Surprises of the Night
by Rebecca E.

James shivered in the cool night air. It was not yet November, but there were already signs of winter. There were only a few leaves left dangling in the barren treetops, and occasional blasts of icy cold wind urged folks back into their warm homes. James was already beginning to wish he was back at his house now, or that he had at least bothered to grab a warmer jacket like his mom was always nagging him to.

He glanced down at his watch: 4:33 . “Where is she?” He wondered, pacing back and forth impatiently. In homeroom this morning, he had convinced his friend Ali to meet him in the nearby park that night at 4 pm . He didn’t think much of the idea at the time, but after already having been freezing outside for over half an hour, he was growing increasingly irritable as the minutes dragged on.

It was always like this with Ali though, as much as it annoyed him, he had gotten used to her being late most of the time. Tonight it seemed especially irksome. Since their mothers were best friends, James and Ali had practically grown up together and had remained close friends through out the years. They were both 17 now (at least, Ali would be soon), and juniors at Chatfield High School .

Finally, James thought he heard the sound of footsteps crunching down the gravel path. Tapping his foot impatiently, he glared down at Ali as she nonchalantly made her way over to where he was standing.

“It’s about time!” He growled angrily. “Where have you been? I’m practically dying of frostbite out here, and you act as though we just met for a leisurely stroll through the park!”

“Well actually, we sort of did.”

James glared at her, but Ali merely grinned. “Sorry tough guy, my parents were acting kind of weird when I tried to leave. Trying to be like actually responsible parents and wanting to know where I was going, who I’d be with, and blah blah blah. When I told them I was meeting you though, they backed off and let me go without another word, weird huh?”

James scratched the back of his neck, and looked off into the distance, “Yeah, weird. But anyway, let’s go look around in the woods and stuff before it gets too dark.”

Ali shrugged and started off into the brush. “You know, it’s been so long since I’ve been back here. When we were little we used to play in these woods all the time, but now I can’t even remember the last time I came through this park.”

James nodded knowingly as they walked along. Ali had to laugh though, when seconds later, he walked straight into a giant spider web, and jumped back in horror. Stumbling around as he tried to ward off the invisible fiend that had attacked him.

“Arachnophobic?” Ali called out over her shoulder as she continued her way through the woods, chuckling. Her laughter trailed off as, after walking a ways, she realized that James wasn’t behind her. She peered out into the growing darkness. “James?” There was no answer, except for the sound of two squirrels chattering in the nearby brush. She sighed and began to backtrack to where they had started from, calling out, “James? Come on, this isn’t funny, come out from wherever you are.”

Ali started to get a little nervous as the squirrels dashed up into the trees and an eerie silence fell over the wood. She took a deep breath and called out once more. “I mean it James! If you don’t show yourself right this second I’ll”-Just then the sound of a twig snapping came from behind her, cutting Ali off. She whirled around quickly, but there was nothing to be seen.

Just when Ali thought her heart would surely burst from her rib cage, she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She quickly jumped away, screaming.

“Geez Ali, what are you trying to do, wake everyone within a 50 mile radius of us?”

Ali breathed a sigh of relied as she turned and saw that it was only James, covered in dirt and leaves, but James none the less. Once her heart rate dropped back into the double digits, she glared menacingly at James. “Why didn’t you answer me when I called you Loserface?”

He ducked swiftly as she chucked a nearby branch at him. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t hear you. I was kind of distracted.”

“Figures. What is it this time?”

James fidgeted uncomfortably. “Well when I, ahem, fell back there, I noticed some strange tire tracks past those two big oak trees and started to follow them, then came back to get you.”

“Gee, how thoughtful of you.” Ali replied, rolling her eyes.

“Well if those don’t interest you enough, check this out.” He reached into the back pocket of his ripped jeans and pulled out a small Swiss Army Knife.

Ali flipped it open and gingerly tested the blade with her thumb. “It’s still as sharp as ever and there is no rust on it, so it can’t have been dropped that long ago. Plus look as this,” She leaned over towards him and pointed to the knife. “There are initials engraved in the side, K.J. Hmm, that’s strange.”

“Thank you for your input Sherlock. Now that you are finally interested, can we please see where those tracks lead? They might have something to do with the knife I found.”

“Fine, but if we end up getting eaten by wolves or something, this ones on you.”

James shrugged contently. “Works for me, as long as you walk faster than that snails pace you are at now.”

“I am not a snail!” Ali replied indignantly, increasing her pace significantly. James matched her step for step, until eventually they broke out into a full out sprint. Ali probably would have just kept running, but she heard something that caught her attention. She stopped abruptly. “Did you hear that?” She asked. Then the sound came again, and Ali realized what it was she was hearing. It was the sound of a horse whinnying. Ali’s jaw dropped as she looked over at James questioningly.

James grinned, “Yes I heard it, and he’s right over there if you would like to know.”

Ali gasped as they came into a large cleared spot of land, enclosed by a barbed fence. Grazing in the center was a large brown and white blotched horse. “Is that who I think it is? No, it couldn’t be, not Rusty?”

James nodded. When they were younger, he and Ali always used to go up to a nearby ranch to go horseback riding. They always chose the same one, a gentle old fellow named Rusty, whom Ali loved. “Yep that’s him. He is fairly old now, so when he went up for sale recently, I got a decent price off the ranch, and I bought him with the money I made over the summer. Plus my parents helped me out a little. There is an acre of free land back here that is fence enclosed. I guess you can just keep him here if you want. I already asked, and your parents said it was alright.”

Ali couldn’t seem to stop smiling as she threw her arms around him. “Oh, thank you, thank you, and thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me, but what was with the whole weird track investigation thing?”

James laughed. “Oh, that. Well, the tracks are from my car the other day, so I thought it was as good a way as any to get you in here and surprise you. As for the pocket knife though, I really did just find it. So I guess we’ll never know who KJ is.”

You really are a dork, do you know that? But its cool, seeing as you got me a horse and all. I have to say though; this has been one of the strangest birthdays I have ever had by far. I guess that’s what comes with strange friends. Just kidding,” she laughed.

James raised his eyebrows and shrugged sheepishly, “It’s just the surprises of the night I guess.”