It was a warm day in autumn when Harry heard something strange. It wasn’t as if he was spying. He would never admit to that. He was just being playful. That was his explanation for pretty much everything. Whoever said that children are the image of God had never met Harry. He could manipulate any situation to his benefit. The scary part was that he was all of twelve years old. And what he heard was the start of his troubles.
That autumn with the school in full swing, there weren’t many things you could do besides school and homework. Harry as usual, was up in his room, planning his escape through the window and down the oak tree that grew outside his window. “Oh heck,” he muttered as his sweater caught on a poky branch. He struggled to free it and in the process the sweater got tangled even further. Finally he had to jerk it hard causing it to rip. “Mom’s gonna kill me” was his only thought. His mom anyway had a million other reasons to punish him already. He skipped the lower branches and jumped straight to the ground landing with a grunt.
Mike was waiting for him at the bottom of the tree. “C’mon Harry. Let’s run before we are put in purgatory,” said Mike. He liked to show off his verbosity and cause Harry endless grief. “ What’s purgatory?” Harry snarled. “Well according to my trusty encyclopedia it means a place where you go to after you are dead and they torture you further. Must be for people like you Harry”, joked Mike. They both punched each other on their arms and started running away from the house.
Mike was Harry’s best friend and virtual shadow. These two had grown up together since time immemorial. Well, for the past 10 years at least. That, to them seemed like eternity. Both boys were twelve and studied in the same class in Fairmont High. That was the only school in Wisteria Falls and every kid studied there. It was a nice little school with a huge playground and all the modern amenities schools in the mid-west have. Like prayers, lousy food and the Internet. And of course the mandatory baseball and football team.
“Hey Harry, check this out. I got a laser pointer.” Mike pulled out a small black pen like device and showed it to Harry. “You click this button and a red laser light shines. Here check this,” Mike pointed the pen to the side of Mrs. Simon’s house and a small red dot appeared on the wall. “Hey that is cool! Now we can shine it on Miss Jenny’s boobs in class!” exulted Harry. “No Harry. I am not giving it to you for that.” Mike protested. But he knew that was a fruitless argument anyway. Harry always got to do what he wanted. That was always the case. Ever since first grade when Harry had snatched his lunch the first time they met, he had resigned himself to the fact that there was no negotiating with Harry. You either gave it voluntarily or then Harry took it anyway.
“Here, try it out,” Mike said as he gave the pointer to Harry, who promptly shone it on Mike’s crotch. “Hee hee, Mikey has a hot one”, chortled Harry. “Cut that out you moron.” Mike tried to grab the pointer but Harry skipped away. They both ran down the street with Harry wind milling his arms in his usual fighter plane imitation.
They ran up the steps to Mr. Gordon’s place and started battering the door. “Hang on you devils. I am coming” they heard Mr. Gordon shout from inside. The door opened and Mr. Gordon stood in the doorway with a hot soldering iron in one hand. “What’s the matter boys? Afraid that the universe is about to end? Can’t I get some work done around here without you two showing up? Oh well, c’mon in.” The boys rushed inside and Mike was faster as he jumped into the huge chair by the fireplace. “Hah! I am king!” he taunted Harry as he spread his arms on the chair. Whoever got to sit on the ‘chair’ was proclaimed king of the house for that day. The chair was a high backed fancy upholstered chair that Mr. Gordon had got as part of his inheritance from his dad. It had been in their family for at least four generations and it had been through more changes in polish and upholstery than a chameleon changes colors in a day.
Harry grumpily sat down on the sofa next to the chair. He looked at the scattered bits of electronics on the table and asked Mr. Gordon “Is that your nuclear bomb?” “No Harry. I am not building a nuclear bomb. And if I were, you would be the first one to know. I am just repairing my sound-gun amplifier.” The sound gun was an object familiar to both boys as it was one of the primary tools of their trade. You see, the three of them made up the indefatigable Zell's Angels. The organization that swore to protect Wisteria Falls from any harm. Or so they believed.
