It had gotten darker while Lenny was in the movie theater. The air smelled wet, but when he looked up there were no clouds in the sky. He studied the darkness for a moment before deciding what to do. He made his way to the car, turning his head first one way and then the other trying to catch sight of his pursuers. They were slippery. He knew Samantha and the insurance salesman had been in the theater, but now they were no where to be seen. He looked for Samantha’s car, but found nothing.

“Sir,” a man said, running toward Lenny. It was the man that had sat behind Lenny in the empty theater. What could he possibly want with Lenny now?

Lenny thought about making a run for his car, but he was sick of running. He wanted to know what this was all about. He waited for the man to catch up. The man was tall, wearing a blue wind jacket and a matching ski hat. Lenny brought up his hands in fists, just in case he would need them. He knew the sight of him in a defensive posture might also discourage the man from trying to take advantage of Lenny. Lenny just hoped he remembered how to use those fists. He never had been in an actual fight, but he figured it could not be too hard. He watched enough fighting movies to understand the basics.

“Okay, what is it?” Lenny said when the man had gotten close enough to Lenny for him to start feeling uncomfortable.

“You forgot this in the theater,” the man said. He did not hold anything out, and Lenny became suspicious. Maybe he should have made a run for it when he had the chance. Now he knew it was too late. He would have to take the man down if he had any hope of getting away.

“What did I forget in the theater?” Lenny said, cautiously taking a step back. He chanced turning around to measure the distance to his car, when he jerked his head back around, the man had taken a few more steps forward, almost close enough to grab Lenny.

“That’s close enough,” Lenny said, twirling his fists one over the next to show the man that he was ready for a fight. He felt ridiculous, but he was reaching for anything to stop the man’s forward progress.

“Sir, you dropped this,” the man held up a leather glove. When Lenny glanced at the glove, he felt more than saw the man’s left hand come toward his stomach. Lenny tried to bend over and tighten his stomach to take the blow like he read about Houdini doing, but it was not as easy as he expected, and the blow knocked the wind out of Lenny. He fell backward in the grass and held his hands up to protect his face.

“You thought you’d be able to just take the sweater and run away with it, is that it,” the man said. He walked over Lenny and kicked him in the stomach. Lenny covered up, putting his hands over his head and trying to become as small a target as possible.

“You have no idea how valuable that sweater is or what we would have done to get our hands on it. Did you think we’d just give up once your aunt poisoned herself? We knew she wouldn’t go down without passing it on. We just didn’t think she pass it on to such a fool as you,” the man said. He lifted his leg to kick Lenny again, but did not.

“You can come out,” the man said. Lenny whimpered softly. He uncovered his head enough to glance around to see who the man was talking to. He saw Samantha and the insurance salesman walk out from the trees.

“I’m sorry, Lenny. They made me an offer—how does that go again? Oh, yes. They made me an offer that I could not refuse. If you had gone with me at the restaurant, we could have avoided this unpleasantness. But you’re too much of a man for that, I guess,” Samantha said. She stood over Lenny with her arms crossed under her breasts. She was wearing the jeans and white blouse, and she still looked fabulous.

“Samantha, I don’t understand. I loved you,” Lenny said. Even to his own ears, his voice was pitiful. It was high pitched and barely audible.

“You have no idea how cheap I sold your love for, Lenny,” Samantha said and laughed.

Lenny was dumbfounded. In the three years they had been together, he had never known Samantha to be as cold as she was at this very moment. Sure, they fought. All couples fought. But when push came to shove, she had always been there for him, and now, this. He did not even know what to make of it. He recovered his head and pulled himself into a tighter ball.

“Ah, there’s my boy,” Jake said. Lenny refused to look up. Jake’s deep, smoker’s voice was unmistakable, however. Jake’s voice seemed to echo through all of his mass, emanating more from his body than from his throat. Lenny could have picked out his voice anywhere. Now it was coming from above him. Lenny peeked out through the crux in his arm and saw Jake standing there. He was smoking a large pipe and wearing a fine green suit, with a yellow vest and a green shirt. It was funny what the mind focused on when you realized all of your friends were against you.

“I’m sorry about this, Lenny, but the man just made too good of an offer. With all the shit you’ve been putting me through lately, and the losses in our clients, how did you expect me to pass up such a lucrative offer? With the money he’s going to give me, I’m going to be able to quit the commercial art business and return to my sculpting. You remember my sculpting, right? You know, it was you who convinced me that I should give up my dreams.

