CWC 2010 Challenge 2 - It's All Junk

It’s All Junk
A collector finds more than he bargains for while digging around a local junkyard.


Jerry was definitely staring at a 1931 King Kong 1 player flattop wooden pinball machine. It was beat to hell on the outside, but the artwork was still intact. The marble top and the sturdy glass on top of the table looked good too, but the Walnut wooden legs were knicked and scratched and chipped and chunked, but it still would be worth a few thousand. Jerry stood in the wood shed in the back corner of the lot for Ernie’s Junkyard and smiled. Sometimes an adventure does pay off, he thought to himself. His padlock picking skills also made him smile.
The smell in the shed was vicious though, and he hoped it wouldn’t stick with the machine when he got it home, or stick in his car on the 45 min drive back. Jerry stood with his hands on his hips and a victorious smile on his face staring at the machine when he heard someone approaching behind him.
Jerry saw Ernie coming toward him, he flashed a big smile, but Ernie look scared.
“This section is all useless Mr, it’s blocked off, I thought this shed was locked, it’s dangerous, health department said too many rats or something and they are gonna tear it down, come on out of there, Ernie said, grabbing Jerry firmly by the shoulder and guiding him out of the shed.
Ernie pulled the doors of the shed closed and ut the padlock back on. He smiled nervously and turned to Jerry saying “I’m sorry about that, let’s get you back up front – I think I found some flippers for ya.”
Jerry smiled big and starting walking up to the junkyard office. It seemed Ernie kept most of his stuff up front in the corner furthest away from the wood shed. Jerry looked at the shitty flippers Ernie handed him and even though they clearly weren’t for a Star Wars pinball game from any year Jerry smiled and paid him 22 dollars and thanked him.
Ernie walked Jerry out to his truck, he was the last customer of the day, and Jerry shook his hand and drove away. Later that night around midnight Jerry came back to Ernie’s Junkyard. He carried a black gym bag and wore a ski mask. Instead of approaching the front gate Jerry came around the back of the junkyard near the shed. He pulled a large pair of wire clippers out of his bag and began to cut a large round entrance in the gate.
Once Jerry found himself back in the shed he set up some lights and analyzed the best way to get the machine un stacked from the rest of the wood and do it as fast as he could, cause the smell was making him naesous and he didn’t wanna run across to many huge rats. Jerry got on the floor next to the pinball machine and shined his flashlight on the legs of the machine to see if it was got anything. When Jerry touched the leg he felt something cold and wet though. He was worried he might have to cut the legs off now. He looked at his hands and saw blood.
Jerry knew he hadn’t cut himself so he looked around for the source of the blood, probably a dead rat. He shined the flashlight along the ground and saw a pool of blood below a big box. He pulled a crowbar out of his bag and pryed the top off the wooden crate. It wasn’t easy cause the crate was sealed up tight, and when he got it open he jumped back from the awful stench. Inside the crate was blood and body parts were everywhere. Jerry threw up and stumbled outside,
His head was spinning. He was a shady collector, not the worst guy in the world, but not a guy who wanted to call the cops either. He opened the door of the shed wide and saw more crates in the moonlight. There could be hacked up bodies in every one of those crates he thought.
Jerry took his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, then he closed it. He scrambled back to his truck and pulled out pen and paper and scotch tape. He went back in the shed and wrote “Belongs to Jerry Calendine. Telephone 509.534.8788 and taped the paper to the top of the pinball machine. He cleaned up all his stuff then went back to his truck and drove home.
After getting home Jerry smoked 5 cigarettes then walked out his front door and own the street to the pay phone. He dialed 911 and reported dead bodies in the wood shed at Ernie’s Junkyard, then hung up.
The next day Jerry opened they paper and found a story about 25 bodies, all cut up in pieces and put inside useless junk, found at Ernie’s Junkyard. The evening news showed Ernie being led away in handcuffs as Ernie shouted “The people were JUNK. They were JUNK. Nobody missed them. The world is better without them.”
One year later Ernie was sentenced to life in prison for multiple homicides.
One year and 3 months later Jerry received the delivery of a 1931 flat top wooden King Kong pinball machine.