The Lady

Jonathon Meyers liked to tease Nancy King, and though she pretended to be bothered by his taunts, Nancy really wasn’t bothered at all. They were at the age when boys and girls begin to notice one another in different ways—the age at which teasing was really the only acceptable behavior between them.

Nancy knew Jonathon didn’t mean anything by most of the silly things he said, and she wasn’t especially frightened by the various crawling things he’d stuff under her nose, either. She hadn’t thought too much about it, but had she, she would have believed Jonathon was as unaffected by the occasional taunts she threw his way, and she would have been correct.

The pair had been friends since the day Jonathon’s family moved in across the street from Nancy’s, and that had been almost three whole years ago. In all that time, they’d never had a real fight, and in many ways, the two were as close as brother and sister—except they weren’t related, and Nancy had developed a crush on Jonathon. Of course, she had no idea it was a crush—she was too young to identify what she felt, but it was a crush, nonetheless. Jonathon was just discovering his feelings for Nancy, and this may well explain what happened the day Jonathon showed Nancy The Lady.

Jonathon had stumbled upon The Lady some weeks before while on his way home from Lake Thomas School where he and Nancy were both third graders. Although his mother and father made him promise not to take the shortcut through Harper’s Pond, Jonathon often broke this particular promise.

The pond was creepy, but as any kid knows, one of the ways to prove how cool you are is to pretend creepy things don’t bother you—and there was nothing creepier than the trail that wound around Harper’s Pond. (Being seen taking the trail was only bested by being seen leaving it on the pond’s other side. Daring to do such a thing—especially absent friends—was a sure way to raise your status in the eyes of your peers, and because Jonathon was the smallest boy in his class, any boost to his status was welcomed.)

Not surprisingly, it was a dare that initially sent Jonathon on the shortcut that circled the pond, but curiosity had dragged him back after the first adventure. He’d never told anyone what he’d seen that first time, and in truth, he came to believe he’d imagined it. Not knowing whether or not he had seen The Lady was the thing that led to his returning to the pond.

Like his first trip, his second took place on a sunny afternoon right after school, and like the time before, as soon as he was far enough along the trial not to be able to see the start of the path, everything seemed to close in around him. (There was one thing he’d confirmed.)

Jonathon kept to the trail and listened closely for the voice, but he heard nothing. By the time he’d reached the midpoint of the path, he’d begun to believe The Lady was just something he’d imagined—even if he had been right about the way everything had closed in around him.

Suddenly, he heard The Lady as clearly as if she were standing beside him. The sound of her melodious voice reached out to him, and he moved off the path and toward her. Oddly, though the path felt congested by the foliage around it, once Jonathon left it, the trees and brush seemed to open as if to let him though.

In a matter of moments, Jonathon was standing in a small clearing and looking directly at The Lady.

She was singing as had been the case the last time Jonathon encountered her, and while he would never have thought it possible, the tune she carried on this afternoon was even more beautiful than the one she’d been singing before.

Jonathon’s head would fill with questions later, but for the moment, he stood transfixed by the music emanating from her. As before, The Lady seemed unaware of Jonathon’s presence, and as before, Jonathon noticed she was not real.

The Lady seemed to be made of a thin sheet of concrete, so thin, in fact, that as she swayed with the highs and lows of her song, Jonathon could see she was less than an inch thick.

It couldn’t be.

It wasn’t possible.

But there she was.

Transfixed for a length of time he could not determine, Jonathon became aware of a desire to leave. As quickly as he had found the clearing, he was again on the trial on his way to his home, and he no longer heard The Lady’s song.

Jonathon ran into Nancy as he left the trail, and the two matched strides while heading home. Rounding the last turn, Jonathon touched Nancy’s shoulder bringing them both to a stop.

“Are all you girls afraid of Harper’s Pond?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“There’s something there I have to show you.”

“I guess I’m not afraid. What’s there?”

“I can’t tell you. You have to see it for yourself.”

Nancy suspected it might be a trick, but she wanted to show Jonathon she wasn’t afraid of the pond.

“Okay, I’ll go there with you. When?”

“Tomorrow. After school. But don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Nancy agreed while wondering to herself who Jonathon thought she might tell she was going to Harper’s Pond with a boy.

* * *

While walking home the following afternoon, Jonathon and Nancy meandered behind the other kids from their neighborhood in order to break off and take the Harper’s Pond trail unnoticed.

Nancy felt the trees and brush close in around her, but she said nothing to Jonathon for fear he’d think she was a sissy, and then she thought she heard singing. Jonathon stopped, and turned to Nancy.

“Do you hear it?”

She nodded her head.

“C’mon. It’s this way.”

The two left the trail, and each felt the foliage open up around them. They quickly reached the clearing and stood looking at The Lady.

“Do you see her, Nancy?”

Nancy gave a nod, and as she did, The Lady turned toward them. She looked at Nancy for a very long time, and as Jonathon watched, he thought he saw a tear begin to run down The Lady’s cheek. She had stopped singing, and with her silence, the clearing seemed to have gotten smaller and darker.

She turned to face Jonathon, and he was again aware of her impossible thinness and the certainty that she was made not of flesh but of concrete.

“Why?” was all she said to the small boy, and before he could answer, she had broken into more than a dozen pieces of stone and lay lifeless on the ground.