“No, I would rather go down alone. It is too difficult for two people to be hiding together, darting in and out, and all that.”
“You are right, Jack. Be careful, though. Don’t get into any trouble. I feel guilty letting you go alone.”
“Oh, don’t talk like an old woman.” The boys laughed at that. “I can take care of myself. I have done it before.”
“Very well, go ahead. But I want you to come back and tell what happens.”
“All right. But if nothing happens, I won’t come. I will go home instead.”
Thus it was agreed and the two boys parted. Half an hour later, Jack was at the corner of Main and Jones Streets. It was still daylight and Jack had the opportunity to look the neighborhood over. It was a poor and deserted neighborhood, not far from the edge of the town. The first building on the corner was an old wooden house. At the street level was a grocery store, and the floor above looked as though it were occupied by a family.
Alongside this building was an empty lot, as was true of the opposite corner. Further on, intermittently on both sides of the street were one or two family wooden homes. Jack walked up and down the block twice. There were some women on several of the porches and a number of children played on the empty lots. He decided to take up a position at the corner of Jones and Main Streets, but it was still light and he didn’t want to arouse any suspicion. So it became a problem as to how to spend the hours until dark.
First he walked up and down the block several times, then went around the block twice until he was afraid that people in the neighborhood might become suspicious of him. Then he walked up Main Street and back again. It seemed to him that the day would never end. He crossed the street to the empty lot and walked to the farthest corner of it. Picking out a comfortable place to sit down, where he would not be noticed, he tried to watch the corner so as to see everyone who passed.
The minutes dragged on endlessly. What is the matter, Jack asked himself. Time usually passes so quickly; before you turn around the day is gone. And now—He shifted in his seat and found the ground hard to sit on. Staring vaguely at the house on the corner, at the few people that passed up and down, many thoughts came to his mind. The uppermost thought in his mind was, what might be wrong with this man, the maniac? It was something he wished he knew, as he had always been interested in trying to figure out what made people do the things they did.