Since they formed the organization almost a year ago, they had to their credit found Mr. Brent’s missing pig, dug out Joe Catuco’s yard to find his lost wedding ring and caught Biff Howzer stealing from the till at the church fund raiser. The Biff Affair, as Mike liked to document it, was their latest and greatest achievement. They still had Biff’s threat of ‘pulverizing them to a pulp’ after he got out of prison, hanging over their heads. But when they caught him red-handed and they were praised publicly by the pastor, in their eyes, they had arrived. Zell's Angels were in business.
“So, is the sound gun fixed?” asked Mike. “Yes, almost done here. Why don’t you two grab a juice out of the freezer and make yourselves busy. Mind you, no sodas. As it is half of Wisteria Falls is obese. I don’t want you kids to be like Porky Pig.” Both of them grinned as they pictured Reggie Deacon – the “Porky Pig” in their class. Harry ran to the kitchen and came out with a box of orange juice and two glasses. He poured the juice in the glasses and gave one to Mike. “Hey, Mr. Gordon. What happened to the commendation that Sgt. Carson was supposed to give us? Any idea if he is serious?” Harry asked. Mr. Gordon shook his head and said, “I don’t know sonny. Sgt. Carson is a funny man. You know how upset he was when he couldn’t take the credit for Biff. As it is nothing happens in Wisteria Falls and when it does, he would like to be the one to be the hero. So I wouldn’t bank on the commendation.”
Mr. Gordon screwed in the final pieces of the sound gun and powered it up. A high-pitched whine came out of the small speaker attached to the gun. “Aha, it works! Let’s try it on something.” He pointed the gun out of the window at a couple of people walking down the street.
“ … was beautiful? I didn’t think so. That role in Miss Congeniality didn’t suit her too well” one middle aged woman was talking to her companion as the voices poured out of the speaker. Mr. Gordon fiddled with the speaker knobs and tuned it so that the voices sounded clearer. Both boys jumped up and down excitedly. “And now when I press this button, everything gets recorded. I have added this mini voice recorder to the speaker box. Now we can have proof!” Mr. Gordon explained. “Can I try? Can I please?” Harry begged. Mr. Gordon gave him the sound gun and slung the speaker-recorder box over his shoulder using the belt attached to it. “Now be careful. You can’t let people see you using this. Otherwise we will be in big trouble. And please don’t break it. It took me a day to fix this up.” But by the time Mr. Gordon completed his sentence the two boys were running out the door.
They looked about and saw the coast was clear. They ran down the street and at the corner they stopped to consult. “So who should we spy on first? Let’s go down to Albion Park. We should find some interesting people there.” Mike shook his head in agreement and both started running down stealthily along the hedges that grew by the side of the road. They jumped over the small side gate of Albion Park and regrouped under the acacia tree. “Ok. Lets try this on some birds first, just to get our bearings with this thing.” Harry pointed it up towards the trees and swung the speaker volume to its max. A high-pitched squeal reverberated in the park as Mike slammed his hands to his ears. “Not so loud you idiot. You will drive away all the birds and get us in trouble.” He yelled.
Harry fiddled with the volume control until the squeal disappeared. Now they could hear a quiet chirping. They cocked their heads towards the speaker and listened intently. The sound gun worked beautifully. Now they could make out a couple of different chirps and rustling of leaves.
“Ok. This thing is great. Let’s call it the Omni-Present Hype-Activated Audio Enhancer!” Mike postulated. “Whatever” Harry said. “Now lets find a good target. How about that guy over there? He seems to be suspicious.”
“That’s Mr. Galoni, the park janitor you moron. He is just cleaning the park. Ain’t nothing suspicious about that.” Mike smirked. Harry pointed the sound gun in Mr. Galoni’s direction anyway. An insistent muttering droned from the speaker “What do they think of themselves? They ain’t comin here to see how difficult it is. Now winter will come and I will be freezing my butt off. Ain’t got funds they say. No funds for poor Bob to buy a new pair of gloves. But they got funds to throw a party. Huh”. Bob Galoni seemed upset with his bosses at the town council. He was a grouchy old man who hated everyone. Mike suddenly felt afraid. “Hey cut it out. If he catches us then we are doomed.” Harry reluctantly swung the sound gun away from Mr. Galoni.
