Allan

Allan (a story)

He came into town on the tail of a storm, which made everyone of the religious (or should I say superstitious?) townies look at him askance. Especially the sheriff.
Every time, every time!! I said, there was even the slightest thing going on, Allan was picked up to see if he was involved. Didn’t matter if he was at work, at church, or even in the police station at the time, he was asked if he knew anything about the whatever it was. Some kid stole bubble gum at the small store, and Allan was asked if he knew the kid. Some husband beat his wife and Allan was asked if he helped the man. I know. He was rousted at the local police station and held in a cell. Sweated really. Ridiculous, right?
So Allan started to spend less and less time trying to make friends there. Some might call him paranoid. But the question remains, are you paranoid if someone is out to get you? The townies thought he was. Allan? Not so much. If he’d had the money, he’d have sold up and moved away. But he’d come here on his last dollar, hoping for a new start.
His job was in the next town over and everything was fine there. No people from this town worked with him. If they had, they would have met a guy who was polite and kept his head down. He wasn’t a threat at all. And he was quite good at his job. Helpful and diligent too. What more could you ask for from a coworker? Or a neighbour.
He kept his house neat. Well… till the kids kept egging and TPing it. Then he kept the inside neat. And now and then he powerwashed the outside. He left the TP to the winds. The kids finally got tired of doing it. Allan didn’t bother to react.
Allan had tried to shop in the town he lived in, but the store owners were rude and belligerent. He had tried to eat out at the local watering holes, but the waiters never seemed to get his order right. And he was sure he had a stranger tax on his bill.
He tried to go to town events, to show curiousity, being approachable and civic pride. But he was ignored. So he stopped bothering.
Ok maybe all towns do that to newbs, but Allan could only stand it for so long. He had always lived in cities before, where nobody cared whether you were new or old there. They just ignored you. They didn’t try to make life harder for you for no reason.
He wondered what would have happened if he wasn’t the decent human he actually was. But he was beginning to have revenge fantasies nonetheless.
One day, he saw a kid was injured and he stopped to help. Another adult ran up and started beating on him, cuzz they thought Allan had hurt the kid. Suddenly there was a crowd around, throwing stuff at him. So he ran away and left them to get the kid help. Nobody came to apologize when the kid told them the truth. And the sheriff stopped by and told Allan to mind his own business from now on. There’s gratitude for you!
So Allan started saving money to leave town. And soon was able to put his house on the market. Townies kept intruding on the sale. Till he got an offer from a developer who didn’t care what townies thought. For more than asking. So Allan sold it and left town!
The townies were in shock. Now instead of having one person, one stranger in town, they’d have a bunch! The developer was putting up cheap condos. It had all the makings of a ghetto. With a slum lord. The town was in an uproar. And the only person who could have stopped it was the guy they had run out of town. He was laughing all the way to the bank.
Do you think the townies got what they deserved? Maybe someone should have reminded them from the pulpit that they’re to treat strangers as if they’re Jesus coming to visit.
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