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- Herausgeber: Black Cat Weekly
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
You’re in for a mystery treat this time, with the first Honey West novel. (If you’re not familiar with Honey, she debuted in 1957—and created quite a stir as the first woman detective in a field dominated by hardboiled males. See my long intro directly before the book for a complete dossier on Honey.) Plus this issue we have an original tale from Nikki Knight (courtesy of Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken), a great tale by David Dean (courtesy of Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman), and the first Gabriel Gale mystery by G.K. Chesterton. And, of course, a solve-it-yourself puzzler from the always-clever brains of Hal Charles (the writing team of Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet).
On the science fiction and fantasy side, we have a whopper of a fish tale from Carl Jacobi, military sci-fi from J.F. Bone, a fiendish alien plot from H.B. Fyfe, a tale of telepresence space exploration gone wrong from Daniel F. Galouye, and a short pulp novel from Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe).
Here’s the complete lineup—
Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:
“Never Know What You’ll Hear,” by Nikki Knight [Michael Bracken Presents short story]
“Who Spoiledapple Cider Days,” Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
“Mariel,” by David Dean [Barb Goffman Presents short story]
“The Fantastic Friends,” by G.K. Chesterton [short story, Gabriel Gale series]
This Girl for Hire, by G.G. Fickling [novel, Honey West series]
Science Fiction & Fantasy:
“Carnaby’s Fish,” by Carl Jacobi [short story]
“Weapon,” by J.F. Bone [short story]
“The Klygha,” by H.B. Fyfe [short story]
“Reign of the Telepuppets,” by Daniel F. Galouye [short novel]
Son of the Black Chalice, by Milton Lesser [short novel]
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Seitenzahl: 700
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
THE CAT’S MEOW
TEAM BLACK CAT
NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’LL HEAR, by Nikki Knight
WHO SPOILED APPLE CIDER DAYS?, by Hal Charles
MARIEL, by David Dean
THE FANTASTIC FRIENDS, by G.K. Chesterton
THIS GIRL FOR HIRE by G.G. Fickling
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CARNABY’S FISH, by Carl Jacobi
WEAPON, by J.F. Bone
THE KLYGHA, by H.B. Fyfe
REIGN OF THE TELEPUPPETS, by Daniel F. Galouye
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
SON OF THE BLACK CHALICE, by Milton Lesser
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright © 2023 by Wildside Press LLC.
Published by Wildside Press, LLC.
wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com
*
“Never Know What You’ll Hear” is copyright © 2024 by Nikki Knight and appears here for the first time.
“Who Spoiledapple Cider Days” is copyright © 2022 by Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
“Mariel” is copyright © 2012 by David Dean. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dec. 2012. Reprinted be permission of the author.
“The Fantastic Friends,” by G.K. Chesterton, was originally published in Harper’s Bazaar, Nov. 1920.
This Girl for Hire, by G.G. Fickling, was originally published in 1957.
“Carnaby’s Fish” was originally published in Weird Tales, July 1945. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.
“Weapon,” by J.F. Bone, was originally published in Amazing Stories, June 1961.
“The Klygha,” by H.B. Fyfe, was originally published in Amazing Stories, December 1963.
“Reign of the Telepuppets,” by Daniel F. Galouye originally published in Amazing Stories, August 1963.
Son of the Black Chalice, by Milton Lesser, was originally published in Amazing Stories, July 1952.
THE CAT’S MEOW
Welcome to Black Cat Weekly.
You’re in for a mystery treat this time, with the first Honey West novel. (If you’re not familiar with Honey, she debuted in 1957—and created quite a stir as the first woman detective in a field dominated by hardboiled males. See my long intro directly before the book for a complete dossier on Honey.) Plus this issue we have an original tale from Nikki Knight (courtesy of Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken), a great tale by David Dean (courtesy of Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman), and the first Gabriel Gale mystery by G.K. Chesterton. And, of course, a solve-it-yourself puzzler from the always-clever brains of Hal Charles (the writing team of Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet).
On the science fiction and fantasy side, we have a whopper of a fish tale from Carl Jacobi, military sci-fi from J.F. Bone, a fiendish alien plot from H.B. Fyfe, a tale of telepresence space exploration gone wrong from Daniel F. Galouye, and a short pulp novel from Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe).
Here’s the complete lineup—
Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:
“Never Know What You’ll Hear,” by Nikki Knight [Michael Bracken Presents short story]
“Who Spoiledapple Cider Days,” Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
“Mariel,” by David Dean [Barb Goffman Presents short story]
“The Fantastic Friends,” by G.K. Chesterton [short story, Gabriel Gale series]
This Girl for Hire, by G.G. Fickling [novel, Honey West series]
Science Fiction & Fantasy:
“Carnaby’s Fish,” by Carl Jacobi [short story]
“Weapon,” by J.F. Bone [short story]
“The Klygha,” by H.B. Fyfe [short story]
“Reign of the Telepuppets,” by Daniel F. Galouye [short novel]
Son of the Black Chalice, by Milton Lesser [short novel]
Until next time, happy reading!
—John Betancourt
Editor, Black Cat Weekly
TEAM BLACK CAT
EDITOR
John Betancourt
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Barb Goffman
Michael Bracken
Paul Di Filippo
Darrell Schweitzer
Cynthia M. Ward
PRODUCTION
Sam Hogan
Enid North
Karl Wurf
NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’LL HEAR,by Nikki Knight
A Vermont Radio Mystery
If there’s one universal truth in radio, it’s that no one looks like they sound.
Usually, it’s just funny. But it was deadly serious at my first Parents’ Night in our new hometown.
I hadn’t expected an easy ride. Still, school duties and drama sure seemed like a nice break after the tsunami of changes that swept us into this tiny Vermont town, landing just in time for the start of school.
It was a lot. Right about the time my husband decided he had different priorities after surviving cancer, most of them blonde, bodacious, and bubbleheaded, the corporate overlords of my New York City radio station decided the Bully Ballers Show was a better midday bet than Jaye Jordan’s Light Rock at Work.
The good news was, WSV, the little radio station where I’d had my first real job, was up for sale. Better, the owner was willing to take what I could afford to pay because I promised to go live and local again.
Local we were, since I dumped the hateful satellite talk and brought in as much hometown information and coverage as I could. More so because my tween daughter Ryan and I moved into the apartment over the station. Live, not so much, since I couldn’t afford to pay any employees yet, so we still relied on music from the satellite service.