They started arguing about who could use the sound gun. Mike wanted to try it and he demanded it from Harry. In response Harry started waving the gun around and taunting Mike. They both started running into the woody areas of the park. It was almost evening and the sun was low on the horizon. They walked into a shady glade and still struggled for control of the sound gun.
“…if everyone finds out? We should get rid of him first.” A female voice suddenly squawked from the speaker. Both of them stared stunned at the speaker unit. “Who is that?” Mike asked. “Shh...” hissed Harry. “Let’s listen”.
“I think I have hidden it long enough,” the female voice continued. “What right do we have to let the poor thing suffer like that? I want to convince him. But he won’t listen. And that’s why I need your help. You have been so kind and understanding all this while. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“No problem,” a male voice entered the conversation. “I was only doing what I am best at. You won’t need me after a while though.” Harry thought he recognized the voice. He desperately scanned his memory for a match. And it clicked into place. It was Walter Hanna. The new guy in town. He remembered how he talked in a low voice always, as he was doing now. But who was the woman? And where were they? He scanned the trees in front of him about a hundred yards away in the direction the sound gun was pointing. He could make out a splash of red color. That must be the woman he thought. Mike was tugging his sleeve. “Let’s hide, or they will see us.” That was good advice. Both of them dived into the bushes. Harry whispered, “I bet they are talking about murdering someone. I bet this is a plot. Let’s find out more.”
Mike looked at Harry with incredulity. “You have a hyper active imagination Harry. This must be something harmless.”
“I don’t think so. Shh...”
The voices started again as he realigned the sound gun in the direction of the trees.
“…its decided then. You will come over tonight and do it. I will send you the payment tomorrow. No one should find out though. My husband usually goes to sleep around 10. You can come over then.” – the female voice continued.
“Ok, but better make sure that there is no one around. I don’t want anyone seeing. This could get pretty gory,” said Walter. “Yeah. I will make sure. Now lets go before anyone sees us.”
The couple came out of the trees and Mike whispered, “Its Roberta. My next-door neighbor. What is she doing with this new guy Walter?”
“I don’t know but I am sure going to find out.” Harry whispered back.
“What do u mean? I want to be in on this too.” Mike insisted.
“This could be dangerous and as lead investigator of Zell’s Angels I will find out what these people are up to,” Harry stated.
“No way. I will come with you or else I will tell Mr. Gordon that you uprooted his newly planted begonias,” Mike threatened.
“Oh ok. Come if you want. But you will have to be quiet and no carrying any beeping gadgets. You are always producing sounds with all your thingamajigs plastered all over your body.”
Mike nodded happily. They bent lower and hid among the bushes as Roberta and Walter walked past. There seemed to be a close familiarity between them as Walter held her arm as they were walking. “Do you think they are having an affair?” Mike said. Harry brightened up with this prospect since this was a bit of spicy gossip to know in the mundane world of Wisteria Falls. He knew Roberta was happily married to Martin Lebon for as long as he could remember. They had two kids who were in high school and a nice big dog. Both Harry and Mike loved the big Labrador, which the Lebon’s had got about a couple of years back. It was big and boisterous and looking for trouble.
So the idea of Roberta Lebon having a tête-à-tête with this new guy who showed up in town a couple of months back, was exciting as it was mysterious. This ought to get the town abuzz he thought. But not before he had solved this affair that was shaping up tonight.
As the couple disappeared from view Harry and Mike jumped up and started walking back towards Mr. Gordon’s house. Harry hid the sound gun under his shirt and Mike hung the speaker from his shoulder and covered it with his pullover. “I wonder what Mr. Gordon’s going to say about all this. I bet he knows already. He always finds out things before us,” Harry mentioned to Mike.
