He was a strange little man who seemed to creep along rather than walk. He was shy to the point of being reclusive. No one had ever known him to have a date or enjoy the company of a female in all the years he had lived in Somerville. When he was seen crossing a room every woman there began to drift off like leaves in fall. At twenty-five years old he still lived with his parents and gave no indication that he would ever leave them.
Despite his social faults, the townspeople paid him a grudging respect. He had a brilliant mind and had saved his employer from disaster on more than one occasion with his quick, innovative solutions. They spoke to him on his way home from work. He would simply nod and scurry on his way. They invited him to social functions knowing he wouldn't accept. He never did.
It was a pantomime that played out between them year after year. They tolerated him.
HE HATED THEM!
When he left his job his only thought was to get home as fast as he could and hope no one would look at him and speak. He hated their voices saying, "Afternoon, Mr. Huckelby" . It was never "Afternoon Aubry "or hi Aubry or a friendly pat on the back like others got. No . It was always the same, "Afternoon Mr. Huckelby". He wanted to puke. Even so, it was better than during his school years when all the kids had called him 'Fuckelby Huckelby"
Aubry had left work early. He was having one of his terrible headaches. As he neared his house, he saw his father's car in the driveway. Not wanting to see or talk to him, Aubry went around behind the house and slipped into his room through an open window. He was not in the mood for one of his father's puritanical lectures on the virtues of an eight-hour workday, the sinful ways of mankind or what a disappointment Aubry was to him. He'd heard that all his life.
Aubry opened the closet to dutifully hang his jacket. He stood quietly, listening to the voices coming from the other room. He recognized his father's voice, but it took a few seconds to place the other .It was Lily, their maid. Poor Lily. She was probably catching hell about something.
The closet was Aubry's safe haven. His parents had called it his punishment for doing bad things, but it was his escape from their tyrannical Puritanism. Even now as an adult, he still went into the closet when the world closed in on him or when the headaches became unbearable.