S1, E3 The Strangers

At the end of  Episode 2, Severn had just returned from town to find Vi and Sage alive, though battered. We left him as he entered the Epperson house and heard a glass break followed by a curse. As far as we—and Severn--knew, everyone in that house was dead. We pick up with Episode 3 as Severn goes to investigate what he heard.

Transcript

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This is Ed Falco on the air, reading The Strangers, a novel in 18 episodes. At the end of episode 2, Severn had just returned from town to find Vi and Sage alive, though battered. We left him as he entered the Epperson house and heard a glass break, followed by a curse. As far as we, and Severn, knew, everyone in that house was dead. We pick up with Episode 3 as Severn goes to investigate what he heard. Severn slipped off his shoes as he took several deep breaths and worked to slow his heartbeat. He took hold of the carbine and moved slowly toward a door that opened into the kitchen, his fingers light on the rifle's trigger. When he pushed the door open, warily, he found a young girl's body sprawled in front of the sink. She was on her back, her head turned slightly to the side, almost as if she were watching Severn from where she lay. He stepped over her as he heard glasses clinking. The sound was distinct and it was coming from the basement. He crossed through the kitchen and followed a short hallway into the living room where nothing had changed. The bodies were where he left them, Vi's two sisters covered with white linen sheets. From the basement there were more noises, something being moved, something squeaking. He managed to make it to the basement doorway, which was open, without so much as a floorboard creaking. And he stood there in silence at the head of the stairs and listened. After a moment, he heard a sound like a glass being clapped down on the bar, followed by a laugh that suggested amazement or surprise. He flattened his body against the door, peeked down the stairs. Took a breath and said, as calmly as he could manage, Who's down there? I'm Severn Price. I live up the road. A boy's voice came up from the basement. It said, I'm Tommy Riggs, and you're part of my hallucination, dude. The kid laughed again, though both the voice and the laughter were tinged with darker notes. The voice added, You're not even there, are you, dude? And laughed again. Severn moved cautiously down the stairs and once in the basement he saw a boy sitting behind the bar surrounded by the dead. He had a tumbler full of whiskey in one hand and a bottle of scotch in the other. He looked to be maybe 14, 15 years old. His eyes were bloodshot, but open wide, with a look that suggested a slightly terrified amusement. Severn glanced at the place where he'd left Vi's cousin lying face down on the ground, and he saw nothing but carpeting and a few stains. You're Vi's cousin, he said. When he realized he was still pointing the rifle at the boy, he lowered it, and then slung it over his shoulder again. The boy asked, Where's Vi? She's alright. She's outside. The boy looked around the room and said, You're telling me this is all real? I'm going to guess you were drinking heavily last night. Severn thought to say the kid's name. Tommy, he said. Is that right? Tommy? Tommy said yeah, but dude, how can this be? Severn leaned against the stairwell and looked again at the bodies of the kids scattered around the bar. Tommy lifted the tumbler to his mouth and drained half the glass. Severn said, That's not going to help. The kid said, Really, dude? Really, Severn said. And there was a note of command in his voice that the boy must have heard because he put the glass down and slithered away from him. Severn was about to tell Tommy to come out from around the bar. When there was a sound at the back door, he spun around, raised the rifle and put himself between Tommy and the sound. He lowered the carbine as the door opened slowly, revealing Vi on the other side of it. She seemed unable to take in what she was seeing, her eyes fixed on Tommy. baffled at the sight of him. Severn said, He wasn't dead when we saw him last night, Vi. He was passed out unconscious. He must have just come to. Tommy looked back and forth from Vi to Severn as if he was trying to figure out something. Remember his back was to us, Severn continued, so he wouldn't have seen that his eyes were closed. Vi came into the basement and closed the door behind her. She was crying, tears rolling down her cheeks. But her face seemed otherwise composed. Tommy came out from behind the bar. He said, When did you see me last night? And then added quickly, What happened to you, Vi? He looked at Severn again. He seemed to be moved by the sight of Vi and confused by Severn. He came to the middle of the room and then Vi rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him. Tommy patted the back of Vi's head and looked to Severn. Dude, he said, a slight pleading in his voice. Somebody's got to tell me what's going on. He stepped back from Vi and lifted her chin. What happened to your face, he said. How'd you get so beat up? To Severn, he said, You two, what the hell happened? Severn took a few moments to explain as best he could the events of the night and morning. When