The Window

TheWindow

The shed was not even usedanymore. Dan and Jared were not sure when it had ever been used. They weren'tsupposed to go near it."Rusty, rotten thing," Jared's mom called it. "Hunk of crap," Jared's dad called it.Dan's parents did not talk about it much ever since Dan a year or two ago hadreported to Jared that his parents had suggested getting a petition to get Jared'sparents to get rid of it and Jared's parents had stopped talking to Dan's for two years.The shed stood near the back of Jared's yard and had been there for as long as hecould remember, which at 12 was not that much in reality but was an infiniteamount of time as far as Jared was concerned. Jared's parents had not built theshed, which was locked shut and had been for a long time because teenagers hadsnuck in there, long ago, and used it to drink and do drugs, and Jared's parentshad been worried about that. Jared remembered that. It was about his earliestmemory of the shed.He wondered then, and later, why his parents had locked the door but notremoved the shed. Another memory, more recent, was he and Dan throwing rocks at the shed oneday while his parents were at work. It was a hot summer day, a scorcher of a day,and they'd been sitting on Jared's back porch. From where Dan was sitting, hecould see the corner of the shed sticking out from the honeysuckle and lilac bushes that surrounded it. Jared's back was to the shed and he had his eyesmostly closed, squinting in the sun that shone almost directly overhead as they pondered their options."What do your mom and dad want with that shed for anyway?" asked Dan. Jaredshrugged and suggested they go inside and play with his xBox. Dan said it was toohot to be inside, and looked again over Jared's shoulder. "It's so ugly," he said."It's an eyesore." That was the word Dan's parents had used when they'dmentioned the petition. Dan brought it up from time to time.

"They'll tear it down.""I bet they don't," said Dan, and got up to walk towards the back yard, shaded in by trees but filled with the humid air that made it feel like they were walkingthrough a steam bath. "I bet they leave it up forever. Maybe they use it.""For what? What would they use if for?" Jared wondered."Storing stuff. Drugs maybe. Or money." Dan was trying to get to Jared. Onsummer days, when the thrill of summer and freedom from school has worn off, when boys have gone bike riding enough and gone to the pool and before they are willing to admit they are interested in girls, there is only one activity left and thatis goading one's friends. At least an argument would be interesting.They pulled up short of the shed, about twenty feet away, and examined it. It wasnot even a story tall; a grown man would not have to hunch to walk inside it, but would probably do so because the ceiling, based on how the roof looked, would below enough that it would raise the fear of hitting his head. The shed had once been white and now was mostly gray, and dull white, with the paint peeling andchipping and underneath showing the boards to be a grayish-brown thatsuggested rot. There was a door on the left wall of the shed, the one that did notface them, the door that was locked. The wall that faced them was solid except fora small octagonal window in the wall. The window would have been meant toprovide light to someone inside; the shed was not wired for electricity. The roof of the shed was shingled with rough, nappy looking black-tar shingles that werenoticeably missing in spots and hanging precariously in others. The roof saggedinwards and the eaves of the roof hung over the side limply, as though wilting.The grass around the shed was not trimmed; it grew longer as it got towards theshed. Jared's dad did not mow too near the shed. It was partially hidden by the bushes around it. The boards, at the corners of the shed, curled slightly outwardsand curled at their own edges, creating a tempting point at which to begin to pry them off."Go inside," said Dan."No way," said Jared. "Besides," he quickly added to avoid being accused of beingafraid, "It's locked.""I bet you could pull off a board and get inside.""You do it." It was a lame attempt and they both knew it."What are you scared of?" asked Dan."I don't want to get in trouble. I'm not supposed to go in there."