Monday, June 14, 2010

Magpie Tale # 18

                        Willow,at http://magpietales.blogspot.com/ hosts a weekly writing prompt.
                                            From the below photo, write a vignette or poem


Sharpened pencils stashed in a souvenier cup of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth was as far as she had gotten.
"Write about a childhood fear,"easy assignment, she thought at first. But that night after class her mind kept rolodexing the multitude of choices. So she began sharpening pencil after pencil, picking one up and touching it to paper, but nothing would release itself: not the time she got lost in the woods, not the time her mother lost her at Sears, not even the time the paper man scared her with his toothless grin. No, nothing wanted out. Maybe she could make one up. So she began writing about an imaginery time when their neighbor killed a baby bird right in front of her with a knife....oh,was this true, it felt so real to her. Try again.
 And as she began writing a tale about seeing a bank robber at the local gas station, she began to shudder. Gas station...blue shirt...name on the pocket.....She put down her pencil as her breathing became deep and fast....Mr. Ferguson...her deepest childhood fear. NO! she said out loud ...GO AWAY!...I will not write of you. But everytime she sat down to write she saw his wicked smile and felt his hot breath on her neck.
And she began:
Every childhood has one, doesn't it?....say it does. A person that still haunts the occasional adult dream. I had one. His name was Mr. Ferguson. He was a short lean man with stubble on his face. His pants bunched up in the back and he looped his long, worn, tan belt in front, until it hung like a snake, flapping in front of his zipper. The pants were gas station attendant blue and they matched the shirt which bore his name in embroidered script just above his left pocket-GEORGE. In his right shirt pocket were camel cigarettes and a lighter that he flicked...open/closed..open/closed...while watching us play on the sidewalk. His front pant pocket held a knife; I know,because he used to pull it out and say he was going to cut our ears off.
Mr. Ferguson would sit on his porch in an old rusty red chair tipped backwards, his left shoe perched up on the porch railing,smoking a Camel,listening to a little white transistor radio,cruddy with his hand prints from years of dirt,sweat and oil. When the Cub game was on he would yell at us. Our gangway went right past his porch and he became angry if we made too much noise.
Once in a while he would sneak up behind me and whisper into my ear,"I like you," his breath was hot and smelled of beer, and his hair, combed over the top of his head in thin, greasy, gray clumps.
I ran into the house and told grandpa about Mr. Ferguson talking to me. All I remember him saying was,"Stay away from Mr. Ferguson."
In the city the houses were close together, only a narrow gangway between them. That meant that the windows of the houses were very close,too. Mr. Ferguson used to stand at his back bedroom window and watch me walk down the back stairs, and when no one else was around, he would hold up his shiny knife, flick it open and gesture-slitting a throat.
Last night in my occasional adult dream, Mr. Ferguson smiled as he gestured with the knife and pointed at me.
Childhood fear, I have one, and it never leaves, not even after writing about it.


25 comments:

  1. Eep! I have a Ferguson in my past too - except that he was just trying to be mean to be funny. This guy is really SCARY!

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  2. Yes, every childhood has one. Mr. Ferguson is really alive here Suz - and that's a good (and creepy) thing.

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  3. Goosebumpy, at the very least. I held my breath from start to finish. Great piece.

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  4. D'you know - I actually felt a palpitation while reading about old Ferguson.....lol!

    Fabulous story. Deep and creepy!

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  5. oh that was creepy good...yes there are those memoires that never leave..and come back to visit too often...great magpie!

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  6. So much to feel a chill about..very accomplished, I never become jaded about fear...

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  7. spooky familiar..in my childhood it was a chainsaw still can't stand to hear that sound today! Great writing!

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  8. eeek the creepy neighbor guy....scary and good Magpie

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  9. Loved the grandpa's advice and how typical it was to not listen to children. Description of him was so graphic I can see him now! Poor you!

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  10. what a creepy guy, i would never forget him either.....your description of him....makes my skin crawl....well done..bkm

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  11. Horrible man your descriptions were so good I could almost smell his breath!!
    Christine

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  12. Suz,
    It's always interesting what gets on the paper when we give the pencil free reign.
    well siad lady!
    rel

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  13. wow suz, i'm hoping that this was only a tale but knowing it's very possible that mr. ferguson was a very real memory!
    your magpie was fascinating and chilling, making me hold on till it was finished! you've shown an awesome talent with this one, my dear!

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  14. You are a very interesting person. I love reading your blogs. Dreams don'r stick with me. Ever since Joe had heart failure AND surgery he was wicked dreams. The doctors say that is normal, for people that has had open heart surgery. As he explained it it is like the electrical impacts were disturbed. He has had soime goodies.

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  15. Another good one. Have you ever had anything published?

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  16. Powerful writing ... and yes, I believe we all have similar stories like yours. I know I do.

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  17. Very good, he reminds of the creepy neighbor in The Lovely Bones.
    Your writing is always top notch, I can hardly wait for the next one.

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  18. Your writing gives me the chills!

    Hope everything is going well Suz!

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  19. Great Suz! I just so love sharpened pencils. But then your story...I hope you don't have a Mr. Ferguson haunting your dreams. Then again, I don't believe you'd give him the chance. Hugs

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  20. Adam tells me I need to hone my use of character details, a skill that YOU obviously possess in spades! What an amazing piece...

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  21. http://itistimetothinkformyself.blogspot.com/2010/06/jingles-june-follower-award-week-2.html


    thank you for the blogging friendship!

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