them to a little tent and takes the grass he dries off in his tent as tinder. He ran out of matches and he hates lighters so now he’s down to his flint stone which is a pain in the ass in his words as it never works the way you want it to.
Vainly he takes a break after trying it for 10 minutes. One of the younglings comes over handing him a Zippo without saying anything. Jerry takes silently himself. He lights the grass. Adds a little bit more until it’s a nice little flame. He hands the lighter back to the young guy.
He tries to start a conversation: “Marco”, he says while pointing with his thumb on his chest.
Jerry stays silent and just watches the fire.
“And you are?”, he tries again.
Jerry says nothing. He looks at the little guy. He inspects the little boy from top to toe. Beginning of his 20s. Black long hair with a beanie on. Red t-shirt and jeans. Nike shoes. No hiking boots. This will cost you big time, Jerry thinks.
Jerry looks back into the fire. The flame has gotten a lot bigger already. “Jerry”, he says and keeps staring into the fire.
“Nice to meet you, Jerry. You’ve been here for a while?”, asks Marco as nicely as he can without sounding too annoying.
Jerry just nods.
“I just ran into those two guys but they have to go home next week. So from then on I’ll be on my own again.”
No response.
“The lake is quite beautiful, don’t you think? It’s really … blue. You don’t see that everywhere.”
But nothing. Jerry doesn’t respond. Not even with a grunt or a movement or anything.
“Hey, ugh, do you know…”
When suddenly Jerry jumps up, turns around into Marco’s face and stares him into the eyes. Marco is clearly scared not knowing what’s happening.
Jerry whispers: “Listen. My name is Jerry. And I’m hungry.” Then he turns around and leaves again. The spit of the fire is drowning every other noise. Marco is perplexed. “What was that?”, he says to himself.
It’s gotten quite dark already. The fire is down to his last logs. The boys, Eric, Stevie and Marco are sitting on a bench opposite of the fire enjoying each a warm soup. It’s been while where they were sitting so nicely together. Something warm to eat. A nice chat on a nice place. A beautiful lake nearby where they decided to go for a swim before they walk off the next morning.
They are talking about football, college and the itinerary of the trip.
“Let’s stay one more night”, Eric suggests.
“We can’t, dude, we have to be back on Saturday”, answers Stevie.
“Don’t be such a wuss. We can come back on Sunday and it’s all good. Plus we are totally on track so we will still make on Saturday. Even if we walk relaxed.”
“I say no. If we stay here, we won’t make it on time. What do you think, Marco?”
“Ooh,” Marco answers while stretching out his arms, “keep me out if this, guys. I don’t mind. I’ll stay here for another day for sure. It’s up to you.”
“So we stay as well”, demands Eric.
“No. We should leave”, demands Stevie.
“Feel free to leave”, says Jerry with a grim look on his face while he points in to the pitch blackness of the night.
Everybody quickly turns around to spy Jerry had sneaked up on them.
“Why should we, Jerry. It’s too dark. Way too dangerous”, says Marco calmly.
Jerry doesn’t like what he hears. He wants to intimidate the young folks. “You know, it also can get dangerous here.”
“What do you mean by that, Jerry. You wouldn’t harm us, would you?”
Jerry is astounded by what this rude, little prick says.
“No, I mean bears can come here everyday. You clearly don’t know nothing about this area.”
But Marco doesn’t look up. He just keeps eating his soup. Jerry keeps staring at Marco but he doesn’t move. Jerry gets pissed off by Marco. He wants him to leave before he can’t control himself anymore.
Jerry sits down opposite of the fire. He looks over the three young boys sitting on the bench. Marco is the only one eating.
Jerry starts telling: “You know. I had a son your age. A scallywag. A loser. Never did what he was told to. Failed at school. No friends. No girl would like him. People who can’t put themselves together make me angry.”
“Oh yeah? What happened to your son, Jerry?”, Marco asks while keep eating his soup. He sounds a bit too much as if he didn’t care as he had intended to.
Jerry cringes. How does this kid dare to ask such a personal question.
“He left”, Jerry says shortly.
Nobody answers to that. Everybody is quiet.
“He left home”, Jerry continues. “He left me. And my wife. To become a … musician or some stupid shit.”
The other two boys look at each other wondering what the fuck is going on right now.
“He never came back”, Jerry finishes his story. He stares into the fire and takes a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, Jerry”, Marco says slowly and quietly, “I really am.” Jerry nods. He stands up and goes back to his tent.
Eric looks around doesn’t know what was going on. Stevie the same. He wants to say something but doesn’t know what or how so he punches Eric in the side with his elbow. Eric makes a gesture saying what?. Stevie nods his head towards Marco indicating that he should ask him. Eric sighs. He builds up his courage and says with a shaky voice: “What … what was that about?”
“What do you mean?”, Marco says while eating his soup. “I just had a conversation with Jerry.
“But this dude is clearly crazy.”
“You just don’t know who he is.”
“But you do?”
