Jerry Smile

Edwin James died there, Skip thought to himself.

The ground rumbled--but still nothing in sight.

Then, a dark shape pounced on Jerry. The ball skidded down the rocks and rolled to a stop in the middle of the avenue.

Jerry screamed.

"Fuck!" Skip yelped.

"C’mon!" Scott yelled, "It’s that fuckin redneck!"

Jerry was struggling with the shape as the horn erupted again and the ground quaked.

"They’re gonna die!" Skip hollered--in a flash recalling the closed casket of Edwin James. There weren’t enough parts left to feed the hogs, his old man had said.

"Help!" Jerry shrieked, "Oh, Fuck! Get the fuck off! Help!"

The figures were grappling in the shadows when Skip and Scott sprang to the roadside but were forced to a standstill.

The horn became deafening as the train finally cleared the trees. The whole World was shaking as a red four by four came speeding up the road!

Scott and Skip looked at each other--then at their friend, struggling with--who?--or what?

Piggy cruised by, grinning, shooting a bird, and bursting the basketball. The truck disappeared around the curve.

The train was nearing at breakneck speed, the pitch of its horn desperate.

Skip felt his meatloaf dinner coming back for a little visit: Scott’s pants dampened at the crotch. Their feet had become part of the roadside.

Barely heard above the horn, Jerry screamed again, wordlessly.

The horn hesitated for a moment, as if catching its breath.

His imagination? Skip didn’t know, but he could swear under oath, he’d heard a bone crunching snap during the pause.

Jerry screamed louder, challenging the horn for decibels.

In the flash of the freight train’s light, Skip thought he saw long, bloody, skinless arms clutching and ripping at Jerry’s flesh, and Jerry’s grimace of extreme terror and pain--a twisted Jerry smile he would never forget.

When the train struck, there was a sound--a sound Skip could never quite describe--a squishy thumping sound, like kicking a flat football-- a grotesque squashing sound, like crushing a watermelon with an anvil--and the two struggling shadows were gone.

The End