The Nails - Part I

The Nails
Copyright 2009 Joel Dison

Jonathan stood perplexed on the sidewalk facing his large, suburban home. It’s well-manicured and professionally landscaped yard a testimony to the success Jonathan had experienced over the last few years as a financial advisor. It was not the product of his handiwork, of course, because his long hours at the office gave him precious little time to work in the yard. Rather, his wife, Gena, had long since hired a gardener for that task.
Jonathan was perplexed because he couldn’t remember driving home today. He remembered every detail of his busy day at the office, but then everything seemed to fade out until he found himself here, staring blankly at his house. He stood there limply holding his leather briefcase at his side. His medium-priced suit was wrinkled from his long day and his power tie hung loosely around his neck to reveal that the top button of his shirt had been unbuttoned. How did I get here he thought to himself.
Even as he stood there staring at his house, he somehow knew that the house was empty. He didn’t know why, but he knew there was no one at home. Usually when he came home, the house was busy with the carefree activities of his three children – all under the age of 12. Usually when he came home, his wife was busy cleaning, or cooking, or helping with homework, or something equally as domestic. Today, however, Jonathan was keenly aware that there was no stirring in the house.
Jonathan usually didn’t bother with that stuff. Typically when he came home, he would retire to the shelter of his study to recover from the pressures of the day. He didn’t know that Gena had long since discovered his secret hiding place where he kept a bottle of Wild Turkey. One drink a day. That’s all, just one, but he felt it was necessary to dull the pain. He knew his pastor would probably frown on him for it. In fact, as a deacon in his small Southern Baptist church, he was supposed to refrain from alcohol altogether. One drink a day though didn’t hurt anything, did it? After all, he wasn’t an alcoholic and he never got drunk. One drink, that’s all.
Jonathan was home earlier than normal today. It was normally dark when he came home – even during the long days of summer – but not today. Jonathan turned and shielded his hands as he looked at the sun. It was still two or three hours above the horizon. What time is it he thought as he looked down at his watch. He was even more perplexed as he saw that the face of his watch was blank. It contained no markings and no hands to indicate the time of day. Jonathan then scanned around the quaint suburban street and suddenly realized that none of the houses had any activity. Jonathan dropped his briefcase and slowly walked to the edge of the street. As he scanned the houses up and down the street, he noticed that they all seemed dark and silent. In fact, there was no one in the neighborhood at all. There were no cars passing by on the street. There were no kids playing in the yards. Not even the sprinklers were running. It then hit him that even the neighborhood pets were gone. Harold’s chocolate lab was usually wandering the neighborhood playing with the kids. Bob’s crazy chow was usually barking incessantly at anything and everything from behind his fenced prison. Nothing. Not even a bird… Where are the birds?
Jonathan turned back and looked at his Ford Excursion. He had been meaning to trade that monster in for one of the new hybrid jobs or even something a bit more practical like a small or mid-sized car, but had not gotten around to it yet. He bought it out of pride a few years back when all his buddies were buying the big SUVs. He had to buy the biggest and the baddest there was. Of course he didn’t really need it.
Not sure exactly what was going on, Jonathan decided that he needed to head back to the office to try and figure things out. That was Jonathan, all right… everything could be figured out by going to the office. It is where he typically went whenever he and Gena had a fight. There had been several times he even spent the night there. Today, however, he just needed to clear this fog in his head and find out why the world had suddenly gone empty. He walked over to the SUV and climbed up into the cockpit, but when he inserted the key and turned the ignition, nothing happened. That’s odd, he thought, the battery shouldn’t be dead. But when he then went to the garage and the same thing happened to his wife’s minivan, he knew something was wrong.
More confused than ever, now, Jonathan took to the street, walking right down the middle of it towards what he knew would be activity and civilization. His office was 20 miles away. He wouldn’t be able to walk all the way to his office, but there was a major shopping center about 5 miles away. For lack of anything better, he decided to head in that direction. At first he walked very casually, but then he came to the first major cross street. Looking up and down this major road, he realized that it, too, contained no activity. A dull fear was creeping into his head, so he turned down this road and began a slow, steady jog. By the time he reached state highway 10, full blown panic had set in. Where are all the people? Where are the cars?
By this time Jonathan was running at a full sprint. As he crested a small hill just prior to the local commerce and shopping center, he all but collapsed from over exertion and lack of breath. He stood there with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath as he looked down into the valley below. The shopping center was like a ghost town. No cars. No people. No nothings. There was a cool breeze blowing across the street and Jonathan startled as an empty cardboard box rolled past him coming from nowhere going to nowhere. It was the only movement he had seen since he awoke from his dazed state in front of his house.
Jonathan’s immediate thoughts were that his pastor was finally right… the rapture had come and he had been left behind. But wait a minute…. If the rapture had come, he wouldn’t be the only one left behind. There would be others. Where were the others? No, this wasn’t the rapture, this was something else. Surely he could find someone somewhere who could tell him what was going on.
Hours of wandering found Jonathan in the dark sitting under a tree at one of the town parks. He was tired, scared, confused, and could think of nothing but his family. Why had he ignored them so? Why had he spent so much time at the office? Right now he would give anything if they would just show themselves. Where could they be? Where could anyone be? Jonathan sat there remembering many things about his family. He was distraught, though, that most of those memories came with the realization that he had not been the father and husband that he should have been. How many birthdays had he missed because of a big project at work? How many school plays should he have attended but didn’t. He thought about the blonde receptionist at work that he so playfully flirted with on a daily basis. On more than one occasion, she had made it clear that he could take things to the next level. He never did, but he couldn’t help but admit to himself the fact that on several occasions he gave it very serious consideration. If the opportunity had truly presented itself, he probably would have caved in to the temptation. As he drifted off to sleep, he was softly sobbing to himself. He had never felt so alone – or so ashamed.

Jonathan startled himself awake. Expecting to find himself in his own bed, he quickly realized that he was still lying under the same tree in the park. His suit was now disgracefully wrinkled and dirty as well. Jonathan took off his coat and his tie and dropped them on the ground. He left them there as he walked away, once again in search of anyone.
Realizing that he was hungry, Jonathan walked into a convenience store and grabbed a package of donuts from the shelf and a carton of 2% milk from the refrigerator section. When he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet, he realized that there was no one to take his money. Not knowing what else to do, he returned his wallet to his pocket and walked out the door.