#1: Oddities:
Sam looked out the
window from where he sat and saw the awning; once a blood red; now a faded pink. Even the white
looked dingy.
He
sighed, “I should probably get a new one.” He breathed out another sigh, “what
I really should do is to close the store; that would be best for all
concerned.”
“Ah,
but remember, you promised you wouldn’t.”
Sam
looked back disinterested; knowing what he would see; the pointed ears, thick eyebrows
and chiseled chin of his boss. Nodding, he turned back to the window.
He
felt claws on his shoulder, before he heard the voice, “And once you make a
promise to me; there is no going back.” Sam moved his eyes to the left and saw
the face close to his ear and breathed shallowly to keep from choking on the
smoky breath.
“Yes,
I know. I have been meaning to talk to you about that Abaddon. You said I
would be rich; that I would never have to worry about money again, but I’m not
rich.”
“Oh
come now.” He squeezed Sam’s shoulder before taking a seat next to him, “I
think you recall wrong. I don’t remember ever using the word ‘rich’.”
Sam
turned to look at him, “You told me I would never have to worry about anything
again; that I would be comfortable.”
Abaddon
flicked an unseen thing from his pants, “And tell me; have you ever wanted for
anything? Have you not a roof over your head. Do you not have gainful
employment?”
Sam
stood and looked down at the creature incredulously, “Gainful employment?
Gainful…” he broke off; too enraged to go on, “You deceived me; you told me I
could run the shop anyway I wanted to. Why you had to come and bother me…”
Abaddon
stood suddenly, “You miserable cretin.”
Sam cowered from the
thing that towered over him. The thing that stood before him now was hardly recognizable
to the calm, collected being that had been seated on his couch only minutes before.
Abaddon had grown in both height and girth, his skin was red, all his veins visible
as ropes under his skin; writhing like a nest of snakes that had been disturbed.
“You begged me to help you. You beseeched me to take you away from your pitiful
existence. You knew what you were getting into.” He put a hand into his jacket
pocket and pulling out a scroll, he shook it and it unrolled, “is this not your
signature?” a long, black claw pointed to a red scrawling at the bottom of the
page.
Sam didn’t have to look
to know it was his. He remembered signing it; on the day he thought everything
would end. Maybe if he had waited a little longer, looked for the good in life;
instead of looking for the easy way out…
“Is it not?” the voice
bellowed not only in his ears, but in his mind also.
Sam closed his eyes and
turned away.
Abaddon, smiled
satisfied, reverted to his regular size and color; rolled up the scroll and
replaced it into a suit pocket.
“Now then” he looked at
his wristwatch, “don’t you think it’s time that you opened the shop? People
will be waiting; hmmm…?”
Sam nodded; knowing that
any further communication wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He sighed, stood,
grabbed his cap, pulled it on and walked towards the door.
Abaddon smiled, “I’ll
see you down there then?”
Sam held up a hand,
opened the door, pulled it closed after him and headed down the stairs. He
thought as he counted the steps to the outer door. Twenty-one steps later, he
stood out in the bright sunshine and squinted up at the sun, then looked across
the street and saw the darkened shop; ANTIQUES was lettered in gold across the
top of the window big and bold; the faded ODDITIES written on the awning seemed
a dichotomy in mottled and weathered gray.
Each step he took
towards the shop door, felt as though more and more weight piled onto his shoulders.
Sam was a tall man, but he thought the weight compressed his 6’4” frame at least 3”. The
light brown color leached from his skin as he got closer and closer to the
store. The transformation in him completed when he finally unlocked the front
door to the shop. His feet were like lead blocks and the effort to pick them up
and put one in front of the other was more than Sam thought he could do. He
flipped the light switch and pale yellow light illuminated the inside of the
shop. Sam looked to the counter in the back.
“Come now; let me tell
you what our goals are today.”
Sam felt the remaining
color drain from his face as he saw the creature behind the counter. Putting a
hand up he dragged it down his face; feeling the whiskers of his goatee. Each
step he took bent him more and more, until he felt himself hunched over.
“I want you to push the
doll to the third customer who walks into the door.” Sam saw the creature reach
into the display case under the counter, and pull out a porcelain doll; dressed
in a faded pink dress, white stockings and little black shoes. Abaddon held out
the doll to Sam; who now stood next to him.
