The Man Who Walks

Every evening, at precisely 6:30, the man opens his front door and walks out. He stands at the top of the steps, and looks around. He then walks down the steps and on to the sidewalk. He walks with his head down, rarely noticing anything in his surroundings. He walks past the Robinson’s red mailbox, past the Johnson’s white fence, and past the Jenkins’ blue Honda. When he gets to the end of Turner Street he pauses for about 30 seconds, and takes a right on to Carrol Ave. At least, that’s what he usually does.

           Tonight was different. Tonight, when he got to the end of Turner Street he took a left, thus altering the course of many lives. You see, the Jenkins family had made it a habit of watching this man who walks every night. It had become their dinner time ritual, and they often discussed why he walks, and who he is. Timmy, the youngest child at 10 years old, believes that The Man Who Walks is an alien, and he that walks at the same time every night to signal to his alien friends that he is okay. Sarah, the middle child at age 12, believes that he walks to meet up with a secret girlfriend, who he has known his whole life yet they could never be together. She doesn’t have a reason for them to never be together. Sam, the oldest child at 15, thinks that The Man Who Walks is a Russian spy, and that he meets with a messenger every night. Mr. Jenkins claims, with certainty, that The Man Who Walks isn’t really an old man, but really a robot that Elon Musk is testing to see if he can make them realistic enough to blend in with society. Mrs. Jenkins is fed up with this nonsense and thinks “the poor man is just exercising” and “can’t we talk about something else for a change.” Never the less, she too was intrigued when the man took a left instead of a right.

           The family watched the man take this left turn, and immediately got excited. “He’s going to meet up with his spaceship!” Timmy shouted.

           “No! He’s getting ready to finally run away with his girlfriend!” Sarah exclaimed.

           “He’s been compromised. He’s fleeing the states.” Sam said matter-of-factly.

           “He’s evolving.” Said Mr. Jenkins, his voice filled with fake awe, as he was clearly enjoying this dinner time activity with his family. He looked at his wife, who was looking out the window with a concerned look on her face. “It is strange. Every day he goes right. What’s different about today?”

           Sam saw his chance. “We should follow him! See what he’s really up to!”

           His brother and sister gleefully agreed. This felt like an adventure, and maybe they would finally see who was right. The two adults exchanged a glance, they had been together long enough to communicate without really talking. The father clearly wanted to go, “what’s the harm?” he seemed to ask. While the mother thought that this game had gone too far, and she did not want to be following an old man, who is just out for his nightly stroll. She looked around the table, her three children and her husband were looking back expectantly. Sam had already put on a sweatshirt. She sighed, “Okay. But don’t bother him. And don’t scare him! Just see when he turns around and then come back home. Then maybe we can stop this madness!” She was trying to sound stern, but couldn’t help to smile.

Mr. Jenkins saw the smile and grinned, “While you have to come with us! We need our commander!” He stood at a salute, like a soldier awaiting a command. His children saw this and gleefully joined him in a salute.

Mrs. Jenkins gave in, deciding she may as well play along. “Alright soldiers, we have to move quick. Our target has a head start and we don’t know where he is going. Our mission? To determine if our nice old neighbor is really an alien, a Russian spy, a hopeless romantic, or a robot.” She paused and looked around gravely. “Or all four.”

           Mr. Jenkins snapped of a salute and said “Aye aye captain! Sam, you take the lead! Sarah and Timmy you follow behind and keep a lookout. Captain Mom and I will take the rear.”

The family left their house in that order, with the kids sneaking on their tip toes. Mrs. Jenkins whispered to her husband, “our neighbors are going to think we’re crazy.”

Mr. Jenkins laughed. “They might all be robots too!” Timmy turned around and told them to be quiet.

           The family crept down their driveway and on to the sidewalk. Sam was still in the lead, and was getting into his role. He would pause every few steps and look around, holding his hand out to his troops behind him, he would then continue and wave his hand telling them it’s safe to move forward. They walked down Turner street, crouching down behind cars and staying low. Mr. Robinson walked past them, giving a perplexed look to Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins just shrugged as if to say “sometimes you just have to play along.”

           Sam reached the stop sign where Turner meets Carrol, he paused dramatically looking to his left and right. “Look there he is!” Timmy shouted.

           “Shhhhhh!” His family replied.

           “We can’t give away our position! He may notice us.” Mr. Jenkins whispered.

           They all watched as The Man Who Walks meandered along the side walk. He didn’t seem very sinister or mysterious. He seemed like he was just a lonely old man who was going for a stroll. Mrs. Jenkins began to feel uneasy, she turned to her husband. “Okay, we made it to the end of the street. He’s just walking. I feel weird spying on this guy! We should-”

           “Look! He’s going into the woods!” Sarah interrupted her mother.

           “Come on!” Sam said as he began walking towards The Man. Mr. Jenkins smiled at his wife and once again shrugged, “it’s just something fun for the kids.” He reasoned.

           Sarah, Timmy and Mr. Jenkins began to follow Sam. Mrs. Jenkins hesitated for a moment, and then hurried to catch up to her family. It was now a little after seven o’clock, and the last bits of sunlight were leaving the sky. The family was walking faster now, and they were quickly gaining ground on The Man. “Where is he going?” Timmy asked his dad.