Except at night.
From six to midnight—one a.m. on weekends—I played all-request love songs, the kind of eclectic listener service thing you can only get away with in a very small market. And I loved it. Loved being in the tiny, old studio in the converted bomb shelter downstairs, doing what I liked most about the business: spinning songs for people who needed them and were grateful for it.
Well, mostly grateful.
There were one or two fans of the old angry talk shows who complained, sometimes showing up to protest with muskets I hoped were as non-functional as their brains. A few calls and emails, too. The police chief assured me that nothing rose to the level of a serious threat, and promised to keep a close eye, but some of it was still annoying.
Especially a woman who called the first time I spun some Sir Elton for my neighbor and his husband and kept calling about same-sex couple requests.
“You’re confusing children. What are they supposed to think?” she squawked in a sharp, shrill tone.
“That love is love. Thank you for listening.” Click.
It’s Vermont, for heaven’s sake. We’ve got almost two generations of legal same-sex unions and a few centuries of proud Northern New England live-and-let-live. A clueless jerk or two wasn’t a big deal.
The only time she got to me was on RoshHashanah. My pal Maeve, the Episcopal parish priest, called in a request for ABBA’s “Happy New Year,” with best wishes for her Jewish friends, including me and Ryan. (I converted because I wanted her born in her father’s faith, and because I felt comfortable there. ’Nuff said. Or should be.)
No sooner had I announced the request and fired the song, than the phone light flashed.
“Nobody wants to hear about you people,” the caller snapped. “No wonder you’re playing songs for those perverts. You people just want to bring down good American society.”
“And a happy new year to you, too,” I said as I hung up, thankful it was after eight and Ryan was in bed upstairs. It still took an hour or so to calm my fight-or-flight fury.
Parents’ Night came about a week later.
My neighbor Rob and his husband Tim, dads of Ryan’s new running buddy Xavier, went too, after we parked the kids at the library’s Game Night. You bet there’s coordination in small towns.
Rob’s a local; he used to be the morning man at WSV and bought the restaurant next door when the old owner went satellite. He tapes bits for the mornings now, and I’m hoping we can someday do more.
At the school door, Rob got buttonholed by the principal, Miss Denby, over a spelling error on his specials board, while Tim headed for the art displays to look for Xavi’s work. I started for the PTA booth, figuring they might appreciate a few public service announcements. A perky dark-haired woman in a baby-pink cashmere twinset was holding court, her false eyelashes batting, ironed waves flowing, as she supervised sign-up sheets and motioned lesser humans to do her bidding.
I recognized the type.
I didn’t expect to recognize the voice.
But I did.
The bright brown eyes landed on me, and my nametag, which read “Mrs. Metz,” because I still use my married name off the air.
“Oh! Mrs. Metz!” she squawked in greeting. A very faint crinkle, all that Botox would allow, appeared between her brows. “You’re new. Make sure to come to the presentation later—there’s lots to know!”
“Um, sure.” I just nodded and turned toward the hall. Forget PSAs. At least for now.
“What?” Rob’s sharp jaw clenched a little. He knew something was up.
“Her—perky PTA woman over there—she’s one of the harassing callers.”
“The voice.” Rob gave me a rueful smile. He’s got the ear too.
I nodded.
“I’d like to say it surprises me, but…”
“Jerks everywhere,” I said. I shook my head.
“Mrs. Metz!”
I turned to see a small, pudgy woman coming at me. She was wearing a baby-pink sweater like the PTA princess, but not nearly as well.
“Hi.” I managed a smile.
“You forgot your sign-up sheet. Suzie wants to get as many people signed up as possible.”
I took the paper. “Of course she does.”
The small woman leaned in a bit, like she was telling me a secret, clearly sensing that I wasn’t sold. “You know, she’s being very brave tonight.”
“Really.”
“Her mom died last week, and they arrested the home care worker… It’s really been a tough time for her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. I really was. After all I’d seen, I wouldn’t wish sickness and death on anyone.
“Hey, Laney,” Rob greeted the PTA groupie with a smile, then shook his head toward the hall. “Jaye and I had better get to the classrooms.”
“Sure. I saw Tim going that way,” she replied, with a genuine smile. Whatever was up with her leader was clearly not an issue for her. That was something, anyhow.
In Miss Featherstone’s room, Tim was sitting at the back of the class, happily observing as our kids’ earnest young teacher explained vocabulary and reading expectations. Not that we had anything to worry about; I take the kids to the library after school a few times every week, and both have groaning shelves of their own.
“Hey,” Tim stage-whispered as we sat beside him. He’s the cute and easygoing half of the partnership; as an assistant District Attorney, he tries to leave all his intensity in the courtroom.
“Hey.” As I sat between them, I caught the guys exchanging a glance.
“Trouble out there?” Tim asked.
“I’m pretty sure the PTA chair is one of my harassing callers.”
“Ugh.” He shook his head.
The movement was noticeable enough to get Miss Featherstone’s attention, and a sharp glare.
We all shrank down a little in our seats like bad kids. Well, we still are.
“Did you tell her to stop?” Tim’s voice was low, but his face tight; he’d been angry but realistic about the lack of legal recourse.
“Not the time. Not sure what I want to do. Apparently, there’s more to it.”
“Laney Randolph said Suzie was being very brave because her mom died, and the care worker was arrested,” Rob whispered.
Tim’s warm brown eyes widened. “That Suzie?”
No chance to pursue it under Miss Featherstone’s gaze.
“…and so, I’m always here if you have any questions,” the teacher finally finished. We spent a few minutes with her, making up ground for the interruption, but also enjoying her good energy and assurances that our kids were off to a good start.
Out in the hall, though, we had time to talk as we moved to the final presentations in the multi-purpose room.
“All right, how do you know Suzie?” I asked Tim.
“I assume it’s the Baluster case. Sweet little old lady found in her bed whacked in the back of the head.”
“Ow.” I winced.
“Yeah, ow. For the worker too. Daughter placed her as the only person at the scene so once it was ruled homicide, we didn’t have much choice. Not that I liked it.”
Rob nodded. I recognized his concerned expression; he worries when Tim takes things to heart.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It doesn’t seem right.” Tim pushed his dark hair back and sighed. “Worker’s a nice lady from Haiti. Been doing homecare for twenty years, never a complaint. And suddenly kills a woman? Didn’t take anything, either.”
“Snapped?” Rob asked. “It happens.”
