There's a Monster Pony Outside My Window

by Halira


Chapter 8: Halloween Draws to a Close

"Take it easy, hun. Let me buckle your seatbelt for you," Charles said as his wife carefully sat down in the passenger seat of the station wagon. 

Wendy sat in her seat, arm in a cast, and let him buckle her in. As she leaned back, she winced in pain.

"Sorry," Charles apologized. 

Wendy shook her head. "Can't be helped. Two weeks of this, what are we going to do about the bills?"

"Don't know, but we'll figure it out," Charles replied as he shut the door. He walked around to the other side of the car and paused when he saw Kristin hadn't gotten inside yet. 

"Dad, can I get in the back with Andrea? I want to sleep," Kristin asked with a yawn. 

He glanced at the backseat where Charlotte had already made into a bed upon getting in, and he sighed. "Okay, just no fighting between you two."

"Too tired to fight," Kristin replied as she walked around the back. He followed her and opened up the back end and let her crawl in next to her sister, who had crept over the backseat into the rear before Charlotte had gotten in. With her in place, he went and got in the driver's seat. 

He started the car and pulled out from the hospital. "I hope they find whoever was driving that van. Everyone who was there agrees that driver was deliberately trying to run you and Charlotte down."

"Not likely," Wendy muttered. "The police don't care about our neighborhood, and no one was able to get the van's license plate number. They've likely already tossed the case in a pile and forgotten about it. In the meantime, we're going to be down one of my paychecks."

He glanced at her briefly, but he had to turn his eyes back to the road. "Wendy, someone tried to kill you and our daughter. You shouldn't be worrying about the paycheck."

Wendy shook her head. "It was just some drunk out for a joy ride. What I wish someone had seen was what knocked us into the street to begin with. Then we could call animal control. In terms of my paycheck, that is a genuine concern. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. I don't want to be Christmas shopping at Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or another stupid thrift store for beat-up toys and clothes."

"We've found some good stuff there before. We found Kristin that game system she enjoys. We also got that big Rainbow Bright doll for Charlotte, and Andrea barely even noticed those Star Wars toys last year didn't come in their packaging, and if any of the three noticed, it would be her," Charles said defensively. "We'll do the same thing we've always done. Get most of the stuff used and get one or two nice new toys for each of them. Thanksgiving can be a little lighter this year, and your work always gives you a turkey anyway. It will be okay."

Wendy grimaced. "Joan got on me tonight about us letting the girls play with both girls and boys toys."

Charles scowled in turn. Part of the reason they did that was they didn't want to box their girls in, but the other reason was it made toy shopping easier if the only thing you needed to worry about was age-appropriate and in good condition, rather than girl or boy toy. There weren't enough good condition and age-appropriate girl toys to satisfy each of their daughters when shopping in thrift stores; supplementing that with toys designated for boys helped fill in the gaps. It wasn't hurting them. If anything, it was helping. Andrea's desire to be a police officer had come from those kinds of toys. Charlotte loved those Transformer robots, and wouldn't it be great if that helped spark an interest in robotics? Kristin liked the video games they found her, and she was also the only one in the house who knew how to set the clock on the VCR or get the record function to work right. That seemed like she was getting more comfortable with electronics than the rest of the family, and that was a good thing. 

"Joan can bite me," Charles muttered.

Wendy raised an eyebrow at him. "Picking up some slang from the younger people around the shop? I miss being young."

"We aren't that old, Wend. Some of us don't think our lives are over at thirty," Charles reminded her. "It would be pretty depressing to be considered old in our thirties, considering we'll probably live to be like seventy or something. Being old is in your head. Look at Miss Newman; she is still watching cartoons at her age."

"Speaking of her, do you think she might have seen something?" Wendy asked. "She had to have been watching everything when I got hurt. I saw her front door had been open at that time."

"Hmm, I hadn't noticed. We can ask her tomorrow," Charles answered. 

Charles glanced into the mirror while listening and tried to gauge if their daughters were asleep again. They had fallen asleep in the hospital lobby, and he expected they were already back to sleep. It was unfortunate that he'd need to wake Andrea and Kristin up again when they got back home to get them to bed, but he could probably carry Charlotte to bed. The doctor had looked at her scrapes and bruises and put some bandages on her, saying she needed to keep them clean. Thinking that she could have been run over by that van made him grip the steering wheel tightly in anger. 

