Nowhere Blvd: A Horror Novel (2 page)

“Over the river and through the woods, to grandmothers house we go....”

And as if summoned by the song, the front door opened and out she walked to welcome them.  She didn’t look like Spencer’s grandmother.  Spencer’s grandmother had been thin and had leathery skin from living in the desert all her life.   But at the same time she
did
look like Spencer’s grandmother.  She looked like
everyone’s
grandmother.  The way she smiled welcome at them, beaming joy to see them.  She was short and plump and round, with a poof of curly white hair upon her head and tiny round glasses on her nose.

“Kids,” said Smiling Jack.  “I want you to meet Nanny Gurdy.”

“Oh come in, come in,” she said, waving at them.  “Have some pie.”

There was all kinds of tasty treats at Nanny Gurdy’s.  Pies and cakes and French toast cinnamon roles.  Nanny giggled and fawned over them, bringing out plate after plate and licking her lips as she watched them eat.  She might have been hungry, the way she kept licking those lips, but Spencer never saw her take a bite for herself.  Jack went away for a bit while everyone ate their fills, some falling asleep for a nap on the comfy couches and chairs.  Not Spencer though, tired as he was from only sleeping half the night.  He hated to go to sleep when he might miss something exciting.  Instead he played with a few others in the yard, a game of tag.  They had to play in the front, Nanny said the back was only for special occasions.  Spencer could only see so much of it before the view was blocked by a wide and tall wall of hedges.

The sleeping children didn’t get to sleep long, though some would have been happy too.  When Smiling Jack came back it was time to play, ready or not.  This time Mr. Buttons wasn’t with him, so Nanny came along to help give the tour. 

They headed south along the cobbled path, Spencer still reckoning the mansion as true north.  All the more so since the sun had declined to move an inch in the time they were inside.  Smiling Jack lead them in a repeating song, sort of like “Row Row Row Your Boat”, except in a language Spencer didn’t recognize.  A sibilant, piping one he didn't think he'd ever heard.  Nanny pointed out a long cabin as  they passed, saying it was where their guests stayed.  Spencer wondered what kind of magical people those would be, and wished he could be one of them. 

They passed a lake surrounded by cattails on their right (named simply Jack’s Lake, according to their host).  Off to their left they saw a path leading off to the amusement park, Ferris wheel and roller coaster towering high against the very pale blue of the sky. 

“Can we go?  Can we go?” asked some of the bolder kids, including the twins who each held one of Nanny’s hands.

“Soon, soon, everyone!” said Jack, doing a skillful spin in place to talk back to them and keep walking at the same time.  “But first I want you to meet some more friends.  Friends I made from boys and girls just like you, who came to visit me a long time ago and decided they loved it so much they wanted to stay forever.”

On they went to the end of the path.  What Spencer judged to be the far south end of town judging by the wall of dark forest in the distance.  Off a ways to the East were little houses that looked like the bungalows he and his parents had stayed in while on a trip to Disney World, though he didn’t know if a “bungalow” was only called that if it was on a beach.  He wondered for the first time if his parents wondered where he had gone.  The thought didn’t bother him much, he still thought he might wake at any minute.  It was all just so unreal.

They walked over a small rise and found themselves amongst lines of shops along a street that looked like it was straight from the fairy tales.  “Charming,” his mother would call it in her terrible imitation British accent she did sometimes.  In front of the shops were gathered children of various ages, all dressed in very nice clothes from different periods and all smiling to the group.  They waved to Spencer and the others in welcome.

“Come closer Perfect girls and boys,” Jack said to them.  “Come and meet our guests!”

Jack introduced them one by one as they approached in a manner which Spencer couldn’t tell whether they were honest names or a sort of joke, that ever smiling face made it hard to read his expressions.

“This is Perfect Boy Johnny,” he said about the first.  A blond headed boy of about twelve who had the tough but protective smile of someone you always wanted to be your older brother. 