“Yes. Or have you heard of the name ‘Bryce Jarlington’?”
Both of the guys look at each other. Neither of them had heard that name before.
“Bryce ‘Jerry’ Jarlington”, Marco continues “was a YouTube star. He had a morning show with his best friend where they did all kinds of weird stuff. It was actually really funny. I used to watch it every morning. They were doing this for like five, six years or something and then all of sudden Jerry’s friend, Vic, left. They never really told the world why. There was only a statement on their twitter account saying for personal reasons which he doesn’t want to share. Jerry tried to go on alone but it was only a mere success. That’s when he started drinking. He was out of control. Wasn’t able to stand in front of the camera for weeks. People stopped subscribing and eventually his crew left. He lost the sponsorship that paid for the show and everything. He started doing vine-like videos on YouTube that he uploaded uncut showing very personal stuff, like what he does back home, with his kids and everything. He never recovered from that fall. He started cheating on his wife who then left him. He retreaded from show business, if you want to call it that, and one day he disappeared forever.”
“How do you know so much about him”, Stevie asks.
“Like I said I used to watch every episode of the show. I was a big fan and followed him on all social media. And only recently I came across an old article of what happened to him after ‘The Buena Vista Morning Club’. That was the name of the show. I didn’t know he lives on a camp site now. Kind of scary actually.”
Eric and Stevie are astonished about what they heard.
“Is this true?”, Eric asks carefully.
“Yes. I would show it to you but I don’t have any connection here.”
“As soon as I’m back in the city I will google his name. For sure.” Eric says.
“Don’t be so loud”, Stevie interrupts him. “I don’t want him to wake up.”
“What’s the matter? We now know who he is.”
“Yes, but we also know that he went crazy. You saw what he did with the squirrel earlier.”
“Guys, guys”, interrupts Marco their argument. “It doesn’t matter, does it. If he wanted to something to us he would’ve done it already. So relax.”
“What time do you want to leave tomorrow?”, asks Eric Stevie.
“Oh, I’m not leaving. I try to see how Jerry’s like. Maybe he’s not as mean as he makes it look”, says Marco, well knowing he wasn’t asked.
“Dude, you’re insane. You should leave as fast as possible. Like us.”
Marco looks at both of them. Then he smiles.
“My father also said that I was insane. So what. Good night fellas.” Marco stands up and walks towards their tents. Only a few seconds until he vanishes into the darkness.
Eric and Stevie are horrified to what just happened. “This place is crazy”, Stevie whispers.
“Yes. Let’s get the hell out of here.
The next morning. Marco climbs out of his tent. He stretches. He looks around. The place where Stevie and Eric put their tent is empty. Only the flattened grass is left. They must have gone quite early. I didn’t even hear them leaving, he thinks.
He searches for his toothbrush and toothpaste in his tent and goes over to the wash house to brush his teeth. On his way there he spots Jerry’s tent. He wonders if Jerry is still inside or not. He thinks about going over and saying ‘good morning’ or anything but it’s probably empty anyways. So he decides against.
He opens the door to the wash house. He looks inside. It’s also empty. He goes inside to the sink and turns on the water but there is no water coming out. Crap, he thinks. Let’s go to the lake then. I need some water for my soup anyway.
He walks back to his tent. He opens up the door and gets hit in the face by the smell. He quickly grabs his water bottle and backs out of the tent. He takes a few deep breaths and thinks to himself No more beans. He rolls up the door to let in some fresh air. Grabs his boots and bottle and starts walking to the lake. It’s about 15 minutes to get to the wooden pier. At the beginning of the pier is a sign explaining the different kinds of fishes and birds in and around the lake. Right underneath a sign which says with big, bold letters “NO FISHING”. Marco crackles every time he reads such signs wondering how many people already did it anyways.
He walks on the pier all the way to the end. The water is so blue that it looks fake. “Like photo shopped”, he says to himself. He sits down. He puts his water bottle next to him. It’s a nice day today. The sun is quite warm today unlike yesterday. He takes of his boots and puts them next to him. He takes off his socks too. He’s been wearing them for two days and nights already. They started to be stiff on the bottom already. Not to mention the smell. He jams both his socks in one boot and puts his toothbrush and paste in the other. He lets his feet hang into the water. He twitches when they first touch the water. It’s so cold that it hurts a little bit but he enjoys the freshness of it. He lays back, crosses his hands behind his head and watches the clouds go by. “What a beautiful day”, he mumbles and takes a deep breath.
Marco must have fallen asleep for a short moment but he wakes up and feels that his feet are quite hurting now. The cold water hurts more than he expected. He quickly pulls them out and puts them next to him on the wood. Luckily the sun is strong today and the sun shines instantly warm up the cold feet. He looks around and sees Jerry sitting a couple of feet down the pier fishing. He watches Jerry for a bit who doesn’t move at all. After about one minute, Marco decides that his feet are dry enough and puts back on his socks and shoes. This is when Jerry realizes that Marco is awake put he acts like he doesn’t care.
