Grass

Belmont was a town from the movies, but the movies just hadn’t found it yet. That’s what people would say. Three stoplight downtown kinda place. Football at the high school on Fridays was required attendance. Everybody - all the adults, anyhow - worked at the factory. Either that or one of the shops.

You move in, they bring you pies. You move out - well, you don’t. There’s no reason to.

But Belmont had its legends. That’s what you’re asking me about, right?

It’s typical. For one, they always brought a goat onto the field before the Tigers games, but no one really knew why. They just did. Their mommas and daddys did the same thing, and, probably, the mommas and daddys before that did too.

A couple of kids died in a motorcycle accident a while ago - very sad. Supposed to be you can see a single headlight out in the distance on Route 8 some nights. Maybe it’s those kids. I don’t know.

Sometimes teenagers tell stories around the bonfire about a guy with a hook hand, but nobody’s ever seen a hook hand man in Belmont, so they’re just playing it for frights probably.

Can I see that ashtray for a second?

Thanks.

Let me know if the smoking bothers you. I know they’ll kill me, but something has to, right?

Damn, this light is brighter than I thought it’d be. Can you turn it down a little?

No, that’s OK. Thanks.

So you want to know about the house, right? And Mr. Fayad?

I was pretty young, like 12 or so, but I can tell you what I remember. You might want to talk to someone like Danny, he’s been around longer than - 

Oh, he’s gone? I didn’t know. Makes sense, though. Not many left, then.

Well, yeah, Fayad moved into the Campbell house - we called it that because it’s on Campbell Street. Now I think he was trying to fix it up and flip it for cash - not stay there - but, you know, it was after 9/11 and people lost their damn minds about it.

I mean, dude was an Arab and it was a small town, and everybody’s watching the same stuff on TV - the “If you see something, say something” business. Guy caught hell from that.

If he had been able to fix up that place, it would’ve made the neighborhood look a little better. Run down place. Rotted wood on the outside and I didn’t want to think about what it looked like on the inside.

Couldn’t have been better than the outside.

And that grass, wow. I’ll never forget that overgrown grass.

You sure you can’t turn the light down a little?

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just thought I’d ask again. Starting to sweat some.

It’s like a single beam right here on my forehead. It’s kinda like - never mind.

The house.

I can’t remember anyone living in the house before Fayad. Someone must’ve, or why’d they build it in the first place, right? But damn sure nobody lived in it after.

I don’t think so, at least.

I’m gonna light up again, OK?

Don’t judge me, but sometimes I get to shaking and this helps.

So yeah, the house. Fayad.

Like I said, I think he meant to fix it up. I know he did some work on the inside first. Brought in one of those big brown dumpsters and put it right in the street. That pissed people right off. Had a couple of guys who, you know, looked like him clean the place out - probably gutted it. They hauled out wood, plaster, paper, insulation, all kind of stuff - trash. Fixed up the outside some too. Replaced some of the boards, put down some new shingle on the roof.

My pop called the cops on them once while they were up on the roof. Said a few terrorists with guns were up high shooting on the town. It was just staple guns, though.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

People got mad at him about the grass. How he never cut it. We thought he was saving it for last for some reason. Didn’t make sense. The outside of the house is what people see first, right?

I was out on my bike one time and I saw him with the lawnmower. He started the thing and pushed it onto the yard and, just as soon as he did that, he looked kinda freaked out and stopped the thing. Shook his head and walked inside. Just left the mower out there.

Now that I think about it, I don’t think he ever touched that mower again. It just sat there and rusted.

That’s about when Fayad started to lose it. Stopped fixing up the house. I didn’t see the other guys around anymore - I don’t think they went down for the guns.

Folks didn’t see Fayad for a while. Maybe a few months.

The house became one of those places, you know, where kids dare each other to spend the night. No one ever did, though. Danny came close when we were hanging out together but he didn’t.

Yeah, he’s gone. You told me.

So Fayad, he showed up in the town one day, wearing this long green robe. Big scruffy beard. Carrying around this huge green book with weird letters on it - probably the Ko-ran.

Thing I remember, though, is that he kept going on about tentacles.

That light’s really getting to me now. Sorry, but it’s shining right in my face and it’s making me, like, itchy?

Maybe it is just nerves. But that light -

*COUGH* *COUGH*

Yeah, the tentacles. That didn’t seem like any Islam thing that I knew about, granted, I don’t know much about it. But I find it hard to believe there’s a religion that talks about tentacles and - what’d he call it - nutrients? No, something simil - NUTRIMENT! That’s what is was. Whatever that is. It sounds way too - I don’t know.

Seemed like he was talking to someone too, but nobody else was there.

Yeah, that stunt got him locked up pretty quick. Folks were real scared after that. Thinking he was a terrorist, or working with terrorists, or secretly talking to the terrorists. They held him for a while - maybe a year? Don’t know where he went, but he wasn’t any better when he came back.

And the house started to fall apart again. Wood started rotting, the glass was covered in dirt and dust, and the grass was still a mess. Guess he didn’t feel like taking care of it anymore.

I threw a rock through his window one time. I was maybe 14 by then and people were sick of this guy yelling his stuff and being all crazy. Police even stopped taking calls about Fayad - they just let him be. Hadn’t done any real terrorist stuff anyhow. 

Rock made a little hole but didn’t break the thing. You could see it from the street because his windows were so dirty.

I felt bad about it afterwards. You know, I wasn’t a bad kid. I thought I’d help him out to make up for the damage. Grabbed our lawnmower and walked it down to the house a couple days later. I just wanted to - 

CAN YOU SHUT OFF THE DAMN LIGHT PLEASE IT IS GETTING -

It is getting - 

Sorry that was an overreaction. I need to calm down for a second. Just give me a second.

I don’t even know how you got a light in here with the electricity down.

Oh yeah, that makes sense.

What was that?

*COUGH* *COUGH*

Yeah, I guess it’s my first time back since I buried my pop. The factory had shut down by then. It was even hard to see from the road because of the tall grass.

And now the football field and the school? The whole place feels dead.

Yeah, I guess you’re right.

Well, anyway, I took my lawnmower over to the house. I didn’t tell him I was there. Didn’t want him to freak out. But I was doing a good thing - the whole neighborhood would appreciate it.

So I just started the mower and pushed it onto the lawn.

When I tell you that man screamed, I really mean he SCREAMED from inside the house.

No words - just pain. 

I was so startled, I just ran. I was afraid of what Fayad might do. But not because he’s an Arab, right?

I didn’t even notice how wet I was till I ran through our front door. That’s when I saw the blood.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

I was covered in it. My clothes were soaking wet - and red. My legs, my shoes, everything.

I didn’t even realize I’d cut myself. Didn’t feel any pain.

And when my pa looked later, he didn’t find any cuts either. He said I probably pushed the mower over an animal.

But how did Fayad know? Why did he scream?

I’m sorry, I’m shaking.

It’s just - I think about this a lot.

Those things in your life that you just can’t explain, you know?

Never mind.

Yeah, like I said it’s my first time back in Belmont in a long while.

I was hoping to run into Danny while I was here. Have you -

Oh yeah, sorry. You did.

Yeah, this is my first time inside. Still don’t know how you convinced me to do it.

It’s pretty much what I expected, with nobody taking care of it for a while.

No, I don’t know what happened to Fayad. People forgot about him. Or he was just gone. I don’t know.

So that’s about -

*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*

Whew, so that’s about all I can tell you.

I guess I’m done? I can leave now?

No, you’re right. I should.