Jimmy's Junkyard Dog

 

Jimmy's Junkyard Dog

A short story by Paul McCann

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmh4yMFShVI

.

It was a heavy snow that fell from a soggy sky and all over Millsend icy puddles decorated the streets . Apart from the snowmen that lined the pathways through town there was a most enchanting sight at the foot of the hill . Right beside the girls school was this massive white architecture . 

You could have thought that it had been designed by some artistic genius . 

But no you could have thought it was left as a legacy for future generations to remember some great sculpture , but no a moment . You may have even thought it was an impression of life on a distant planet but again you would be wrong for in fact it was just Jimmy’s Junkyard .

As a lad I recall the first day I saw beyond the scrap into an artic abyss . 

That’s when I knew I had to scale the fence to go for a wander through the junkyard . So carefully I climbed over the railings and with my eyes as big as saucers I fell to the other side and I was inside Jimmy’s Junkyard . 

It felt like I was in wonderland . 

I stood in the deserted wasteland and looked all around me . 

I felt like I was the first explorer on the surface of another planet . 

I found a broom placed my handkerchief at one end making a makeshift flag . Then I climbed up on the roof of one of the storage sheds and erected the flag in a chimney spout and claimed Metal City as my own . 

Yes indeed it was a weird and wonderful place . 

I wandered through this new territory and discovered lots of forgotten things in storage sheds . Old washing machines , oil heaters, fridges , bath tubs and boilers . There were old wheels and iron gates and just as I began to think about making a Robot army out of all this scrap I heard a noise . 

It was a growling kind of sound . As I turned around I saw the first sign of life in Metal City . Standing before me was this wild beast growling and snarling at me . I looked into its huge open jaws and for a moment I saw my life flash before me and then I saw the chain . I breathed a little easier now and began to calm down .

“Easy there now . I’m not going to hurt you .“ 

I said to the junkyard dog that was securely chained up to a post near the front office . 

The more I spoke to the dog the quieter it became . 

Eventually the dog sat down and we had an understanding . 

It couldn’t get me and I wasn’t getting any closer to it . 

After a while I realised that the dog wasn’t angry . It was upset or worried about something . It seemed to almost want me to come over . 

I trusted my gut feelings and plucked up the courage to go over and place my hands on the dogs head .

“Ok then my friend . What’s the problem ?”

The tried to free it self from the chain but the post was well secured . 

I decided to take the collar off the dogs neck . I knew if the dog turned on me I was dead meat and was really at its mercy . As I took the collar off the junkyard dog licked my face . 

The next thing the dog raced ahead of me . Every six feet or so the dog stopped and started barking and waited for me to follow it .

The dog brought me over to a area where a small caravan was parked on a e on a concrete slab . Beside the caravan was a sign with the words Jimmy’s Office on it . Beside the caravan was a gate and near the gate was a pile of unopened letters . It looked as if no one had checked the mail for a while . 

The letters lay there in a small heap . 

By the look of it the postman just tossed the mail letters over the gate and to some place near the front door of the caravan . He was probably too frightened to venture inside because of the junkyard dog no doubt . 

There weren’t too many visitors who came to see Jimmy and he would have rarely chained the dog up . 

The junkyard dog was scratching at the front door of the caravan and crying to get inside . The it came to me there was something wrong . 

I shouted out . 

“Hello is anyone there .“

I lifted the latch on the caravan door and then turned the door knob . 

The door opened and I waked inside . Jimmy was lying there on the floor . 

His hands were tied behind his back and he was unconscious . 

The caravan was in a mess with drawers and boxes upturned and their contents scattered all over the floor . 

The junkyard dog started licking Jimmy’s face . 

Poor Jimmy he looked a sorry sight . The victim of a robbery it would seem . 

I tried the telephone but it was dead . 

So I told the dog to stay and raced off as fast as I could to get help .

I asked the police if I could go with them because the junkyard dog knew me and if it saw me it wouldn’t be worried . 

The police agreed and in a short moment of time Jimmy was taken away in the back of an ambulance . Thankfully Jimmy’s life had been saved . 