Marco is a bit scared. How can Jerry come so close without him noticing it. Now he’s just sitting there. Fishing with a self made rod. That guy is truly weird. Marco doesn’t know what he should think of him. After all he was is child hood hero. But now he’s this weird old man who creeps everyone out. He feels that he should help him but doesn’t know how and thinks that even if he tried Jerry wouldn’t let him.
He stands up and looks over to Jerry. He sees how Jerry was watching him but pretends not to. He watches Jerry for a while. Right where he wanted to grab for his bottle Jerry sobs out loud.
Marco is startled to what Jerry intended to do.
“Pardon?”, he asks?
“Won’t bite”, is all Jerry answers.
Marco nods. He doesn’t know what to do. Jerry seems to be acting weird and it’s probably better to leave before anything happens but how can he pass him without triggering anything.
“Do you know how to fish?”, Jerry asks. Marco twitches again. What now?
“Nah, my dad never took me.”
“That’s a bummer. Every dad should do this.”
Marco grins and stares in to the lake. He turns back to Jerry and asks: “How do you fish?”
Jerry looks Marco into the eyes. They both stare at each other for a minute then Jerry looks back into the water and says: “Actually it’s not that hard. You just need the right bait and to be patient. Veeery patient.”
Marco stays silent. Seems easy he thinks. Maybe he should try it himself.
“And you need a hard object to kill the fish quickly after you caught it. Like this bottle here”, Jerry puts his hand into the pocket of his bright orange vest and pulls out a beer bottle filled with pebbles. He shows it to Marco.
“Can I have it?”, he asks. Jerry laughs out loud. He shakes his head and puts the bottle back into his pocket.
“I kind of like you. You somehow remind me of myself when I was your age.”
“Somehow?”
“Yes, you know. Somehow”, Jerry says and shrugs.
Marco nods and looks back into the water, searching for fishes.
“I thought of leaving, you know?”, Jerry says.
“What?”
“Yes. It kinda gotten a little bit too much with so many people around here. Might be better to move on.”
Only because you start liking someone says Marco to himself.
“Could you maybe help me put my stuff into my van?”
“What!?”, gasps Marco terrified and looks back at Jerry.
Jerry stands up without saying anything. He pulls in his rod even though he hasn’t caught anything. He takes his baits and leaves. Marco jumps up, takes his water bottle and runs after Jerry.
“Why are you leaving all of the sudden?”
“It’s about time.”
“And why do you ask me for help when there are so many people around?”
Jerry stops, turns around and lifts his arms like a cross.
“Look around you. You’re the only one left.” He turns back again and keeps walking towards his van. From afar Marco can already see that he had planned it. All his stuff is lying behind the van neatly stacked. Why does he ask him for help if he could carry it all the way by himself. It’s a weird game that Jerry is playing. Jerry starts to walk faster now.
“I like those vans. More than those pick-ups. Only idiots drive them”, Jerry says out loud. It was a grey old van. Mud was squirted on the sides from driving in the wood. The front screen has a crack almost all the way through. The front left light is missing the lid only the bulb is showing.
Jerry opens the passenger door and puts the baits and the rod on the seat. He closes the door when Marco arrives at the van. He wants to say something but Jerry comes first:
“You know what. You can have it. Here. Take it.” He hands over the bottle to Marco.
“Oh. Uhm. Thank you”, he says and puts it away.
Jerry turns away and walks to the big bag. The doors of the trunk are already open. The trunk doors open sideways as Jerry always hits his head with the other doors. Those single-doors that open upwards.
“Ok, I take this side and you the other.”
Jerry walks to the one end and bends over. In that moment Marco takes the bottle and with all his power he crushes it on the back of Jerry’s head. Jerry doesn’t seem to be affected by it. He gets up again and turns towards Marco. Jerry is clearly pissed. His eyes sparkle with anger. “Why would you do that?”, he asks.
Marco is scared. He doesn’t know what to do.
“I’m so sorry”, Marco says.
Jerry doesn’t care and starts walking towards Marco who now steps back.
“Stop. Right there”, Marco demands but Jerry comes closer.
“Please!”
Marco steps back. Suddenly he trips and falls backwards into the back of the van. Jerry comes closer towards the van. Marco tries to get away and swings his legs out of the trunk but it’s too late. Jerry stands in front of him and grabs his throat. Jerry’s fingers wrap around his neck as if he grabbed an ax ready to chop wood before the winter comes. Marco starts to gasp and grabs Jerry’s hands. It doesn’t help. Jerry’s hands squeezes tighter.
“Stop.”, he says quietly as he gets less and less air. Jerry bends over Marco. He stares him deeply in the eyes while their heads come closer. Marco tries to hold him back. He puts his hands on Jerry’s breast and tries to push him away.
An almost inaudible please is all he can say but Jerry is out of himself already. His eyes shine red. He tasted blood. His wife left him. His kid turned him down. He lost not only his job and his best friend but also any reason.
