Untitled
By the time
Jimmy the jam found the house it was getting dark. Lights were flickering on up
and down the street and as he‘d hoped his patience was rewarded; the house
remained in darkness. He did a further quick recky; there were no cars in the
driveway and the curtains were half drawn and still. To be sure, he threw
gravel at the upper windows; the last thing he wanted was to disturb some
snoozing night-shift worker. He waited; no
lights came on, the curtains remained still, no twitching.
The door was open; unlocked - eureka! It was
practically an invitation. Old George had been right; there were rich pickings
in an area like this; though not quite posh, it had pretentions of wealth. Thank god for the careless middle-classes.
With barely
a backward glance, Jimmy pushed the door open and entered. Once inside he stood
stock still while his senses adjusted. His ears and eyes strained: he was tuning
in on background noises; the muffled sounds of street traffic, a car door, and somewhere
kids shouting . . . but nothing from the house itself. So far so good.
Gradually he
discerned objects in the dim interior. It was like dozens of other hallways
he’d seen: a wooden coat stand lurched in the corner, with a well-worn jacket dangling
from a hanger. The jacket caught his attention; it looked oddly familiar. He
must have seen a similar jacket before . . . but he couldn’t think where. There
were some shoes and boots on a rack, and besides that, a little wooden table
with a lamp on it – and also what looked like a large leather wallet; with
notes sticking out of it!
Jimmy
reacted like Pavlov’s dogs; stimulus, response. With no conscious awareness of
movement or thought, Jimmy had the wallet in his hands. He was probably salivating
too as he saw a wad of notes. He started to count the money but his
concentration was disturbed by a dull repetitious sound somewhere in the
background . . . an alarm! . . . Somewhere . . . in the house!
Jimmy kept
cool; alarms were par for the course, as old George used to say. Stay calm and
make your exit. Don’t panic! It could be hours before anyone responded to the
alarm – or it could be minutes!
Jimmy turned
on his heels, clutching the leather wallet. It was then that he noticed the
button switch on the table. Who has a switch on a table? The wallet must have been
resting on it! It must have pressed the switch down until Jimmy picked it up –
releasing the switch!
Now Jimmy
panicked. This was not par for the course. This was bad, very bad, thought
Jimmy as he rushed to the door and grabbed the metal handle.
A massive
electric jolt surged through Jimmy. He convulsed, unable to release his hand and
then he passed out.
When Jimmy came
back to consciousness he lay perfectly still, eyes closed, and listened. The
silence was unnerving. The sounds of the street were gone. Was the room sound
proof? Maybe he’d lost his hearing? No, there was something . . . very faint, a
sighing sound?
“It’s no use
Jimmy, I know you are awake…” The voice was oddly familiar.
“Don’t you
remember me?” Jimmy opened his eyes.
“You!”
recognition chilled his rapidly beating heart.
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