“You probably don’t remember, but it was during our sophomore year that I stopped sculpting. We went out drinking one night and you told me, ‘Jake, you’re a great friend and probably the best artist I’ve ever met,’—I’m not exaggerating about that last part. This speech is embedded in my memory. You went on to say, ‘but you have to think about your future. You can’t just keep sculpting rocks without getting paid. Why don’t you start sculpting those commercial statues. They’re always looking for commercial sculptors,” or something like that. I guess I don’t remember it that well. But you did convince me to give up my art, and for that, I am forever in your debt. Now, I’m sure it’ll make you feel great that it was you who enabled me to take it up again. That must make you warm and fuzzy inside,” Jake said.

“Enough chatter. Hand over the sweater, Mr. Lenny’s-last name. You’ve had it for too long and you’ve squandered it,” the insurance salesman said.

“Oh, we’re done with this one? Is that it? I think not. There’s one other ghost that needs to come out to complete this story,” Samantha said.

Lenny feared to look, but knew that only his aunt was missing from this motley collection of people. But his aunt was sick. This was making little sense.

“That’s right, it’s me, Aunt Elaine. Now, Lenny, I want you to give the sweater to this nice man. I’ve had second thoughts about the sweater ever since I gave it to you. Looking back, I’m not sure why I would give such a gift to such an ungrateful person. Now, just stand up and hand over the sweater to this man, and we’ll all be on our way,” Aunt Elaine said.

This was too much for Lenny. He could not comprehend what was happening. Why were all these people working with the insurance salesman. Who was he? Lenny tried to stand up, but he felt the insurance salesman’s foot kick him in his stomach again. His aunt, Samantha, Jake, and the insurance man all surrounded him. There seemed no way out. He pleaded silently with the sweater to tell him what to do. There must be something he could do. He sat up and began lifting the sweater over his head.

“That’s right, Mr. Lenny’s-last-name, nice and slowly and we’ll be done with all of this unpleasantness,” the insurance salesman said. Lenny lifted the sweater over his head and everything went black.

***

“Lenny, are you alright,” Samantha said. Lenny’s eyes were closed and the world felt too painful for him to wake up. His eyelids were concrete over his eyeballs and grated when he tried to look around. He tried to lift his arms but they would not move. He closed his eyes and oblivion met him.

***

“There you are, kiddo. I was wondering when you’d join us again. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for some time now. Everyone is here. Why don’t you join the world of the living,” Aunt Elaine said. Lenny’s eyelids still felt like iron bars, and he tried to make a sound. His throat seemed filled with something and no noise came out.

“Don’t try to talk, sweetie. There are enough tubes down there to choke an elephant. Here, give me your hand,” Aunt Elaine said. She took Lenny’s hand in both of hers and squeezed. The world still spun and Lenny could not get his bearings. He tried to squeeze his aunt’s hand, but he felt no strength. He saw oblivion coming for him and no matter how much he tried, it grabbed onto his legs and dragged him under again.

***

“Hang in there, Lenny. The doctors said you’ll come out of this soon. We all miss you at work. Even Charlie has been talking about how quiet it is. He came back, you know. Just like you said he would. None of the clients went with him, but I’ve taken it easy on him. We had a long talk about his needs and desires, and we’re going to bring him into the partnership in a few years, assuming you agree, of course. I think it’s a good idea, but we can talk about it when you’re better,” Jake said.

***

“Lenny, Lenny? I know you’re in there. Come out, come out wherever you are. You’ve had us scared shitless while you were taking you’re way too long nap, you know. I know things have been rather strained between us, but I didn’t realize how bad off you were. I’m sorry about that. I really am. We need to have a long talk when you wake up. So much has happened since you decided to take your nap,” Samantha said.

There was definitely light behind his eyelids. He had not seen the light before and was surprised. Lenny hung on to Samantha’s words and began pulling himself toward consciousness. He was not sure how long he had been gone, but he knew that it was time for him to return.

“Samantha?” Lenny said.

“Oh, Lenny. I knew you were in there. Do you want something? Some water maybe?” Samantha said.

“Sweater?” Lenny said, barely putting the words syllables together to make the word. He did not know why the sweater was important, but he knew he needed to know more about it.

“The sweater? It’s safe, Lenny. You aunt, she’s well now, she explained everything to us. We kept it safe. But we need you to get better so we can talk about it. Do you want me to get the doctor?” Samantha said.

“Where?” Lenny said.

“Where’s the doctor? I’ll go get him if you want,” Samantha said.

“The sweater,” Lenny said. But he did not hear the answer. Oblivion found him again.

Word count: 2,001

Words remaining: 4,020

Caffeination: a few sips of a tall mocha that I never bothered to finish

Feeling: That I just want this story to end. I know there’s good writing in me, but I barely remember what it feels like. Another four days and maybe I’ll find it again. If anything, this has been a great lesson in humility.