“And here’s Perfect Girl Jane,” he said introducing a freckled girl.  She had her arm cocked on her hip, a tomboy waiting to play ball with the boys. 

“Here’s Perfect Boy Joe, and Perfect Girl June, Perfect Boy Jake, and Perfect Girl Jen,” he went on, introducing nine in all. 

The Perfect children took them on a tour of the shops, bells above the doors tinkling as they opened and closed them.  In each shop the Perfects would take their place behind the counters and Spencer eventually realized to his amazement that the shops were run by the Perfects themselves.  Candy shops and soda shops and toys and costumes.  The contents of the latter two were all evidentially second hand, though again were so interesting and authentic so as not to matter.  Some seemed old enough to have been played with by his grandparents when they were kids, others were handheld video games that seemed entirely new.  Soon the whole of the street was filled with the sound of tinkling bells and running children, as they went from one shop to the next.

After changing into something more practical at an outfit store that seemed to have everyone’s sizes (a good thing since most of the kids were still in their pajamas), Spencer decided to check out a place called The Trick Shop.  It had things like spring snakes in a can and garlic flavored bubble gum, and was run by a Perfect Girl with a peaches and cream complexion and wispy blond hair.  She wore a sky blue dress that reminded Spencer of Alice in Wonderland.  There were a couple magic tricks in the shop and when she saw Spencer looking at one she said he could have it. 

“That’s how it works in Nowhere Blvd,” she said, responding to his questioning look.  “You can have anything in any of the shops.  Everything is for kids here.”

She was taller than Spencer and looked to be at least a year older.  There was something about her that made it hard for him to talk, but Spencer wasn’t shy and talked anyway.

“I know a lot about magic,” Spencer said, surprising himself a little.

“I’m Perfect Girl Julie, what’s your name?”

“Spencer.  Actually I like to be called Spence.”

She smiled and showed him some of the magic tricks in the shop.  She didn’t seem nervous to talk to him at all, which made him feel all the more awkward for being a little nervous to talk to her.  He showed her one of the magic tricks he knew with a deck of cards.  She smiled again and he smiled back.  Her teeth were white and straight but also a little tiny, which seemed to be the only thing that wasn’t perfect about her and somehow made her very likable.  He wanted to make her smile some more and tried to think of everything he knew about magic just to keep talking to her some more. 

Spencer thought more than ever that he must be in a dream.  He often dreamed about making friends with a girl and going to magical places, something he almost never thought about while awake. 

After a while of her showing him around the shop while other kids darted in and out, he heard Smiling Jack outside calling for everyone.  He was content to ignore it, to stay there talking to her.  For as a steady stream of punishments could attest to, Spencer Williams was not one who felt a natural need to do what he was told. 

Perfect Girl Julie, however, practically snapped to attention. 

“Come on,” she said grabbing his hand and pulling him outside.

Despite his more than obvious fun loving attitude, Spencer was beginning to suspect Smiling Jack of having the intentions of a day camp director, constantly keeping them on the move to keep them busy and out of trouble.  Once outside he gathered them up (Spencer smiled when he caught Jack’s lips moving silently as he counted heads) and lead them off to the next activity.  Spencer saw that the children around him mostly carried new toys and wore the costumes of spacemen and cowboys and the striped uniforms of prisoners.  He was a bit surprised to find he was the only one who
didn’t
have a new toy, having spent all his time in the trick shop. The Perfect children marched along with them without having to be told.  Perfect Girl Julie was next to him pointing off to the bungalows in the distance.

“That’s where I live, there,” she said, pointing at the second one in the line. 

They walked vaguely in the direction of the amusement park, which is what Spencer thought they were heading too.  Instead they ended up at a fun little park a short walk from the edge of the forest (which looked dead like Autumn despite the summer like atmosphere).  There were objects moving in the park, odd things with sunlight glinting off the metal of them.  Even as they got close enough for Spencer to feel like he should recognize them, he couldn’t quite.