he was finished, the kid looked as perplexed and unbelieving as he had when Severn first saw him behind the bar drinking a scotch and looking at Severn as if he had to be a hallucination. Vyse said, Daisy could still be alive, and my parents, we don't know. Tommy said, Iris and Rose? Invited in answer, Severn said, They're upstairs, Tommy. Nobody's alive up there. Tommy's shoulders seemed to sag a little, and for the briefest of moments, his casual demeanor shifted towards something more vulnerable. He glanced at Severn and then turned away. Severn started up the stairs. Come with me, he said. We're making a litter for Sage. Sage? Severn said, Vi will explain, and continued up the stairs. In the garage, he pulled the hammock down from the back wall. We'll use this, he said, as Vi and Tommy came in from the kitchen behind him. When he looked at them, he saw that Tommy's face was pale. Severn tried to force some compassion for the kid, who had just walked past the bodies of friends and family. He made himself be quiet, but he wanted to get the litter together and the dog back to the house. What are you doing with the hammock? We'll use the dowels to make a litter to carry Sage. Tommy said, what's a litter? Vi said, it's like a stretcher to carry Sage so we don't hurt her when we're taking her to Mr. Price's house. Tommy pointed to the workbench. We could use the creeper. Vi said, the what? Creeper, Tommy said, for working under cars. And he went to the workbench and rolled out a look to Severn like a five foot long, six inch high stretcher on casters with red cushions, the word craftsman emblazoned in white across the center cushion. Severn said, that's perfect. He found his shoes, slipped them on, and threw open the garage door, letting in the sunlight. Outside a mist was rising off the blacktop under a bright morning sun, and a slight breeze rustled through the green of the treetops. A breeze, on the black wire of a nearby power line. A pair of doves perched lazily. Several dogs were barking down the road, and Severn guessed they were Ricky's coons. Ricky's house was half a mile away, but his land buttered up against Severn's yard. He kept his kennel on the corner of his land within sight of Severn's kitchen window. Severn had more than once thought of talking to him about it, but Sarah had convinced him to let it go. It was the guy's land. He could put his kennel wherever he wanted. Look at that. They had just reached the head of the driveway and Tommy pointed up the road to a trio of horses trotting, three abreast, around a bend. One of the horses whinnied. And then the three of them broke into a run. They looked like racehorses breaking from a starting gate. Severn gripped the barrel of the carbine and took a step back toward the kids. By the time the dogs came into sight, a pack of them, maybe six or seven, the horses had charged past and were gone. A moment after that, the dogs flew by. And then they disappeared too. And all that was left was sunlight, a mist off the black top, and a quiet morning. Severn pointed to his bike, where it lay on its side off the road. And he asked Tommy to retrieve it. With Vi, he went to Sage and together they knelt over the dog. Vi asked, Will they catch them? Meaning, would the dogs catch the horses? Severn said, The horses will be fine, then he added, but those dogs might be a problem. What kind of problem? Severn only shrugged and then instructed Vi to tilt the creeper at Sage's back so that he could mostly slide the dog onto it. He pushed his arms under Sage and when he lifted slightly she whimpered, but otherwise showed few signs of life beyond opening and closing her eyes. Is she going to live, do you think, Mr. Price? Severn said, I think she will. I feel pretty sure about it. He added, Why don't you call me Severn instead of Mr. Price? That would feel funny to me. We don't call adults by their first names. Okay, Severn said, but then I'll have to call you Violet. It's only fair if we're being formal. He took off his belt, looped it through an opening at the front of the creeper. And started to pull the makeshift stretcher onto the road. Vi bent over Sage and helped by pushing. On the road, as Tommy approached, wheeling the bicycle alongside him, Vi said, I'll call you Severn if you call me Vi. Severn said okay, and handed Vi the belt. Tommy said, what's okay? Severn straddled the front wheels of the bike and unzipped the backpack looped over the handlebars. Vi said, he'd like us to call him Severn instead of Mr. Price. And then, hey, could I have some of those? He was referring to the Percocets he had just seen Severn shake out of a container. Severn popped a Percocet onto the back of his throat and swallowed. To Tommy, he said, I'm guessing you have a hangover. Tommy said, dude, I think I'm still drunk. Except, he looked down at Sage on the creeper and then scratched his head as if he couldn't explain himself. Severn said, the situation is sobering, I'm sure. He rooted around in the backpack until he found a bottle of Advil. He shook out two and handed them to Tommy. On the way back to the house, Severn asked Tommy where his parents lived, and Tommy looked up at a telephone pole, where a crow fluttered its wings and cawed. Vi said, Tommy's parents have