"I wanted to talk to you about something yesterday but got distracted," Charles said, satisfied that their daughters were asleep.  "A buddy at work gave me a lead on a different position that pays more."

"That could be good news, but why isn't your buddy taking it?" Wendy asked skeptically. 

He took a deep breath. "It's in Fort Myers...Florida."

"Charles…"

"Wendy, I know you have your heart set on raising our kids in Denver. I get it; this is where their roots are. All three of them were born in the hospital we were just at. We have to face facts, though. Housing in Denver costs too much. We are practically living in a slum and still barely getting by. I'm told housing in Fort Myers is much cheaper, and I would be making much more at the same time."

Wendy was silent for a moment before answering. "I don't know. It seems like it would put us that much closer to your mother in Arkansas. I don't want to be near her."

"I think we're actually a shorter drive from her now than we would be in Florida, so don't worry about that," he replied. "Believe me; I don't want them near her or that town either."

"We could try finding a place locally with my mother and baby sister," Wendy suggested, not for the first time. 

"We've already discussed why that wouldn't work at length," Charles replied. "We have more than just financial reasons to consider this move. It is dangerous here. Look at what happened tonight. Do you want to end up burying one of our girls? We need to think about their safety."

"I still don't know," Wendy said, frustrated. "Maybe we can look at options further out in the suburbs here. Or maybe we can try going to Colorado Springs or Pueblo or some other small town, so we don't have to uproot the girls from Colorado completely. Florida is so far away, and it is in the south."

"The entire south isn't like my old hometown, Wend," Charles said, starting to understand her hesitation. It was unfounded hesitation, but he still had childhood memories of his home that he would never tell his kids, so he could empathize with her feelings. His old home had been stuck in the past and not a very good part of the past, but labeling the whole south that way was unfair. 

Wendy grunted. "Maybe a move isn't a bad idea, but I want to explore all options. We can talk about this more tomorrow after we have both gotten some time to sleep."

Charles nodded, and silence set in as the drive home continued. Sleep was something all five of them needed. It had been a long night, and his nerves were still frayed about what had almost happened. Wendy still denied that she had jumped to safety from the road, but the fact remained that no one had been near her. His best guess was that she hadn't even thought about what she was doing and had acted out of instinct. The combination of the two hard landings, stress, and suddenness of everything had left her confused and reconstructed events incorrectly in her head. Their kids were still insistent that their monster had been the one to knock Wendy and Charlotte into the road. There may not have been any monster, but there was some animal on the loose, which was potentially dangerous. Perhaps some rabid hawk? Could birds of prey go rabid? Whatever it was, he would have to take any further cries at night far more seriously. 

He slowed the car as they neared their street. Even from a distance, he and Wendy could see the smoke in the air and the flashing lights. As he turned onto the street, he realized there was no getting to their driveway from this direction. Firetrucks, police cars, and an ambulance were all blocking the road, and most of the residents were standing in either the street or on the sidewalk watching. The noise and flashing lights were enough to wake his daughters, and they had all sat up to gawk at what was going in.

Miss Newman's house was fully ablaze.

"The old lady's house is on fire!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"We see that, baby," Wendy said tiredly. 

"Why's it on fire?" Charlotte asked with all the expectation that her parents would know everything.

"Just hush for right now," Charles instructed.

They still needed to turn around so they could reach their driveway from the next road over, and that required using someone else's driveway. He pulled over next to Joe and Margie Lewis and rolled down the window. 

"What happened?" Charles asked. 

Joe shook his head and kept his voice low and somber. "Don't know. Have you seen the new neighbor? Police were asking everyone on the street, but no one has. I think they're worried she was still in there. We were actually hoping that she had taken off with you, and no one noticed. Guess not."

Charles looked out at the blaze and felt sick to his stomach. If she had been in there and hadn't come out, then she was dead. He already could guess that the firefighters would find her charred remains once the fires were extinguished. 

Wendy was crying, and the girls were all up and asking questions. They wanted to know if Miss Newman was okay. He didn't have the heart to answer them. Maybe she had been away. There was hope. The long night was going to continue, as none of them would be able to go to sleep anytime soon.