Once he did make them out and was sure of what he saw, he still couldn’t believe it. 
Robots
.  Or at least something a lot like them.  Brass and leather things that stood as tall as a man even though they moved about on all fours.  They had necks that came out at an angle like that of a giraffe, or maybe like a preying mantis.  Their heads darted here and there, looking about with huge shining eyes.  Their thick tapering appendages had only one joint, high up, which bent out sideways like a spider.  Each arm and leg ending in a pincer, sometimes stabbing sharply and sometimes separating into thirds to grab. 

Of all the things he’d seen here, he thought this had to be the most amazing.  Robots were even more amazing than a talking teddy bear.

Maybe robots,
thought Spencer. 
Or maybe a  person could fit inside all those leather wrappings and metal casings.  A small one, like a circus acrobat.  Or a kid...

The things moved slowly across the park, about six in all.  The park itself looked like a good one, complete with baseball diamond and playground.  No one rushed to play though, some of the littler children even hid behind the larger ones (Nanny Gurdy was nowhere to be seen, having left perhaps while Spencer was in the trick shop).  They seemed apprehensive about approaching the things, a sentiment Spencer mirrored.  There was something unnatural about the way they moved, like you didn’t exactly want them near you.

“These are my Hollow Men,” said Jack in a stage whisper as he pointed them out.  “I built them to take care of
alllllll
my chores, so I could play all day.  And that’s just what their doing!”

Spencer saw that Smiling Jack was right.  They were using those pincers to clean up litter from the playground, both lost toys and candy wrappers.  Jack seemed to have little patience for his creations though, his expression towards them turning a little sour despite his never faltering smile. 

“Go away now, Hollow Men,” Jack yelled at them, hands cupped to his mouth.  “Go away so we can play!”

The Hollow Men turned their heads as one to him, then began moving off in different directions.  Their pincers making a
tap tap, tap tap
noise when they moved from grass to pavement. 

Once they had moved off, the littler kids were happy to run off towards the playground, which had all the best things to play on.  It even had a rocket ship shaped slide, one of Spencer’s favorites from when he had been younger. 

Now though, he was just a bit to old to play on a playground.  A few of the other kids in the group obviously were as well.  Surely the Perfects were, or at least he had thought that.  The Perfects went about playing on the swings and slide and monkey bars with a diligence that was almost business like.  Spencer thought to go play with them, but instead started a game of catch with a ball one of the other kids had brought from a store.  Most of the older kids played, and some of the Perfects as well (including the tomboy Perfect Girl Jane, right on queue). 

After a while the sun began to fade.  Not set, it hadn't even moved.  Just fade in place.  Jack announced it was time to go, and Spencer was heartbroken at the prospect of leaving. 

“Goodbye Spence,” Julie said waving to him.

“Bye,” he said quieter.  He felt like he was waking up from a dream of a new friend he would never dream of again.

Which is why he was doubly elated when Smiling Jack lead them not to the Grand Closet, but to the long log cabin across from his mansion that they had seen on their way to Nanny Gurdy’s,

“Here’s where you get to sleep,” he said, excited as usual to be giving the good news. 

Spencer checked out the cabin with the other kids.  Lots of bunk beds, and a few singles, they even had two bathrooms.  No TV, no lights even, but still he was both excited and happy to be staying, like someone who wakes up and gets ready for school only to find out it’s Sunday.  Yet at the same time a new concern grew in his mind which he hadn’t thought before. 

If Smiling Jack’s not going to make us go home,
he thought. 
What if we
wanted
to go home?

It wasn’t long until he had his answer.  One of the youngest of the children, a girl who came up no higher than Spencer’s waist, began to whimper.  Nanny Gurdy, who had come to tuck them in, noticed her first and spoke to her in hushed tones.  The little girl nodding in reply to what she said.