Anonymous Gifts Start Arriving At The Doorstep [FICTOID]

He removed the blockade, unbolted the heavy birch door, then unlocked it.  Opening it, he saw a bound and gagged teenager on the other side of the screen door.

Cursing under his breath, he removed the gag and started untying the teen.  “Are you okay?”

“Please, mister, don’t hurt me!”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, then noticed the sticker on the teen’s head.

It read:  “Hope you like it!  Love XXXOOO your secret admirer.”

The teen started crying.  “Here, stand up,” he told the teen.  “Are you okay?  Are you hurt?”

The teen kept crying but gulped:  “I’m okay.”

“Do you remember how you got here?”

The teen’s head shook.  “One minute I was driving my pick-up, the next =bingo!= here.”

“Yeah, bingo is right,” the man said.  “Here, let’s get you inside., get something in you.”

He escorted the teen into the living room.  Exotic gifts filled it floor to ceiling:  Camouflage wicker chairs, a bean bag rifle, a wrinkled elephant’s foot umbrella stand, an electric drum kit customized to produce harmony, and much, much more.

“Why do you have all this stuff?” the teen wailed.

The man showed the teen the sticker.  “Somebody started pranking me 10 years ago,” he said.  “Sending me all kinds of goofy presents.

“Whoever they are, now they’ve graduated to kidnapping.”

“But what can you do?” the teen asked.  “They can’t be doing all this at random.”

“I don’t know,” the man said.  “I just don’t know.”

“Can’t you put security cameras in?”

“I have security cameras,” the man said.  “The best money can buy.  And every time I’m left a ‘gift’ they show the same thing.  Nothing, then as you put it =bingo!= and the gift is there.”

“Can I go home?” the teen asked.

The man nodded.  “Yeah, of course.  I’ll give you a lift.”  

In reality, he wanted to get out of the house and into the cold dark recess of a dive bar.

© Buzz Dixon