“I suppose. I don’t like cases like this. I know stuff happens that doesn’t make sense, but sometimes it’s hard to just walk on.”
“No wonder,” I said. “And especially with that officious little princess of a daughter.”
“She hasn’t been great with us, either,” Tim agreed. “Practically ordering the cops around and squawking like a wet hen about getting back in the house.”
“Squawking.” I nodded. “That’s exactly how she sounded in the calls.”
“The calls.” Tim’s gaze sharpened. “Tell me about them.”
Rob watched us both, waiting.
“Cellphone. Probably from a car—there was background noise.”
“Did she call you last Thursday night?”
“Yes. That’s when she said that stuff about ‘you people’ and RoshHashanah.”
“From a car?” Tim asked. “You’re sure.”
“Just about. It sounded like it always did.”
“You can check the pings, right?” Rob asked.
Tim reached for his phone. “That’s what I’m going to do now. Have a nice time at the big presentation.”
The big presentation consisted of the principal, Miss Denby, welcoming us with regal grace and reminding us to get all our online forms in order. Then Suzie took the stage.
She’d slipped off her cardigan to reveal carefully toned and spray-tanned biceps and touched up her nude lip-plumper. After a fake-modest bow, she quickly moved into breathless humble-bragging about all her hard work with the PTA. Even her biggest fan Laney’s eyes were starting to glaze over when Tim slipped back in beside Rob and me.
“Looks like we’re about to see a little lesson in criminal procedure,” Tim whispered.
“Really?” I asked.
“Ssh.” Rob motioned to us both to keep it down a little. No need to attract attention just yet.
“Really. That call to you was from a tower outside her mother’s house—twenty miles away from where she said she was that night.”
“Doesn’t mean—” I started.
“The mom was running through close to five thousand a month in home care and medical bills.” Tim shook his head. “Just about out of money.”
Rob winced. “And you think…”
“I think it makes more sense than an upstanding home care worker with no criminal history and no motive suddenly going off and whacking her patient in the head.”
“I can’t argue,” I said.
“I just hate to think a daughter would do that.” Rob, son of aging, but not yet fragile, parents, shrugged.
“You never know what people will do when there’s a threat to their perfect lives.” Tim nodded at Suzie. “You think she’s going to bankrupt herself for her mom?”
I looked at our star, happily holding forth, lost in the wonder of herself. Probably capable of a lot to protect her world. Maybe even that much.
“Okay,” I said. “You got me there.”
Tim gave me a grim nod, and we returned to pretending to pay attention to whatever she was blathering about. Fortunately, the performance was almost over, and Suzie started wrapping up.
“Chief George is on the way up the hill,” Tim said, patting my arm. “C’mon. We have to keep her busy till he gets here.”
Amazingly enough, not that many people wanted to buzz around the Queen Bee of the PTA that night. Maybe they’d had enough perky for one evening.
She was picking up her status bag and cashmere sweater, either of which would have cost me more than a month’s salary back in New York, when we got to her.
“Oh, hello, Mrs. Metz!” she exclaimed.
“Actually, my name is Jordan. Jaye Jordan.”
Until that moment, I didn’t know people who wear too much bronzer take on a greenish cast when they go pale.
“Yes. That Jaye Jordan. You didn’t recognize me, but I recognized your voice.”
“Well!” She took a breath and looked at Tim and Rob beside me. More math that was not good for her. But Suzie was Suzie. “It’s true, you know. You shouldn’t be confusing children with those songs.”
“I’m not going to dignify that,” I said. “Or the insult to mine and my daughter’s faith. You’ve got bigger problems.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw her literally big problem: a very tall figure in the multi-purpose room doorway.
There was no mistaking Simpson Police Chief George Orr anywhere, but particularly not in a small Vermont town, where a six-foot-three Black former NYPD lieutenant in a leather trench coat stands out. In the best possible way, thanks.
“Bigger problems?” Suzie saw the chief, too. “What on earth…”
“We know you made the call from your car last Thursday night,” Tim said, his voice now cool prosecutorial steel. “And where you were.”
“Well! That doesn’t prove anything—”
“It proves you lied,” Tim assured her. “And we know the financials will explain the rest.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“And you’ve got every right to one,” Chief George said, as he reached us. “I assume you want to do this quietly.”
As the Chief took her arm, Suzie’s face twisted in disgust, making it clear Jews weren’t the only people she didn’t like much.
Chief George cut his eyes to me. He’d taken reports on the calls, even though he couldn’t do much. He nodded to the door. “Good night, folks.”
“It is now.”
Tim said it, but we all thought it.
Ten minutes later, at the bottom of the hill, the kids had gone into their respective homes to make cocoa, and Rob, Tim, and I were standing on the station porch, still a little stunned at what had happened.
“Helluva parents’ night,” I said.
“Got that.” Tim gave a wry chuckle. “Better than I expected.”
“I’ve got to get in.” I turned to Rob. “I set it up so I’m live at eight o’clock.”
“Nice.” Rob smiled.
“Have a good show,” Tim said. “You’ve sure earned it.”
“Thanks, fellas. See you tomorrow.”
I had my hand on the door when Rob asked.
“Gonna spin something for her?”
Rob knows me too well.
He and Tim were the only ones who understood when, just after eleven, I played the song for “someone with a lot on her mind.” I left it at that—anything more would have been gloating. But I was sure my friends enjoyed it as much as I did.
Just a little Blondie: “Call Me.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nikki Knightis an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. A longtime New York radio anchor, she writes stories published in Black Cat Weekly, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and more, as well as novels including the upcoming Vermont Radio Mystery, Live, Local, and Long Dead from Wild Rose Press. She and her family live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.
WHO SPOILEDAPPLE CIDER DAYS?,by Hal Charles
“ARRRH!”
Detective Kelly Stone was walking toward the town square when she heard the scream down the side street. Rounding the corner, she came to the building with THE WOOD SHOP sign. The scream had come from behind, so she headed down the alley. In back, she found the store’s owner, Cassie Paige, holding her shoulder.
“Kickback,” announced Cassie, pointing to the table saw inside the open garage door. “Think my shoulder’s dislocated. No last-minute touches to my rolling kitchen island, so no entry for this year’s Minerva.”
The Minerva was the annual award during the town’s fall festival for the best woodworking piece by a woman, and Cassie was the usual winner. A wooden statue with the image of the Roman goddess of wisdom and craft, the Minerva was another of Kelly’s mother’s pet projects for recognizing unique contributions to the community. In fact, in another hour her mother and the mayor would be judging those entries.
