Trouble On the Rocks

Friday afternoon, I was surprised to see a young man sitting on a big rock down by the creek. I'd stopped at the mailbox around 1:00. In town, I'd discovered that the local high school let out early for a parade. I assumed this dude might have gotten off the bus, and was waiting for a ride. It was an illogical assumption, but I had no other.

First of all, the bus takes at least an hour to get out here after school dismisses. Secondly, the car that underage kid drives down there to park and catch the bus was still parked. So if the bus had let off, the car would have been gone. This dude looked too old to be that kid. He had long stringy brown hair, swept back and trapped under a backwards trucker cap. He was dressed in shorts and a shirt, like any student might wear.

Dude sat on the rock, facing the road, looking at his phone. You'd think somebody who took a walk down there and was just chillin' would be dangling his gangly legs off the other side of the rock, facing the creek. Not a blacktop road. Anyhoo... Dude didn't even look up as I got out for the mail. I figured it had something to do with the early dismissal, and forgot about it, not even mentioning it to Hick.

Monday, around 1:00, I came back from Walmart to find TWO dudes at the rock. The Original Dude was again sitting in the same place, with his phone. Standing in the road, facing him was Big Dude. Still looked young enough to be a student. They both could have been between 16-20. Big Dude had a crew cut, sandy hair, and was dressed like a jock, no cap, wearing flip-flops.

As you might imagine, I was suspicious. WHY were these dudes sitting at the end of my gravel road? I usually get out of T-Hoe, leave him running, and don't latch the door. This time, I turned off the ignition, and took the keys with me.

Big Dude turned to look at me, and said, "Good afternoon." I said hello and went about my mail-gathering business. I would have taken a picture of them, once I climbed back in T-Hoe, but Big Dude kept looking at me. Of course I couldn't risk taking a picture of suspicious possible criminals, in case they might be residents who thought I was a mail-stealer.

Seriously, what business could these dudes have had down there? Maybe THEY had been going through the mailboxes. Maybe they had something to do with the recent broken windows in the bus-waiting shack. Maybeeeee they were connected to DUN DUN DUNNNN: the used condom! Why would two dudes be hanging out on a rock beside the road? Waiting to buy or sell drugs? Acting as lookouts for accomplices who were up in there stealing?

I don't know. Just seems kind of mysterious. Hick did not see them, and did not know of any residents who fit their description.