Marco tries to grab Jerry’s throat. He wants to fight back but is too weak. He only gets to grab Jerry’s collar. He grabs it as strong as his now numb fingers allow. Jerry is bent over him and ready to end this. He tries to kick Jerry and rams his knee into Jerry’s stomach. Jerry’s grip loosens a bit. He has to cough. It’s a tiny window of chance. He punches Jerry in the face who now flinches. It’s now or never thinks Marco. He grabs Jerry’s collar as hard as he can. “I LOVED YOU DAD”, he yells and tears Jerry towards him and smacks Jerry’s head against the top bar of the trunk. Smack! Again. Jerry’s hands slip away from Marco’s throat. Crack! Again. Jerry’s skull crashes on the bar of the trunk. Blood squirts into Marco’s face. Marco screams. His ears go deaf. Smack! He tears Jerry so fast against the bar that his collar rips and Marco falls back into trunk. Jerry collapses and falls onto Marco. He is too weak to push his father away. He screams one last time: “AAARGH!”
But there is no one. Not a single soul is near anymore. All good and bad which he had known till this moment left.
Jerry is dead. Marco is frantic. His hands shake. He starts crying.
“What? That’s insane! You cannot charge people to sit on a bench.”
“I think you should leave now.”
“No! This is a public camp ground. You cannot make me leave”
Jerry pulls out his gun and holds it into his face.
“I said. You should leave. Now!”
Jerry is an old man. A crazy, lonely, old man who lives by his own rules. A social outcast who declared himself the owner of a public resting area along the Colorado Trail. Jerry is a broken man. He has been a social outcast for quite a while and almost half a year ago he came to the conclusion just to stay here. He put down his tent and never left. His hair slowly turns grey and his beard seems to grow endlessly. He gave up all modern technology. He takes his grey van to go to the nearby town to buy essentials, everything else he scabs from hikers coming by or he hunts it himself. He’s started growing some tomatoes but without any success.
“Every day between 6 and 7 pm these chairs and benches are reserved. So nobody can sit down here. You have to go somewhere else.”
“Why? There’s nobody here.”
“I know. It’s this weird old guy that runs around here. If you stay out of his way he won’t do anything. Just a little heads up.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know. He was here before I came and the first night was kind of rough. He almost punched me but then he turned away and left without saying anything.”
“And you didn’t leave right away?”
“I thought of leaving, yeah. But it was already late and I was tired as hell. So I went to bed. The next morning when I woke up I packed my stuff and was already prepared to leave but it seemed he was gone. So I stayed. I’m waiting for some friends to come meet me here. It was only yesterday that I saw him around again but nothing happened. When he saw me he just looked and went back into his tent.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Uhm, about four days. My friends are coming tomorrow and then we go on. He is kind of scary, to be honest.”
“Who is he anyways?”
“I don’t know. I’m Clay by the way.”
“Oh hey, I’m Josie and this is my friend Samantha. We’re hiking the Colorado Trail,” says Josephine.
“Like everybody here does,” answers Clay.
They laugh.
Jerry is on the other side of the wash house. It has a shower and a place to wash your clothes. It’s an old house but at least you have running water. Needless to say that it’s only cold water. But it’s something. Jerry watches the three carefully. He continues with his daily chores but never loses track of the three “guests”. Doing the dishes, washing his underwear, sowing his pants, making a fire for the camp to cook something. He doesn’t want them to be here but he knows he can’t send them away. That would be insane, he tells himself. There’s no reason to do so. Not yet.
It’s dark everybody sits around the campfire. Jerry on one side and the three hikes on the other. Nobody dares to speak. Jerry eats his stew while Josie and Samantha share a loaf of bread with some peanut butter and Clay enjoys a beer with some chips. Clay is running out of food so he has to leave tomorrow no matter what. Whether his friends arrive or not. Even though Josephine and Samantha like the place they decided to go with Clay to the next city and then continue their trip. It’s a silent night. The only thing you hear is the wind and the spit of the fire. The night’s are getting colder. The next time Jerry goes to the city he has to buy a thick blanket to stay warm at night.
The sun is high when Jerry gets out of his tent. He puts on his shirt that he had neatly folded and put next to his mattress the night before. He pulls down the pants that he hangs on the rope he put across his tent. It was a three-person tent so he has more space for an actual mattress and his clothes. He has some stuff stored in his van but most of his belongings are in his tent. He opens the tent door and looks out. Nothing to see. He grabs for his boots which he always leaves outside. Always. He puts on his shoes and walks into the forest which starts right behind his tent. He chose this place as it is quite hidden from the main area, the trees protect him from the wind and rain and so he can rest in quiet when he wants to. Every morning he follows a little ritual. He goes into the woods for about 10 minutes and takes a piss. Then he walks ten more minutes and sits down to take a deep breath. Then he sprints all the way back to his tent zigzagging between the trees. Most of the time he spends in the woods looking for something small that he can eat. Sometimes he fishes. Sometimes he constructs traps for rabbits or squirrels or whatever. He doesn’t want to hunt for boars or deer or anything big as it would be a waste for him alone. One day he found a wild blueberry bush but it hasn’t had a lot left. However, it was a great dessert.