Sam looked at the doll
and could swear that he could see the evil in the doll's dead, glassy, brown
eyes. He took a step back.
Abaddon tsked, “Come
now; it’s not going to bite you.”
When Sam didn’t take
it, he laid it on the counter, “Third customer, remember.”
While Sam watched, Abaddon
disappeared and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He squat to unlock the glass
doors to the cabinet, put a hand on the counter, felt around for the doll and
without looking at it put it into the cabinet; face down and closed the
cabinet, straightening up and locking the glass doors.
The bell attached to
the door sounded and he looked up and saw a man with two young children with
him.
“May I help you find
something?” in his mind Sam kept repeating, under his breath, ‘just turn around
and go out the door. There’s nothing you want here.’
But the man kept
coming, taking things out of his children’s hands as they picked them up.
“Excuse me, but do you
have anything from the Victorian times?”
Sam was about to tell
him no, when he heard a talon tapping from inside the showcase and looked down
to see a miniature Abaddon pointing to a cameo pin. He hated the way this
creature could be everywhere at any time.
Before he knew it, the
little girl had broken from her father’s hand and ran to sit on the floor and
press her hands and face against the front of the showcase, “Oo daddy, can I
have that red doll?”
Sam watched as Abaddon
was caught in the showcase and instantly became plastic-like.
The father approached
the counter, dragging the younger boy, who was crying. He came to sit on the
floor next to his sister.
“Look Joey, isn’t that
a pretty doll? Don’t you think daddy should get it for us?”
They both looked up to
their father. He rolled his eyes, “Okay, whatever.” He took another look where his children were
pointing, “and can I see that pin too?”
Sam nodded and unlocked
the case. Reaching inside, he took out the pin and placed it on the counter. He
was about to lock the cabinet when he heard the little girl’s voice.
“Daddy, didn’t you say
we could see the red doll?”
Sam looked to the
father, silently pleading with the father, not wanting such innocent souls to
be subjected to the taint that came along with touching Abaddon. But the father
nodded and said, “The red doll too please.”
“Of course sir.” Sam
said, grabbing on to Abaddon by the waist and bringing him to the top of the
case.
“Could you tell me a
little bit about it?” the man said as he handed Abaddon down to his children
who were jumping up and down trying to be the first to hold it.
“Yes sir. Well, legend
has it that it was once owned by Lizzie Andrew Borden. And…”
The man held up his
hands, “Wait, wait; THE Lizzie Borden? The one as in; Lizzie Borden took an axe
and gave her mother forty whacks.”
Sam nodded and recited
along with the man, “And when the job was nicely done, she gave her father
forty-one.” He nodded again, “Yes sir,
the same one.”
He gave Sam an
impressed look, “That’s pretty cool; in a macabre way.”
“If you say so sir.”
The man heard his
children arguing and put the box on the top of the counter to break up the
fight.
Sam picked it up and
was about to put it back into the case. The man looked up from his children.
“I’ll take the pin.”
Looking at his kids, he smiled, “and the little devil too.”
Sam stifled a laugh
when he saw the two children putting Abaddon’s limbs in contortionist poses.
The man handed Sam the
money, “Do you have a return policy if my wife doesn’t like it? It’s for her
birthday.”
The cash register opened
with a sickly ding, he handed the man his change, “Yes, she can bring it back
anytime” ‘before it brings itself back;
hopefully’ Sam added under his breath. Placing the pin in a rectangular
black velvet box; it looked striking with the blood red silk as background. He
showed it to the man and he nodded. He
placed it into a green paper bag with gold handles and gave it to the man.
The man nodded, “She’s always
wanted something from that era; she’s a nut about it.” he took hold of the
handles, “She’s going to die when she sees it.”
“I hope not”
The man looked at him
questioningly, but then herded his children out the door.
Sam breathed a sigh of
relief; Abaddon wouldn’t be around to bug him; for at least a couple of hours.
He heard a sound like a pop and looked up to see a folded yellow blanket on the
shelf. He knew it wasn’t there when he opened the store. He walked around the counter
to just before the shelf.
“Did you get one?”
The blanket began to
glow and then he felt the response in his mind, “No, I was found before I could
assimilate.”
He nodded, “That’s
good.” He backed away from the shelf, not trusting it, not wanting to be poisoned
by the evilness that the blanket exuded, “that’s very good.”
