Retired Mare

          “Hi! Hi! What’s your name?” Mare bubbled out at the top of her lungs as she bounded off of her porch. She hadn’t noticed any neighbor kids since she’d moved in a few weeks earlier, so when she spotted the boy in her backyard, twirling on the tire swing, she wasted no time flying out the back door. Mare was hoping to meet some girls in her neighborhood, but after weeks of no one to play with; her parents working, unpacking, and being cranky, she was happy to meet any kids at all.

            Mare laid heavy eyes on the boy; soaking up his entire image. She figured he was around her own age, and no older than 11. Her cousin Jason was 11, and he was at least a head taller than this boy, so Mare reasoned her new acquaintance couldn’t be 11. This boy was thinner than her cousin, and she thought he looked a little sad. His clothes were sort of weird, too. Black dress slacks that may have been around the block, and a grey button-up shirt with odd straps that kept his pants up. She couldn’t remember what those things were called. Penders? Dependers? Pant straps! She settled on pant straps. That made the most sense to her. Mare wondered why he had to wear those fancy clothes, and whether he was gonna get in trouble for his pants being dirty.

          “My name’s Mare. I’m 9 and we just moved in. What’s your name? You like my tire swing? It’s too heavy for me to spin it, but you can. Yeah, keep twirling, I don’t mind.” Mare kicked at the roots of the tire swing’s home; a humungous oak tree that her mom said would drop a “shit-ton” of nuts in the fall. Too bad it wasn’t fall, Mare thought with a giggle.

          “I guess you don’t have a name?” Mare looked at the boy, who had come to a stop. He returned her glance and shook his head side to side, as if to say no. His eyes were dark, and Mare noticed how they looked like her black marbles from that Chinese checkers game her ole Aunt Jeanie had given her for Christmas. Chinese checkers my butt, Mare chuckled to herself, checkers don’t use marbles.

          “You don’t have a name? How can you NOT have a name? I thought everyone had names. Even my bitty ole Aunt Jeanie has a name, and nobody likes that lady, let me tell ya!” Mare chuckled out loud at herself and kicked the roots again. “You live ‘round here?” She inquired a little further. The boy shook his head yes, shuffled his wiry frame over on the tire and patted his hand down, inviting Mare to have a seat. Mare’s eyes widened and smiled to save the world.

          “Okay! I’ll swing with you!” Mare flung her legs over the tire and wriggled in next to her new friend. “Twirl, friend, twirl!”

          Mare gripped the rusty chains of the swing as they picked up speed, twirling round and round like water down the bathtub drain. She didn’t think that old tire swing could even go THAT fast, but there she was, spinning like crazy with her hair flapping, and feeling like she was about to barf. She clenched her eyes shut, to stave off the need to puke, and darkness sucked her in.

          Snippets of faces flashed through her mind like a movie. Big, angry eyes, even bigger hands grabbing at her arms, and a white-haired lady screaming, all empty-like. Mare suddenly felt all of the air get sucked from her lungs and she started to gasp. “Stop!” she tried to holler out, but felt her voice give way. Nothing. She struggled for grip on the chains and tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t. It was as though her eyes had been glued shut. She panicked, let go, felt her body go limp, then a stinging thud.

          The next few days were a bit of a blur for Mare. She remembered spinning with the neighbor boy, but her momma said she didn’t see that kid. Her momma also said that Mare had given her quite a scare when she’d found Mare unconscious, under the tire swing. Mare didn’t remember going to the hospital, and she thought it was all just a bad dream, like the ones she’d been having for days. Her momma said the bad dreams were part of her “conk-cushion” whatever that was.

          She couldn’t get the vision of big angry eyes out of her head, or that white haired lady, and every time she envisioned them, Mare felt angry. Like, so angry she wanted to throw things, anything. Her momma told her the dreams and angry feelings would go away once her conk-cushion healed. Stupid conk-cushions, Mare thought to herself.

