Tandem Stories - A Rainy Night
By Johnny and Stephanie Betts
Blue = Johnny
Green = Stephanie
It was a particularly rainy night. It was more than a bit
chilly. What could he do? He had no real friends to speak
of, no one he could call. TV was an option; reading was
another. He couldn't sit still for too long though, he was
very fidgety; he had to always be doing something. How would
he occupy his time on this dark, rainy night?
Billy picked up an old photo album his mother began putting
together when he was just a little boy. Memories flooded back
of fun, innocent times of long ago. Now Billy became even more
restless as he compared his full, rich childhood to his empty,
unfulfilled adult life. Tonight was the night. Things were
going to change.
"They all think they're so smart," Billy said. With that he
picked up the phone and began to dial. "Hello?" A voice on
the other end answered. Billy said nothing. "Hello? Is
anyone there?" Billy didn't respond; he remained silent
until the other person hung up the phone. Billy smiled with
delight, "That's right, that'll teach 'em!" Why did this
give Billy such a sense of fulfillment? Something didn't
seem quite right with Billy.
He hit the redial button and smiled as the beeps sang their little
tune. "Hello?" the voice responded and repeated, each time with
greater agitation. Click. Billy laughed out loud and was still
laughing when his phone rang and he picked it up. "Hello!" Billy
answered, trying to stifle his chuckling. "Did you just call me?!"
Billy's smile quickly vanished as he stumbled for an explanation.
"Um, no, why?" "According to my caller ID you just called me twice
you liar!" "Uh, yeah, uh, sorry, I, um, I'm having trouble with my
phone." "Then get it fixed and quit calling, you idiot!" Billy
hung up, and was angry. "Can't even make a crank call anymore!
Stupid caller ID. What a stupid idea." He walked over to the table
and sifted through the pile of junk mail he had yet to look through.
Billy spoke to himself as he looked through his mail, "They think
they're so smart. 'Woo, I've got caller ID, I'm so cool!'" The
mail was the usual, utility bill, Soldier of Fortune magazine,
but wait, what was this? The next piece of mail was an AOL disk
and a card that said he could have 10 free hours. Billy got an
idea, "Hmmm, of course, the Internet! I can be virtually anonymous
and have some real fun then. Maybe even join a mailing list and
just drive people crazy. We'll see how cute they think they are
then." Billy dusted off the computer he had bought about a year
ago, "I bought this puppy, now it's time to get some mileage out
of it." Billy worked his way through the installation process
and got everything set up. Billy, for good or bad, was now online.
Billy double-clicked on the AOL icon and heard the phone dialing.
Busy. Dialed again. Busy again. Busy, busy, busy. "I hate AOL!"
Billy screamed. He threw the keyboard, smashing it against the wall.
He grabbed his keys and a can of beer, flung the front open, and went to
his car. Getting soaked from the rain, he fumbled to get the car door
unlocked. Finally, he opened the door and got in the car.
After a few turns of the key, the car started. Billy opened the beer,
took a swig, and headed out into the rainy night.
It was dark and rainy, and Billy liked to get his car up to really
high speeds. This wasn't a good idea on the unlit two-lane
road he was on. "Wooooooooooo! I'm the king of the world!" Billy
shouted as he got his car up to 90 miles an hour. "What in the
world???" Billy screamed to himself as he caught a glimpse of what
appeared to be a green creature about the size of a dog in the
middle of the road. *THUMP* It was too late; Billy didn't have
time to avoid the creature of the night. Billy's car spun out of
control. He tried to straighten it out but it was hopeless, Billy's
car slid off the road and into a small ditch. Billy was OK, didn't
even suffer a scratch, but what in the world was that thing in the
middle of the road? Was it dead? If not, could it be really, really
mad?
Billy crawled out of the ditch and slowly approached the mysterious
creature. He could see that it was still breathing, its body heaving.
The closer he got to the creature, the more his disbelief grew. It
was like nothing he had ever seen before. Even when he was standing
right over the thing, Billy was incredulous. It looked like a giant
frog! But this was no ordinary frog -- it could walk on two legs!
As Billy tried to take all this in, a car pulled up, and two men in
white lab coats came out. The driver put the creature in a plastic
bag. The passenger pulled out a gun and shot Billy in the head.
THE END
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