The Watcher

[Mikado14]

I want to share this story. I ran across it and retyped it to post.

It is copyrighted 1977.

The Watcher
©1977 & 2014 Hickory Ridge all rights reserved

What is more reminiscent of days gone by, than the bucolic image of a boy and his dog walking down a country road on a summer day. A gentler time in life when all a young boy worried about was a sunny day and if the fish were biting whilst being accompanied by one's best friend in the belief that these days would never end and time, would forever remain the same.


The boy awoke with the sun. He couldn't wait to try out his new fishing pole his parents gave him for passing to the next grade. As he clambored from the bed, he noticed that his dog wasn't sleeping with him. He made his way to the bathroom, got dressed and bounded down the steps in anticipation of the day.

Entering the kitchen of the old farm house, he was greeted by his dog. "Hi girl, did you sleep well?", as she wagged her tail and looked at him with her light brown eyes which always reminded him of butter cream chocolates his Mom would get at the holidays.

Girl wasn't a large dog. She was a mix between a Shepard and a Doberman with a bit of Golden Retriever and was the runt in the litter. Rory fell in love with her because she was the runt. He identified with her for he was a small boy, the smallest in his class. He named her Venus. When she was a puppy, he would sneak her up to his room at night to the dismay of his Mother. Every night she would holler in his room to not let her sleep on the bed. "Okay Mom" was the standard reply but when he heard his parents bedroom door close it was always the same. "Come on girl, get up here" and she would jump up on the bed. Eventually, girl got used to listening for the sound of the door closing and would get up and assume her position laying next to Rory. The two became inseparable.
As he entered the kitchen, his mom was cooking his usual oatmeal which he always devoured with plenty of sugar. He believed that his Mom never saw how much he would sneek into his bowl. Always adding a bit of cream between the spoonfuls of the sweetness in the belief that his Mom wouldn't notice. But she knew, as she looked out of the corner of her eye, and just smiled and let him believe he was getting away with it.

"Your Father left a list for you to do in the barn today. I know you are anxious to try out your new pole so just get the morning feed out of the way. You can do the rest when you get back and I want you home by noon and I don't want you to go near your workshop until you finish the list."

The boy continued to eat his oatmeal as he contemplated how he could try out his new pole and yet still work in his shop without the chores. His Mom anticipated what was going through his mind. "I know what your thinkin' Rory. You can work in your workshop when your chores are done."

Rory had a few experiments he wanted to finish up but he wanted so badly to go fishing, no, he needed to go fishing for that gave him the time to think things out. To dream and think of how he could turn it from nothing into something. Rory found that the quiet serenity of a stream with a line in the water was always the best time to think things out.

Uncle Buck would always encourage the boy. He would get him used equipment for his shop. Everything from the Oscilloscope he begged for, a dual trace 20 Mhz sweep, to parts, power supplies and any equipment he required for his experiments but there was always a catch. Uncle Buck wanted to know why he needed it. He wanted an explanation, in writing, from the objective to the conclusion and what results he anticipated. Rory found this to be tedious but the reality was, Uncle Buck was teaching him habits, good habits that he believed were beneficial to the young man.

Rory finished his breakfast, got dressed for his barn chores and from so many times in doing so, he held the door as his girl followed him. He slowly walked to the barn and began the morning feed. For some reason, the morning chores today seemed to take longer than usual. Rory wondered why was it, time seemed to go slower when you wanted to just get done and other times, it went fast, like when he worked in his workshop. Time, he found the subject engulfing his mind and his mind began to wander as he did his chores as if he was nothing more than an automaton.

When his chores were done, he high tailed it to the house, got his pole and the old tin lunch pail filled with nightcrawlers he collected the night before. The screen door of the porch swung quickly open as Rory and Girl burst forth with each one side by side and heading down the country road.

Rory always had conversations with Girl and he wasted no time in having one.

"Well Girl, what do you think? Think we'll catch anything?", as he paused and looked down at her and continued, "Should we just let it go to catch again?", she continued to stare up at him as if she were hanging on every word.

It was about then that Girl heard something in the woods along the road and she became distracted from the conversation with Rory. As she walked, she looked towards the woods and made a guttural growl.

"What's wrong Girl?", as she got between him and the woods as they kept walking. There it was again, a crackling sound with a few pops like popping those bubble packing strips.

The two finally reached the covered bridge. Rory waited to make sure he heard no vehicles coming and then he started across the bridge with Girl in tow. After reaching the other side, both Girl and he heard the noise again, this time, it lasted longer and Girl jumped up on the wall that was the rampart for the bridge and she stared into the woods and made her gutteral noises. "See anything?" and with that she turned and looked at him but still kept a watchful eye on the woods. Rory began to feel as if they were being watched.

The road went up by the old mill and Rory turned onto the road that followed the mill race that eventually made its way to the dam. As they walked along, Rory had his mind into his thoughts of his latest experiment. He had this idea of creating an electrostatic field with some flyback transformers from some old TVs he acquired. As he was contemplating how he was going to phase them, Girl began to bark and growl and ran to the edge of the woods and took a position. He was brought back to the present. As he called for her to come back, he heard the last of the noise that got her attention and this time, it was louder and the popping was sharper. She slowly turned to come back by his side but she still kept her position between him and the woods as they continued toward the dam.