          One week after her fall, Mare finally felt like her usual, playful self. It was a wonderful, sunny day out, so Mare decided to keep a watch out for her new friend. She really wanted to know his name, and show him to her parents so they wouldn’t think she made him up.

          “Mom, can I eat lunch on the back porch?” Mare shimmied up to her mother’s side in the kitchen. “Please, momma? It’s so nice out!”

          Her momma wiped her hands on a towel, scooped up a plate and looked down at her daughter. “I think that sounds like a great idea, Mare. You could use some sunshine, couldn’t ya? I hope PB&J, potato chips, and yogurt is acceptable today.”

          “Strawberry jelly?” Mare’s mouth started to water at the thought of strawberry jelly, and her tummy growled at her. Strawberry jelly was her all-time favorite.

“You bet, sugar-pie.” Her momma smiled and headed out the back door, with Mare in tow. “Would you like me to sit out here with you? I have one more load of laundry to fold, and then I can join you. Maybe we could go for a walk in a little bit?”

          “Sounds great, ma. Maybe we can find my friend’s house!” Mare stomped her feet excitedly and clasped her hands together. “Yeah! Let’s go find his house!”

          Her mother sat Mare’s lunch on a small weathered table, next to an equally small weathered chair that accompanied the house when they had moved in. “This table and chair is just your size, Mare! I guess I’d never noticed that before. Hmm. Well that’s just about perfect for porch lunches, isn’t it? Okay, I’m gonna run in and finish up the laundry real quick, and I’ll be right out. What would you like to drink, dear? Water? Lemonade?”

          “Oh! Lemonade, please!” Mare smiled up at her mother as she swung the back door open. Once her mom was out of view Mare turned her attention to her quaint lunch location. She timidly shifted her frame into the small wooden chair and it dawned on her that she had never sat in it before. How long had they lived in this new house? She wondered, and began her attempt to count back the days on her fingers that lay in her lap. “There are seven days in a week, and four weeks in a month” she whispered to herself as she crunched her young brain with numbers.

          Suddenly, a creaking sound caught her attention and she looked up to see that neighbor boy sitting on her tire swing, under that “shit-ton of nuts” of tree. Mare was shocked and delighted simultaneously. Where had he come from? He wasn’t there a second ago, she thought to herself.

​          “Hey!” she shouted without even thinking about it. Mare instantly jumped up and bounded off the porch towards her new friend. “Where’ve you been? I was hopin’ you’d come back, I want you to meet my mom!” Mare’s excitement reflected in her voice as she climbed onto the tire swing next to the boy, completely forgetting about the growl in her tummy.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
          Mare’s parents had sought out a small town to live in when her father was transferred for work. They thought it would be better for Mare. Small towns at least felt safer than a big city neighborhood. They could get to know everyone in a little town, and not have to worry so much about their daughter playing outside. Had they realized that Everton’s population of children was next to none, they may had opted for the city. All of the research they had done never made it clear that most all of the kids in Mare’s new school district were bussed in from the outlaying ranch communities. They didn’t dawn on that until a week or two after moving in.

          Mare’s father had taken a promotion at the solar factory, 25 miles away in the bustling city of Havery. The job was the opportunity of a lifetime, with a substantial pay raise that allowed Mare’s mom to stay home. This all worked out well since they moved during summer, and it gave the family a chance to get settled before transferring Mare into a new school.

          But they both felt a twinge of sympathy for their only child, since the move meant leaving Mare’s friends over 300 miles away. She would have to start over. They felt even worse when they realized there were no young kids to speak of in their new town.

          One Saturday, about a week after they had moved in, Mare’s mom took a walk around town and introduced herself to every person she came across. She had met the post master, the town clerk, every neighbor in a four-block radius, and the info hub of town; Pat Waylen, the Everton Corner Mart owner. She quickly realized that Pat knew everyone and anything in the little town, and had tucked that notation into her hat, just in case.

