Some things are needed

 "The Old Man and His Dolls" is quite possibly the softest story I've written. It is primarily atmospheric as the action throughout is quite gentle. It is pretty much the story of a man preparing to leave his home for the last time and making what preparations he must make. Being that I am a writer of weird fiction and horrifying yarns, it would seem that the importance should be on the sensation and the shock value. That's what the kids want, right? Zombies breaking through doors and divers mayhem in grotesque detail to get that good old adrenaline going? Well, sometimes a simple creep is what's needed instead.

There is so much invested in William Nesmith's house, even after only two appearances, that as I wrote this, I was consumed by the history within this place. Its first appearance was in "I'll Always Be With You, Boys", my 3rd story, as it is the primary scene for the conversation between Nesmith and Alexander Gitney. This house is also the scene of "Come With Me, Dear". That's it. Still, between those two stories, I have filled this house with so much history that if I did not know what was going to happen within 6 hours of this story finishing, I'd have myself the perfect haunted house. I happen to know the future though.

I was following up with a submission call looking for omens, portents, and the like when I began writing this. I knew this story had to be, or at least an explanation of this or that so as to make what will be, when it is time to be what it should. I know that all sounds mixed up, but I am not yet sure all that is going on here and with what I do know, I have to work around. As for what is going on, this story takes place on the last day of Baird's Holler, a couple of hours before the general evacuation begins. Being Nesmith is so invested in this town and being that he needs a thing or two beyond this town, this story itself serves as a bit of a portent.

This story, "The Old Man and His Dolls" is apart of the collection "Outside the Circle of Midnight Black". While this is not the last Tale of that collection, it is the Tale that kicks off the final day. The story itself came in at 4,986 words and was finished on November 18, 2019 as the 54th Tale of the Bajazid.

Being that Mr. Nesmith is expected to write his memoirs, or something to that effect relating what he knows of this place... one where the title has already been revealed (it is mentioned in the associated notes supplied by the curators of a document found as noted in "The Journal of Caleb Walsh")... this particular Tale has more importance than its humble nature might assume. I have work to do...