A) The Shack of their Dreams

The Shack of Their Dreams

Harry wasn't particularly bothered by all the fuss and attention, he
was too busy looking for Melanie, she was in the crowd somewhere or at
least that is what Harry hoped. He scanned the brightly clothed people
who were jeering and jostling him on the sunny July day. Yet, he could
see not a sign of Mel anywhere.

Harry noticed at that moment the wind had died, at that point the
policeman pushed him into the car and slammed the door, the crowd
closed in around the car, rocking it and pounding the windows. Harry
looked a middle aged overweight middle classed man in the eyes through
the glass. The hatred oused from every pore of the man's face. The man
didn't notice Harry's attention on him, for he was to busy hating.
Harry's gaze fell from the man's face into his own lap. How had this
happened to him?

Two weeks earlier the body of the nine year of girl had been found in a
blanket in a field ten miles outside Intrauterine. She had been
strangled and left sometime the night before according to the police
forensics man. She had been found quickly after being left as she was
in plain view from the main road to Concord and the first lorry to pass
that morning had stopped to investigate what was obviously a
body.

The small town of Intrauterine was a fairly close community, especially
at times like this, traditionally a farming settlement, nowadays most
inhabitants commuted to the nearby city. The police were inundated with
suspicious goings on around the night of her death, a fair amount of
which had pointed in Harry's direction. He was new to the area. He had
lived in the nearby city for many years, where he had met Mel. She was
his greatest and only friend and sometime lover. She would of been his
always lover but love was difficult to consummate when you lived on the
streets, and so it was two months ago when Mel had first mentioned how
wonderful it would be to get out into the country. And after three
weeks of discussion Harry had agreed and they began the journey to
Intrauterine.

Their reception was not all they had hoped for, in fact it was all
Harry had dreaded, Mel had called them small minded, but Harry defended
them for he knew that they were just scared or horrified. After a few
weeks of being moved on from one area to the next they had finally
found a small disused shack on the outskirts of town and had made the
best of it. The local children of that area used to play there too and
Harry often pretended to be a monster and playfully chase them round as
they screamed with delight. Mel stood at the door of the shack and
smiled, the smile only falling from her face when she realised the
reality of their situation.

Terri's body was identified easily and her friends soon told of Harry's
antics. The local parents done the rest and soon Harry was as good as
guilty. The police treated him cautiously but with a degree of
courtesy, and Harry had faith in the justice system. Mel unfortunately
was not so sure, and worst than that, unbelievably to the local
housewives she was proud, a sin, in the eyes of the lord. And so it was
that as Harry was driven from the police station. Mel knocked gently
against the trunk of the tree she hanged herself from, swinging in the
breeze outside the shack of her dreams.