As they ran up the steps of the house, they could see that the door was open. They heard whistling from the back of the house and they ran towards it. Mr. Gordon was in his backyard lounging on a easy chair and sipping a tall glass of iced tea. He saw them and frowned. The two boys ran to him and started chorusing:
“Mr. Gordon, Mr. Gordon. You wont believe what we just heard...”
“We are going to see a murder...”
“Roberta is having her husband killed…”
“The new guy Walter is going to do it…”
“It’s going to happen tonight…”
“We have to stop it…”
“What should we do…?”
The boys were taking turns at interrupting each other as they let loose a barricade of words at Mr. Gordon.
“Pipe down you two,” Mr. Gordon thundered. Both boys fell silent. “Now what’s all this nonsense of murder? Where did you hear such crap? You two need to stop watching ‘The Sopranos’ for a while. This is not New Jersey.”
“No really Mr. Gordon. We did hear it. Didn’t we Mike?”
“Yes Mr. Gordon. We heard Roberta and Walter talking. In fact we used your sound gun,” Mike asserted.
“Let me see that. If what you say is true then the conversation should have been recorded on the tape.” Mike unslung the speaker unit from his shoulder and gave it to Mr. Gordon. He saw that the tape was still running. He stopped it and pressed rewind.
As it rewound, he said, “Let’s see if your crazy talk is true.”
The tape came to a stop and Mr. Gordon pressed the play button. The tape started playing their own conversation they had when Mr. Gordon was demonstrating the sound gun to the kids. He pressed the fast forward button and the tape squealed. He stopped it after a few seconds. He heard the female voice and looked quizzically at the kids. His face became more and more incredulous as he heard the entire conversation. At the end of it, he turned to the kids and said, “I am sorry boys. You were right. This sounds more serious than what I thought it to be. We should get to the bottom of this. I am going to make a few calls and then we will re-group here at my place at 9.30 pm. I will inform your parents that you are coming over to my house for some reading. That way your parents will not be worried of your whereabouts. Now, tell me, did you see them talking yourself?” He looked at both of them expectantly.
Harry replied, “Yes we did. We both saw them talking and plotting. And they looked more than just friends. Didn’t they Mike?”
“Oh yeah. But I still think it doesn’t sound the way you are making it out to be. It may be something harmless that they are talking about,” said Mike.
“Well Mike, we will find that out tonight. I think I may know what is going on,” Mr. Gordon said seriously. He had an inkling that something was not right. He had seen Roberta and Walter talking last week at church and had an uneasy feeling about them. He had enquired about Walter and Sgt. Carson couldn’t dig up anything on him either. It had puzzled him then and he had forgotten about it until now. This might tie in with that day’s uneasy feeling. Now they were on to something.
The boys and Mr. Gordon then got into a excited huddle and planned their moves animatedly. After discussing everything in detail the boys ran back home. Mr. Gordon went into the house and started making a few calls.
By evening the boys were so excited that their families immediately suspected that they were up to something. Harry’s dad admonished him and warned him that unless he finished his homework he wouldn’t be able to go to Mr. Gordon’s place. Harry for once listened quietly and meekly went to his room to study, leaving his dad with a look of utter disbelief. His mom checked his forehead for signs of fever as he passed her on the stairs and shrugged her shoulders. Harry shut the door and started packing for his expedition. He took out his black backpack and packed a flashlight, his cheap digital camera and his walkie-talkie. The others would carry their own radios. He changed into a black t-shirt and dark jeans. It was already 9 by the time he finished homework and ran down to the living room. His dad was watching TV and talking to his mom.
“Ok dad, let’s go. Mr. Gordon must be waiting,” said Harry impatiently as he raced down the stairs towards the door.
“Hold on you scoundrel. I will be out in a minute,” his dad said as he got up.
