The Rat Walked Away 2

When Mr. Samson did report what he had seen the last week, Ms. Hilden thought he looked perturbed, or perhaps dumbfounded. He took his coat off, gently shook his head, and then sat down at the kitchen table. “I really don’t understand it,” he said, removing his hat as the stove quickly warmed him, “but I will tell you what I saw.” Ms. Hilden poured Mr. Samson a cup of tea and joined him at the table to listen. “Yes, but let us keep our voices down, if you don’t mind. Mrs. Livingston has just gotten her little Abigail to bed.”

“I see. Ah, well then. I will start from the beginning.  As you asked, I tried my best to keep an eye out for the child, but for several days he just seemed to vanish. Then I was coming in from the backyard when I saw him jump down from his widow into the garden.”
“From a window? Whatever for?”
“I can’t say. Maybe he wanted to avoid those of us in the house? Regardless, that’s what he did every day. Another thing is he went off rather like he was in a trance. It bothered me how he followed the ground as if he was chasing some invisible thing. Every time he returned to this spot out in the woods.”
“It is no wonder he always comes back looking half frozen!”
“Yes.” Mr. Samson nodded, “He would end up at this old, dilapidated house. Did you know that there was a house out there?”
“Yes. I knew the young woman that lived there. It was the last of several buildings that were built in the woods, before Greenfield was even established. All but that one have been torn down. Ah, me. She used to come into town every now and then… I had wondered what happened to her.”
“The building seemed to have been abandoned for some time. Interestingly, the boy never went inside. He just stayed out back and weeded in the garden, talking to the shadows. I didn’t want to get close to him so that he would discover me, but I sometimes would catch bits and pieces. It was something about how ‘she’ was so much like ‘this one’, how ‘this one’ was eating leaves”.
“The poor thing sounds sick in the head. Do you think he had found some wild animal?”

“I was close enough to see there was nothing but a boy in that old yard. At first I thought he was speaking to me! I just about jumped from my boots.”

Ms. Hilden looked contemplative. “Unusual as this all has been, thank you for taking time out of your life on behalf of my concern. You are truly a kind man.”

“Truthfully, it is both a sense of responsibility I have to see that he doesn’t freeze to death, and also my own curiosity that keeps bringing me out there.”

With that he stretched his arms outwards, sighing, and proclaimed that it had gotten late. Ms. Hilden nodded in assent, thanked him, and they both turned in for the night. Ms. Hilden wondered what she should do. This was all strange to her.