When he comes back to the camp site he takes a walk around it. To see if the girls are still here. He thinks that black-haired girl reminded him of someone but he can’t point out of whom. They were all gone. That skinny guy. The two girls. He comes across the place where the skinny guy had his tent. The grass dried out and there are chips bags in the bushes next to it. Jerry picks them up and brings them over to the trash can. He cares about this resting area. He tries to keep it clean from any trash.
After Jerry washed his cloth he hangs them up. There’s not a lot of sun today but it should be enough to dry them before the sun goes down. He enjoys being by himself. He’s been basically like that for a while now and got used to it. He tried to get back in touch with others but it’s just not working somehow.
He goes back to his tent and sweeps the floor. He carefully takes care of his stuff. “Maybe, I wash the car today”, he tells himself. He folds all his clothes he has inside of his tent. Stacks them neatly. The thick pullovers on the left, jeans and shorts in the middle, then his shirts and all the way on the right are his socks and underwear. Everything is sorted after color but everything faded so it’s hard to tell the white shirts apart from the grey shirts. He puts on his orange vest. One of his favorite items. It reminds him of the old better days. He bought the vest after he passed his exam for his boat licence. The lady in the store who sold it to him said he’d look like a real sailor in it. He knew this was just to sell stuff but somehow he fell for it and because of it he invited her on his first boat ride. A bottle of champagne and a yacht he rented for that day helped to make her fall in love with him. A couple of years late his first son was born.
It’s past lunch time and he starts to prepare everything for tonight. He walks back into the woods and get some of the logs he chopped yesterday. The place is well hidden. Nobody should dear to take them. He always only chops enough for three or four days. If someone takes it he won’t take too much. His ax, he bought it from a yard sale only recently. With that it’s probably four months ago. He uses it not only for chopping wood. It’s a cheap ax. The handle is already worn-out. The head has already loosened. It’s a matter of time when this thing breaks. On the other side Jerry’s become a man of anger and pain. Everything he does he does it with this feeling of being upset with his surroundings. Upset with what has happened. Upset with why it’s him. He grabs about five or six logs. That’s all he can carry comfortably. When he gets back he spies three guys setting up two tents. Not really close to each other but close enough to be in audible distance if you wanted to talk.
They don’t seem to realize that he has turned back. Maybe haven’t even realized that they aren’t alone at the resting area. He walks up to the camp fire pit. There’s still a little bit of ember glowing reddish from last night’s fire. He improved the pit that much that a small fire stays save from any wind. He built a transportable roof in case it rains but the clouds don’t indicate any rain which is good. Jerry watches the three young boys carefully. They’re setting up there tents without any sign of being interrupted. He can hear them mumble but doesn’t quite understand what they are saying. Jerry drops all of the logs on the ground. They all bang into each other when the hit on the ground. The trees around the pit create a loud echo. The boys wince immediately and turn around simultaneously. They all spot Jerry at the same time who just stares back. For ten seconds nobody moves or says anything. 20 seconds. 30. Jerry takes a deep breath. Then he turns around and walks back to his tent. While he’s walking away he can hear on of the guys asking “What was that about?”. Jerry doesn’t even consider of answering. He goes back into his tent, he leaves the door open as it faces the other way and takes a nap.
It’s almost dusk when Jerry wakes up from his nap. He swears as he slept too much. He needs to make fire before it gets dark. He runs to the fire pit. No sign of the boys. Only their tents are left. The logs are still where he left them. Seems like nobody touched them. He stacks three of them to a little tent and takes the grass he dries off in his tent as tinder. He ran out of matches and he hates lighters so now he’s down to his flint stone which is a pain in the ass in his words as it never works the way you want it to.
Vainly he takes a break after trying it for 10 minutes. One of the younglings comes over handing him a Zippo without saying anything. Jerry takes silently himself. He lights the grass. Adds a little bit more until it’s a nice little flame. He hands the lighter back to the young guy.
He tries to start a conversation: “Marco”, he says while pointing with his thumb on his chest.
Jerry stays silent and just watches the fire.
“And you are?”, he tries again.
Jerry says nothing. He looks at the little guy. He inspects the little boy from top to toe. Beginning of his 20s. Black long hair with a beanie on. Red t-shirt and jeans. Nike shoes. No hiking boots. This will cost you big time, Jerry thinks.
Jerry looks back into the fire. The flame has gotten a lot bigger already. “Jerry”, he says and keeps staring into the fire.
“Nice to meet you, Jerry. You’ve been here for a while?”, asks Marco as nicely as he can without sounding too annoying.
Jerry just nods.
“I just ran into those two guys but they have to go home next week. So from then on I’ll be on my own again.”
No response.