Kelly waited until the EMTs had tended to Cassie, who seemed more disappointed in not finishing her entry than her new shoulder sling. Arriving at the town square, the detective found her mother in the judging booth and in a tizzy. “What’s wrong, Mom?” said Kelly.
“I was just about to call you. Someone has stolen the cigar box containing this year’s ticket revenue for Apple Cider Days. I brought it with me when I came down to judge the Minerva entries. While I was distracted by phone calls, someone took it.”
“Who else has come into this booth since you arrived?” asked Kelly.
Sitting down amid the Minerva entries, Sheila Stone calmed herself. “Let’s see, only three women dropped off their entries this morning.”
“Who?”
“That combination side table and charging station,” Shelia continued while pointing, “belongs to Jennie Fayer. The rolling mop bucket stand and work desk is a product of Leslie’s Loo’s contemporary vision of womanhood. The objet d’art mess on the corner table with all the tree limbs protruding from it—and I’m not judging…yet—is something Dorie Combs-Thayer calls ‘Chaos.’”
“I think you’ll have a more difficult time judging than I will determining which one picked up your cigar box.”
The detective found Jennie Fayer in the pumpkin-carving arena trying for a double victory. When confronted, Jennie spoke plainly. “Kelly, think about this situation carefully. My husband is a bit-coin billionaire. Why would I bother with petty cash?”
Dorie Combs-Thayer was located in the art booth examining paintings by local artists. When asked if she had anything to do with loss of revenue, she responded, “I’ll be truthful with you, Kelly. When I saw Cassie Paige’s entry, I just threw together some junk I had in my workshop. Why try hard?”
Leslie Loo was discovered sitting in the lotus position staring at the pine tree in the center of the town square. “It’s too bad the town took up this much space in the square with this tree when they could have gone bonsai,” she said.
“Interesting point.” Kelly explained to her why she was asking questions.
“I’d bet Jenny Fayer took the cigar box,” said Leslie. “Her husband is dripping with cash, but won’t give her a drop. But, of course, Dorie has moved beyond envy to anger that CP…Cassie Paige…is the perennial winner. Behold! My mop-bucket and desk so imaginatively defines the dilemma of modern woman while simultaneously asserting a woman can have both a home and work life.”
“That’s an interesting interpretation,” said Sheila Stone, tapping her daughter on the shoulder, “but have you figured out who grabbed my cigar box?”
“As a matter of fact,” said the detective, rubbing the award, “in honor of the wisdom of Minerva, I have.”
SOLUTION
Dorie Combs-Thayer claimed to have seen perennial winner Cassie Paige’s entry, but the only place that viewing could have occurred was at Cassie’ s store since Cassie never completed her project. Confronted, Dorie confessed to being so mad at Cassie’s victory string that she snuck in the back of her store and even bent the table saw blade. Unfortunately, the damage was done to Cassie rather than her entry. Dorie is currently in jail looking for a new hobby.
The Barb Goffman Presents series showcasesthe best in modern mystery and crime stories,
personally selected by one of the most acclaimed
short stories authors and editors in the mystery
field, Barb Goffman, forBlack Cat Weekly.
MARIEL,by David Dean
The neighbor watched Mariel approach through his partially shuttered blinds. She cruised down their quiet cul-de-sac on her purple bicycle, her large head with its jumble of tight curls swiveling from side to side. He thought she looked grotesque, a Shirley Temple on steroids. Mariel ratcheted the bell affixed to her handlebars for no apparent reason and stopped in front of his house. He took a step back from the window.
His house was one of three that lay along the turnaround at the end of Crumpler Lane, and normally she would simply complete her circumnavigation of the asphalted circle and return to her end of the street. This time, however, Mariel’s piggish eyes swept across his lawn and continued to the space between his house and that of his neighbor’s to the north, who despised the child as much as he did, if that was possible. A crease of concern appeared on his freckled forehead and he took a sip of his cooling coffee.
Suddenly she raked the lever of her bell back and forth several times, startling him, the nerve-racking jangle sounding as if Mariel and her bike were in his living room. He felt something warm slide over his knuckles and drip onto his faux Persian carpet.
Hissing a curse about Mariel’s parentage, he turned for the kitchen and a bottle of stain remover. “Hideous child,” he murmured through clenched teeth. “Troglodyte!” What was she looking for? More than once he had chased her from his property after finding her snooping around his sheds and peering in his windows. Though he had complained, her mother had proved useless in controlling the child. She was one of those “single moms” that seemed to dominate the family landscape of late and had made it clear that she thought he was overreacting.
He recalled with a flushing of his freshly razored cheeks how she had appeared amused by the whole thing and inquired with an arched brow how long he had been divorced—as if the need for companionship might be the real motive behind his visit! He felt certain that, on more than one encounter with the gargantuan and supremely disengaged mother, he had smelled alcohol on her breath, cheap wine, if he had to hazard a guess.
But what now, he wondered? Usually, Mariel crept about in a surprisingly stealthy manner for such a large girl. Now she commanded the street like a general, silent but for the grating bell that even now rang out demandingly once more…but for what?
Forgetting the carpet cleaner, he set down his morning mug and glided quietly back to his observation point at the window. He felt trapped, somehow, by this sly little giant so inappropriately named Mariel. What had her mother been thinking, he asked himself with a shake of his graying head, to assign this clumsy-looking creature such a delicate, feminine name? When he peeked out again it was to find Mariel’s bike lying discarded on his lawn, the girl nowhere to be seen. The crease between his eyes became a furrow, and he rushed through his silent house to the kitchen windows.
Carefully parting a slat of his venetian blinds, he looked on the path that led between his property and the next and on into the woods. A large head of curly hair was just disappearing down it and into the trees. A shudder ran through his body, and beads of sweat formed above his upper lip like dew. Damn the girl, he thought, feeling slightly nauseated as suspicion uncoiled itself within his now-queasy guts.
Unbidden, the image of the dog trotted into his mind, its hideous prize clasped between its slavering jaws. It had reeked of the rancid earth exposed by the recent torrential rains. He remembered with a shudder of distaste and a rising, renewable fury how it had danced back and forth across his sodden lawn, clearly enjoying its game of keep-away. He remembered the shovel most of all, its heft and reach, the satisfaction of its use.