passed away. His foster family's in Brooklyn. They're friends of my mom and dad's. That's how come he's staying with us. Oh, so you guys aren't really cousins. Tommy said, We call each other cousin. Sure, Severn said, and then couldn't think of a thing to add. In the driveway to Severn's house, Vi looked suddenly worried. Do you think we should leave some kind of note for my parents? Like, maybe on the big window or something, so they know I'm here? That's a good idea, Severn pointed to his kitchen door. Let's get settled in my house, get you guys something to eat, and then, while I'm taking care of Sarah, you and Tommy can go tape a note to one of the cars. Tommy said, Who's Sarah? Vi took hold of Tommy's hand as if to quiet him. My wife, Severn said, And handed Tommy the belt to pull Sage. At the side door Severn asked Tommy to help him with Sage and together they carried the dog up the stairs while Vi held the door open for them. Once inside the house, in the kitchen, Severn wheeled the creeper into a corner of the room while Vi found a blue plastic gallon bucket under the sink, filled it with water, and put it next to the dog's head. She dipped her hand into the bucket, cupped a handful of water, and brought it to Sage's lips. To Severn's surprise, Sage opened her mouth and offered her tongue in a kind of half conscious, slow motion imitation of a dog lapping up water. Vi looked up eagerly at Severn. That's a good sign, she said, isn't it? Excellent sign, Severn said. And he went to the refrigerator and rooted around in it. You guys like turkey? But no one answered, he added. Okay, turkey it is. He turned around, holding a plastic Tupperware container and a bowl of grapes. Vi and Tommy were looking at him as if he was out of his mind. What? He put the Tupperware and the grapes on the kitchen counter and took two plates down from the cupboard. Vi said, I'm not hungry. Tommy said, Dude, we're supposed to like sit down and eat breakfast? You have to eat. Severn put the plates on the table along with knives and forks. Shouldn't we try to find other survivors? Severn pointed at the kitchen table and said, Sit. When Vi did as she was told and Tommy followed suit, he added, While you guys are eating, I'll get Sarah ready. After she's buried, we'll get bicycles and ride into town. There'll be survivors there. They'll be gathering someplace. We'll find them. Tommy looked down at the cluster of red grapes alongside a slab of turkey on the plate in front of him. You have juice or something, he asked. My mouth's all dry. Something to drink, Severn said. I forgot. He went to the fridge and cupboard and came back with a container of orange juice and two glasses. Vi toyed with the turkey and then cut off a piece. Aren't Severn. Severn looked out the window at the bright sunlight coming down through trees. She He had mowed his lawn only a couple of days earlier, and it was neat and crisp and green. A pair of robins hopped about in the middle of it, picking its seeds, and a chipmunk darted through a row of purple salvia that bordered the driveway. I'm feeling sick, he said, and he turned back to the kids where they sat at their plates of food as if eating were the last thing in the world they wanted to do. I think it's the Percocet I'm feeling. I feel like I might throw up. Gross, Tommy said. But I bet you don't have a headache. Severn smiled at that. He said, right. No headache. Vi said, I don't. We don't have a bicycle for Tommy. Mine's in the garage, but Tommy doesn't have one. She took a bite of turkey and then popped a couple of grapes into her mouth. Severn went to the kitchen door and looked out through its window to his neighbor's land, where he could see a wire kennel and a half dozen coons pacing anxiously. They had been barking on and off in waves, but at the moment they were quiet. The Wrightsons up the road have bikes. We can take one of theirs. What if they don't want to loan us one of them? Tommy asked. He had already eaten all his turkey and finished off the grapes and was reaching into the Tupperware for more. Sarah's bicycle was in the basement, but Severn, for reasons he chose not to examine, didn't want to give Tommy her bike. His own bike was in the shop. Severn tapped the window glass on the kitchen door and said, Their dogs haven't been fed this morning. And? Tommy took another bite of turkey. This is pretty good, he said, with his mouth full. One of them always feeds the dogs early, he said. They're barking and pacing. They know something's wrong. Fai said, You think they're dead? The Reitzens? Severn touched the door with the palm of his hand. He was watching a donkey eating grass in a field near the kennel. They're always up all hours, he said. The whole family. And? Tommy said. Vi said, so that means they were probably awake the first time. The first time? Tommy asked. When either Severn or Vi answered, he said, Oh, yeah. But still, I'm not believing this is happening. Severn leaned against the door and gazed past the kitchen and into the living room at the beige sofa under a row of windows where only the night before he and Sarah had stretched out together, his arm around her, her head on his chest, and listened peacefully to music. He said to Tommy, what we believe doesn't seem to matter