“The lake is quite beautiful, don’t you think? It’s really … blue. You don’t see that everywhere.”
But nothing. Jerry doesn’t respond. Not even with a grunt or a movement or anything.
“Hey, ugh, do you know…”
When suddenly Jerry jumps up, turns around into Marco’s face and stares him into the eyes. Marco is clearly scared not knowing what’s happening.
Jerry whispers: “Listen. My name is Jerry. And I’m hungry.” Then he turns around and leaves again. The spit of the fire is drowning every other noise. Marco is perplexed. “What was that?”, he says to himself.
It’s gotten quite dark already. The fire is down to his last logs. The boys, Eric, Stevie and Marco are sitting on a bench opposite of the fire enjoying each a warm soup. It’s been while where they were sitting so nicely together. Something warm to eat. A nice chat on a nice place. A beautiful lake nearby where they decided to go for a swim before they walk off the next morning.
They are talking about football, college and the itinerary of the trip.
“Let’s stay one more night”, Eric suggests.
“We can’t, dude, we have to be back on Saturday”, answers Stevie.
“Don’t be such a wuss. We can come back on Sunday and it’s all good. Plus we are totally on track so we will still make on Saturday. Even if we walk relaxed.”
“I say no. If we stay here, we won’t make it on time. What do you think, Marco?”
“Ooh,” Marco answers while stretching out his arms, “keep me out if this, guys. I don’t mind. I’ll stay here for another day for sure. It’s up to you.”
“So we stay as well”, demands Eric.
“No. We should leave”, demands Stevie.
“Feel free to leave”, says Jerry with a grim look on his face while he points in to the pitch blackness of the night.
Everybody quickly turns around to spy Jerry had sneaked up on them.
“Why should we, Jerry. It’s too dark. Way too dangerous”, says Marco calmly.
Jerry doesn’t like what he hears. He wants to intimidate the young folks. “You know, it also can get dangerous here.”
“What do you mean by that, Jerry. You wouldn’t harm us, would you?”
Jerry is astounded by what this rude, little prick says.
“No, I mean bears can come here everyday. You clearly don’t know nothing about this area.”
But Marco doesn’t look up. He just keeps eating his soup. Jerry keeps staring at Marco but he doesn’t move. Jerry gets pissed off by Marco. He wants him to leave before he can’t control himself anymore.
Jerry sits down opposite of the fire. He looks over the three young boys sitting on the bench. Marco is the only one eating.
Jerry starts telling: “You know. I had a son your age. A scallywag. A loser. Never did what he was told to. Failed at school. No friends. No girl would like him. People who can’t put themselves together make me angry.”
“Oh yeah? What happened to your son, Jerry?”, Marco asks while keep eating his soup. He sounds a bit too much as if he didn’t care as he had intended to.
Jerry cringes. How does this kid dare to ask such a personal question.
“He left”, Jerry says shortly.
Nobody answers to that. Everybody is quiet.
“He left home”, Jerry continues. “He left me. And my wife. To become a … musician or some stupid shit.”
The other two boys look at each other wondering what the fuck is going on right now.
“He never came back”, Jerry finishes his story. He stares into the fire and takes a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, Jerry”, Marco says slowly and quietly, “I really am.” Jerry nods. He stands up and goes back to his tent.
Eric looks around doesn’t know what was going on. Stevie the same. He wants to say something but doesn’t know what or how so he punches Eric in the side with his elbow. Eric makes a gesture saying what?. Stevie nods his head towards Marco indicating that he should ask him. Eric sighs. He builds up his courage and says with a shaky voice: “What … what was that about?”
“What do you mean?”, Marco says while eating his soup. “I just had a conversation with Jerry.
“But this dude is clearly crazy.”
“You just don’t know who he is.”
“But you do?”
“Yes. Or have you heard of the name ‘Bryce Jarlington’?”
Both of the guys look at each other. Neither of them had heard that name before.
“Bryce ‘Jerry’ Jarlington”, Marco continues “was a YouTube star. He had a morning show with his best friend where they did all kinds of weird stuff. It was actually really funny. I used to watch it every morning. They were doing this for like five, six years or something and then all of sudden Jerry’s friend, Vic, left. They never really told the world why. There was only a statement on their twitter account saying for personal reasons which he doesn’t want to share. Jerry tried to go on alone but it was only a mere success. That’s when he started drinking. He was out of control. Wasn’t able to stand in front of the camera for weeks. People stopped subscribing and eventually his crew left. He lost the sponsorship that paid for the show and everything. He started doing vine-like videos on YouTube that he uploaded uncut showing very personal stuff, like what he does back home, with his kids and everything. He never recovered from that fall. He started cheating on his wife who then left him. He retreaded from show business, if you want to call it that, and one day he disappeared forever.”
“How do you know so much about him”, Stevie asks.
“Like I said I used to watch every episode of the show. I was a big fan and followed him on all social media. And only recently I came across an old article of what happened to him after ‘The Buena Vista Morning Club’. That was the name of the show. I didn’t know he lives on a camp site now. Kind of scary actually.”
