Doorknobs

In the small town of Pettigrew, Arkansas, in a clump of trees on the land of Bob Pendergass, several thousand doorknobs lay strewn about. They ranged in age from a hundred years old or more, to some made of materials I’d never seen. From decorative to plain, they formed an arc on the ground over 50 yards long and 20 feet wide.

“This is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen,” I told my girlfriend, Katy Pendergass. We had come to her folks house, taking a break from the college scene.

“It’s funny, most people don’t think anything about it, and I wouldn’t have even mentioned it except for your comment about our mishmash of doorknobs on my folk’s house. Now you know where they came from,” she took my hand and leaned in against me for a little extra warmth.

I looked down at her, incredulously, “No I don’t! What the heck? Where did these all come from? This is utterly bizarre.”

“That’s not all,” she pulled out her cell phone to check the time.

“What do you mean?” I looked down at her.

She nodded towards the newest doorknobs and said, “Watch. It’s almost time.”

I whipped my head around to see what she was talking about, scanning the horizon for whatever I was supposed to be seeing. I heard a crackling of electricity first and the hair on my arms and neck started to stand on end. Something flashed and I saw sparks appear in mid air a few feet above the newest doorknobs. The air shimmered and I could feel the low rhythmic thumping in my bones start to grow. The flashing and sound grew faster and stronger. Then everything was back to normal with a sucking whoosh, except a single doorknob which dropped to the ground and bounced away to join all it’s brothers and sisters in the field.

I stood there, transfixed. Thoughts poured through my mind from being ‘pranked’ to interdimensional aliens. But this was real.

I dropped Katy’s hand and went running towards the doorknob that had just fallen from nowhere. I was just entering the field of knobs when I realized Katy was screaming for me to stop. As I took my next step towards the center of where the flashing lights had been, everything went black and I could feel myself falling. 

I woke to sharp pains all over my body; arms, chest, knee, hip and side of my head. Something wet and warm was dripping over my face. I could feel Katy kneeling next to me. My eyes had a hard time seeing through the dark hazy tunnel-vision, but I could see enough to know that the jacket she had pressed against the pain on the side of my head was covered in blood.

I tried to sit up, but gravity was against me.

“Whoa there. Easy. Let me get the bleeding to stop,” she pressed the jacket harder against my head and tried to get me into a sitting position.

I was, no longer, in the doorknob debris field for some reason. “What happened? Did you drag me over here?” Waves of nausea washed over me

“Why didn’t you listen to me? Do you have any idea what might have happened? You’re just lucky the lights had just finished,” She just shook her head.

I pulled away, a little miffed, “How in the WORLD would I know a doorknob field would make me black out? No, wait! How would I know WHY a doorknob field would even exist?Hey, no…how about…How would I know a weird light show that deposits doorknobs in my girlfriend’s family field would make me pass out?!” I tried to stand up, but I hurt all over. I must have really wiped out on all the doorknobs. I was lucky none of them were too sharp.

Katy sat back on her on her feet and looked at me sadly. “Look, we just don’t talk about it. It’s weird, okay?”

“What do you know?” I pressed Katy’s jacket against my tender noggin. The blood was flowing a little slower.

She stared at me for a few seconds and gave a little shrug, “The doorknobs have been coming for at least 85 years, but maybe even longer. The older ones are more like doorhandles. Since most of the them are metal, they tend to rust and break down after several years. Not to mention the elements, grass and birds.”

“Birds?”

“Yeah. Birds. They like shiny things for their nests. Some birds, anyway.

Anyway, my great uncle studied the field for a long time and did some digging. He also was the first one to realize that the lights keep slowly moving south east. He thought maybe it’s just because the land is moving. Unfortunately, he never focused on timing when the lights, which seemed random, but arent. We’re guessing he either got caught in the lights while digging, or intentionally went into the lights, while he was here by himself. We never saw him again. Just found notes.

“I’m sorry,” I reached over and took her hand. She smiled.

“I didn’t know him. It was way way before my time. The late 40s, I think. But shortly after that people started testing the field. Even some military came out for a bit, but they up and left suddenly after a couple of years. We discovered anyone going into the lights never came back. And if you went around the effect right before or right after, you black out…as you’ve discovered.” I rolled my eyes, tried to laugh, but grimaced with the sharp pains in my ribs.

“Come on,” Katy said, helping me to my feet, “let’s get back to the house, clean you up, and get you some asprin. You’re gonna to need a lot of it.”

To be continued….

©2011-2019 Eric A HuberDoorknobs is a work of fiction. Photo ©iStockphoto.com/Spiderstock with photo editing by Eric Huber All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.