Fiction Friday: Copperton's Folly

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left, but careful to step over the crack in the pavement.

Right.

Left, twist the foot, to fit on a solid piece of concrete.

George looked a little awkward with how carefully he was walking down the street. His gait was halting and unnatural, and his posture was particularly poor with his head stooped down to look at his feet. A month ago that would have earned him scorn from the more popular boys. But, that hadn’t stopped him before taboo violations were met with terrible calamities, and it certainly wasn’t going to stop him now that a misplaced toe could result in a broken limb. He was grateful he had been given to compulsive behavior. He used to wonder if he had OCD. Now, well, who would care. Everyone was very careful. Only a small number had escaped any accident, and they were all a bit odd.

George came to a place where he was going to have to jump. There wasn’t room for another two steps in the same section of pavement, and the next one had a large crack running right through the place his left foot would have to go. He would have to jump over that into the next section. His small frame was a difficulty here. He had essentially been practicing for this his whole life, but being short still presented some difficulties. Then he realized he could tip toe, angle his path to the right about thirty degrees, and make his stride about a quarter the length is would normally be and he’d get through with no, or at least very little, difficulty.

Across the street George saw a man limp in one direction, and then to the other side. He stopped to see if he could give any help. It had taken a few extra minutes, but George had crossed to this side of the street because of the repaving project the city had done a few years ago. They hadn’t put in a large piece of pavement with evenly spaced seams. That had been determined to be too utilitarian. The City Council felt that Copperton deserved pavement with more personality. So, there was an asymmetric, irregular pattern of dark and light cement. In hindsight, this was the worst thing they could have done. And that man was paying the price. Fortunately, he had escaped with what appeared to be nothing more than a sprained ankle. So far.

That was when George heard panting coming from somewhere behind him. He turned his head further to the left. There was a medium sized yellow dog trotting towards him. He turned back to his path and quickened his pace. An observer would see a young man, possibly still a boy, making jerky progress along the sidewalk. Several large steps, followed by a couple of short ones as it seemed George was tripping over his own feet. Working carefully to maintain an even number of steps in each portion of cement, he nearly made it to the steps into his building before the dog caught up to him.

George, never made it home. His nervousness broke his concentration. He put stepped right onto a seam in the pavement. At that moment, the dog bounded up to greet him and knocked him off balance. It had only wanted attention. But it caused George to strike his head on the masonry next to the stoop of his building. The man on the other side of the street only paused to glance back. It was the same as he’d seen before. He continued his trudging back to his own home.