“That was her dog,” he breathed into the silent, waiting room, then thought, of course it was…it would be. His soft hands flexed as if gripping the shovel once more.
* * * *
Mariel stood over the shallow, hastily dug grave and contemplated the partially exposed paw. The limb showed cinnamon-colored fur with black, tigerish stripes that she immediately recognized. She hadn’t really cared for Ripper, (a name he had been awarded as a puppy denoting his penchant for ripping any and every thing he could seize between his formidable jaws), but he had been, ostensibly, her dog.
Ostensibly, because as he had grown larger, his destructive capabilities, coupled with Mariel’s and her mother’s complete disregard for instilling anything remotely resembling discipline, had resulted in a rather dangerous beast who had to be kept penned in the backyard at all times. Mariel had served largely as Ripper’s jailer.
As she couldn’t really share any affection with the dog, or he with her, they had gradually grown to regard one another with a resigned antipathy, if not outright hostility—after all, she was also the provider of his daily meals, which she mostly remembered to deliver. It was also she who managed to locate him on those occasions when he found the gate to his pen unlatched (Mariel did this from time to time to see what might happen in the neighborhood as a result) and coaxed him into returning. This was the mission in which Mariel had been engaged this Saturday morning in early November. She saw now that she had been only partially successful. Ripper would not be returning to his pen.
Looking about for something to scrape the loose earth off her dog’s remains, she pried a rotting piece of wood from a long-fallen pine tree and began to dig into the damp, sandy soil. Grunting and sweating with the effort, her Medusa-like curls bouncing on her large, round skull, Ripper was exposed within minutes. Whoever had buried him had not done a very good job of it, and the slight stench of dead dog that had first led her to the secret grave rose like an accusing, invisible wraith. Mariel wrinkled her stubby nose.
Ignoring the dirt and damage being done her purplish sweatshirt and pants that matched her bicycle, she seized the dead creature by his hindquarters and dragged him free of the grave. Letting him drop onto the leaf litter of the forest floor with a sad thump, she surveyed her once-fierce companion.
She thought he looked as if the air had been let out of him—deflated. His great fangs were exposed in a permanent snarl or grimace, the teeth and eyes clotted with earth. She pushed at his ribcage with a toe of her dirty sneaker as if this might goad him back into action, but nothing happened; he just lay there.
She thought his skull appeared changed and squatted next to him to make a closer examination. As she brought her large face nearer, the rancid odor grew even stronger, but Mariel was not squeamish and so continued her careful scrutiny. It was different, she decided. The concavity that naturally ran between Ripper’s eyes to the crown of his skull was now more of a valley—or canyon. Mariel ran a finger along it and came away with a sticky black substance clinging to it. The stain smelled of death and iron.
Having completed her necropsy, Mariel stood once more and surveyed the surrounding woods. The trees had been largely stripped of their colorful foliage by the recent nor’easter, but her enemy was not to be seen. Though she did not truly mourn Ripper’s untimely passing, she did greatly resent the theft of her property and its misuse and concluded with a hot finality that someone owed her a dog.
She gently kicked Ripper’s poor carcass as a final farewell, then turned to leave and find a wheelbarrow in which to transport him home once more. She knew of several neighbors who possessed such a conveyance, and almost none were locked away this time of year.
It was then that something within the dog’s recent grave caught her attention—something that twinkled like a cat’s eye in the slanted beams of daylight that filtered through the trees. Mariel dropped to her knees, thrusting her chubby hand into the fetid earth to retrieve whatever treasure lay within. When she withdrew it once more it was to find that she clasped a prize far greater than any she could ever have imagined—a gold necklace, it’s flattened, supple links glistening like snakeskin and bearing a pendant that sparkled with a blue fire in the rays of the milky sun. Mariel had no idea as to what, exactly, she had discovered, but her forager’s instinct assured her that she clasped a prize worth having.
Without hesitation, she gave it a tug to free it from the grasp of Ripper’s grave, but, oddly, found that her efforts were resisted. She snatched at it once more, impatient to be in full possession of her prize and felt something beneath the dirt move and begin to give way. Encouraged by the results of this tug-of-war, she seized the links in both hands now and rocked back on her considerable haunches for additional leverage.
With the dry snap of a breaking branch, the necklace came free and Mariel found herself in full possession. The erupted earth, however, now revealed a yellowish set of teeth still lodged in the lower jawbone of their owner. Several of these teeth had been filled with silver and, as Mariel had also been the recipient of such dental work, she understood that the remains were those of a human. A stack of vertebrae were visible jutting out from the dirt, evidence of the result of the uneven struggle, though the remainder of the skull still lay secure beneath the soil.
Mariel’s grip on the pendant never wavered as she regarded the neck of the now-headless horror that had previously worn the coveted necklace. With only a slight “ewww” of disgust, she rose in triumph to slip the prized chain over her own large head, admiring the lustrous sapphire that hung almost to her exposed navel while ignoring the slight tang of death that clung to it. She felt pleased with the day’s outcome, Ripper’s demise notwithstanding.
With her plans now altered by this surprising acquisition, Mariel dragged her dog’s much abused corpus back to the grave from which she had only just liberated him, tipped him in and began to cover Ripper and his companion once more. When she was done, she studied the results for several moments; then she thought to drag a few fallen branches over her handiwork.
Satisfied with the results, she turned for home once more, pausing only long enough to slip the necklace beneath her stained sweatshirt. Mariel did not want to have to surrender her hard-won treasure to her mother, who would undoubtedly covet the prize and seize it for her own adornment. Besides, she had things she wanted to think about and did not want anyone to know of the necklace until the moment of her choosing, specially, the three men who occupied the homes on the cul-de-sac. It had not escaped Mariel’s notice that only those three had easy access to the path that led into the woods and passed within yards of the secret grave.
* * * *
The neighbor watched her emerge from the trees and march past his house. He studied her closely but could read nothing from her usual closed expression. Other than her clothes being a little dirtier than when she went in, she appeared the same as always, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
It was silly, he thought, as he saw her raise and clumsily mount her bike, how one unpleasant child could instill so much unease. It was because he was a sensitive man, he consoled himself—he had been a sensitive boy and with adulthood nothing had really changed. He had always resented the unfeeling bullies of the world, child or adult. Children like Mariel had terrified him when he had been a schoolboy, and apparently nothing had changed in that respect either.
