Darkness came swiftly to the remote village of Low Ridge. It was a typical countryside community. Old houses, old shops, old churches and plenty of old traditions. 

Shirley was unemployed, dunce and very idle. She loved to gossip and would expend great energy in this pursuit. If she was not peddling it she was absorbing it. She knew everything about everybody in the small village. She even knew things that some of them didn’t even know about themselves. She was an exponent of the Spit Press.
She lived with her mother who was the sole earner of the home. The old lady had tried many times to get her daughter to seek employment. The girl never succeeded. Shirley had one basic problem. She hated hard work and sweat. She preferred to stay at home and enhance the community with her slanderous chatter.
There had been numerous confrontations between this nosey lass and other villagers. Ms. Bess had threatened to slap-her-silly if she did not stop spreading ugly rumours about her fifteen-year-old daughter.
You see, the child had suddenly taken sick and began to lose weight rapidly. She grew very weak and had to be hospitalised in the city. Shirley knew that from such circumstances, it was obvious that the teenager had contracted HIV. She spread the news around until it got back to the ears of the child’s mother. Unfortunately for the Town Gossip, the child had malaria. The irate mother cornered the mischief maker in the Chinese grocery shop and threatened to box her in her face. Shirley quickly apologised and fled. That was her only option. She dared not confront a furious 300 -pound, six-foot mother.
Another time she told everyone that Mrs. Yansen’s son Godfrey was in jail. You see, the boy was a troubled youth who was always in some kind of mischief or the other. The police arrived one day and arrested the lad. After an investigation he was released. His worried mother immediately sent him to stay with his uncle in the interior.
As far as Shirley was concerned he had made jail. Mrs. Yansen had been so angry that she pelted stones at Shirley. Luckily for the gossip the woman had suffered from a slight stroke on the right side so her aim was way off.
Shirley’s mom worked hard to provide for the home. She did washing during the day and was a security guard at night. Shirley spent most nights prattling on the phone. When she was not doing this she was texting or running her mouth off at the gate. It was either gossip or TV. Tonight it was television.
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
“Shirley.”
The television was on and the volume very high. So she did not hear.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Shirley was too engrossed in the movie to hear.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“SHIRLEY!!”
She jumped and looked up. Someone was at the door.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“SHIRLEEE!! SHIRLEEE!!”
It had to be her mother returning home early tonight. Shirley threw open the door and looked out. There was nobody there.
“Mamee?”
No response.
“Mamee is you outside?”
Only the breeze replied brushing her words aside. She shut the door angrily.
SLAMB!
Her mom should use her set of keys anyway. She went back to her movie. Two hours later her mother arrived tired from a hard night’s work.
“But Mamee, where you went earlier tonight when you knock pon de door?”
Her mother’s startled look should have served as a warning.
“I now come home child. I wuk whole night.”
Shirley thought for a brief moment.
“Well must be de TV I hear.”
The old lady shook her head in resignation. It was a case of her daughter having too much time to idle. Now she was hearing things besides other people’s business. A few nights later Shirley was busy with her favourite pastime. She had just heard that Ms. Bess daughter was pregnant. This was too sweet to resist. She got to work immediately. She was in full operational mode when things began to take a turn for the strange.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
“SHIRLEE!”
Shirley was downloading data from another rumour monger so the knock didn’t register.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“SHIRLEE!!”
She looked up and paused briefly. Hearing nothing, she resumed her activities.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
“SHIRLEE!! SHIRLEE!! SHIRLEE!! SHIRLEE!!
She heard that clearly and dropped the phone in fright. The voice did not sound anything like her mother’s. It must be one of the villagers coming to confront her. Shirley decided that the best form of defense was attack. She flung the door open, barged out, and unleashed an arsenal of expletives.
“Wat de #.@.*.?.&.#.@ yo want!”
She glared around offensively but there was only darkness there to greet her. She was puzzled and angry now. Somebody was playing de fool.
“Whoever playing de ting wid de two long ears betta don let me ketch dem!”
PLADI! PLY!
Two loud slaps rang out like pistol shots. Shirley was hurled back into the house. She landed awkwardly on her skinny backside.
“Aaagh!”
BLAM!
The door shut violently and rattled the small, old structure. Then the chairs, table and TV started shaking. A powerful and chilly breeze swept through the house sending shivers down her spine. Then the lights went off.
As dumb as she was Shirley knew this was a bad Jumbie. She opened her ample mouth and began to scream. Pain shot through her face like a lightning strike. She shut her mouth immediately. With her mouth now out of commission she had only one choice. Run like the devil. She did just that, but faster; Nightie and all.
Word of the strange incident spread rapidly through the village. No one was surprised by this. There had been other such occurrences over the years. The community was secretly counting its blessings. Shirley had both of her jaws broken and had to keep her face heavily bandaged. She was unable to speak for a long while. Peace at long last came to Low Ridge-for a while at least.

(BY Neil Primus)