"I see somber cloaked hooded forms moving all about with these brilliant blue lightning flashes, when they illuminate the thick darkness of this large house," his mother softly spoke, but in a low-pitched tone reverberating through the closed oaken door, directly into the ears of Lanker.
"Dark forms? for Christ's sake, Lindza! What kind of garbage are you talking again now?" retorted his father in a tone of disgust. "Sometimes I think I'm hearing it all! "his father was heard to sigh.
"Yes, I can hear the slightest creak in these doors, and in the illumination of these lightning flashes, I have borne witness to the form of a man moving all about, in near absolute silence. The other night I bore witness to the door of our chamber suddenly moving until it was ajar., just enough so that a man larger than average, could ease on through unnoticed. I locked the door to our bed chamber, but obviously the secret to releasing these locks lies not only with us, my love.
"I pretended to be asleep. I heard no footsteps, but I could detect his breathing., this heavy breath born from a discernible level of near uncontrollable stimulation, generated from what surely must have been some debauched, carnal anticipation, as his form stood beside me while assuming I was at unconscious slumber, as were you so dead to the world. When the lightning flashed I could behold him standing there donned in a totally enshrouding hood and mantle, of midnight black. My heart abruptly raced in the grip of absolute terror, as though it were about to leap from inside my chest," the low-pitched monotone of his mother informed.
"Oh my god, Lindza! I cannot believe this talk of yours. Come on now, woman, get a grip on yourself," snapped the reprimanding authoritative voice of his father. "I swear I believe you to be off your damn rocker, and over backwards directly into the turnip patch. I am astonished! This is beyond belief! And just who is it that you are suggesting this figure to be, Lindza? Be out with it immediately, now."
"I honestly am not certain as to who this figure is. His form is not the only one moving about inside this home, seeming to take pleasure passing through our room inside the gloomy darkness of any stormy twelfth striking. Some other robbed forms vaporize upon my notice, then reappear, even though the door remains tightly closed and correctly secured by bolt and lock. I hear voices with the howl of the stormy midnight wind, and the often-mysterious sound of distant rolling thunder."
His mother hesitated, then continued to speak in low tones as the rolling thunder rumbled.
"The voices whisper my name, Hendrick, sounding as if there are dozens who do so simultaneously," informed the carefully muffled voice of his mother. "Are they voices of flesh and blood mortals, lost souls, or demons? I know not, my love. They speak to me. Hendrick. They tell me secrets., often of the repressed, debauched types of dark information no mortal would ever conceive of."
The blue flash of lightning again filled the room as the falling rain hammered. The thunder abruptly crashed, vibrating the very walls of the large house, as the voice of his mother continued speaking.
"Well, what, pray tell, do these voices say to you, for heaven's sake?" inquired his father.
"Some tell me they know I am here, while others are calling my name repetitively, and at different pitches in audio. You have what we want, some others begin to inform me; as the others say they know I am here, while still others only call my name out loud continually.
"I must inform you of something. I hesitate to do so, but nevertheless, I must. One of these somber forms crossed a line with me the other night, Hendrick. This being, whoever it was, crossed a forbidden line, my love...," whispered the nervous muffled voice of his mother, to his father.
"What on earth are you talking about here, Lindza. You are way out in left field now!" the voice of his father sighed. "I have seen nor heard nothing at night, except flashing lightning, rolling thunder, and the comforting hammer of a rain deluge."
" I saw his gloomy shrouded form again last fortnight when the lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and the rain hammered all night long. He was standing right there, by my bedside. I was laying with my back to him, and my face to your back. The sensation of a large warm hand upon my shoulder, caused me to jolt back around reflexively. His form vanished, yet eerily, this nauseatingly warm sensation of a large male hand upon my left shoulder, remained. I never could quite figure it all out."
"I tell you what, Lindza, all of this monkey business must somehow come to an abrupt end. I simply do not know where else it is that we could go. Neither one of us has employment, let us ne'er forget here. Neither do we have access to any reserved funds. Let's give it another week or so, until we can make a sound decision on this most serious matter. I simply do not know where to begin. Where could we go, considering our rather regretful circumstances?" inquired his father, with a hard seriousness in his voice.
"I will walk to the little red phone booth down the street tomorrow," spoke the voice of his mother after a spell of passing time. "I haven't called mother or father in a while now, since we moved. The Solomon family frequently sends me to this hardware store they own, a block or so down the street, for general supplies and such.
"You may not be aware that they have me varnishing the hardwood staircase railing, and the flooring here in this house often all day long, are you? Hendrick, I frequently catch sight of Hayam glaring at me uneasily through narrowed eyes, whilst I am at diligent labor, mopping and scrubbing on this heavily waxed and varnished floor of his. I blame myself for this fact of being, so I intentionally don myself in a long dress, complete with a white cloth body apron, and an old-fashioned tie-on hair bonnet; yet I have the nauseating feeling the sight of me doing so is still somehow provocative to him."