Eric and Stevie are astonished about what they heard.
“Is this true?”, Eric asks carefully.
“Yes. I would show it to you but I don’t have any connection here.”
“As soon as I’m back in the city I will google his name. For sure.” Eric says.
“Don’t be so loud”, Stevie interrupts him. “I don’t want him to wake up.”
“What’s the matter? We now know who he is.”
“Yes, but we also know that he went crazy. You saw what he did with the squirrel earlier.”
“Guys, guys”, interrupts Marco their argument. “It doesn’t matter, does it. If he wanted to something to us he would’ve done it already. So relax.”
“What time do you want to leave tomorrow?”, asks Eric Stevie.
“Oh, I’m not leaving. I try to see how Jerry’s like. Maybe he’s not as mean as he makes it look”, says Marco, well knowing he wasn’t asked.
“Dude, you’re insane. You should leave as fast as possible. Like us.”
Marco looks at both of them. Then he smiles.
“My father also said that I was insane. So what. Good night fellas.” Marco stands up and walks towards their tents. Only a few seconds until he vanishes into the darkness.
Eric and Stevie are horrified to what just happened. “This place is crazy”, Stevie whispers.
“Yes. Let’s get the hell out of here.
The next morning. Marco climbs out of his tent. He stretches. He looks around. The place where Stevie and Eric put their tent is empty. Only the flattened grass is left. They must have gone quite early. I didn’t even hear them leaving, he thinks.
He searches for his toothbrush and toothpaste in his tent and goes over to the wash house to brush his teeth. On his way there he spots Jerry’s tent. He wonders if Jerry is still inside or not. He thinks about going over and saying ‘good morning’ or anything but it’s probably empty anyways. So he decides against.
He opens the door to the wash house. He looks inside. It’s also empty. He goes inside to the sink and turns on the water but there is no water coming out. Crap, he thinks. Let’s go to the lake then. I need some water for my soup anyway.
He walks back to his tent. He opens up the door and gets hit in the face by the smell. He quickly grabs his water bottle and backs out of the tent. He takes a few deep breaths and thinks to himself No more beans. He rolls up the door to let in some fresh air. Grabs his boots and bottle and starts walking to the lake. It’s about 15 minutes to get to the wooden pier. At the beginning of the pier is a sign explaining the different kinds of fishes and birds in and around the lake. Right underneath a sign which says with big, bold letters “NO FISHING”. Marco crackles every time he reads such signs wondering how many people already did it anyways.
He walks on the pier all the way to the end. The water is so blue that it looks fake. “Like photo shopped”, he says to himself. He sits down. He puts his water bottle next to him. It’s a nice day today. The sun is quite warm today unlike yesterday. He takes of his boots and puts them next to him. He takes off his socks too. He’s been wearing them for two days and nights already. They started to be stiff on the bottom already. Not to mention the smell. He jams both his socks in one boot and puts his toothbrush and paste in the other. He lets his feet hang into the water. He twitches when they first touch the water. It’s so cold that it hurts a little bit but he enjoys the freshness of it. He lays back, crosses his hands behind his head and watches the clouds go by. “What a beautiful day”, he mumbles and takes a deep breath.
Marco must have fallen asleep for a short moment but he wakes up and feels that his feet are quite hurting now. The cold water hurts more than he expected. He quickly pulls them out and puts them next to him on the wood. Luckily the sun is strong today and the sun shines instantly warm up the cold feet. He looks around and sees Jerry sitting a couple of feet down the pier fishing. He watches Jerry for a bit who doesn’t move at all. After about one minute, Marco decides that his feet are dry enough and puts back on his socks and shoes. This is when Jerry realizes that Marco is awake put he acts like he doesn’t care.
Marco is a bit scared. How can Jerry come so close without him noticing it. Now he’s just sitting there. Fishing with a self made rod. That guy is truly weird. Marco doesn’t know what he should think of him. After all he was is child hood hero. But now he’s this weird old man who creeps everyone out. He feels that he should help him but doesn’t know how and thinks that even if he tried Jerry wouldn’t let him.
He stands up and looks over to Jerry. He sees how Jerry was watching him but pretends not to. He watches Jerry for a while. Right where he wanted to grab for his bottle Jerry sobs out loud.
Marco is startled to what Jerry intended to do.
“Pardon?”, he asks?
“Won’t bite”, is all Jerry answers.
Marco nods. He doesn’t know what to do. Jerry seems to be acting weird and it’s probably better to leave before anything happens but how can he pass him without triggering anything.
“Do you know how to fish?”, Jerry asks. Marco twitches again. What now?
“Nah, my dad never took me.”
“That’s a bummer. Every dad should do this.”
Marco grins and stares in to the lake. He turns back to Jerry and asks: “How do you fish?”
Jerry looks Marco into the eyes. They both stare at each other for a minute then Jerry looks back into the water and says: “Actually it’s not that hard. You just need the right bait and to be patient. Veeery patient.”