When he felt he was far
enough away, he turned and hurried back around the counter.
He closed the book he
was reading when he heard the door chime.
A woman in her mid to
late twenties walked in.
Stepping around the
counter, he met her at the middle of the shop, “May I help you?”
“Yes, I’m doing a historic
poetic reading and I was just wondering; do you have any antique dresses?”
“Hmm” he thought about
the Salem witch dress; he knew that it was sold a week ago, but he thought that
it had come back since then. He walked to the side of the store and began looking
through the wardrobe hanging on the rod, “well, there was one, but I think it might
have been sold. It was right…” he had come to the last piece of clothing, but
then saw another appear, “no, I was mistaken; here it is.” He hated handing
such a vile piece of cloth to this woman. To reconcile what he was doing, he
kept thinking that maybe the people who actually bought items from his shop already had
some stain on their souls and that’s what drew them here in the first place.
He held out the dress
on the hanger.
She took it from him,
“Oh, that’s perfect. I love the Victorian collar and everything.” She hugged it
to her chest; making Sam cringe, “I’ll take it.”
He took the dress from
her when she held it out, “Very good madam; come to the register and I’ll ring
you up.”
She looked at herself
in her bedroom mirror; liking what she saw.
“Missy?”
She turned to see her
mom in the doorway; she came into the room, “What are you wearing?”
“I found it at the
oddities store; it’s for my reading tonight.” she turned in a circle, “don’t
you just love it?”
Her mother gave her a
look, “Okay, whatever. Nana is waiting to see you.” she turned to leave the
room. Missy followed, “Don’t you want to change first?”
She shook her head, "I want to show Nana; I think she'll love it.”
“Hmm” her mother let
her go before her.
“Na-na” Melissa sang while
walking down the stairs.
“Me-li-ssa” her Nana
answered in a sing song, Italian accent.
They met at the bottom
of the stairs.
Melissa watched her
nana’s smile turn into a frown, then to a thin line she recognized as anger.
Melissa felt her own smile falter.
“Go upstairs and take
that off right now.” She thrust out her arm to emphasize her words.
“But Nana, I just bought
this.”
She shook her head, “I
don’t care, that’s evil thing, off now.”
Melissa put her arms
around herself, “But Nana, I paid…”
She cut her
granddaughter off, “And you will take back to the store and get your money
back, now off now.” She stepped up and made a move to unbutton the dress.
Melissa knew she had no
choice. She helped her grandmother unbutton then take off the dress. She
watched as her nana held the dress in two fingers and opening the door, she
stepped outside.
“Nana, where are you
going?” she was torn between running up the stairs to get clothes on and
following her nana to see what she was doing.
“Ugh” she said loudly
and ran up the stairs.
Nana carefully held the
dress out in front of her, “I know you. You no hurt my Melissa.”
She looked around and
saw a roll of large, black plastic garbage bags. Placing the dress carefully on
the ground and without taking her eyes off the dress, she opened the package,
pulled one bag out, found the opening and shook it open. Taking it to the
dress, she picked it up and held it above the garbage bag.
“Nana, what are you
doing?”
Nana saw Melissa coming
towards her. She quickly dropped the dress into the plastic bag, twisted the
top and tied a knot in the top.
“Nana, why did you…”
She interrupted, “Here,
you take this now and we go to the store to take it back.” she pushed her
granddaughter towards the car, “come, I go with you.”
Melissa begrudgingly
walked to the car, opened the door and got in, waiting for her nana to close
her door.
Sam heard the bell
above the door chime. He stowed the book he was reading under the counter and
looked up.
“May I help you?” He
recognized the woman from earlier today entering the store, followed by a
small, elderly woman holding a large plastic bag gingerly in front of her.
“Yeah, uhm I want to
return the dress I bought.”
“Okay, can I ask why?”
He thought he knew the answer, but he had to ask.
“Well” Melissa began.
Nana walked in front of
her, “I tell you why, because this thing is evil and you should be ashamed of
yourself letting innocents buy such things.” She pushed the bag into Sam’s
hands, “you give her back her money and she never come here again.”
Sam loved this old
woman. That she saw through the façade to the truth filled him with hope yet fear.
“Of course. If you
would just come to the register.”
“No, you bring money
here, we go no further in.”
