Jack & Jill

It is raining! They sit panic-stricken in the car! He looks over his shoulder and notices the car giving chase. It is right behind them!

The shadows of a male and female running up the hill are just visible as lightning penetrates the dark. It is pouring and the wind is strong. The male clutches a wooden box under his arm. Both look fearfully over their shoulders as they flee.

Their car doors are now open. Rain pours heavily onto the windscreen. There’s a second of dead silence—then two gunshots—BANG BANG!

The motel room is very quiet. Guests are seated around a bushy-bearded Frank. He is seated, strumming his guitar. Outside, the wind is howling through the trees close to the window. Signs of an impending storm. The swaying branches of the tree cast eerie shadows on the window and blend with the flickering light from the fireplace.

Frank gets up to close the curtains and as he turns, a thunderous lightning bolt strikes close to him. The guests panic. His face hides all emotion as if nothing has happened, with only his eyes showing a glimpse of amusement. He finally sits down, holding his hands together and peers around at his guests, ‘Now you see… Jack and Jill is a story that has been told through the years, with no one ever revealing the truth,’ he lights up his pipe and takes a deep puff, ‘Jack and Jill lived a lie! A secret so dark, so mysterious, it ultimately cost them their lives. No one could cope with such a tragedy. So the tale has been sugar-coated into what we know today as a poem.’

His guests look intriguingly at him. Doubt etched all over their faces. He gestures convincingly with his hand, ‘It’s the truth. I know there were all these stories and conspiracies, but no one knows what truly happened. I can tell you tonight, those two were far from the innocent neighbors that people have made them out to be,’ he pauses to think for a second, ‘ah yes, the neighbor was telling police how well he knew Jill, and what lovely girl she was,’ he smiles at the memory, ‘that she was indeed,’ his facial expression becomes sober, ‘but she changed after her parents died. It was just after she finished school. She stayed alone in that house until she got engaged to that man.’

Frank gets up to get himself a drink, ‘Then Jack came into her life and her sun was shining again,’ his face lifts, ‘he was good to her. But Jill didn’t know what to do with the fiancé. She wanted out, but couldn’t—’

A thunderous lightning bolt strikes again and some guests shift nervously in their chairs. Frank notices but hides a small glimpse of enjoyment.

‘Some disagreed, but others said the two of them were up to something, got caught out and had to flee for their lives. Whether they fled for their lives or not, nobody knows what the hell they went up that hill for,’ he shakes his head in disbelief, ‘it was a dreadful day,’ he rubs his beard, ‘you know there were actually eyewitnesses who saw the shadow of a male and female running up a hill in the storm,’ lifting his hands in unbelieve, ‘I mean, it was pouring and the wind was blowing. Some saw the male clutching a wooden box under his arm as they fearfully ran, looking over their shoulders,’ he takes a sip of his drink, ‘some said Jack wanted to fill a pail with fresh mountain water. Some disagree,’ he lifts a hand again in disbelief, ‘some even said he never had a pail with him—’

Some of his guests look nervous. They want to leave the room, they don’t want to hear any of this anymore.

Jack gestures for them to sit down, reassuring them with a hand that it’s good to listen, ‘All I’m saying is why would Jack risk his life to get fresh mountain water in the storm if they were not running from something, you know?’

Frank gives his guests an amusing smile. Showing emotion for the first time, ‘The Police came to speak to me about this unfortunate event in our little community, but I could only tell them what I’m telling you. The storm’s thunder swallowed the sound of any danger and concealed them on that hill. No one ever heard the shots.’

Silence.

Frank shows a hint of distress for the first time, ‘Two bodies were found at the bottom of the hill, in the creek, in the morning. No one will ever know exactly what happened—or what drove them to venture there in such terrible weather.’

A thunderous lightning bolt strikes again. A branch strikes the window, causing the guests to lift off their chairs for a second, only to settle back again.

‘The wooden box! Excuse me, did they find the wooden box? Or the pile?’ a guest says, raising his hand.

‘Yes! We want to know what he had with him. What was in the wooden box?’ a second guest raises his voice on the other side of the room.

‘You heard me,’ Frank frowns, ‘nobody knows if they had anything with them. If, in fact, they had a wooden box with them, we will never know, would we? Whoever killed them would have taken it.’

Silence.

Frank shows no sign of affection, ‘The only thing the community agreed on, is that they left in a hurry because they didn’t lock the house. Police searched through the house and interrogated the neighborhood, but without any leads. The only neighbor who claims to know Jill’s fiancé, left town overnight with his wife—’ he looks away, closes his eyes, ‘Police claim to have found them burnt in their car somewhere, I don’t know—’

The guests hold their hands to their mouths in shock. Frank is not startled. His face shows no emotion, ‘Who knows—you know how it goes. Gossip right?’ he gets up to leave, but as he rises guests notice a wooden box slightly concealed under the chair he’s been sitting on.

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down

And broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after

~ sanet smit