I've
Got Your Keys
From the telling of Rich(bodhránaí gan ciall)
(I got this from the telling of my storytelling teacher, Alan Irvine, about 4 years ago.)The young couple met in college, during his junior and her sophomore year. Over the next year they dated, fell in love, and got engaged. It was decided that they would wait until she graduated and sure enough, shortly after graduation they tied the knot.
Well it was a long ceremony and reception, both having come from large families., By the time they had spent the obligatory visit with all the guests and were free to leave for their honeymoon, it was quite late. They had planned romantic weekend at a quaint little lodge, way back in the mountains.
Well it was late, the road was dark, and they were paying more attention to each other anyway, so sure, enough they wound up halfway off the road in a ditch. The young man tried to push the car out but to no avail, and as if the night wasn't going poorly enough, it started to snow. They looked up ahead and thought they could see a light off in the distance. The young man said that there was no sense in both of them roaming in the woods, if she wanted to curl up in the car and stay warm he'd go up and get help, and she could get some well-needed rest.
They pulled the wedding quilt her grandmother had made them out of the trunk, and the young woman curled up in the back seat and tried to sleep. The young man slipped the keys in his pocket and headed towards the light which he assumed was a cottage to see if he could call a tow truck. The woman pulled the quilt up over her head and tried to put the sounds of a snowstorm in the forest out of her head.
The wind howled, and the branches creaked and the the sound of the snow falling out of the branches on the car made the hair on the back of neck stand on end, but at last she drifted off into an uneasy sleep. She awoke with a start although she could not tell why. She was sure it had been a long time since her husband had left, too long. The storm had slowed down but still the wind blowing through the trees made them creak and the snow from the branches fell around the car with a soft pat-pat-pat.....but THAT was no snow falling on the hood!
She listened to the sounds outside. A thump (snow), a howl (the wind...), a laugh (...in the branches), a faint tinkling sound (maybe icicles falling from the trees). But maybe not. Was someone out there? She could stand it no longer. She peeked out from under the quilt, and looked out the left window. There was nothing there. Out the right, nothing. Out the back, nothing, still.
At last, she looked over the back seat and through the wind shield. She saw a withered old woman, sitting on the hood, laughing. In one hand she held a cleaver with blood still dripping from it. Cradled in her lap was the newlywed groom's head, and jingling away in her other hand were the keys to the car.
Rich Rayburg