           “I don’t know. There’s nothing over there but woods.”

           “There’s an old tree house back there. Ben and I used to hang out there when we were younger.” Sam said.

           “Yeah, but that’s gone now. Me and Lily tried to find it once.” Sarah said.

           Sam replied, “Well, maybe you just didn’t know where to look.”

           Mrs. Jenkins, sensing an argument forming, interrupted, “Does it matter? I don’t think that old man has much use for a tree house. Now this has gone on long enough. We know where he went, mystery solved.”

           “The mystery is not solved!” Timmy responded. His siblings emphatically agreed. They all looked to their dad for backup.

           “They’re right, Sue. If anything, this all got more mysterious. What is an old man doing walking off to the woods?

           Mrs. Jenkins glared at him. “Okay, we can follow a little bit longer. But if it is overgrown we are turning around!”

           The kids smiled at each other, and the family quickly formed a line again. Sam in front, Timmy and Sarah right behind him, with mom and dad bringing up the rear. Mr. Jenkins reached for his wife’s hand and gave it a squeeze, she quickly pulled it away. “This is ridiculous.” She whispered at her husband, clearly no longer enjoying the adventure.

           “It’s better than having the kids staring at a screen all night. At least we got them out of the house.” Mr. Jenkins responded. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? We find out that our neighbor really is just an old man?”

           Mrs. Jenkins started to respond but was once again interrupted, this time by Sam, “look, there’s a path!”

           The family all gathered at the small opening that led into the woods. “How come we never noticed this before?” Sarah said, looking at her dad.

           “I don’t know. Guess we just weren’t looking hard enough.”

           “Or maybe it’s new!” Timmy said, eager to have the right answer.

           “Yeah, maybe.” Mr. Jenkins responded. But he didn’t think the path was new. It certainly didn’t look new. It looked like a path that had been beaten down by many people using it. Mr. Jenkins was perplexed. He had walked this neighborhood many times in the ten years since he and his wife had moved in. How could he have never noticed this path? He was starting to feel uneasy, but also had a growing sense of curiosity. So when Sam said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” He only hesitated for a second.

           Mrs. Jenkins also was confused about how they had never noticed this path, and she too became curious. She watched as her family starting walking through it, looked around at her neighborhood, and then began to follow them.

           The path quickly widened, and soon the family could walk in pairs. They walked in silence, taking in this wonderful new path they had discovered. Although it was now nighttime, there was a full moon that provided more than enough light. The path seemed as though someone had been maintaining it for years, there weren’t even branches to step over, let alone fallen trees. There were no prickers to dodge, or poison ivy to carefully avoid. The grass seemed perfect, as though it was just mowed that day.

Each family member was lost in their own thoughts. Timmy was thinking about how fun it will be to play with his nerf guns back here, Sarah was day dreaming about bringing a future boyfriend on a romantic walk, Sam was thinking that this was perfect smoke spot, and Mr. Jenkins was thinking that this would be a great place to walk their dog, Gus, each morning. Mrs. Jenkins couldn’t help but think about how odd it was that this seemingly man made, well walked path, had evaded them this whole time. She went for walks with her girlfriends every day! How come they never walked over here? She had to call Hillary as soon as she got home.

           The family walked for about 20 minutes until they came to a clearing. They all stopped and stared out at the field they saw. There were flowers everywhere, it looked like a scene out of a movie. “It’s beautiful.” Mrs. Jenkins whispered. Her voice filled with amazement. Sarah bent down and picked up a flower, she took a deep sniff, and instantly sneezed. “You probably shouldn’t smell those things.” A voice said from behind them.

They all jumped.

           The family turned around, and came face to face with The Man. Up close he didn’t seem so old. His hair was gray, and his body hunched like a man who had lived a hard long life. But he had no wrinkles, and he had the eyes of a young man. Mr. Jenkins began to speak, but The Man held up his hand and silenced him.

           “I noticed you have been watching me.”

An excerpt from The Lincoln Daily News from June 23rd

LINCOLN – The Jenkins family has been reported missing after Mark Jenkins, an attorney at Jenkins and Turner Law, did not show up to his office on Monday, June 23^rd. His secretary called his cell phone and his wife’s cell phone and received no answer. The secretary called the police and reported that her boss was missing. Officer’s arrived to the house and entered after they received no response to multiple knocks. A source close to the police department has reported that the house did not look as though it was broken into, in fact, the table was still set for dinner. It has also been reported that both of the family’s cars were in the garage. Police Officers will not comment on an ongoing investigation, but a police spokesman did put out this statement: “At this time the whereabouts of Mr. Mark Jenkins (52), Mrs. Sue Jenkins (50), Samuel Jenkins (15), Sarah Jenkins (12) and Timothy Jenkins (10) are unknown. We are asking anybody with any information to please contact our station.” The family was last seen on Saturday, June 21^st.

           The Jenkins neighbors seem to be very disturbed, as they have been described as a very well-liked family in the community. Mark Jenkins coached his sons little league team and helped when he could with any community functions. Sue Jenkins is a very well respected acting teacher and had been planning a musical called The Never Ending Story. One neighbor told our reporter, “That family seemed so nice! Every night when I would go for a walk I would always stop and wave to them. I really hope they are okay.”

           Once again, if you have any information please contact the police.