When Jimmy came to the police interviewed him .

“Can you tell us who did this to you Jimmy” 

The detective asked .

“I don’t know . I’ve never saw him before in my life .“

“So it was a man on his own ?”

“That’s right .“ 

Said Jimmy . 

The Detective continued .

“Can you give me a description of what he looked like ?”

“Yes . He was very well dressed and had a posh voice . He had a grey beard and wore a distinguished looking hat . In one hand he had a briefcase and in the other he held a cane walking stick .“

The detective looked puzzled and said , 

“Did he rob you of any money?”

Jimmy burst out laughing . 

“Money . Don’t be silly . Where would I get any of that ?”

“Then what was it he wanted ?.“ 

The detective asked .

“Well it was early one morning when I was checking my mail . The same old thing bills and more bills . I remember I was talking to Ned ?”

“Who’s Ned ?” 

The detective asked .

“That’s my dog “. 

Jimmy replied .

“Was Ned chained up at the time ?” 

The detective asked .

“Oh no . Actually I remember the well dressed man then as he shouted from the main gate for me to tie Ned up . And as I sometimes do for the occasional customer I put him on the chain. “

“Was there anything odd about the person at the gate or did you suspect anything about the customer there.”

“The only thing I though was what would someone like him want from a junkyard dealer . Anyway as I was saying , I continued opening my mail as he came into my office . The well dressed man started to tell me all about this plan of his . He said he was a developer and wanted to build a block of flats where my yard was . He offered me a large amount of money for the junkyard and everything in it . I thought it was a joke and started to laugh .”

“Did you suspect something wasn’t right then ?“ 

The detective asked .

Jimmy continued 

“Yes . I guess I did . So I played the fool and tried to ask a few questions about his development . I was hoping maybe to get a bigger offer . 

Anyway didn’t he begin to get angry. He lifted his voice and started to ask weird questions about the junkyard ?”

The detective asked , 

“What kind of questions ?”

”Well like . What kind of man would want to live in a junkyard with a dog and how serious this could become if I never accepted his offer . I was getting worried at this stage and decided to get Ned . That’s when the gentleman produced a map from his briefcase . He pointed out a highway from North to South and smack in the middle he pointed to a red dot that hew said was my junkyard . “

“Did you believe him ?”

“No . Then he started to ask me about an item I had collected from a property a few weeks ago . He was very interested in a number of old boilers I had acquired . Then the business man asked if I could show him where they were and if he could buy them back I thought there was something fishy going on .”

“So what did you do .“

“Well I sold him the boilers but not the ones he was after . “

“Then what ?” 

The detective asked .

“Then as he handed me a large sum of money for the boilers he told 

me I should clear out before the end of the week . Next thing I knew he brought his walking stick down on my head and that’s the last thing I remember . “

“ Can you show me the boilers he was after ?“ 

The detective asked .

“Sure I can “ 

Jimmy replied .

While a strong contingent of armed police kept watch on the junkyard Jimmy took the detectives to an old shed and pointed to about a dozen boilers lying there .

“Is that them Jimmy “

”That’s them all right . I marked them with a blue dot because they were a lot heavier that normal and I was going to check out what kind of metal they were that’s why they are separated from the rest of my stock “

Slowly the secret was revealed . The mystery of the old boilers was uncovered by the forensics squad . Their investigations produced inner steel cases within the boilers that were loaded with narcotics . The boilers were removed by mistake from an old ship that was laid to rest in a dry dock . Instead of being collected by five international drug barons , the boilers were collected by some crazy old Junkyard man by the name of Jimmy . 

Now the police lay low and waited for someone else to surface from the underworld for the boilers .

After some good detective work the police made their arrest . 

The deadly cargo had been prevented from hitting the street . 

Jimmy had been given a new identity and a new business to run .

The police rewarded Ned and myself with a medal of honour and once a week I took Jimmy’s dog for a walk in the park . 

Jimmy’s Jukebox was the most popular music shop around and was said to have the best collection of heavy metal music in the world

By Paul McCann

THE END