The sudden jangling of the bell caused him to gasp, and his eyes returned to the robust figure of Mariel. She surveyed the surrounding houses with her implacable gaze, studying each of the three on the cul-de-sac in turn, coming at last back to his own. He shrank back from the window once more, his heart beating rapidly.
Then, with a thrust of a large thigh, her bike was set in motion and she pedaled from his sight with powerful strokes. “Damn her,” he whispered defiantly as his earlier concerns returned with such force that his blood suddenly roared within his ears.
Finding an overstuffed chair to settle into, he peered around the plush, dim room with its collection of his own paintings on the wall, while around him songbirds began to chirp and sing from their cages as if to restore and calm him. He smiled weakly in gratitude at their effort even as Mariel’s imperious face returned to his mind’s eye with a terrible clarity. He closed his eyes against her, massaging his now-throbbing temples with his soft fingertips. If she had discovered anything in those woods, he asked himself, she would have come out screaming, wouldn’t she? He lowered his head into his sweaty hands, while a blood-red image of Mariel shimmered on his inner eyelids. Wouldn’t she?
* * * *
Mariel had no trouble engineering her encounter with Mr. Salter. He worked on his lawn from early spring until the cold and snow of January finally drove him indoors. As long as there was any light she knew her chances were good of finding him in his yard. So after she was delivered home by her school bus and enjoyed a snack of cream-filled cupcakes, she pedaled her bike directly to the cul-de-sac and his property.
Salter watched her approach with a sour expression meant to ward her away, but Mariel was not troubled by such subtleties. She came to a sudden halt in his driveway, causing a scattering of carefully raked gravel. She watched Salter’s expression darken at this, but he refrained from saying anything. He shut off the leaf blower he had been using, and its piercing whine faded away. Man and girl observed each other from several yards apart as his corpulent Labrador waddled happily toward Mariel, thick tail wagging.
“Bruiser,” Salter warned menacingly.
The dog ignored him and continued on to Mariel, pleased to be patted on his large head. Salter’s complexion went darker yet.
“Can I do something for you?” he asked, his tone clearly inferring the opposite.
Mariel regarded him without answering while fingering the necklace she had retrieved from its hiding place before going out. Salter fidgeted beneath her round-eyed stare. “Be careful of the dog,” he muttered hopefully, “he might bite.”
As Mariel had surreptitiously recruited Salter’s dog during her many secret forays, she knew this to be untrue. She often went into Salter’s garage, where he kept the dog food, and fed the animal while he was away teaching shop at the high school, Bruiser was always pleased to see her as a result. As if to emphasize their relationship, the dog laid its great head on her thigh, sighed, and stared adoringly into her eyes.
This was too much for Salter, who turned his wide back on her and went to pull at the cord that would start his treasured leaf blower.
Mariel glanced at the well-worn path that led from Salter’s backyard into the woods. “I have this,” she said, pulling the necklace from her shirt and allowing it to fall down over her plump stomach. The sapphire shone in the late day sun like a blue flame. Her eyes remained warily on Salter, even as her small mouth puckered into a smile of possessiveness.
Salter, glancing over his shoulder, halted and turned slowly back. “Where the devil did you get that?” he managed. He took a few steps closer as Mariel backed her bike away an equal distance. Bruiser’s head slid off her thigh, leaving a trail of saliva.
Seeing this, Salter stopped and studied Mariel’s prize from where he stood. “Did your mother say you could wear that?”
As the girl did not reply, but only continued her unsettling scrutiny, he added, “Does she even know that you have it? For that matter, how the hell could your mom afford something like that…provided it’s real, of course?” Forgetting himself, he took another few steps, but Mariel was already turning her bike to coast down his driveway.
“I know you’ve been coming onto my property,” he called as she picked up speed with each stroke of her powerful legs. “You’d better stop sneaking around here… It’s called trespassing, you know. I could call the cops.” His voice grew louder as she added distance between them. “And maybe I will the next time.”
“Did you steal that?” he called out meanly as she disappeared around the curve.
Mariel only looked back as she sped up the street and out of sight of the cul-de-sac. A small smile played on her puckered lips. She scratched Mr. Salter off her list of suspects.
* * * *
Mariel surprised Mr. Forster in his own backyard. She had glided silently across his still-green lawn to roll to a halt at the back edge of his house. Forster had his back to her and was busily feeding and talking to his flock of tiny bantam hens. He did not notice her arrival. The hens themselves restlessly pecked and grumbled within the pen he had provided them and gave her no notice as Forster continued to scatter feed amongst them.
Mariel enjoyed watching these birds and had several times in the past attempted to better make their acquaintance. On one such occasion, Forster had found Mariel within the pen itself attempting to catch one of his miniature chickens, feathers flying about in the air amid a cacophony of terrified squawking. He had been livid with rage at her incursion and had joined the ranks of other neighbors who had visited her home to complain to her mother. Mariel had learned to be more careful since that encounter and had not been caught since, but neither had she been successful.
“They’re funny,” Mariel lisped quietly.
Forster spun around scattering the remainder of the feed from the bowl he was using. “Oh,” he cried, as the small black fowl swarmed his shoes and cuffs for the errant seeds. “Oh,” he repeated, then focused on his unexpected visitor. He brought a hand up to his heart and gasped. “You scared me half to death, Mariel. I didn’t hear you come up, and you nearly scared me half to…” He caught himself. “You usually ring that little bell of yours,” he finished with a limp gesture at her bike.
Man and girl regarded one another across several yards of mostly grassless, churned-up soil…evidence of poultry. A worn path into the woods separated them. Mr. Forster set the metal bowl down and opened the pen door to come out. Mariel clumsily rolled her bike into a half circle that left her facing in the direction from which she had come.
The older man appeared to note the child’s wariness and slowed his steps, easing himself leisurely through the door and taking his time in carefully closing and latching the wire-covered frame. When he turned once more to Mariel it was to find her holding out a large jewel pendant that hung about her neck from a gold-colored chain. She reminded him of the vampire-slayers in horror films attempting to paralyze and kill their undead foes with a crucifix.
“My goodness, Mariel, that is some necklace you have there. It’s lovely. You are a very lucky girl to have that.”
Mariel continued to fix him with both her gaze and the pendant while her lips vanished into a grim, pensive line. Forster stared back uncertainly. “Was there something that you wanted?” he thought to ask at last.
The sapphire wavered in her grip, and she slowly lowered and slipped it once more beneath her top. It appeared to have no power over this man either. As she puzzled over her lack of progress in her investigation thus far, Forster took two steps closer.