          When Mare took that spill off the tire swing and began talking about the new friend she’d met, her mom made a trip to the Corner Mart. As she checked out with some milk and eggs, she quizzed Pat about possible neighbor boys. Pat told her he couldn’t think of any young boys living near their new house, but he’d keep his eyes and ears open.  How strange, her mother thought. Mare’s mom and dad resided in the notion that her concussion gave her some strange dreams, and Mare was having difficulty realizing the boy wasn’t real. She’d grow past it soon enough, if they just let it go.

          “I’m telling you, Rick, she wants to go find his house. It’s been a week, I was hoping she’d be past this already. She still thinks he’s gonna come back.” Mare’s mom propped the receiver of the phone with a shoulder while she haphazardly folded some jeans. “Well, I’ll take her for a walk in a bit, and who knows, maybe we get lucky and actually find this boy. Oh, God, Rick, what if this boy IS real? What if he pushed her off the swing? Okay, okay, I’ll try to calm down, but I’m a little concerned, Rick. Okay hon, see you when you get home. Yep. I love you, too.” She laid the phone down on the counter and glanced out the window. “Oh shit!” she screamed and ran out the back door.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
 
          “Hey, why you wearing the same clothes?” Mare looked her friend up and down. “Don’t you have other clothes?” She was blunt and to the point as she sat on the swing, jutting her chin out to get a closer look at his face. His eyes were mesmerizing, and Mare couldn’t stop staring into them. She waited for an answer, but he just kept looking at her.

          “Aren’t you gonna say sompthin?” She quizzed harder. “What’s your name? My mom thinks you’re a figment of my imagination. When I fell the other day, I got a conk-cushion on my head…shook up my brains a little.” Mare studied the boy.

“Spin.” He whispered, barely audible, and Mare opened her eyes real big.

          “You CAN talk!” she blurted out. “If we spin, will you tell me your name?” Mare took hold of the chains real tight; she didn’t want to fall off again and get another conk-cushion that gave her nightmares.

            “Spin.” The boy whispered again, and without even pushing, the swing began to rotate. Mare kept her eyes locked on his, and as the swing picked up speed, she noticed his eyes began to change. At first, they were the size of black marbles, but then they grew a little, and a little more, and a little more, until all of a sudden, all Mare could see was black all around her. She felt the spinning all out-of-control like, and clenched her grip on the chains. Flashes of that white-haired lady came. Flash after flash after flash until the flashes all ran together like a projector. The lady was swinging her arms at Mare and yelling. “You’re a worthless boy! You’re a worthless boy!”

            Mare tried to scream, but nothing came out. Stop! She screamed silently. Stop! I want to get off! Still nothing. She jammed her eyes shut, but it didn’t stop the visions. The white-haired lady came at her with fists a-flailing and punched the side of Mare’s head. She felt the thud, the sting, and then everything went dark.
When Mare came to, she was still sitting on the tire swing, The sunlight hurt her eyes a bit as she opened them, and she heard her momma hollering all loud. “Mare! Mare! Oh my God, are you okay?”

          “Yeah mom, I’m, I’m fine.” Mare stuttered back as she looked up to see her mom running toward her. But, her mom didn’t run to her. She ran to some other kid on the ground, and Mare stretched her legs over the tire swing to get a better look. There, on the ground, Mare’s mom scooped up a little girl that was wearing Mare’s clothes. “Who is that?” Mare asked. “Mom? Who is that?” she asked again, but was ignored. It was like her mom couldn’t even hear her.

          Mare looked around, confused. Then she looked down at her legs, and at her arms, and her own chest. She was wearing strange clothes, clothes that didn’t belong to her. “Oh my God! I’m wearing pant straps!” she screamed and glanced up at her mother who was carrying a limp girl that looked an awful lot like herself. “MOMMA!” she screamed again, terrified of what was happening. The limp girl in her mother’s arms lifted her head to look back at Mare, and her eyes were as black as marbles.