Sam nodded, “Of course,
I’ll be right back.”
He walked to the back
of the store, around the counter, placing the bag next to the register. Opening
the cash drawer, he took out the money and walked back to the two women
waiting. He held out the money to Melissa.
Melissa took the cash
from Sam, “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, please
come again.”
Melissa smiled and
turned to follow Nana.
Nana turned to look at
her granddaughter and shook a crooked finger in her face, “And you never come
here again.” she looked around Melissa to Sam, “and you” she shook her finger
at him as well; “you should go away from here too.” Sneering, she looked around
the shop, “this place stinks of the evil one.” And they walked out the door.
Sam walked back to the
counter thinking he old woman was right. But he also knew he would never be
able to get out of his binding contract. He sat down, pulled the scroll out of his
pocket and began reading.
#2: Spiders:
Daron walked in the
door and saw Terina and Danial sitting at the dining room table. He hung up his
coat and put his shoes into the closet. Coming to the two at the table, he bent
to kiss his wife and pound fists with his son.
He looked around, “Where’s
Leila?”
Before Terina could
answer, they heard screams coming from directly above them.
Daron ran and reached
the staircase first; starting up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He
reached his daughter’s room and threw open the door and was just in time to
catch a flying stuffed bear that was headed for his face. Stepping into the
room, he took in the mess of the room; a little girl he had never seen before was standing on the bed;
throwing anything within reach at something on the floor; Leila was sitting in
the farthest corner of the bed, facing the wall, her hands over her helmet.
He could hear his daughter screaming, “CALL 911!!!”
The other girl was
also screaming, “AHHHHH…IT’S GOING TO EAT US!!”
Keira grabbed at the
lamp on the nightstand; readying to throw it; Daron quickly ran to stop her.
Taking the lamp from her, he put it back in its place.
He looked around on
the floor for the crawling creature that made his daughter act this way.
“It just went under
the bed.” Danial said.
Daron squatted,
lifting the bed cover to look where his son was pointing.
He felt a tap on his
shoulder and looked up to find Terina standing there, holding out a tissue, “Here,
use this.”
He took it from her
and dropped to his stomach to look under the bed again, and found the offending
8 legged creature crawling away from him. Moving further under the bed, he
reached out and using the tissue, he grabbed for it. He scooted out from under
the bed, holding the tissue tightly in his hand. Standing, he opened the tissue
and saw the crumpled mess.
“Did you get it?”
It was Keira who
asked, but they all looked at him, waiting for the answer.
“Yes, I did”
A sigh of relief was
heard all around.
“Are you sure?”
He looked at Leila, she
held her visor open slightly. Terina had her arm around her and the other girl was on
seated on the other side of her.
“Do you want to see?”
Leila shrank back.
Daron turned to dispose of the tissue.
“I want to see.”
Danial said.
Leila closed her
visor and hid her face in her mother’s chest.
“Wow, that’s cool.”
Danial said.
Daron turned once
again to go.
“Can I see?”
He turned to see the
girl who moments ago was throwing things at the creature. He realized he didn’t
even know who this child was, “What’s your name?”
“She’s Keira from
next door.” Danial offered.
“Well Keira from next
door; are you sure you want to see?”
She nodded and walked
on the bed to where Daron stood. Putting a hand on him to steady herself, she
watched as he unfolded the tissue.
He watched Keira as
he showed her what lay inside the tissue. She gave a look of surprise, then
frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
She stepped away from
him, “I feel bad; he was pretty.” She looked over her shoulder, “Look Leila, it
has nice eyes.”
Leila didn’t answer,
just sat there unmoving.
#3: Quick Changes:
Two
more days, he thought, then he would get his phone back and be back at his
flat. He didn’t even get a chance to text Preti that he would be gone for a
week. Well, he knew he was leaving, but it wasn’t supposed to be until Monday
morning. Sure, he could have told her before, and he would have on Friday, but
how was he to know that his parents would be waiting for him at his flat;
imagine, opening the door after an office party, turning on the light and
finding your father sitting; back completely straight, feet flat on the floor.
Luv’s saving grace was that he wasn’t in the mood to drink, so at least he
didn’t stagger through the door drunk and have to hear a thirty-minute
dissertation from his father on how he himself had never taken one drop in his
whole life and how Luv should follow in his footsteps. But before he knew what
was happening, they rushed him out the door, onto a waiting auto rickshaw, off
to the metro station and onto a train for an eight hour ride home.
