A Call from Beyond

When I turned on the radio that night I couldn’t believe the voice I heard through the speakers. It was a little girl’s voice. But it was no radio show. She was talking about how alone she felt. How dark it was where she was. Stupid late night runs. I grabbed my CB radio and called my partner, Pig Pen.

“You hearing this shit Pig Pen?”

“What you talking about Big Boss Man?” My old sign after the wrestler from the 1980s. They named me because I was always an asshole about the rules, but I was also willing to bend them if it meant helping someone out.

“The little girl’s voice on the radio. Something is off here man.”

“What station you on, buddy?” I looked in the dim dash lights and responded.

“I’m tuned into 112.5”

“That’s a dead station man. But I’ll take a quick tune in and check it out.” After a few moment’s Pig Pen called in with an excited voice, “Well holy shit man! This girl is creepy. She sounds like she’s 6, maybe 7 years old. Can’t be no taller than a doe.”

“Pig Pen, I ain’t got no clue how you can guess a girl’s height from her voice, but regardless, is there anyway we can contact her?”

“Sure thing Big Boss Man, pull into the gas station on 49th and we’ll meet up.” After another ten minutes of driving filled only by the weeping of this scared little girl I found the station in question. I pulled in and Pig Pen, the mustachioed fat bastard was waiting for me, a six-pack of beer in hand.

“Now really the time Pig Pen? Little girl in trouble and you want to do a drink and drive on a 16?”

“Fuck off Boss Man, I’m putting my thinking cap on.” I made sure to cringe noticeably so he could note my irritation at the sound of his popping the tab. He took a quick guzzle without batting an eye at me, then walked over to his sixteen wheeler. I followed, my patience wearing thin. “Look. Boss Man, I didn’t just buy myself some thinking juice, I got some parts and an old radio that, with a little tinkering can tune into her station. Then we can talk to her. So either shut up and crack a cold one while I get to work, or speak now if the great lawman has any better ideas.”

“You’re lucky I like you, you damn son of a bitch.”

“Yeah, and there’s a reason Big Boss Man always had Bobby Heenan. He needed someone with brains.” Pig Pen got to work while I kept my ears attuned to the little girl. I tried listening for anything that could help us but she cried a lot. Kept calling for help. I was trying to think of anything we could do. Surely there was someone else listening. Maybe even the cops. But unfortunately, there’s tens of miles of road from the next stations so unless we run into a hog wearing state’s stripes we were as good as cooked and that girl... some things I’d rather not think about.

“You ready, good buddy. I’ll manage the radio while you drive, since you’re gonna make a fuss about my methods.” It would appear in my reverie, he had finished off the six-pack. At least he got the radio up and running in record time. I’ll never understand how he can barely walk, yet handle a machine with such precision at the same time. He got into the passenger and we attempted to make contact before we set off.

“Little girl, can you hear me. This is... well you can call me Boss Man.”

“H-Hello?” Her crying ceased when she heard me. “Hello. My name is Darlene. I’m really cold in here. I want my momma. Can you take me to my momma?”

“We can try Darlene.”

“We?”

“Yes. I’m Boss Man and my partner who’s helping me call you is called Pig Pen.”

“Those are funny names.” She giggled a bit. Well at least we managed to put her at ease.

“Hon, can you tell us where you are? Or what happened to you?”

“They took me. They took me, I think a few days ago? My mom lives on Beecher Street in Kansas.” I looked to Pig Pen.

“You take over, don’t scare her, that’s not far from us.”

“That’s almost thirty miles! God, you stubborn bastard.” Despite his protests he took the radio while I started the long drive. They began talking. Pig Pen kept her at ease and we even gave her her own call sign. Little Lady, on account of her being little and all. We didn’t press her on what happened or who took her because she seemed ready to cry, although she did tell us she wasn’t sure when they were going to come back. About twenty miles in, I decided that I should try to glean at least some information. With Pig Pen’s help I dictated my questions to her while keeping my eyes on the road to the best of my ability. Not that it mattered much. We hadn’t seen another rig since we left the station.

“Boss Man to Little Lady, I got some questions for you, so I need you to be a brave little miss and answer them as best as you can. Now, earlier you said “they” took you. Who are they?”

“Um, Boss-“

“Not now Pig Pen, and while we’re at it, how long ago were you taken. Today? Yesterday?”

“What day is it? I feel like I’ve been here so long.”

“Boss Man, there’s some strange lights back where we came from.”

“Probably just some hillbillies shooting off fireworks like a bunch of fucking idiots. Sober the fuck up and let me answer her. Little Lady, it’s Friday. June 16th.”

“June 16th! But I was taken in August! My mama was getting me all excited cuz I was going to get to go to school with my big brother. I wanted to go to school so bad. You’re telling me I missed it mister? I don’t wanna go back to working on the farm!”

“Farm? Little Lady, you’ll be okay, school will be back next September I promise you. Sure as the White Sox will never win the World Series.” Pig Pen was beginning to nudge me again.

“Boss Man, them lights are getting closer, I don’t like this, can we speed this up a lil bit?”

“I’ll be going faster in a bit Pen, I just got to finish with the lady.”

“Mr. Boss Man, what do socks have to do with the world?”

“Baseball sweetie. Surely you’ve heard of it, America’s past time.”

“No Mister. My brother likes to skip stones though. When we’re not working the farm that is.”

“Little Lady, I know Kansas ain’t known for much but surely you got to know something about the diamond field?”

“Mister, I ain’t got no clue what you’re talking about. I wasn’t born yesterday though.”

“No Ma’am, you being what, 7?”

“8 years old Big Boss Man.”

“So you’d have been born in 1990.”

“What? You’re talking funny mister. No sirree. I was born in March of 1915. The apple of my mama’s eye.” The confusion was starting to turn into paranoia. Could have just been the long night I’ve had though.

“Pig Pen, you hear this?”

“Are you SEEING this?!” I took my eyes off the road and sure enough there was a lot of flashing lights but now they were hovering over the rig, all while we were still going. I had a sinking feeling in my gut and started to press the gas as I heard Little Lady come over the radio.

“Big Boss Man, Pig Pen. I have to go. I’m scared but I’m really happy you’re coming for me. I can’t wait to be home again. But the lights are coming.” Pig Pen grabbed the radio and started screaming.

“What lights?! Little Lady, what lights?!”

“The Flashing lights. The same that came when they took me away. I have to go misters. I’ll see you soon.” I felt weightless and heavy at the same time when I realized the rig was coming off the road and we were going in the air. Pig Pen was screaming and my knuckles turned white as I gripped the wheel. The last thing I heard was the little girl saying her final sendoff as everything faded to black.

“Little Lady signing off. They’re here.”