not lennie

at first i thought he was like lennie from of mice and men- huge and harmless. the smile on his face seemed genuine and his strange mannerisms and inappropriate timing seemed childlike not ominous. as we unloaded our possessions from the moving truck, he stood like a grinning tower in a corny, contemporary hawaiian shirt amid the running children, wagging dogs and piles of boxes. he wasn't exactly in the way- but we had to pass through the shadow he cast on the stone path to the house every time we carried in a box. i was the second eldest of the children and i (with my entire 15 years of worldly experience...) had assessed him as mildly annoying but not a danger. it was only by chance that i saw him walking away with three of the little ones before he disappeared around the corner. i ran down the street and snatched the hands of the children away from him. 'now you stay away.' i said to him angrily. he seemed hurt and tried to explain that he only wanted to play. 'stay away.' i said again. he seemed about to cry but did not try to follow.

soon enough the truck was unloaded, the little ones fed, bathed and tucked in bed and my sister and i were cleaning the last of the dinner dishes while we talked about when our parents would arrive with the last truck. the windows did not yet have curtains and the darkness outside combined with the light from the overhead kitchen fixture turned them into inky mirrors. 'lennie' opened the door and stood before us. my sister and i froze. 'the door was locked' i said to my sister. 'oh,' answered 'lennie' happily, 'i can get in here any time i want with this!' and he held up a sightly warped bank card. this time the police escorted him out.

before turning in for the night, my sister and i checked all the locks on the windows and barricaded the doors as best we could. we felt certain we would at least be able to hear any attempts at entry. i soon fell into an exhausted sleep in my parents bed beside my sister. i was pulled awake by an unfamiliar voice saying over and over, i'm standing here, i'm standing here...'. i wrestled myself awake to see the giant figure of 'lennie' looming next to me. his smile was not harmless.