Saucer in the Dunes

48 No One in Town

We parked right in front of Ronson's; the red dirt from whatever had happened still stained the sidewalk. The hole under the store had been filled, but the grass hadn't grown in yet. That temporarily distracted me, but not for long at all. As the truck's rumbling engine shut off, there was the clacking of the emergency brake being set and some tiny but high-pitched squeaks as the truck rolled back just a bit before the emergency brakes caught. Then, silence. There really wasn't anyone in town. We all sat in the truck a moment or two before Kema and Tik opened their loud squeaking doors and got out.

"It's weird, ain't it, man," Tik said, shaking his head at us, trying to force a smile.

It was weird. He wasn't kidding. That was when my fear began to change into something else, curiosity, maybe. Whatever it was was better than fear. I hated being scared. We couldn't say anything bad happened because we hadn't seen anything bad. No blood, no one dead or dying, no one hurt, nothing burned or destroyed. Everything left just as it was when we left, only empty, no living soul around. Yeah, it was curiosity. I wanted to find out what happened. I wanted to find my parents. I wanted to get to the bottom of this!

I climbed out of the truck, hopped to the ground, and walked toward Ronson's to try the door. The lights were on inside, and the red and blue neon 'OPEN' sign was lit in the front window just like Mr. Ronson always did. I already knew he wouldn't be there, and I wasn't scared, but I wanted to know why, too. A million thoughts were racing through my head, but I kept them to myself. I didn't feel quite ready to say anything just yet.

Everyone followed me, single file, without saying a word. I pushed the heavy metal and glass door open without too much effort. The bells rigged up above the door to alert Mr. Ronson of customers when he was in the back jingled loudly. Nothing, no Mr. Ronson, just like I knew, no one at all.

All the lights were on, and the fan on the corner of the counter slowly spun back and forth, blowing a steady breeze across the cash register. I looked back at Ronnie and the guys and kept moving. We all wandered aimlessly for a few minutes in the store, and I found myself returning to the knife cabinet, where I met Ronnie.

"Man, this is weird," Ronnie whispered.

I nodded and caught Tik's eye as they passed on the other side of the counter, heading towards the door. He raised his chin and kept going. Ronnie and I followed. We gathered outside and agreed to walk through every store in town until we found someone, and then we would go to the police.

We split up. Ronnie and I went to the Drug store, and Jimmy Kema and Tik walked to the Seed and Feed store. It was so quiet inside the drugstore I heard the loud screen door to the feed store slam shut behind them as they went inside.

Ronnie and I didn't speak much. We didn't know what we were doing, only that we were looking for any signs of life, anything at all. All the lights were on inside, even the neon Coca-Cola sign over the fountain. The long bar was tidy and looked to have been set up for a busy day; all the salt and pepper shakers were full, and the napkin boxes shined under the hanging lights above the bar. Every few feet, there was a glass jar full of straws. They were filled, too. We both stopped and looked at the empty grill, the cook's tools lined up neatly in a row.

"The pies," Ronnie said quietly.

"There's no pies. Miss Emma always puts pies under the glass at breakfast first thing in the morning. No one made the pies."

I shrugged and walked back toward the store room behind the kitchen. Ronnie followed.

It was small and clean. There were several stacked boxes to the left of the back door and a single set of shelves that held various items, overstock probably, all neatly placed in rows for easy visibility. An empty rolling cart was used for putting away stock. It had a pricing gun, and the white paper tape from the spent price labels trailed off and hung from the side of the cart. There was also a clipboard with a stack of paper forms of some kind and markers. I looked around a little more, then left. Ronnie was aimlessly walking up and down the aisles.