The Listening Spot

Chapter 7

Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

Previous Chapters

1.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot

2.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-eb2

3.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-4eb

4.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-3ca

5.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-918

6.)https://charactercognition.substack.com/p/the-listening-spot-bd8

Chapter 7

Tuesday Morning

The light but steady rain slowly plopped against the rainfly. C.J. stared at the rain through the tent window. There was no joy at the thought of spending the entire day inside of his tent, especially at the prospect of an empty lake. He was too excited to sit quietly and read, maybe an action movie could have distracted his fixated mind. The lake was magical. Not magical in the sense that it was beautiful, though it was. It contained some kind of connection to the supernatural, unlike anything he’d ever experienced. C.J. wasn’t sure if any of what he remembers was real, but he knew he wanted to find out how much his grandparents knew about the lake. He angled his neck to get a glimpse at the sky through the mesh in the tent wall. The sky looked ashen and the clouds still looked ominous. So he got dressed, grabbed his car keys, and hiked the sloppy mile back to his truck. 

Once he climbed into the truck the state of his clothes became obvious. He squished around the front seat and stained the truck’s floor mat in mud. C.J. sighed and made a quiet wish for sunny days for the rest of the week. Otherwise, this mess would never dry. He searched for something in the truck to dry his hands, they were soaked. His shirt and pants weren’t an option but he wanted to grab the map without making it soggy. Finally, he just turned on the truck, put the heat on low and rested his hands on the open vents. With his hands now sufficiently dry, C.J. grabbed the map, checked the route to the convenience store and saw that the main road out of the state park would take him where he wanted to go. The more difficult part of his journey would be the twists and turns between this parking lot and the park’s exit. All in all, it was a great day for a road trip, but it was only an hour drive.

The door chimed loudly as C.J. entered, he and the clerk both glanced up at the bell. When their eyes locked the clerk delivered a dose of shock through, wide eyes, raised brows, and an agape mouth. “What happened to you?” the Clerk said.

C.J. looked down at his drenched clothing, “I thought it’d be a good day for a hike”, he said with a chuckle.

“I bet. What can I do for you?”

“Do you sell clothes?”

“We sell a few items, a shirt, a pair of pants, and a hat. If it fits, then you should buy it.”

“How about binoculars? Do you sell any of those?”

“Not officially, but I have a personal pair I’m trying to unload. I’d sell them for $25, are you interested?”

C.J. was interested. He wanted to get a better view of the lake from his perch. But, he had no idea whether or not these binoculars were priced affordably. “I’d appreciate seeing them, if you don’t mind. Thank you.”

“Sure thing let me go grab them, be right back.”

The clerk disappeared behind the curtain and C.J. could hear him rummaging through some things as he searched for the binoculars. “So, why do you need these anyway!?”, he yelled. 

“Oh just to get a better view of the wildlife and lake up at the state park.”

“You know, I’ve never been up there. I was raised here and the state park actually feels like a tourist attraction… Found them!” He appeared from behind the curtain with a pair of binoculars in his hand, C.J. gave them a quick lookover, pretending he knew what he was looking for, shrugged and handed the clerk $25.

“Nice doing business with you…”, the clerk trailed off waiting for C.J. to give him a name.

“Caleb Jacobson, but you can call me C.J.”

The clerk extended his hand and said, “I’m Jericho, Jericho Wallace. Let me ask you a question C.J.. The lake, is it pretty remote? You know, not a lot of people around?” There was something about the way the clerk asked the question that made C.J. a bit uneasy.

“Sure, I guess it’s pretty quiet.”

Jericho’s phone started vibrating on the service counter again, this time he just looked at the number and dismissed the call. “That’s great, I love quiet.”

“Are you going to make a visit up there soon?”

“I was thinking about checking it out some time this week, we’ll see. Did any of the clothes fit?”

“No, none of those are going to work for me, thanks though.”

“Alright, no problem. I’m going to close up for lunch, do you have any lunch plans today?”

“I don’t have any plans for the week”, C.J. replied.

“Great, you can join me, there’s a diner not too far from here, let me get some things situated. Why don’t you wait for me outside and then you can follow me to the diner.”

A hot meal sounded really nice to C.J., “Sure thing, I’ll be right outside.”

Tuesday Afternoon

When C.J. left the convenience store there were no more waterworks. He opened the truck door and smelled the damp interior and decided to wait in the parking lot instead. He was leaning on the truck when he remembered that Jericho’s phone had service here so he opened up the glove compartment and grabbed his phone. Once the phone had a chance to wake up, C.J. realized he did have service. He dialed his grandparents house line and waited while it rang.

“Jacobson residence”, his Grandpa’s baritone voice bellowed.

“Grandpa, why didn’t you tell me about T.L.S.!?”

“C.J. I’m glad you gave us a call! Where are you anyway?”