They drove to Mr. Gordon’s place, just as Mike’s older brother pulled up with Mike in his car. The two boys got out waved to their chauffeur’s ran up the path to Mr. Gordon’s house.
Mr. Gordon was waiting for them. He too wore dark clothes and carried his sound gun. He wanted everything on tape if he was to get at the bottom of this. The trio then checked their walkie-talkies for batteries and synchronized their frequencies. A quick discussion of their plan and they were off!
It was dark on the street where Roberta lived. They pulled up in Mr. Gordon’s car and stopped just one house away from the Lebon house. The Lebon’s were still up as the lights were on in the living room and kitchen. They waited patiently for about half an hour. The lights in the kitchen went off and Mike gripped Harry’s arm. Harry shook it off and said, “Now Mike, don’t get all nervous and blubbery all over me. It’s not the time for you to shake. Especially since you are the one taking the pictures.”
Mike pulled himself together and took the digital camera that Harry held out for him. Mr. Gordon was tuning his sound gun. Harry was going to be the lead investigator. They waited again until the lights in the living room went off. They could see the Lebon parents move around in the master bedroom. The children had already gone to sleep. Their dog was nowhere around. A sudden calm descended as the all the lights in the Lebon house went out.
It was getting chilly in the car and Mike’s teeth chattered a couple of times. Mr. Gordon threw him a blanket and Mike pulled it around him. The eerie silence made him more nervous. Harry too, was a bit shaky. This was more exciting than the day he had caught Biff! They were going to stop a murder! A sordid affair was going to come to light. And Zell’s Angels were going to protect the victim. Justice was going to be served. He would be a hero. Hell, they might even name the school auditorium after him. His statue would grace the town hall. Dreamily Harry fell asleep in the back of the car.
A moment later Mike nudged him in the ribs. “Oww. What did you do that for?” Harry exclaimed.
“Shh… wake up you idiot. You have been asleep for twenty minutes,” hissed Mike. “Someone is coming, get down.” They both crouched low in the back and Mr. Gordon slouched over the steering wheel. A car was pulling up in front of Roberta’s house. The driver in the car shut the engine and doused the lights. There was sudden silence again. Harry could feel his ears buzzing with anticipation. They peered through the gloom. The car was opening. A talk dark figure got out. The man was holding a bag in one hand. He started walking up the path to the house.
Mr. Gordon pointed his sound gun at his figure and turned the volume to its lowest setting. They could hear the crunch of footsteps as the man walked up the path through the autumn leaves. Abruptly he turned and started walking towards the garage door. On reaching the garage door he rapped twice on it. A moment of silence passed. Then there was an answering knock from inside.
The man turned again and went to the back of the garage. A door opened and he vanished inside. The door closed quickly and there was an eerie silence again. The trio in the car huddled around the speaker of the sound gun straining their ears for any sound.
There came the sound of people talking. But it was so low that they could hardly make out what was being spoken. Mr. Gordon fiddled with the controls and tried to get a stronger signal but to no avail. All they could hear were a low murmuring and static hiss.
A thin line of light showed under the garage door. Mike tugged at Mr. Gordon’s sleeve and pointed to the garage. They looked at the garage with rapt attention. The silence was getting too weird and their anticipation was reaching its zenith.
“We gotta go in now Mr. Gordon,” whispered Harry. Mr. Gordon shook his head and said, “Not now. Let’s wait until we hear something in the master bedroom.”
They waited. But nothing happened. The light in the garage remained. Suddenly they heard a thud and a whine. The boys clung to Mr. Gordon in alarm. Harry then quickly released his grip and grinned sheepishly. Putting on a sense of bravado, he said, “I bet that the guy has killed the dog. This way the dog won’t cause any trouble.”
“Let’s wait for some more minutes. Then we will go in.” Mr. Gordon announced.
They heard a few more scratching sounds and the low murmurs of people. Then there was a sudden sound of a man crying out in pain.
This broke the stupor. The three got out of the car and raced towards the garage.
