Parker, Steve, the Boy and the Ax-Man

Parker and Steve were sitting on a towel on the west beach of Bubble Water watching the reflection of the setting sun paint silver on the lapping waves on the beach. Far to the right where the dragonflies were constantly moving among the docks, they saw a couple of people sitting with their legs dangling above the water. Nearer the shore in front of them were a few tourists still hanging around, but to the North there was no one. Most vacationers were in town eating dinner and the townspeople had been mostly gone for over an hour. The moon hadn't come up yet over the hills and the trees east of the lake.

From the South a small boy in a dirty t-shirt and a stick walked toward Parker and Steve. He didn't have the deep tan that the tourists have. He was about six or seven years old. As he got closer to the couple, the boy slowed down, then stopped in front of the towel and Parker.

"Hi," she said and smiled. Steve also smiled and sat up for no particular reason.

"Hi," the boy said, beaming. He wasn't from Bubble Water, probably a city kid thought Steve. The boy was clean with startling blue eyes.

"Been out swimming?" Steve asked, a stupid question, the boy's hair was still wet. "How was the water?"

"Yes," the boy said. He stuck his toe in the sand. "It was fun."

Parker smiled. "We've been in twice today. The waves felt great."

The boy started to say something, hesitated, and pointed across the lake to the east. "I've been there," he announced. "You ever been there?"

The couple nodded. They live here.

"Do you see the big white house on the hill?" he said.

"There's no white house over there," Steve said smiling. "That's just woods."

"Yeah, there is. A big white house with big columns on the front," said the boy so sure of himself.

"Yeah, we see it," agreed Parker nudging Steve to communicate to him to play along with the boy.

"Have you ever been inside?"

"No," Parker said, "no, we don't know who lives there."

"I've been in there." The boy was proud. "My parents took me there."

"Really? What's it like inside?" Parker acted very interested.

The boy was silent for a beat. "It's big and really nice inside."

"Wow. What's inside?"

The boy turned around and looked over the lake in the direction of the house. "It's big enough for him."

"Him? Who's him?" Steve asked wiping the sand off the soles of his feet. He was getting ready to pick up and leave and only half listening to the boy and his story about a house that Steve knew didn't exist.

"He's the Ax-Man." The boy was dead serious and every word was now full of weight and importance to the speaker.

"What? The Ax-Man? Where'd you get this?" Steve said.

The boy turned his head around and looked down at Steve. His blue eyes were reflected in the sunset light.

"The Ax-Man is real."

"Is he?" Parker said acting as if she was hanging onto every word the boy said. And, she probably wasn't acting at this point.

"There are monster shrimps out there," the boy said turning and pointing to the lake. "As big as you are," indicating Steve.

"Yeah," said Parker. "We've heard about them. But I've lived here all of my life and I've never heard about the Ax-man. What have you heard, eh?"

"Yeah, what about him?" Steve asked.

The boy looked down at the beach towel the couple were sitting on and was thinking about sitting down too. He thought better of that and stuck his toe into the sand again. "He's big and he's ugly. But he's really nice. Like the hunchback of Notre Dame."

"Nice, eh? The Ax-man is nice? That's great. But why is he called the Ax-Man then?" asked Steve trying to be the prosecutor.

The boy frowned at Steve. "I don't know. That's just everybody calls him, that's why."

It was getting darker quickly and the town of Bubble Water was disappearing behind Parker and Steve and it was getting harder to see the boy's face. The moon was rising in the East over the hills and the boy's right shoulder. Soon it would get chilly so the couple got up and picked up their towel and slipped on their flip-flops. Steve reached out his hand to the boy.

"Kid, you are different. That I can say. We'll see you around, o. k.? Maybe you can tell some of our friends about the Ax-Man."

The boy took Steve's hand and his voice was disappointed. He understood that Steve didn't believe him completely. "I'll be back. I'll be back tomorrow, I think."

"Good," said Parker. "I believe you."

Parker stepped forward and touched the boy's shoulder. The boy said thanks and turned around toward the water and walking to the waves that were no longer silver in the sunset. The waves were now a little louder on the beach and the color of purple. He turned back around to the teenagers.

"My mom's dead," he called out. "My mom died yesterday."

Parker and Steve said nothing as he turned around and ran off to the left side of the lake. The couple kept watching the boy until the darkness reached around the boy and took him from their sight. Parker thought that the boy stopped once to turn and look at her, but in the darkness she couldn't be sure.