Forster was only slightly taller than Mariel and had no more than fifteen pounds over the ten-year-old, so she was not as intimidated as she might have been with other men in the neighborhood.
“It’s the hens, isn’t it?” he ventured. “You appreciate them like I do.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the chicken coop. “I was probably a little hasty last time you were here,” he continued. “I should have thought…but when I heard all that commotion and came out to find someone in the pen… Well, I should have realized that you were just as fascinated by them as I am.” He studied Mariel’s broad, unintelligent face for several moments. “Would you like to hold one?”
Mariel’s gaze flickered just slightly at this invitation. The thought of actually holding one of the softly feathered birds had become something of a Holy Grail for her, and her breath caught at the idea.
Forster turned and retraced his steps to the coop and within moments returned stroking a quietly clucking hen. Mariel smiled and reached out both arms for the coveted bird, but Forster stopped a few paces short of her. Still running his hand over the bantam’s glossy feathers, he nodded contentedly at Mariel, and said, “Show me that necklace again, why don’t you? I was too far away to be able to see it well. How about another look… I won’t touch it. Then I’ll let you hold Becky.” He smiled widely at Mariel and held the bird a few inches away from his chest to indicate his willingness.
Mariel quickly retrieved the necklace from within her shirt and held out the pendant for him to study, her small greedy eyes never leaving the near-dozing hen. Forster leaned forward onto the balls of his feet and studied the stone silently for several moments. Finally, Mariel heard him exhale and murmur, “You should be very careful with that, Mariel. That’s exactly the kind of thing that grown-ups will want to take from you.” He leaned just a little closer and asked, “Does your mother know you’ve got that?” And when she fidgeted and didn’t answer right away, added, “I wouldn’t tell her, if I were you… She’ll want to wear it…and keep it…for sure. Any woman would.”
Mariel stuffed the necklace back down her shirt and thrust her arms out once more for the agreed-upon chicken. Forster carefully placed it within her thick arms and smiled as Mariel’s normally glum face began to light up with the tactile pleasure of the silken bird. In her enthusiasm, she began to run her sticky hand down the hen’s back with rapid movements, even as Becky began to squirm and protest volubly at the excessive downward pressure of her strokes. The contented clucking quickly became the frenzied cackles of a terrified chicken in the clutch of a bear cub.
Forster, seeing that Mariel’s technique required more practice and refinement, made to take the bird from the grinning schoolgirl, but she turned away with her prize as if she meant to keep Becky at all costs. With that movement, however, the hen was given just the opening she required in which to free her wings. Becky began to flap them frantically in her rapidly escalating desire for freedom.
Startled, Mariel released the bird, which, in a whirlwind of beating wings and flying feathers, covered the short distance to her coop in awkward bounds only slightly resembling actual flight. Mariel was left with nothing but a few of the errant feathers and her hot disappointment.
With a frown of both disapproval and resentment, she pushed off on her bike and made for Crumpler Lane. Behind her, Forster called out, “They just take a little getting used to, Mariel. Come back when you want, and I’ll teach you to handle them!”
After she had gone away, he turned to his precious coop to ensure that Becky was returned and properly locked in for the night. Then, with a sigh, he went up the back steps and into his house, turning on the lights in room after room as true darkness fell.
* * * *
Mr. Wanderlei was next on Mariel’s list, and she was not long in cornering him. She found him that very Saturday as he was painting the wooden railing of his front porch.
Stopping at his mailbox, she gave her bike bell several sharp rings to gain his attention. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her.
“Hello, Mariel,” he called, while lifting a paint brush in salute. “Another few weeks and it will be too cold to do this.”
Mariel could think of nothing to reply and so rung her bell once more. Mr. Wanderlei set the brush carefully on the lip of the can and stood, wiping his hands on the old corduroy pants that he was wearing. “Is that a new bike?” he asked amiably.
Mariel nodded her big head at this, then thought to add, “My Grandma bought it for me… I didn’t steal it.”
Wanderlei smiled. “I never would have thought so.” He ambled down the steps in her direction.
Mariel fumbled with the necklace and only just managed to bring it out from beneath her top as he drew near. This caused Wanderlei to halt for a moment as he took in Mariel’s rather astounding adornment.
“Goodness,” he breathed at last. “That’s some necklace for a little girl. Where did you get that?” He ran a large-knuckled hand across the top of his mostly hairless skull.
As she had done with Salter and Forster, Mariel realigned her bicycle for a quick escape should it prove advisable, one foot poised on a pedal. She remained silent.
Wanderlei fished a handkerchief from his pocket and set about wiping his face and near-naked pate. “Such things cause great temptation,” he said finally. “Of course, I know you’re too young to understand what I mean exactly.” He glanced up and down the street, then turned his gaze to her once more.
“Where I work, there are men who have killed for such baubles.” A slight frown crossed his face. “Do you know where I work, Mariel?”
In fact, Mariel did know, as one of her uncles had pointed him out to her during a visit between incarcerations. She nodded slightly.
Wanderlei studied her face with interest, then said, “Well, then you know I’ve spent my life amongst a lot of very bad people.” His eyes had taken on a sparkle that was beginning to make Mariel uneasy. He took another step, and she eased her rump upward in preparation for escape.
“Are you Christian?” he asked gently. “Does your mother ever take you to church?”
Mariel frowned, unable to follow Mr. Wanderlei’s drift. Even so, she nodded involuntarily out of nervousness.
“Is that right?” he smiled, completely ignoring her necklace. “Really, what church would that be?”
“We go sometimes,” Mariel whispered, for some reason not wanting to lie outright to this man. “We’re Cat’lics.”
Wanderlei’s expression became one of disappointment. “Oh, I see,” he murmured. “That would explain the love of gold and baubles,” he said quietly, as if Mariel were no longer there.
Mariel rose up and pushed down on the waiting pedal; she had learned what she needed to know here.
Wanderlei looked up as she pulled away, his expression gone a little wistful now. “You and your mother are welcome to attend the services here at our house anytime that you want,” he called after her. “God accepts anyone that has an open heart. Do you have an open heart, Mariel?”
* * * *
That night, as Mariel lay awake in her bed, she contemplated her efforts to expose Ripper’s murderer and was bitterly disappointed with the results. Though occasionally blessed with flashes of innovative vigor, her intellectual resources had been sorely taxed by the whole affair. She stared blankly out of her curtainless window and thought of almost nothing.
