Intuition

The engine whirred, but failed to start. After several attempts Carol stepped from the old blue Ford and tripped over four of her many cats, but made it out of the garage to the driveway. The spring sun was shining brightly over her south Florida neighborhood. Her new neighbor was mowing his lawn, his long, unkempt beard swirling around his face as he pushed the lawn tractor into third gear. Waving him to stop the tractor he pulled along aside of her and shut the tractor down. “Well, hello,” he said with a sneer. “Hi,” she said, “I know we just met, but my car won’t start, can you run to the store for me and pick up a jar of peanut butter?” “Ma’am, I am a mechanic and it will probably be faster for me to fix your car and then you can go to the store on your own.” Well, this doesn’t seem quite right, Carol thought, but against her better judgment she allowed her new neighbor into her garage. “You are probably right. By the way, my name is Carol,” she said as she offered her hand for a warm shake. “I’m Jeff, and it is nice to meet you.” When their hands met Carol felt even more uneasy by the stranger’s touch. Pushing intuition aside she left Jeff alone in the garage as she went into the house to get away from him. Within minutes Carol heard her car engine start, but it immediately quit running. She heard Jeff tinkering around some more, but it seemed he couldn’t get the old Ford to start again. Then she heard the door that separates the garage and house open and Jeff welcomed himself into the confines of her home. How rude is that? Carol thought. “Well, Carol, I can’t seem to get it started, the anti-theft light keeps coming on, I can fix it, but it’s going to take longer than I thought. Why don’t I run to the store and get that peanut butter for you, and then I can come back and try again?” “That sounds fine,” Carol said as she noticed his eyes looking about the house. “Do you have a bathroom I can use?” She still felt uneasy, but she showed him the bathroom and it seemed to take a long time before he rejoined her in the kitchen. “Okay, I’ll be back,” Jeff told Carol. When Jeff returned he had the peanut butter in hand and walked into the house unannounced. This annoyed Carol, but she didn’t want to upset Jeff, so she smiled as he came into the kitchen. “Well, thanks,” she said, and then she saw that he had a gun pointed directly at her. “Back up,” Jeff said. Carol immediately scooted her chair back. “No, Carol, stay there.” The blast echoed through the house, and Carol heard a thud behind her. Turning she saw a masked man, his dead hand clenched around Carol’s deceased husband’s gun.