Restless night. It didn’t matter where I put the alarm, I wasn’t getting up early. But I’m up now, so those of you who haven’t already completed your prompt, let’s catch up to the others.
I think this is an interesting start. I want to think about what he does and what the job was before I bring things crashing down on him. I think figuring out those details first will be essential. I just wasn’t going to get them in fifteen minutes this morning.
Friday, October 20th: The crickets were loud.
The crickets were loud. He stood on the porch and tried to decide if it meant anything. Was rain coming? Was it a drought? Were there predators in the area or had they abandoned it so that the insects felt safe singing? He didn’t know. He was certain there was some sort of saying involved them, especially when they were this loud.
The only thoughts he had on the matter came from Disney and he somehow didn’t think the crickets of Merriwood’s fields were overly concerned about his conscience. At the moment his conscience felt clear anyway.
‘So all of those crickets would be mistaken.’
He settled himself on the step of the front porch and took a sip of his reheated coffee. He made it early in the day, when the coffee pit first came out of the pot. He hadn’t gotten around to drinking it, but liked the way the scent perfumed the house and helped eradicate the more industrial scent of the cleaners used on the house.
He didn’t know how long the house was on the market, but when he purchased it, it sold for cheap. He knew it was run down around the edges and would need some work. That he could do, even if being this far out of the city wasn’t his ideal. He lived many places in his life, some densely urban and some far more wild than this forgotten farmhouse, so the lack of buildings around him didn’t scare him. He just over all preferred concrete to endless fields.
Still at the moment it was necessary. His face was known, even if his name wasn’t and while he didn’t think anyone would be looking for him as he was not a regular feature of anypone’s world, he had a bad feeling. Still he did his part, was paid and told to clear off. He cleared off. When going back to his small apartment seemed like not far enough of a clear off, he decided it was time to up sticks. He waited long enough so that it didn’t seem related and he gave the excuse of another job to the one person he knew well enough to bring him into the previous job in the first place.
He left a PO Box in a different state and had someone monitoring it. If anything came in, it would be sent along to a different location. He wo0uld arrange to have it picked up from there if need be. At the moment, he doubted it would be a concern, even though he felt better for having established a relay.
When passing along the information it was to make his exit loo natural and indeed Carl barely paid the new address any attention. There was the distinct possibility he would lose it and it would never be used. He thought he got away without arousing suspicions. Usually he could chide himself for his paranoia. Tonight, it seemed justified.
He sipped his reheated coffee and stared off into the night. He felt content for the first time in weeks, crickets or not.
Ten til Midnight 