The backyard was bathed in the cold illumination of a full moon, which created black-and-white etchings of once-familiar objects. Ripper’s empty chain-link pen was captured near-center frame of her nocturnal reverie, its gate standing forlornly open, forever awaiting his impossible return. A spill of shadow ran like blood from the doghouse and onto the brilliant concrete pad it rested upon.
Mariel felt her eyelids grow heavy while, above her, the ponderous footsteps of her mother measured the distance from her bathroom to her bed. This was followed by a groaning of bedsprings and a loud yawn, then silence descended over the household. Outside, something flew soundlessly from out of a tree, only to vanish within the greater shadows of the forest. Mariel’s eyes began to close.
As she was drifting off, she saw something moving stealthily along the darkened tree line that formed the natural boundary of her yard. As she was often a nocturnal traveler herself, this did not, at first, alarm her. Mariel had spent many a night prowling Crumpler Lane and its environs and had on more than one occasion allowed herself into neighbors’ homes using emergency keys that they had thought were cleverly hidden within flowerpots and beneath paving stones. In fact, her midnight forays and cool boldness had become something of a neighborhood legend.
This had been several years before however, shortly after the loud divorce of her parents and the twaining of her family into a mother-daughter/father-sons arrangement. Mariel had hoped she would discover that her brothers were simply sleeping over at some neighbors’ house but never seemed able to catch them at it. When the state’s child services were brought in, her mother took drastic action and placed a latch on Mariel’s bedroom door.
She watched dreamily as the figure detached itself from the shadows and emerged, glowing, into the moonlight. The man looked familiar, but the bright, ghostly light only served to erase his features. He slithered across the littered lawn of her backyard in a direct line with her bedroom window, and a small shrill alarm began to sound in Mariel’s head. She struggled to come fully awake and sit up.
The man disappeared from view as he reached the wall of her house, and for the first time sound entered into the hushed scene. Mariel heard the scrape of something metal and remembered the rusty ladder that lay beneath her window. She had not needed that ladder since her mother ceased locking her in at night, and it had lain, discarded and forgotten, until now, in the rank grasses of her backyard. It was this sound that set her in motion.
Sitting up, fully awake now, she slid noiselessly from her bed and stuffed her pillows beneath her blankets. Once done, she dropped to her hands and knees and began to crawl to the closed bedroom door. It had been some time since her mom had locked her in, and she hoped that she had not done so this night.
Behind her a head rose cautiously within the frame of the window. Mariel froze as soon as she saw its elongated shadow begin to crawl up the opposite wall, then, ever so slowly, she lowered herself into the welter of dirty clothes and discarded dolls and toys that formed the tangled landscape of her room. She sank from sight within the camouflage of her own environment.
Peering out from beneath a damp towel that she draped over her head, Mariel saw the silhouette swivel slightly, then focus on the lumpy bed revealed in the moonlight. For several moments the scene remained frozen. Then the window began to squeak like the tiniest of mice.
Mariel knew she could call out to her mother about the peril she faced, perhaps awakening her if she had not had too much to drink. But this was not part of Mariel’s rapidly forming plan.
Instead, she snaked an arm upward for the doorknob. With any luck she could ease herself out into the hallway as the intruder made his way into her room, then…use the latch that she, herself, had been confined with so many times before. As for the window, she had simply to race around to the back of the house, tip the ladder over, and he would be caught like a rat! Then, and only then, would she yell bloody murder! Wouldn’t everyone be surprised at what she had accomplished? Mariel began to grin beneath her covering.
She found the doorknob and began to turn it. From behind her came the hiss of clothing sliding over the window sill followed by a soft thump. Things were happening a little faster than she had planned, so she tried to hurry a bit more. She could hear her own breathing as she eased into the opening she was making.
Then Sailor began to hiss and yowl, only just now deciding that this stranger in his room was not welcomed. Mariel looked back over her shoulder. She had completely forgotten Sailor.
The cat had been a gift to her mother from a former boyfriend who had worked on a clamming boat, hence the name Sailor. Naturally, he took up with the one member of the household who cared nothing for him—however, Mariel was not above putting him to good use.
Without a word, she sprang to her feet and snatched the fat orange cat from the nest he had created within her bed coverings. With a screech of protest he was suddenly airborne in the direction of Mariel’s would-be assailant, his claws fully extended in a futile attempt at air-braking.
When the two met, it was the nocturnal visitor’s turn to vocalize, as he screamed like a woman in labor, whether from pain or terror, Mariel could not know. From above there was a great concussion as her mother’s considerable bulk was set in motion.
Mariel, consigning Sailor to whatever fate awaited him, flew for the door once more, slamming it behind her and latching it all in one movement. A tight smile appeared on her chubby face as she raced for the back door, even as her name was loudly heralded with her mother’s rumbling approach.
Tripping over the uneven doorsill, she spilled clumsily into the silvered yard just in time to see the intruder fling himself from the ladder and begin his headlong flight. She had not been fast enough! Her disappointment rose like bile in her mouth. But even as her mother blocked the moon from view and began to scrabble at Mariel with sweaty, fleshy hands, she noted with some vindication that her enemy had fled in the direction of the cul-de-sac.
* * * *
The sheriff’s K-9 unit tracked the burglar unerringly from Mariel’s window to Mr. Salter’s backyard, the scent leading them directly into Bruiser’s territory. There, the sleepy, overfed dog, alarmed by the night’s doings, and mysteriously free of confinement, managed to engage the interlopers in a snarling, slobbering, snapping exchange of canine unpleasantness. In the end, he was re-incarcerated, but not before thoroughly spoiling the search. Mariel knew all of this from eavesdropping as the officers briefed her mother in the living room.
When the policemen asked Mariel if she had gotten a good look at the man who had made his way into her room, she studied the dirty knees of her pajamas for several moments as if thinking very carefully, then mumbled, “I think it was Mr. Salter.” Though she had never really gotten a good look at her assailant, Salter appealed to both her logic and sense of justice based on both the dogs’ tracking and the fact that she liked him the least of anyone in the neighborhood. The officers glanced meaningfully at one another after her pronouncement, then departed to invite Mariel’s neighbor to accompany them to the station for further questioning.
After they had left, Mariel had a very difficult time falling to sleep—it had been a very exciting evening. When, at last, she did drift off, it was with the pleasant sense of a job well done, mission accomplished.
* * * *
