Jimmy talks about his hat

For the next half an hour Jimmy talked about his brother. How they used to go fishing together. They would stay up all night catching worms and then be at the river when the sun came up. They would fish for hours and then go back to their apartment. After the stories Jimmy said, “My brother was almost ten years older than me. My mom and dad were killed in a bad car crash. My brother took care of me until I graduated. Later he joined the marines; he got killed in the war. His cap is the only thing I got.”

Gracie walked into the back room and said, “Sorry to interrupt.” Al said, “That’s fine, Jimmy, and I were just getting done back here, been talking a while. What’s up?” Gracie said, “I was writing down some information when you came in. We had another message on the answering machine. Kind of like the one back a while ago. Remember, somebody saw a person escorted down by the water. It seems like it happened again. This one is different, in a way.”

Al looked puzzled as Gracie continued. “The message was from a man, said he was a fisherman. Seems like he was on one side of the river, and he watched an outdoorsy type guy escort an old lady down to the water. He swears they got into a western style float boat and headed across the river. He said they were floating past him, about a hundred yards out.  Said his view was blocked by some cedars, and he swears it was only for a moment, and the boat disappeared. He thought he might have lost them in the trees, but he’s pretty sure he didn’t.”

Jimmy sat quietly listening to Gracie. When she was finished, he seemed nervous. Al picked up on it, and asked Jimmy, “What’s the matter Jimmy?” In a nervous voice, Jimmy responded, “Been strange things goin on around that river for as long as I can remember. You know the talk, goes way back, even to the times of the native folks. There is something strange bout that river.” Gracie walked over to Jimmy and put her hand on his shoulder, saying, “You don’t believe all that do you?”