When Will the Heaven Begin? by Ally Breedlove

Author:Ally Breedlove
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

THIS IS NOT THE END

The memories in my head

Are just as real as the time we spent

—“THIS IS NOT THE END” (THE BRAVERY)

Grant held the trash bags stuffed with pillows as Ben finished wrapping the last strip of duct tape around the bags. Grant hadn’t been home from Germany very long before he and Ben were up to their usual antics.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, guys,” Deanne admonished them, looking on skeptically as they set the stage for their master prank. “And if anything happens, I am not going to bail you out.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Ben assured her. “We’ll make it funny.” Deanne wasn’t so sure that pretending to bury a dead body in the woods by a busy street could turn out to be funny. Nevertheless, Ben and Grant stuffed their “body bag” in the trunk of Grant’s SUV and proceeded undeterred.

They felt confident that people who saw the gag would have a sense of humor about matters once they realized the body was a hoax. They filmed each detail as they meticulously prepared the “body bag,” attaching the white trash bags together, stuffing them with paper and pillows, and wrapping the bags strategically with silver duct tape. When they lugged the body bag out to the car and put it in the trunk, it really looked as though they were carrying some sort of clandestine cargo.

Dressed in athletic shorts and hoodies—in broad daylight during the middle of a hot Texas summer—the guys grabbed a shovel and Ben’s video camera. They found the perfect location along City Park Road and parked Grant’s car near the woods, where they could spot vehicles coming over a hill and around a turn. They placed the camera on a tripod and positioned it out of sight behind a sign, catching the action as cars slowed down to navigate the turn.

Then they waited. As the first driver approached, Ben and Grant hauled the “body” out of the car’s trunk, along with the shovel, while wearing the hoodies pulled up over their heads. Pretending to struggle with the heft of the body, Grant and Ben looked like thugs. It certainly appeared to passersby that they intended to bury a dead body. As cars drove by, some drivers slowed down and gawked, while others circled back around several times to take another look. Nobody stopped to ascertain whether the situation was a genuine crime scene. Perhaps the neighbors were afraid, or more likely the locals recognized Grant and Ben’s modus operandi.

Every time they saw a car coming over the hill, Grant and Ben dragged the body bag out of the trunk toward the woods, carrying along the shovel. Although their hoodies concealed their facial expressions, they couldn’t keep from laughing as they did their best to look like thugs.

One woman drove by several times, so the guys knew she had taken the bait. Once as she drove by, Grant saw the woman talking on her cell phone.

“She’s been by here so many times, she’s probably called the police by now,” Ben said, half seriously.

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