Rory was getting a bit concerned and he couldn't shake the feeling as if he and Girl were continually being watched. He never saw her act this way except for once. There was a time when two of his friends were walking by the farm on their way to the dam. They started to tease him and were getting him upset. Girl came from under a tree where she was napping and positioned herself between the boys and Rory and barred her teeth and became quite vocal and made it perfectly clear, that they would have to go through her to get to Rory.

Rory stopped walking and as he stooped down on one leg, he put his arm around her. He asked her what was wrong. "What do you see, girl?". Her attention was full and undivided on the woods as she was looking up on the ridge that paralleled the road. Rory started walking towards the dam and told her to follow. She obeyed although a bit reluctantly as she kept herself between Rory and the woods all the way to the dam.

When they reached the dam, Rory stopped to take it in. He always enjoyed watching the water flowing under and out of the dam openings. The dam had a concrete road built over the top. It was originally built during the Revolutionary War to power the old mill to make gunpowder. Rory would always remember the stories his Dad told him about the history of the dam and he felt as if time didn't exist when he was standing on it. He would imagine the stories and play them out in his mind as he visualized the history. As he reached the center of the dam, he stopped to watch the water going down and out of the dam to fall upon the rocks below. He always marveled at the energy he knew was there, just waiting for someone to utilize it in some fashion.

As he continued to the other end of the dam, he heard the crackling again with a loud popping sound that was more like a small thunder clap and with that, Girl started to howl and bark and positioned herself next to Rory. It was as if she were cemented to the dam to take up a position that anyone who dared would have to go through her first to get to him. And then it happened.

Rory turned and looked to where Girl had her gaze fixed back the way they had come. He looked up on the ridge and there he saw a hole. It was as if someone erased away not only the trees but the grass, the dirt and everything to make an area where there was nothing. Around this nothing, it appeared to be lined with bright shards of shiny metal. Almost immediately, there came a blinding light accompanied by a lightning bolt that hit the dam. Girl was thrown along with Rory about twenty feet in the direction they were walking. With a yelp from her and a cry from Rory they both landed hard with Girl on top of Rory's chest.

It all became a blur from then. Girl was on top of Rory, as if she were a shield, nothing would get near him. Rory tried to make out what was going on as his ears rang. He was disoriented from the blast. Rory began to feel as if he was being energized with static electricity. He looked at girl on his chest and it appeared as if her hair was standing on end as she was laying motionless. Then it was quiet as the ringing left his ears.

He slowly rolled out from under Girl. He didn't need to ask her if she was alright for he saw she wasn't. She just layed there. As he was staring at her, a shadow covered them both. He looked up and saw the outline of a man standing over them with the sun behind the man. The man bent down and slowly petted Girl, she licked his hand.

"Been a long time Venus, how you been Girl?", with that Rory asked, "Who are you?"

"I am a friend. I knew you were going to have a problem so I came to help you."

Girl tried to get up but couldn't. The stranger slowly picked her up and cradled her in his arms as she laid her head against his chest.

Rory protested, "You can't take my dog!"

"Don't worry, she needs help and I am going to get it for her. You want her to get well, don't you?"

"That is a stupid question. Of course I do."

"Well, you don't worry about it. She will be fine and you will see her someday again. I promise."

"Who are you? What do I tell my parents?"

"Just tell them she ran away chasing after some animal."

"They won't believe that. They know how protective she is. She would never leave."

"I told you, don't worry, you will see her again, in time, just be patient."

As the man walked away from the dam, Rory slowly got to his feet and cried helplessly. He felt powerless to do anything and with tears streaming down his face and with a feeling of emptiness in his chest, he felt as if an invisible hand was reaching in and was tearing his heart from within his chest. He continued to stare at the man as he walked away.

He began screaming at the top of his lungs, "You can't take my dog!" but the man ignored him.

He stood there helpless and watched as a hole appeared at the end of the dam. It resembled the hole he saw on the ridge. It was as if someone took an eraser and erased reality. He watched and stared into the hole and as he screamed Girl's name, he saw her lick the stranger on his cheek.

Screaming Girl's name with tears streaming down his cheeks, he fell to his knees. As he knealt there, he watched the stranger disappear into the nothingness and as it collapsed, it made a sound of thunder.


We go through life learning lessons everyday. Some are harder than others and some are easy. The lesson of loss can be the hardest one to learn. Patience is a lesson learned hand in hand along with loss and is usually accompanied by another known as time.

[DavidG]

Thats a cool story, one that could be a Philadelphia Experiment in the country!

I do hope theres more!

Cheers!
D

[kevin]

Thats a cool story, one that could be a Philadelphia Experiment in the country!

I do hope theres more!

Cheers!
D

Agreed,
Reminded Me of Old Yeller, which I won as a book at 7 year old.

Lets suppose that the universe is a solid, of sorts, and that TIME is a consequence of phase conjugate flows , just imagine been able to resist one direction and travel in time????
Kevin

[Mikado14]

Thanks.

I have another one titled, "The Firehouse". I will have to retype it. Back then, I only had an electric typewriter...anyone remember?

Mikado

[StarCat]

My high school typing class was still using manual typewriters. The college typing class used electrics. Then I moved up to word processing. Where's the return lever? Where's the return button?

Cat

[Nancy_Hutchison]

Thanks.

I have another one titled, "The Firehouse". I will have to retype it. Back then, I only had an electric typewriter...anyone remember?

Mikado

you could try using some Optical Character Recognition Software
its been years since I used it, but it did work
https://www.google.com/search?q=type+re ... unofficial