much, and then he saw the kid's arm was shaking. Tommy noticed that at the same time, he watched his arm shaking as if it was someone else's arm. He said, what the hell is this? Severn pulled up a chair and put his hand over Tommy's hand. He said, You drank yourself into oblivion last night, and then stopped when he heard what he had just said. He laughed and both kids looked at him as if he were beginning to frighten them. You drank yourself to the point where you passed out last night, and then you woke up in the middle of this horror show. To Tommy, he said, if your arm starts shaking, and then he looked at Vi and at it, or you pass out or throw up or faint or whatever, that's not surprising. Right now, we just have to get through this. Vi said, it hasn't happened again yet, so maybe it is only at night. Maybe we can figure out, like, when to go to bed, and get up, and we can What are you talking about? Tommy interrupted. What hasn't happened again? The thing that killed everybody? You think it's going to happen again? Severn walked away, leaving the kids at the table, looking after him. In the bedroom, he sat on the bed with his back to Sarah. He felt, out of nowhere, an extraordinary tiredness settle over him. A voice in his head wished out loud that the next event, the next lurching, would happen right at that moment and put an end to it. An end to figuring out what to do. An end to trying to understand something that was apparently incomprehensible. From the kitchen he heard the kids moving around and plates clinking in the sink, and he thought, here we are at the end of the world, and they are clearing the table and putting the dishes in the sink. And then he lowered his head, as if he were about to pray. He took the carboyn off his shoulder, leaned it against the night table, and looked at it with longing. Half the world, he guessed, was dead already, and the rest would be dead soon enough. He was very tired, and his curiosity over the nature of these events, these lurchings, was fading. So what if he didn't understand? What did he understand, ever, really? From the kitchen he heard Vi talking to Tommy, going over all the happenings of the past night, attempting to bring Tommy up to speed. Every once in a while Tommy would interrupt her, and then Vi's voice would get louder. As if she were annoyed at the interruption, and would prefer it if he'd just shut up and listen. Severn finally turned to look at Sarah, and at the sight of her stretched out on the bed, her head resting on a pillow, her arms at her side, her eyes open, a heaviness came over him. He wished she were here to help him through all this. Had they both slept through last night? They might not, at this point in the morning, even know that anything was wrong beyond the power being out. And Vi would probably be dead. She would have been awake instead of unconscious for the second lurching. And if that lunatic had knocked her unconscious, she'd be dead. So how did anyone ever know what was a stroke of luck and what was misfortune? Who could possibly have known that a madman bolting out of the trees and rendering them both unconscious was a great stroke of luck? That is, if it was luck. If still being alive was luck or misfortune. About that Severn had no idea. Though being dead certainly seemed a lot easier. He leaned over Sarah and closed her eyes. He didn't feel any special tenderness toward her body. She was gone. She was not the body lying in the bed beside him. About that he felt clear. He couldn't name it, and it would be impossible to say what it was that was missing, but that body, the body lying there unmoving, it was an empty thing. A husk. And Sarah, whatever it was that made Sarah Sarah, was gone. Outside, from somewhere on his neighbor's land, a donkey braid. A long, drawn out, terrible screeching. A throaty, somewhere between scream and whelp of pain. Tommy and Vi appeared in the bedroom doorway. Vi saw Sarah and then walked away, back to the kitchen. Tommy said, sorry, as if apologizing for interrupting. We just saw two guys come down the hill on bicycles. They were flying, dude. I looked out the window, and they like, boom, they were there, and then they were out of sight. Severn said, Going to town, I'm sure. People will be trying to figure out what to do about now, and going to town makes sense, seeing who else is there. So we should do that, Tommy said. Go to town? Severn touched his own face, where the swelling was hot and painful. Yes, he said, we should. And then he said, Help me with my wife's body. I want to carry it out to the yard. That was episode three of The Strangers. New episodes will be available twice a week on Mondays and Fridays until the novel is completed. If you want to read ahead, an inexpensive digital edition of The Strangers is available from Amazon, Barnes Noble, and other online bookstores. This podcast is an experiment in alternatives to traditional publishing. If you'd like to support it, and more like it in the future, please consider becoming a subscriber or supporter. If enough listeners choose to do so, that will go a long way to help ensuring the podcast's success and continuation. In any event, this is Ed Falco, I wrote The Strangers, and I hope you'll come back for the next episode.