Phantasmagoria: The Foot

What had he seen? A car with an open trunk with a foot sticking out.

His pickup truck was so old that it still had the shift lever next to the steering wheel, but it was new to Billy. He pushed in the clutch, shifted to reverse, and turned the key to kill the engine. The door creaked loudly as he opened it and got out. As he shut the door firmly, he admired the brand-new decal on the side of his door:

Bill Vickery, Lawn Specialist over a colorful image of a growling mower flinging cut grass to both sides.

He opened the tailgate and slid a wide sheet of fiberboard to the ground to make a sloped surface to unload his mower from the truck bed. His back just wasn’t what it used to be.

After pushing his mower to a closer spot and going back for a gas can, he examined the area he was being paid to spruce up. He estimated the area between two concrete-backed businesses at fifty feet wide and seventy deep. This shouldn’t take too long.

He jerked on the starter cord several times before the engine caught. He managed the control lever until it was throttled at a good enough clip to get the job done. The back lot was overgrown but not too deep. He adjusted the height then began to push the mower in back and forth motions that would put the least strain on it.