The Offering [TTSSC]

10:am August 28th 2009. Athorities in rural Urbana Ohio found the missing semi from Bob Evans warehouse parked in a local Flying J gas station earlier this morning. There was no sign of Steve Lang, the missing driver.

previously.......4:22 pm August 26th 2009. Steve was rolling across I70W to take another load of supplies to the Bob Evans restarants in Indiana. He was thinking how relieved he was that his son Troy had started back into school. At least he wouldn't be home alone like he was all summer. When you have a 16 yr old son who has developmental issues you just never know whats going to happen next. Right after he stopped for gas, Steve would call home to make sure Troy was in the house and playing his xbox.
Pulling ino the Flyin J Steve noticed one of those road side vegetable stands that farmers have this time of year, just off to the right of the driveway. He made a mental note to run over and check out the corn. Troy loved corn on the cob and Steve was a good dad." Hi buddy, hows the corn today"? The farmer told Steve that actually he wasn't going to sell this corn because it was against everything he was made of to sell corn that had been picked more than 8 hrs ago. The farmer began to trash bag up the corn and while doing so he told Steve he has fields full of corn right down the road. Hop in my truck and I'll have you back here in 20 mins with enough corn to last you for a bit the farmer said. No charge either since you have to go to the trouble. 20 mins wouldn't throw his delivery schedule off much so Steve agreed. Steve and the farmer drove into the dirt driveway which was actually one really long driveway. I'd hate to have to drive down this is deep snow Steve thought to himself. At the end of the driveway was a small farm house and laundry was hanging on a clothes line just like people used to do in the old days. "Lets get you a basket out of the barn" the farmer said. Steve followed the farmer out to the barn. Once inside the barn, the farmer reached for a hoe that was hanging on a hook and politely knocked Steve in the head with the hoe. Steve fell to the floor unconsious. The farmer got a roll of rope off of another hook and tied Steves wrists securely. It wasnt easy dragging him back out to the pick up truck but he was used to it . After all he had done it just about every day for the past 2 weeks. Thank goodness this would be the last one for the year. The farmer got up in the truck and pulled Steve up into it by grabbing both arms and lifting with every ounce of strenght he had left. Once Steve was in the truck the farmer closed the tailgate. Hopping into the truck he wiped the sweat from his brow and started the engine. Behind the barn was a smaller dirt road that went back thru the cornfield and into a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a large wooden pole deeply embedded in the ground and about 20 feet high and as thick as a phone pole. The farmer dragged Steve out of the truck and over to the pole. Well if he wakes up and starts yelling like the others did, nobody will hear him either the farmer thought to himself. With that he tied Steve securely to the pole with the remaining rope he had brought along. He was so glad this was the last one for the year.

After dinner that night, the farmer went out to sit in the porchswing like he did every night after dinner. The sun would be going down soon now. This was the place that offered the best view. The stars always twinkled brighter it seemed to him at this time of year. He rocked and waited. Rocked and waited..... Darkness fell later in August but this would be the last night so the wait seemed somehow easier. Somewhere around about 11 maybe he saw the light in the sky. It was them. They had come after the last offering. They had made the deal oh maybe 12 years ago or so. It was the night they took his wife. He had ran out into the field screaming up at the sky but it was too late. She was gone. Yelling into the night, he screamed
"Bring her back and I will give you more." The next morning she was in bed beside him. "They said to tell you that they want one each night for two weeks every august," she told him over breakfast. If you give them that, they will leave us alone. So he had kept his word over the years and done exactly that.
Now he watched the ship hover over the clearing. Ten minutes later they were gone. Well thats it then , he thought. He went back into the house and directly up the stairs. He walked softly because didn't want to wake her.

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[edit on 20/9/2009 by Mirthful Me]

Nice story and well written!

Would like to know where you got the inspiration for this little short piece and the depressing circumstances??

reply to post by Magantice

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Bravo! This was a wonderful read full of suspense and intrigue. Congratulations my friend. I didn't suspect a thing until the very end, which was what you intended I think. What an eerie story too. I can't wait to read more from you.

reply to post by Irish Matador

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Thank you Irish Matador, Actually Steve is my brother. I joke with him that one day he and his Bob Evans semi will just keep rolling across I 70W and no one will know where he went. Before he drove a propane semi and I used to tease him about watching for the mushroom cloud on the horizon. Steves a fun guy and we are both nuts.

reply to post by Hazelnut

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Thank you Hazelnut for your kind words. I won't win any contests but I enjoy telling stories. Children usually try to get me to tell them a "WHOPPER". I hope one day there is a poetry contest. I mostly write childrens poetry. Thanks again Hazelnut my buddy.

reply to post by Magantice

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Absolutely fantastic Magantice. I was captivated at what in the world the seemingly nice farmer was up to. I seriously thought, after he knocked out the truck driver, that he was going to use him for fertilizer in the next corn crops!

You pulled the rug out from under me with that awesome ending and I didn't expect it! Star and flagged Magantice. I loved it. I had a real feel for the eeriness of the night as the farmer rocked in his chair too. Great suspense. That had to be better than crocheting! Thank you for sharing an awesome twisted story.

reply to post by jackflap

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Thank you Jackflap, for your kind words and encouragement. Coming from such a great writer as yourself, it's a real compliment to me. Good luck to you as well. Im an working on a great doily tho

Good story! Intriguing, and well written. I really, really like it!

reply to post by ladyinwaiting

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Thank you ladyinwaiting for your kind words and for taking your time to read my story. Im obviously not a writer but its fun to try new things. I have an imagination and the storys are there but my grammer and spelling suck.

I really liked this one. I was being all smart and stuff and just KNEW that the farmer was going to eat the guy, or something.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I was wondering though, can you teach me how to politely knock someone out with a hoe? Just kidding, but that was a very humorous addition.

The story was dark, but I don't think the farmer did anything I wouldn't have done in the same circumstance....kinda makes you think about that whole homicide thing. but I guess HE didn't really do the killing so no worries...

I hope you're going to write another someday and tell us what happened to those twelve folks a year.

reply to post by KSPigpen

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hello Kspigpen and thank you. The farmer politely hit Steve with the hoe becuase there was no malice involved. It was something he regretfully had to do.
psst....the 14 every year are for the Dna of humans. Specifically the 29th protein which is a prion.

This is an extremely well written piece of work, I enjoyed this story, as much to my shock and horror of it all. A well deserved S & F, I think this could very well be a prize in the competition. :up

reply to post by catalyst2466

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Physical pain has made my morning bleek but reading your kind words has made me feel so much better. Its amazing how kind words can just make a persons day. Thank you catalyst2466.

Dagnabbit! You fooled me. I was sure it was going to be one of two things. The first is related to a great movie and the sign 'Farmer Vincent's Smoked Meats' and the second is the story of the Sacrifice of the Corn God.

Darned if you didn't surprise me with the twist in your story. Nice work, Magantice.

reply to post by masqua

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Thank you masqua for the kind words. I really tried to find a twist ending that no one would suspect. I hope my brother Steve likes it.

reply to post by Magantice

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Nice twist, was expecting King, got Azimov instead.