Untitled

I wanted lights, especially the ones in the...

10:56 AM, Wednesday, February 3, 2010 .. Link

I wanted lights, especially the ones in the kitchen, those good hard fluorescentsI backed out of the living room, not taking my eyes off the ship, and hit all three switches with the back of my handThe lights came on, and I lost sight of the Perse - of everything beyond the Florida room - in their bright, no-nonsense glareI reached for the phone, then stopped There was a man in my kitchenHe was standing by my refrigeratorHe was wearing soaked rags that might once have been blue jeans and the kind of shirt that's called a boat-neckWhat appeared to be moss was growing on his throat, cheeks, forehead, and forearmsThe right side of his skull was crushed inPetals of bone protruded 832 through the lank foliage of his dark hairOne of his eyes - the right - was goneWhat remained was a replica tiffany jewelry spongy socketThe other was an alien, disheartening silver that had nothing to do with humanityHis feet were bare, swollen, purple, and burst through to the bone at the ankles It grinned at me, lips splitting as they drew back, revealing two lines of yellow teeth set into old black gumsIt raised its right arm, and here I saw what must have been another relic of the PerseOne old and rusty circlet was clamped around the thing's wristThe other one hung open like a loose jaw The other one was for me It emitted a loose hissing sound, perhaps all its decayed vocal cords could produce, and began to walk toward me under the bright no-nonsense fluorescentsIt left footprints on the hardwood floorI could hear a faint creaking and saw it was wearing a soaked leather belt - rotten, but for the cheap replica rolex time being, still holding A queer soft paralysis had come over meI was conscious, but I couldn't run even though I 833 understood what that open manacle meant, and what this thing was: a one-man press gangHe would clamp me and take me aboard yonder frigate, or schooner, or barquentine, or whatever-the-hell-itwas I would become part of the crewAnd while there might not be cabin boys on the Perse, I thought there were at least two cabin girls, one named Tessie and one named Lo-LoAt least clock it one with the phone, for Christ's sake! But I couldn'tI was like a bird hypnotized by a snakeThe best I could do was to take one numb step backward into the living roomNow I was in the shadows againIt stood in the kitchen doorway with the white light of the fluorescents striking across its chanel handbags for sale damp and rotted face and throwing its shadow across the living room carpetI considered closing my eyes and trying to wish it away, but that wasn't going to work; I could smell it, like a Dumpster behind a restaurant that specializes in fish dinnersAnd - "Time to go, Edgar 834 - it could talk, after allThe words were slushy but understandable It took a step into the living roomI took another of my numb steps backward, knowing in my heart it would do no good, that compensation wasn't enough, that when it got tired of playing it would simply dart forward and clamp that iron manacle on my wrist and drag me, screaming, down to the water, down to the caldo largo, and the last sound I'd hear on the living side would be the grating conversation of the shells under the houseThen the white leather chanel handbag water would fill my ears I took another step back just the same, not sure I was even moving toward the door, only hoping, then anotherand a hand fell on my shoulder vii "What the **** is that thing?" Wireman whispered in my ear "I don't know," I said, and I was sobbingLook out at the Gulf, WiremanI don't dare take my eyes off it But the thing in the doorway had seen Wireman now - Wireman who'd come in through the open door just as it had itself, Wireman who had arrived like the cavalry in a John Wayne Western - and had stopped three steps inside the living room, its head slightly lowered, the manacle swinging back and forth from its outstretched arm "Christ," Wireman said"That ship! The one in the paintings!" "Go on," the thing said"We have no business with youGo on, and you may chanel purse white live

{ Last Page } { Page 56 of 77 } { Next Page }

Untitled

I wanted lights, especially the ones in the...

About Me

Links

Categories

Recent Entries

Friends