The Clown (NETFLIX SHORT STORY CONTEST)

2)Drive by

"Hungry like the wolf" by Snow Hill
***


Young Kimberly had never before told a lie. She had a twisted honest streak even when the little girl did something naughty such as spill kool-aid on the new white shag carpet. The girl simply did not know how to lie in all of her young life. Right as she said she did not tell the clown her name, Alan knew his sister was being honest. The boy told his mother about the creepy clown who knew his sister's name, but Mrs. O'Hare did not hear him. It was not parental neglect as much as it was that her own mother had a stroke a couple of weeks previously. Shirley O'Hare was now often on the telephone conversing with family on who would be taking Grandma Laura in when she finally came home from the hospital. When Alan told his mother about the clown, Shirley was half listening to her son and half attempting to tell her own brother on the phone that with four children at home she could not be expected to also take in their ill mother.

"That's why when you have to walk home alone, always do it in pairs," said Shirley to Alan, rolling her eyes at something her brother said on the phone. "No, no, not you, Rich, I'm talking to Alan. Yes, yes, I know that. I just don't have the resources like you or Angie have..."

Alan decided the news obviously wasn't much importance. After all, nothing truly terrible happened. Kimmy was fine, no harm done. It was a weird experience, but overall it wasn't as though the clown was trying to be scary. He probably wasn't aware that he even came across as frightening to them.
Shirley soon came to the kitchen to check on her pot roast while Alan finished his homework for the night. It was when the boy was walking to his bedroom later on did he notice something strange about Kimmy's own room that was right across from his. While the blinds of her window were shut tight, there were also two large poster boards of cartoon movies propped against her window, preventing being able to see half of the window given it was covered with objects. Meanwhile, Kimberly was taking her old dollhouse to move against the window as well. She was having trouble fitting it.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't want the clown coming in," she explained without looking at him.
 "What are you talking about??"
Kimmy looked nervous. "I didn't know why the clown was familiar. Then I remembered him."
"What do you mean, you remembered him?"
"I've seen him without makeup," said Kimmy. "He drives past our house all the time and waves."
"Probably because he lives close by," said Alan. Though his sister's words made his skin crawl.

"I don't think he does," Kimmy replied, shaking her light-brown head.
Alan didn't know what to think of the man from earlier. Instead, the boy asked a question that was bugging him. "If you're afraid enough to block your windows, how often does the man drive past our house?"

"Every time he knows I'm home."
***

The O'Hare's only had one car due to financial troubles. By the time Shirley had to leave to pick up her husband from work across town, dinner was over. It was seven at night. A plate was left wrapped in the fridge for Stephen to eat. All of the O'Hare children were finished eating and done cleaning after supper. John was left in charge of the three younger children. The youngest child of the family, two-year-old Beth, fell asleep of the couch watching her favorite cartoons. Kimmy was playing with her dolls on the floor nearby.
Alan took the time explaining the odd clown sighting with John, but he didn't seem to hold much interest in the subject.
"He's a probably a doctor who lives nearby," muttered John as he scribbled answers down on his own homework. "You know how weird doctors can be when they think they know everything."
"And why does he dress like a clown?"
John shrugged. "Everyone likes clowns, Al. You're just weird for not."
"No," said Alan, shaking his head. "It's not that. I don't care that he dresses like a clown." This was another lie, but it wasn't the issue at large. "There's something that was weird about that guy," the boy explained. "He knew Kimberly's name. And Kimmy says the guy drives by the house pretty often."
"Yeah, num-knuts. That's why I said he probably lives nearby. He's probably a neighbor."
"But what about Kimmy saying he only drives past when he knows she'll be home??"
"And what time is that?" John inquired. "Late afternoon or night when adults are getting off work or picking up their own kids? He's a neighbor, duh."

It wasn't until John retreated for a bathroom break did Alan start to wonder if maybe his elder brother was right. Given her bedroom was upstairs and looking out the front of the house, Kimmy would be able to see when someone was driving past. But the logic that flawed John's theory was simple; the clown-man wasn't simply driving past their house.
The O'Hare's lived on a cul-de-sac. Short of living on the same street with them, there was really no reason the man would always be driving past unless he lived on the block. To Alan's recollection, he had never seen a tall and bulky white man on their street.

There was an elderly black couple next door, and a white family consisting of a husband and wife with two kids. The husband was a short man with a very large beer gut. Another white family was nearby, and also an ancient old man who's nurse lives with him. The only other house on the block had been vacant for a year and was currently for sale.
It was hearing a low engine of a car outside that inspired Alan to go towards the front window. He peeked out while expecting to his see his parents home. Instead, a lone car idled in front of the house. Alan craned his neck to see the driver of the vehicle, but it was far too dark outside. The only two streetlights were in front of neighbors houses. All he could tell was that it was not his parents home.
John came back moments later before flopping down on the couch. "Al, whatcha doing?"

Alan could see that whomever was inside the car, was looking directly at him. It was a mere twelve feet from the living room window to their street. Peter could make out the outline of a man's face watching him, but he could not tell anything else. John shut off the living room light as he came to stand beside his brother. "What are you looking at?"
As soon as the light went off, the mysterious car zoomed backwards down the street. It completed an expert u-turn on the snowy road before driving away.