Harry reached the garage first and he started banging loudly on the door. “Open up this is the police. We have got you surrounded,” he yelled.
Mr. Gordon raced to the back door and pounded on it. There was sudden noise from inside and a loud cry of“Who is it?” in a woman’s voice.
“Its me Mr. Gordon. Open up. We know what’s going on over there. Open up.” He pounded on the door. There was a gasp from inside. Steps came up to the door and the handle turned.
The trio stepped back. The door opened and a head peeked out. “What is this? Why are you here? What’s going on Mr. Gordon?” Roberta Lebon asked in that booming voice of hers.
Unfazed, Mr. Gordon stepped towards the door and said, “I know what you are up to Roberta. So no use denying it. Trying to get rid of your poor husband for that no good tramp Walter. You thought no one would find out. But you underestimated the Zell’s Angels. My boys and I know about your evil scheme.”
Now it was Roberta’s turn to look incredulous. She said, “ What?? What did you say? Mr. Gordon, are you drunk? Why would I want to get rid of my husband? What’s the meaning of this –
Mr. Gordon pushed open the door and charged in before she could complete her sentence.
The boys followed and looked at the scene inside in horror.
In the dim garage light they saw a black body sprawled on the garage floor with a man bending over it. There was a rivulet of blood streaming outwards from the black form. The body twitched and moaned.
“Step aside you rascal!” bellowed Mr. Gordon. The man jumped out of his skin and looked at them in disbelief.
“Quiet,” the man shouted. “Can’t you see I am busy,” and pointed at the body.
The trio peered closely and now as their eyes got adjusted to the light they saw before them lying on the floor was Folly- the black Labrador! He was sprawled out with legs sticking out and a bandage around his hindquarters. Walter was holding a scissor in one hand and what looked like a sewing needle in the other.
By this time the house was awake and steps echoed in the corridor to the garage. The door opened and Roberta’s husband Martin entered the garage.
“What’s the din all about? What’s going on over here? Who are these people?” he asked with a bewildered expression on his face. Then he caught sight of Folly. He leapt towards the dog with a cry. “Folly, what’s happened to you? My poor baby.” He knelt down and hugged the dog. The dog was still.
Walter broke the silence and said, “Don’t worry Martin. Folly is fine. He has been drugged and is quite soundly asleep. I guess we might as well tell you now. We had to have him neutered. He was getting too rambunctious and you wouldn’t let me do it. Hence Roberta had to resort to this scheme to do it on the sly.”
Mr. Gordon looked stunned at the statement. Harry had a strange expression on his face and Mike was feeling faint seeing the blood on the floor.
There was a strange gurgling sound from Mr. Gordon and then a huge laugh bellowed out across the garage. Mr. Gordon doubled up and rent the air with his hysterical laughter. Harry and Mike stared at each other with sad resigned faces and the rest of the group watched in amazement.
Mr. Gordon calmed down and wiped the tears from his eyes. He finally said, “This is priceless. We are never going to live this down. I am afraid we went too far this time. The boys had me completely convinced that Roberta was in love with Walter and she was out to get rid of you Martin.”
“What? How did they come to that conclusion? Besides, don’t they know that Walter is my brother and a veterinarian?” explained Roberta.
At this disclosure even Mr. Gordon seemed stunned again. But he recovered and guffawed again. “Well that explains everything. You had us completely fooled. The boys heard you talking in the park today and they assumed from your talk that you were getting rid of your husband. Here listen to this.”
He played them the recording the boys made in the morning and by the end of it the adults broke out in wide grins.
They looked towards the boys and suddenly the boys felt very uncomfortable under their collective gazes. They sheepishly grinned and Harry started backing away to the door.
“Oh no, young man. You come right here. You ain’t going anywhere,” Mr. Gordon said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Harry stopped and stared uncomfortably at the group. They took one look at him and burst out laughing.
And for the rest of the year the story of Harry’s Folly was told at every gathering in Wisteria Falls.