[this story was inspired by Edward Hopper's "Pennsylvania Coal Town"]
Can you see them? Don’t look up – they’ll know you’re watchin them. They sit there, blending in with the crowd; I see through their disguises though. They don’t fool me for a second. I’ll just go about my raking – they don’t notice I’ve spotted them. All for the better I suppose. I’ve been telling people about them for years, but everyone thinks I’m a senile old man. It’s not my imagination – they are real!
The first time I saw a Sucker was back in July of 1938. After working all day in the mines I decided to stop off at the general store for some pop – seeing as how I’m not a drinkin man – and a dozen eggs. As I was leavin the store I saw a man in a trench coat and fedora, a queer sight for the middle of summer. I left the store puzzled, but forgot about him by the time I got home.
I went about my business and didn’t see anything else peculiar until the next spring. I spent my day off cleanin out the basement to make room for another tenant. Money had been hard to come by that year, and takin on another boarder was the only way to lighten the burden.
I painted “Room For Let” in bright red on a small piece of wood and put it in the front window of the house. Just as I was finishin up for the day, a tall man in his late twenties appeared in the yard. Maybe it was because I was tired, or maybe I was just too busy thinkin about all the work I still needed to do, but I am positive he just appeared – one minute, nothin, the next, a man in khaki slacks and that familiar fedora. He asked how much the room would cost. I told him one hundred dollars, and he said he would take it. Overjoyed at the unexpected offer, I overlooked my feelings of uneasiness and welcomed him in.
Everything had been goin fine for nearly a month. But, one insomnia-ridden night I decided to visit the kitchen for a midnight snack. I carefully closed my door, so as not to make any noise, and began headin for the stairs, when I heard a sound come from the end of the hall. Bein a curious man, I crept towards the sound. Mattie’s (one of the tenants I had taken on a year before) door was opened a crack so I peeked through the small slit and saw a most horrifying sight – the young man who had just recently moved in was leaning over Mattie’s sleeping body, his lips pressed to her neck and his eyes glowin red!
I was so scared I almost filled my pants. I silently scurried back to my room and bolted the door shut. The next mornin the man was gone and Mattie was complaining about a terrible headache. Two weeks later she was dead. The doctors say she had somethin wrong with her heart and there was nothing to stop it – but I know what really killed her.
Is what I’m suggestin really that far-fetched? No, because demons walk among us. Suckers are everywhere – you just have to look. I’ll keep rakin, watchin them with one eye and lookin away when they see me. I’m ready for them - I'm not gonna run away this time - and they know it.
To learn more about the author, you can visit her site here.