His father sighs a long sigh.
"I simply don't know what to say in regard to all of this information you have given me here tonight, dear. All I know is that we cannot remain any longer in these living quarters. I honestly adore this family, Lindza, and have witnessed absolutely no negative feelings, of any type, emanating from them in any way. Lanker sure gets along well with Tammy. That much is an outstanding positive from my own perspective to our experience here. Such is about all that I can say in regard to any of this matter, at the moment.
"I will hate to pull him away all of a sudden. Two years is a long time for us to remain in another family's home, though, I must admit. It really is getting time for us to do our own thing, I think, especially in the light of all these revelations from you here tonight," agrees the voice of his father.
"Call your parents tomorrow, then let me know what they tell you. The only problem I have with moving into the area is that there is absolutely nothing to do for decent employment, so far down in the backwoods of Hog Waller. Such a name is that place, like, even the name was intended to disgust me, much less the thought of us living there to raise our family.
"There is Bum Lick Town only a few miles out, for example, with one grocery store, two stop lights, and a few riverside shops owned by haughty individuals with their heads up their asses, thriving on their creativity in defrauding their customer base whom they take for being outright fools. These customers are fully aware of themselves being taken advantage of yet patronize these corrupt businesses due to some erratic sense of tradition. Their hypocritical owners have some perceived right to run these self-serving businesses as they damn well please, even if it is all done at the abject expense of the local population, who have absolutely no right whatsoever, to merely make slight mention of it.
"Maybe the impoverished locals have no credit, and are far too poor to pay in cash, yet these business owners work something out with them; while in no doubt, continuing to defraud them even more. I don't know. The whole idea is utterly ridiculous from any angle of perspective, as far as I am concerned. Those imbecilic locals will try their damnedest to convince one the filthy place there is actually some sort of big city and cop an attitude of superiority against any person not from that specific God-forsaken place on planet earth.
"Can you believe it? Imagine that for just a moment. How grossly ignorant can people be? Their general attitude towards their own neighbors transforms what they, in their own deluded bewilderment, perceive as being the heartthrob of the entire world, into the virtual anus of the entire province!
"There are a few other so-called railroad towns in that wilderness province, Lindza, but nothing exists in the way of real beneficial employment there. If I cannot make an adequate living, and have all of that gross ignorance and incompetence to deal with from locals who will be among our closest neighbors in addition, we won't be staying there for long. I can tell you that much already.
"Those people there can believe they are only supposed to labor without asking any questions regarding salary, remaining perfectly content with whatever crumbs these foul, corrupt business owners feel like tossing out to them. This cowboy here sure knows better, and adamantly demands an adequate compensation for his hard-won skills, and shall settle for nothing less," rumbles the voice of his father behind closed doors.
"Well, there is the nearby railroad town formed by the baron plantation owner, Doogan Family, with three tobacco warehouses, where one can find adequate paying work," his calm voiced mother exclaims. "Then there is Doodle-Land, the coo-coo capital of the world; a mere cross in the road with its nut salting factory, and its corrupted owner who is content in scamming local farmers out of their tough-to-grow chinkapin, almonds, walnuts, and wares in general; but honey you could find paying work there just the same.
"Hell, all the people for miles around there probably wear a huge set of chin nuts, so why should he not take everything he can?" the voice of his father speaks in dark sarcasm.
"Hendrick, my word!" his mother sighs.
A pause ensured for a time span, then the voice of his well-meaning mother continued on.
"All of these faults in the people, and the system at large, you will need to keep to yourself, however, less one is harassed on the job to the point of insanity or terminated on a mere whim of the moment. Always bear in mind the fact of the job base there being so saturated with people willing to labor at top quality, for an utterly illegal minimum in wages or benefits. One's employment folder has no protective check, and any claim made by an employer, or any sort of authority for that matter, is simply assumed at face value.
"Our advantage, however, will be that we live with my parents, way down in the backwoods where we can grow our own food, heat our home with wood growing all around us, and eat what we collect from the surrounding woods. Basically, you will only need to work as much as possible, and stash your hard-won funds," informs the soothing voice of his mother.
A sharp flash of lightning followed by a heavy crash of thunder, and an accompanying deluge of rain seems to give special emphasis to those whispered words spoken by his mother. As the heavy pelt of rain continues on, the low rumble of his father proceeds, while young Lanker was somehow phasing off into a deep sleep.
"I guess that we can give it all a try, since we have no other adequate alternatives." return the words of his father. "Maybe in the end we'll be alright somehow. Your aging parents are needing us right now. Such is still unfortunately true, Lindza. Maybe in the end our choice in decisions will be exactly right for us all. Just maybe, somehow in the end-"
Lanker went out before the voice of his father could complete the last sentence, and the pelt of rain on the twelfth striking again increased dramatically, causing the voice of his father to gradually melt away in the soothing sound of a reverberating midnight deluge.