Marco stays silent. Seems easy he thinks. Maybe he should try it himself.
“And you need a hard object to kill the fish quickly after you caught it. Like this bottle here”, Jerry puts his hand into the pocket of his bright orange vest and pulls out a beer bottle filled with pebbles. He shows it to Marco.
“Can I have it?”, he asks. Jerry laughs out loud. He shakes his head and puts the bottle back into his pocket.
“I kind of like you. You somehow remind me of myself when I was your age.”
“Somehow?”
“Yes, you know. Somehow”, Jerry says and shrugs.
Marco nods and looks back into the water, searching for fishes.
“I thought of leaving, you know?”, Jerry says.
“What?”
“Yes. It kinda gotten a little bit too much with so many people around here. Might be better to move on.”
Only because you start liking someone says Marco to himself.
“Could you maybe help me put my stuff into my van?”
“What!?”, gasps Marco terrified and looks back at Jerry.
Jerry stands up without saying anything. He pulls in his rod even though he hasn’t caught anything. He takes his baits and leaves. Marco jumps up, takes his water bottle and runs after Jerry.
“Why are you leaving all of the sudden?”
“It’s about time.”
“And why do you ask me for help when there are so many people around?”
Jerry stops, turns around and lifts his arms like a cross.
“Look around you. You’re the only one left.” He turns back again and keeps walking towards his van. From afar Marco can already see that he had planned it. All his stuff is lying behind the van neatly stacked. Why does he ask him for help if he could carry it all the way by himself. It’s a weird game that Jerry is playing. Jerry starts to walk faster now.
“I like those vans. More than those pick-ups. Only idiots drive them”, Jerry says out loud. It was a grey old van. Mud was squirted on the sides from driving in the wood. The front screen has a crack almost all the way through. The front left light is missing the lid only the bulb is showing.
Jerry opens the passenger door and puts the baits and the rod on the seat. He closes the door when Marco arrives at the van. He wants to say something but Jerry comes first:
“You know what. You can have it. Here. Take it.” He hands over the bottle to Marco.
“Oh. Uhm. Thank you”, he says and puts it away.
Jerry turns away and walks to the big bag. The doors of the trunk are already open. The trunk doors open sideways as Jerry always hits his head with the other doors. Those single-doors that open upwards.
“Ok, I take this side and you the other.”
Jerry walks to the one end and bends over. In that moment Marco takes the bottle and with all his power he crushes it on the back of Jerry’s head. Jerry doesn’t seem to be affected by it. He gets up again and turns towards Marco. Jerry is clearly pissed. His eyes sparkle with anger. “Why would you do that?”, he asks.
Marco is scared. He doesn’t know what to do.
“I’m so sorry”, Marco says.
Jerry doesn’t care and starts walking towards Marco who now steps back.
“Stop. Right there”, Marco demands but Jerry comes closer.
“Please!”
Marco steps back. Suddenly he trips and falls backwards into the back of the van. Jerry comes closer towards the van. Marco tries to get away and swings his legs out of the trunk but it’s too late. Jerry stands in front of him and grabs his throat. Jerry’s fingers wrap around his neck as if he grabbed an ax ready to chop wood before the winter comes. Marco starts to gasp and grabs Jerry’s hands. It doesn’t help. Jerry’s hands squeezes tighter.
“Stop.”, he says quietly as he gets less and less air. Jerry bends over Marco. He stares him deeply in the eyes while their heads come closer. Marco tries to hold him back. He puts his hands on Jerry’s breast and tries to push him away.
An almost inaudible please is all he can say but Jerry is out of himself already. His eyes shine red. He tasted blood. His wife left him. His kid turned him down. He lost not only his job and his best friend but also any reason.
Marco tries to grab Jerry’s throat. He wants to fight back but is too weak. He only gets to grab Jerry’s collar. He grabs it as strong as his now numb fingers allow. Jerry is bent over him and ready to end this. He tries to kick Jerry and rams his knee into Jerry’s stomach. Jerry’s grip loosens a bit. He has to cough. It’s a tiny window of chance. He punches Jerry in the face who now flinches. It’s now or never thinks Marco. He grabs Jerry’s collar as hard as he can. “I LOVED YOU DAD”, he yells and tears Jerry towards him and smacks Jerry’s head against the top bar of the trunk. Smack! Again. Jerry’s hands slip away from Marco’s throat. Crack! Again. Jerry’s skull crashes on the bar of the trunk. Blood squirts into Marco’s face. Marco screams. His ears go deaf. Smack! He tears Jerry so fast against the bar that his collar rips and Marco falls back into trunk. Jerry collapses and falls onto Marco. He is too weak to push his father away. He screams one last time: “AAARGH!”
But there is no one. Not a single soul is near anymore. All good and bad which he had known till this moment left.
Jerry is dead. Marco is frantic. His hands shake. He starts crying.
Comments
Post a Comment