Jimmy's nighttime visitor.....

 

It's October.....a time of year that is majical indeed...when shadows become

longer and the daylight slips by into darkness quickly. 

Take note here..anything can happen during this time of year....and young 

James discovered such shortly after retiring for the night. 

Jimmy’s Nighttime Visitor

Jimmy’s family farm was just outside of Harrisburg, and Fall was his most favorite time of year. The crisp air, the bright blue skies, and the changing leaves on the sugar maples made October magical. The house and two accompanying barns sat in the middle of about one hundred acres that was the small family farm. His dad now worked away daily and dabbled in some livestock, keeping his hand in the business but not depending on it as a living anymore. 

Surrounding the well-weathered barns was about fifty acres of corn that his dad had planted and would later harvest to help feed the young cattle through the winter. Adjacent to that, Jimmy and his mom had a beautifully-tended garden which kept them canning and freezing the abundant harvest at each summer’s end. Smack dab in the middle of the garden was the scarecrow he helped his father put  together so many months ago. Hoisted up and attached to a cross eight feet high, the figure truly was a masterpiece. 

His dad had stuffed an old work shirt and pair of jeans with golden straw, covered the figure with an old choir robe that his mom had brought home from church. On the scarecrow’s head sat an old black work hat. The scarecrow was most scary at sunset, with the sun actually setting behind the figure which stood so bravely looking over the garden and repelling any bird that would come within its shadow.

It was late afternoon and Jimmy was in the garden, picking beans and squash, smiling as he made his way on hands and knees, not wanting to miss a vegetable which was ready for his willing hands. As Jimmy worked his way down the last row for the day, he found himself in the long shadow of the scarecrow. He stopped, looked up and examined the figure that towered over him. Something, he thought, had changed. He hadn’t remembered the left arm being bent and pointing downward. He was sure his father had secured both arms straight out. Jimmy studied the figure. Its darkness had the ability to give you slight chills if you looked at it too long. A light breeze came in as Jimmy studied the figure, moving the straw fingers of the scarecrow, almost making it look lifelike. He could see why birds and other creatures would feel the need to stay away, as it was quite intimidating for sure. 

That evening just before bed, Jimmy looked out of his upstairs window that overlooked the garden and  sentinel scarecrow. It was almost dark now, and the shadows around the buildings and garden were growing in their length as the night air began to cool.

Jimmy’s eyes focused on the scarecrow, and to his amazement, the left arm was no longer bent and pointing down, but rather was back in its straight out position, matching the one on the right. Funny, thought Jimmy, maybe his dad had seen it late that day and felt a need to re-figure before the upcoming rain could do more damage.

Jimmy read a couple of comic books and turned the light out. Bedtime always came too early. He hadn’t been asleep very long when he became overwhelmed by a dream he couldn’t wake up from. He dreamt the scarecrow was at his window, climbing the flower trellis along the outside of the house which reached almost to his room. He woke in a panic, kicking his covers off, jumping out of his bed and turning on the night light. He noticed the window curtains moving in the slight breeze, a bit of light rain hitting the upper pane. 

His mother had heard him moving about in his room and came to him. She knocked twice before she entered the room.

“Jimmy, are you alright?”

“A bad dream mom, real bad. The garden scarecrow was up the trellis, outside my window.”

His mom made her way to his bed, tucked him in, and said, “You’ve got to stop reading those comics before bedtime young man. They get you all worked up, it was just a dream kiddo. But many times they can seem so real. Go back to sleep.”

She turned off the light, walked over to the room and pulled the window shut. How many times had she told him not to sleep with it open, especially if it was threatening rain?  As she turned from the window to leave the room, her bare foot stepped on something that felt foreign on the worn carpet. She reached down and picked up what felt like wet grass. There were several pieces in a clump, and she  continued out of the room to the light of the hallway. 

Opening her hand she discovered eight or ten pieces of bright yellow straw, which were dripping with an abundance of rain water.  She disposed of the straw in the waste basket and headed back to her room, thinking as she went that she should have gone to his room earlier to secure the window.

Her mind recalled the words she had spoken just minutes before: “Many times they can seem so real.” Did Jimmy have a near-visitor that night? Perhaps. It’s a definite reminder to always check your window before retiring . . . just in case.