Jack had his head laid across Isaacs legs and his eyes open, much as they had been most of the night. He stared at the shadows on the wall from tree limbs dancing in the wind. Then his ears perked up and he let out a quiet whimper.
Isaac sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong boy?” He asked as he patted him on the head.
Jack looked up at him, then looked out the window and growled.
Isaac patted Jack on the head again, then scooted across the bed to the window.
“What’s the matter is something out there?” He whispered as he peeked out the window
Jack peeked under Isaacs’s right arm so he could see. His upper lip lifted up showing his teeth as he growled again.
Isaac didn’t see anything on the road or in his yard. Spotlights from the coalmine illuminated the graveyard across the road from the church. The headlights from one of the mine trucks raced across the graveyard and lit up the many gravestones before it raced across the top of the church. Isaac jumped back away from the window when the light lit up a dark figure sitting on top of the church. He didn’t want to look again, but he felt he had to. He worked himself up with enough nerve to peek out the window again. He got up close, but only enough to see without being seen. There was nothing there. Even without the trucks light, he expected to be able to see an outline if there was anything on the roof. His arms were shaking as he scanned the area with his eyes. He was sure he had seen something; but where did it go? He laid back on the bed, pulled the blanket up over his head and hid under the blanket with Jack. He was too afraid to move, or call for his dad. “Jack..., what… was that?” He whispered.
---------------------------
“Isaac you’re going to miss the bus, now let’s get going.”
Isaac woke up when he heard his mom hollering for him from the bottom of the steps.
“I’m up,” he hollered as he threw off the blanket and sat up on the side of the bed. He picked up a pair of jeans from off the floor and slid them on, then an old t-shirt and his socks and shoes then went to the kitchen.
His mom was standing at the sink rinsing off dishes.
“Mom,... last night me and Jack seen something on top of the church,” he said as he poured a bowl of cereal.
“You did, did you, and what would that be?” She said as she continued with the dishes.
“I don’t know? I only saw it when the lights from one of the mine trucks swept past. It was too quick for a good look."
“Well maybe if you had been asleep like you were suppose to be, you wouldn’t had been imagining things.”
Isaac tipped his bowl up to his mouth and drank the left over milk. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Honey, it’s not that I don’t believe you, but you do have quite the imagination at times, it difficult to tell the difference sometimes.”
“What ever. The bus is here, where’s Christi?”
“She’s not feeling well; I told her she could stay home.”
As he walked away, he said. “How come you always believe everything she says, but not me?”
Before she had a chance to answer, she heard the front door slam shut.