The Man With A Shoebox

As the audience shuffles in, Flute and Clarinet trill warm ups, fingers fluttering, while Bassoon runs through chromatic scales.

The woodwind trio’s parents, grandparents, friends, and silver heads from the community settle into creaking folding chairs before scanning the college chamber music concert’s program.

Nudging Clarinet with her foot, Flute whispers, “That’s him,” as an unshaven man darts down the aisles pressing a dingy shoe box to his chest. Bassoon whispers, “The guy who’s been following you? He was in my Calc class. Definitely odd.”

While waiting to begin, the musicians watch the man and his box, wondering what the hell’s in it. He passes empty seats until perching on a chair in the back row, cradling the box like a rectangular baby. Then he slinks to another chair, closer to the trio. Then to an even closer seat.

Clarinet stands up to welcome the crowd formally, telling them about the composer’s theme of shooting stars represented by long notes, trying to ignore the box man, who moves to yet another seat. Flute begins softly, like the sound of a star shimmering. Clarinet and Bassoon join in, guiding the audience through a musical night sky.

Their heavenly notes fill the room but their skin itches, crawls, sweats as the guy inches closer to the stage again. At their final note, the musicians rise, bow, rush off stage, barely acknowledging the applause.

The man scuttles out the auditorium’s door with his box, giggling to himself how he scared those damn noise-makers who disturb him and his dorm above the music school every damn night with squeaks, squawks, and honks. Then singing and guffawing in the street just below his window, while he’s upstairs awake and alone. Who’s laughing now?

As he steps outside into icy rain, he retrieves a black collapsible umbrella from his box, snaps it open with a pop. When a few old ladies gasp at the noise, he shakes his wet umbrella at them, snickering and yipping like a jackal marking its territory as they rush away.

BIO: Liz deBeer is a teacher and writer with Project Write Now, a writing cooperative based in New Jersey. Her flash has appeared in BULL, Fictive Dream, Bending Genres and others, including as a WOW flash runner-up. She has written essays in various journals including Brevity Blog and is a volunteer reader for Flash Fiction Magazine. She holds degrees from University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. Follow Liz at http://www.ldebeerwriter.com/ and https://lizardstale.substack.com