Railroad

Sweat running down his face the ten year old boy knocked on the unpainted plank door.  "Just a minnit." A short,  big nosed, hatchet faced, old man stared down at the boy. "What you want, boy?"  "My mom's gone to Tuscaloosa. She told me to come down here and stay with you till she got back."  "Who are you, boy?" "Names Joe, sir." "Joe who?" "Joe Skinner." "When's she gonna be back?" "I don't know."  "Where you all live?" "Across the railroad bridge, a ways down the road." "Well come on in, close the door, or the fly's'll eat us up."  His eyes still adjusted for the bright outside light the boy could barely make out coats and clothing hanging on nails on all four walls. An unmade bed off to the right and a chest of drawers against the wall at the foot of the bed. A framed black and white photograph of a frowning middle aged woman rested on top of the chest spot lighted by sun rays through the large window. The old woman's eyes stared at the boy. The boy mesmerized by the picture stared back. Then with a jerk broke eye contact with the woman in the picture and followed the old man into the next room: a kitchen with its small woodburning kitchen stove, a small table, two chairs, and a home made cabinet. The boy followed the old man out the back door to a narrow sun bleached grey porch. "Git a couple dippers of water out of the rain barrel and put em in the wash pan. Wash up it'll make you feel better." The boy picked up the wash pan and stepped down off the porch, walked to the corner of the house, pulled the dipper off a nail and was about to dip it into the rain barrel when the old man grabbed him by the hair with one hand and the seat of the pants with the other and crammed him into the rain barrel. The water began to bubble, then boil and the old man screamed, and released the boy, stumbled, and fell to the ground moaning. A low rumble came from the barrel as it exploded in a cloud of steam. A red headed creature half the size of the boy walked out of the steam, reached down to grab the old man. But the only thing remaining was the old mans clothes. Screeching laughter came from the roof of the house and a two foot tall tar baby jumped onto the red creature. "We got here first" the tar baby screeched. "Its our world, you know there's not enough of the two legged animals left to feed us both."