The Rocking Watchers

Jerri passed by the house twice a day: on the way to school and on the way home. In the morning, an odd old couple sat on the porch in their dark brown oversized rocking chairs. Not rocking, just sitting. The man sat in the one on her left and the woman on the right. Staring at her as she walked by. Jerri cheerfully called good morning to them, waved, and smiled - every day. They only stared at her, and she always felt their eyes on her back all the way down the street. Sometimes their cat came down and greeted her by rubbing against her legs. It creeped her out how the oldsters didn’t rock or return her greeting. She never even got a smile.

She had lived here her entire life, just like those old neighbors. Jerri’s best friend, Terrie, met her at the corner and they walked together to the limestone school building. After school, sometimes they did their homework together. Many days they met up at the wooded lot on the other end of the block to play. In the winter, all the kids played out in the snow in the front yards. It didn’t matter if it was the dark of the new moon or a gleaming, full moon. The snow sparkled in a darkened new moon and gave enough light to build forts and throw snowballs; with a full moon, they made snow angels and went to Eddie’s yard to sled.

“Mom, I’m going out to meet the kids in Eddie’s yard.”

“All right. You know the weekend curfew, so I will expect you to be back before 10 p.m. Understand?”

“When have I ever been later, Mom?” Jerri smiled and didn’t wait for a reply. The full moon’s smile tilted toward her tonight.

Jerri ran down to Terrie’s, and the two slogged through mid-calf snow to Eddie’s. He waited with his blue sled with runners and handed the red saucer sled to the girls. Patrick showed up with his and showed them how he had sharpened the blades. They pulled the sleds up the steep hill behind Eddie’s house, and Patrick offered Jerri a ride. Screeching loudly and holding tight to the older boy, she was breathless when he turned the sled at the bottom of the hill, stopping right before the culvert. Jerri rolled off into the snow.

“Amazing, Eddie! I thought we were going to crash.”

“Aww, Jerri, I would never crash my sled or get you hurt. I thought you knew that?”

She grinned, remembering how he had caught her once when she lost her grip on a high tree branch. Terrie had fallen on her back and couldn’t breathe or talk for a full minute. Eddie caught her first, then gently rolled Terrie onto her side and helped her sit up, watching her closely until she was okay again.

“Come on, let’s do it again!” He hopped on and held his hand out to Jerri. The girls took turns riding with the boys and also used the saucer one. They crammed in that one together and careened down the hill, using their bodies to steer and their feet to stop.

It was 8:45 p.m. when Eddie and Patrick suggested they stop sledding and go to the woods, as the undeveloped lot was known. They stowed the sleds in his backyard. In the summer, the bats flew around the woods at night, but they were hibernating now. The kids saw two raccoons looking for food, and Patrick threw all that was left of his apple, the core, near one. The kids watched, fascinated, as the core was rolled over and over in the long-fingered paws. The raccoon nibbled away and handed it to its partner, then they disappeared into the night.

The woods were darker than Eddie’s yard, thick with trees. A few beams of moonlight reached them beneath the forest canopy. The guys led the girls to their fort in the middle of the woods. It was a depression under fallen trees, and they had placed old bricks they scrounged from behind the scrap yard. Jerri was keeping an eye on the time, and Eddie agreed it was time to head home. When they were close to the old people’s house with the rockers on the porch, Patrick stopped, putting his arm in front of them to halt.

“Let’s sneak a peek in their windows.”

“I don’t think we should, Patrick.” Jerri looked at the empty rockers. “We can’t be looking in people’s windows.”

“The house is dark. They’re probably sleeping. I don’t see any lights; come on.” Jerri held back, watching from the sidewalk as Eddie, Patrick, and Terrie slowly climbed the five porch stairs.

On the last step, she heard the stair creak and jumped. The kids all froze, then Patrick motioned them forward. The front curtains were shut; he led them to the porch section that wrapped around the side. Jerri sidled sideways on the sidewalk. Patrick went out back, but Terrie and Eddie returned to the front. Eddie sat down and rocked for a few minutes in the left chair. Terrie stood beside him and rocked the empty chair. Back and forth, back and forth, keeping rhythm with Eddie.

“Come on, it’s time to go home!” Jerri whispered as loudly as she dared. She saw the upstairs curtains flutter and waved at Eddie to get off the porch. His eyebrows shot up in understanding; he leaped off the side of the porch while Terrie ran down the stairs. Patrick was nowhere to be found, and at this point, they didn’t care. All 3 ran toward home, and at the first intersection, Patrick joined them. He had cut through people’s yards to catch up.

Jerri slept late Saturday morning and heard her parents talking quietly in the front room while she got her cereal.

“They were quite elderly. The librarian, Mrs. Taylor, told me that her mother went to school with them.”

Jerri listened quietly as her father replied: “Well, now it will just be old Leonard sitting on the porch, since his sister died.”

On Sunday afternoon, the town’s pastor drove up to the old people’s house, followed by a few church members who were attending Amanda Popperton’s memorial. Jerri’s mother took the old man a casserole and a bouquet of flowers, but Jerri refused to accompany her. She went down to Terrie’s and they played cards on the front porch within view of the Popperton house. When the cars left about 5 p.m., Jerri slowly walked home but didn’t look toward the house. She felt sad and strange. Popperton's cat appeared at her side, rubbing against her. Jerri scratched him between his ears and above his tail, then watched as he leaped onto a rocker and curled up, alone.

Monday, on her walk to school, no one was on that porch, and the rockers sat empty. On Tuesday, Wednesday, not even Thursday or Friday, did she see old man Popperton in his rocker. She did, however, notice the dead woman’s rocker was moved a bit closer to the other.

On her way to Terrie’s on Saturday morning, Jerri stopped in front of the old man’s house. Both rockers sat empty on the porch, and she saw a name carved into the right rocker. It wasn’t a new carving, so she realized it hadn’t been noticeable before because of the woman sitting in the chair. Amanda Popperton was carved in cursive across the top edge.

A month passed, closing in on summer break. After Amanda Popperton's death, the old man sat on the porch only on Fridays. He stared solemnly at Jerri as she passed by to and from school.

The kids had not had a group gathering since their evening of trespassing. They met in the cafeteria for lunch to plan the weekend. Everyone wanted to see the double feature at the cinema on Saturday. Terrie accepted Jerri’s invitation to come for her mother’s famous lasagna on Friday and to spend the night. 

In twilight on Friday evening, Terrie walked toward Jerri’s, right by the Popperton house. She let out a startled gasp as she realized Mr. Popperton was standing, not rocking. Standing and staring at her. He raised a hand in greeting, but she was stuck in fright. Amanda Popperton, his dead sister, was rocking in her chair – the empty one Terrie had rocked that night they crept onto the porch.

               Copyright © 9/10/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin 

This is for the September Superstition Unofficial Writing Challenge. I selected an empty rocking chair: According to this superstition, rocking an empty chair is an invitation for ghosts and spirits to come sit in it.