NOWHERE MAN chapter one

NOWHERE MAN chapter nine THE DISCOVERY

                                                          NOWHERE MAN  

                                                          THE DISCOVERY 

The street was disturbingly empty as John and Mavis walked toward Peace Masterson's small cottage. There seemed to be no one around at all-- even though this was normally a fairly busy time of day in Harmony. There was no one to be seen anywhere other than the schoolyard, where the village's two teachers stood talking together, as the children played.

"I wonder where everybody is," John said, raising a hand in greeting to the teachers. They gave him a perfunctory wave, before going back to their apparently engrossing conversation.

"That's strange," Mavis remarked. "They usually come over to talk a bit when I pass the school during their break time."

"Yer right, they do. Look how they're watchin' us, too, like they're hopin' we don't notice the attention. Somethin' about the whole atmosphere in this town is givin' me a nervous feelin' this mornin'."

While she would ordinarily have laughed away his paranoia, Mavis said nothing, which made John more nervous still.

As they passed the sturdy brick building which served as the council house, they were surprised to see half a dozen wagons squeezed into the empty lot next to it.

"This must be where everyone is," Mavis said. "Did you hear anything about a meeting this morning?"

"Not a word," John replied. "Maybe we oughta go in, see what it's all about...although somethin' tells me I don't really want to know."

As soon as they entered the building, which was indeed filled with everyone in the village except for the children, it became clear that the meeting did have something to do with them. 

One of the village elders, Jerry Carmody, was at the front of the room, and as soon as he saw them come in, he stopped speaking. In the moment of silence that followed, every head turned in their direction, and no one spoke a word.

In an effort to break the suddenly palpable tension, John spoke up.

"What's goin' on?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light, although it betrayed him by shaking slightly. "Talkin' about us, were ye?"

Jerry ran a hand nervously through his waist length, blond hair and offered a nervous cough before speaking. 

 "As a matter of fact, we were," he said at last. "We were just trying to figure out how to tell you about something we've all just recently learned."

Even though this man had been a regular visitor to the pub and usually joked easily with John, he was now plainly ill at ease, looking for all the world like a bearded child, caught with his hand deep in his mother's cookie jar. His gentle blue eyes searched John's face, and he added, softly, "Of course it is you. How could I not have seen it?"

Another of the village elders stood up and approached John and Mavis. 

By now, both of them felt as though nothing would be nicer than if they had been able to sink into the floor and disappear, but this man's eyes were also kind, and when he saw how uncomfortable they both were, he smiled gently at them.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "We're all your friends here, just as we always were, although we do wish you'd trusted us enough to be more honest with us from the beginning. Come on up front and sit down. We were actually just getting ready to send someone to get you."