The Man

The neighbourhood was still and quiet as a man walked down the street towards his car. His stride was long and even, as if he had no wish to stay on the street a moment longer than he had to.

A dog barked from the next block over; an overreaction.

The dark form of the man's car came in to view as he rounded a wide curve in the road. His steps resounded off the concrete, startling two figures that were hanging around the vehicle. The man saw them in the half light of the next street lamp just as the car alarm went off and the lights started flashing.

It was shockingly loud after the night's stillness.

"Hey!" the man yelled as the two people tore off down the street. He quickly sprinted the remaining distance to his car and shut off the alarm with his keys.

Turning on his phone torch, he made a quick inspection of the car's exterior to see if there were any damages. Luckily, there were none.

A glance up and down the street showed no one was about. A few upset dogs were barking as if their backyards were being invaded, and lights were on in the house windows were various neighbours were observing the scene.

The man had nothing left to do but climb into his car and drive away, thinking how odd it was that this would happen in such a well respected neighbourhood.

The Kids:

A boy and a girl, roughly 19 and 17 respectively, were walking fast arm in arm down the dark street. The boy had been in a foul mood most of the evening due to an argument he had had with his uncle, and wasn't speaking.

The girl too, saved her breath for now, seeming a bit anxious. She hadn't been to this well-off part of town before.

"Can't you slow down?" she finally asked.

Suddenly the boy spoke, but not answer her request.

"So Uncle Jake will fund Carl's education but not mine! I'll show him how fair that is."

"Is that why you're so glum?"

The girl laughed a bit, having thought that her boyfriend had been put out by something more serious than his uncle's refusal to pay for his schooling.

"It's not funny!"

The boy dropped her arm and walked on ahead with his hands in his pockets. The girl stood still, surprised a moment, but quickly caught up.

"I didn't mean to tease. But why did you wanna walk down here?"

"Uncle Jake told me he would be at aunt Zeph's if I wanted to come and talk to him in person. Aunt Zeph's is down here."

"Oh, she must have money then. I didn't know."

"More like a bank vault," the boy scoffed. "And she doesn't part with doe easy."

The two slowed down as the street climbed a hill to eventually veer left along a string of fine houses.

"So," the girl said between heavy breaths. "Did your uncle tell you why he will pay for Carl and not you?"

"I'm paraphrasing, but he seems to think it'll be a waste of money. Sure, I dropped out of collage, but that shouldn't be a big deal. Uncle's just afraid that I'll drop out again."

"Does he know how much you want to study... what is it? Movies?"

"Yes, but that doesn't matter to him. He'd rather go all out on the studious nephew than the black sheep. Says I need to work and save up if I wanna study."

"Sounds fair," said his girlfriend.

"But that'll take years, and mum's already charging me $60 a week as it is just to stay at home!"

"So find another job and start working your tail off. If you wanna study as much as I think you do, then it'll work out. And if your uncle sees how serious you are about saving money, then he might help you out."

The boy hated that idea. "I wouldn't take a cent from him if I were a tax collector!"

"Then why are you going to see him?"

"I'm not. I'm gonna teach him a lesson."

They stopped next to a parked car. The silver Honda civic looked brand new, glowing in the light of the nearest lamp post. The boy took out a knife from his pocket and looked up and down the street.

"What are you doing?" his girlfriend asked.

"What I said."

The boy held the knife out to the car, preparing to make the longest scratch he could on the paint work.

"Wait," the girl stopped him. "What if one of these neighbours sees us and reports it? Do you really think you should do this to someone else's property? And for pete's sake, why did you have to bring me!?"

The boy retracted the knife after a moment's hesitation and groaned.

"I just can't do anything right!"

He gave a kick at the car door with his foot just as the girl said she could hear someone coming. The alarm went off, triggered by the boy's attack and the two took off the way they had come without looking back.

A man's voice called out and they could hear the pounding of footsteps behind them until they eventually stopped.

The boy grabbed his girlfriend and together they dove into a hedge and lay panting among the close branches. All they could hear were dogs going mad and blood rushing in their ears. The car alarm was stopped and a few moments later, they peeked out to watch the car come slowly down the street and cruise out of sight.

The boy let out a long, troubled gasp.

"That was my uncle."

By Misty Rumsley, 2025