2-The Man Across the Street

                                    

                                          
Still, something about the man across the street didn't feel right, and Mikey had a good nose for people. 
'Honey, look, he's really getting into it with his car!' Mikey's dad exclaimed, a cup of morning coffee halfway to his mouth. Mikey turned to look, too. It was the strange men, except now Mikey could see better. 'Jerry's really something. Let me go see if he wants some help.'
Mikey's dad took a big gulp of coffee before leaving. 
'Jerry?' Mikey looked at his mom. Marie just sat there with her head bent over her phone, fingers typing at lightning speed. 
His mom was packing her brown hair into a very messy bun. 'Yeah, he moved into the old house across the road yesterday.'
'I know.'
'Really? You weren't up when we got back.'
'He and Harry just sat in front of the house like weirdos, watching the movers yesterday,' Marie chipped in even though nobody asked her to.
Their mom looked at Mikey. 'Oh? Find anything interesting?'
Mikey turned back to his food. Trying not to look out the window. 'Nothing, he changed out some of the furniture.'
'That's a given, it's a really old house. Do you want more eggs?'
'I do,' Marie answered, but Mikey shook his head. 
'They did carry in two coffins.'
Both Marie and his mom looked at him. Mikey stared back and shrugged, forking his scrambled eggs. 'They were very big boxes that kind of looked like coffins.'
Marie rolled her eyes and returned to her phone. Their mom smiled to herself and poured more eggs from the pan to Marie's plate. 'You had me for a second there. I'm sure you're just exaggerating, not all big boxes are coffins.'
'I know that mom.' Mikey stuffed a forkful of eggs into his mouth. 'How'd you guys know his name?' He asked again, after a short silence where his mother cleared his dad's plates and shook her head at what she saw outside the window. 
Mikey still hadn't looked out. It was an itch he didn't want to scratch. 
'Oh, we got home pretty late, and he was just outside. Something was going on with his car and he'd just gotten here so I think he was pretty distraught. Your dad took a quick look and told him exactly what was wrong and what to do. You know how your dad goes crazy over these types of things.'
Both kids nodded, their dad did co crazy over machines. Over the chance to fix anything really. He worked in an office, but their garage was packed full of mechanical parts and tools. 
They had five separate toolboxes in the small shed outside. 
'Didn't you guys get home by like past eleven?' Marie asked just as her phone rang out. 'Hey Jenny!' she picked it at once and jumped out of her seat, taking her plate with her. 
Mikey watched his mom shake her head as Jenny. 'Don't leave your plate upstairs Marie!' she said even though Marie's voice was already at the top of the stairs. 'What?' she looked back and saw Mikey staring.
'He was outside when you guys got back?'
'Yeah,' she went over and picked at the edge of his mouth. 'He's just driven in straight from the train station in Jay County. You know how far that place is. I told him he should have just stayed at a motel, it's not safe to travel long distances at night.'
She went back to cutting vegetables. Their mom liked to pre-cut things so it wouldn't be as difficult to cook for the week. Sometimes she did use her pre-cut veggies, if she needed the very fresh taste and crispiness in the food. A good plan that saved her time on workdays. 
Mikey just stared at his plate and finally gave in to looking out the window. 
Jerry huh? 
His dad was bent over the front of the car, taking a very close look at whatever was wrong there. Jerry, the tall man with very pale hair, stood holding (the front boot of the car) up, watching Mikey's dad. 
Yesterday, maybe it was just something he'd imagined, but Mikey could have sworn that when he'd answered Marie, the tall man had whirred his head around, at him. As if he'd heard Mikey speak even though he had been across the street, in a house with the windows closed. 
His dad said something and they both laughed. 
Maybe he had imagined it. Jerry was tall and lanky, especially in his wife-beater undershirt that showed off his slim arms. Compared to Mikey's dad, he looked very harmless, and that made Mikey calm a bit.
Even if Jerry was weird, no way would he be able to do anything with Mikey's dad right across the street. 
Yeah. Maybe there was nothing to worry about and Mikey was blowing things out of proportion. 
His phone buzzed in his pocket, the group chat for his friends, they were going to meet up at the park with their bikes to figure out what to do for the day. 
'Got to go, mom.' Mikey was already halfway out of the kitchen.
'Better clear that plate, Mister,' His mom called without looking away from what she was chopping. Mikey groaned dramatically and went back.