Dave Wilscott was a bumbling, simple minded 11 year old kid with a big imagination. The summer, evening heat of 1994 was very hot indeed, however, Dave had taken refuge inside one of the cool, dimly lit carriages that held the wax people that he loved seeing. As he strolled through the wax figures, looking and feeling the waxy, smooth surface of each of the scuplture's skin, a man with a jolly smile clapped him on the shoulder, coming out of nowhere, as if Dave were a nephew of some kind.
"Ah, yes, that's Gwen Larmer." The voice had said, startling Dave, who had just been staring into the female scuplture's eyes. He tore his eyes away and stared up at the man.
"Who are you?" Dave asked curiously.
"Why, I'm Jimmy Orville! This is my traveling wax museum! Good to meet you!"
Dave was speechless. The man who ran the show was speaking to him personally. He didn't know what to say.
"I get that all the time, kid." Jimmy Orville said cheerfully, knowing that Dave was dumbstruck, leading him down the isles of figures. Dave caught sight of a young boy sculpture who looked about as old as him.
"W-who makes all of these, Mister?" Dave found himself saying.
Jimmy Orville stopped leading the young boy and grinned. "I do, of course!"
Dave looked around some more, and then at some of the customers looking at the sculptures.
"You make all of these yourself?" He asked incredulously.
"I sure do... In fact... Let me fill you in on something..." Jimmy whispered.
Dave looked around, and nodded for Jimmy to continue.
"The process is top secret, but I've taken a liking to you, boy. I can show you ''how ''I make my incredible wax figures!" Jimmy smiled.
Dave's eyes widened, and he smiled as well. "That'd be great, mister!"
"I start working on my new sculptures once I close for the night. Dont' worry... I'll leave the door wide open for you!"
Dave didn't know what else to say, gave a nod and a smile, and ran off to his home, which was a block away.
Two hours later, the dusk was setting in. Dave knew his parents would simply not allow him to head out this late at night, so, thinking quickly, he snuck out the first chance he got.
Jogging back to the traveling museum was a snap, and Dave was panting. It was slightly eerie with it's dark shadowy exterior, but Dave knew what to do, and knew that he'd be greeted by Jimmy warmly. Dave approached the door and pushed it open slowly.
It was darker than usual. The lights must have been shut off. Rows of the wax figures were on either side of Dave, and there was no light at the end of the walk, just another dark space that led further into the back.
"Mr. Jimmy?" Dave called out with a shudder. The wax figure's eyes seemed to be staring at him as he walked. As Dave reached the space at the end, he thought he heard something swiftly moving behind him. Dave turned around--
"This is the day Mr. Orville's leaving, so I'd better get a last look at the sculptures", a neighborhood child, Jared, told himself. Jared went out into the afternoon sun and rode his bike to Jimmy Orville's traveling wax museum.
As he arrived, Jared saw that it appeared to be packing up sooner than expected. A man with a handcart was pushing a cloth-covered sculpture (What else could it be? Jared thought) across the dirt ground. The sneakers were protruding out from the cloth... And Jared noticed something odd.
He had bought the last pair of those shoes for his friend Dave Wilscott's birthday. "Could just be a coindidence, they're popular shoes..." Jared reassured himself.
But then he saw the icing stain from the birthday party was on the black, cloth surface of the shoes.