He learned
the hard way that when he was in his father’s company, he could not be on his
phone. His father held out his hand and Luv handed him his phone and watched it
disappear into his father’s shirt pocket. That was five days ago.
The week started out okay; seeing old friends, eating the food
he had been dreaming about and seeing his grandmother. Catching up with old childhood friends and seeing
the newest movie. He was just about to take a nap, when he heard his mother
calling him.
“Oh Luv, come sit with me.” His mother sang out sweetly.
He knew his mother; he knew he was probably walking into some kind of
trap, but he didn’t think he really had a choice.
Walking into the room, he saw his father; mother, grandmother, uncle and
a woman he thought he recognized, but couldn’t place, sitting around the table.
It looked like some kind of inquisition. He took two steps back, but his uncle
saw him before he could retreat to safety.
“Ah, there he is the man of the hour.” Rohan; his paternal uncle stood,
came closer to Luv, put an arm around him and directed him to an empty chair,
opposite the unknown woman, his grandmother on one side, his father on the
other. He felt a his uncle’s hand gently push him down into the chair.
His mother “You remember Auntie Sundari, she was the one who found
Samar for Vidya.”
Luv felt all the blood drain from his face; he suddenly knew who this
woman was. A marriage arranger. His elder sister Vidya’s marriage arranger to
be exact. He started to get up, but his uncle, still with his hand on Luv’s
shoulder gently, but firmly held him down.
Sundari smiled, “I’ve a lot of nice women that will make good mothers for
your children.”
“Look at this one Luv; she is a nice looker with good teeth.” His mother;
Sita pushed a picture over to him.
He looked first at his mother, then down at the picture. He was a bit
taken aback; the woman did indeed have good teeth, but what he couldn’t stop
looking at was not her face…well, not all of it at least. What he couldn’t stop
looking at was the mustache she sported. It was not just a shadow or play of
light on some wayward hairs here or there. It was a full, dark mustache; one
that made his modest mustache and goatee seem like peach fuzz. And it was right
there; below her nose and above a prettily shaped lip painted with pink lip
gloss. The dichotomy mesmerized him. He could not stop staring.
“I can see that you are quite taken with her, would you like to know her
name?” Auntie Sundari said.
His grandmother leaned over and looked at the picture he held, “What is
that on her lip?” she took the picture from Luv for a better look, she glared
at Sundari, “is this one of those he/she’s?”
Sundari put a hand to her chest, “No, I assure you she is all natural
woman.”
The picture was passed to Luv’s father, “No son of mine is going to marry
such a woman.” He tossed the picture to Sundari face down, “what else do you
have?”
Sundari; a bit put off, bent down to her bag, pulled out a manila
envelope. Opening it, she pulled out several folders. She chose one and opened
it, unclipped a picture and looked at it, “She is a medical technologist, a
good job, a good family, a very cute girl.” she handed it across the table, to
Luv.
Picking up the picture, he saw a very pretty girl. Her hair in a thick,
long braid that was draped over one shoulder. He heard his father’s sound next
to him; a kind of ‘she’s not too bad’ grunt. Luv’s father took the picture from
him.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Auntie Sundari smiled widely, “No, nothing.”
Luv’s father stared at the woman until her smile faded.
She sighed and shrugged, “She may be a bit small.”
“Huh? What do you mean a bit small?” Luv’s grandmother asked.
Sundari kind of squirmed in her seat, “Just a bit shorter than normal.”
“How much shorter?” Luv’s uncle asked.
Sundari smiled again, “Well, there is not a reference, so what am I to
say?”
Luv tried to help. Standing, he said, “Okay, I’m this tall.” He put a
hand up, even with the top of his head, “Is she this tall?” he put a hand up
even with his shoulder.
“Maybe a bit shorter.” Sundari answered.
Luv moved it down to halfway down his upper arm, “Here?”
“Maybe a little bit” she held up a hand, the distance between her thumb
and forefinger about two inches.
Luv’s father stood, “Enough of this.” He faced Sundari, “How tall is the
woman?”
“Well” she stood and rounded the table to stand near Luv, “maybe here.”
She held a hand even with his waist.
Everyone was speechless. Luv was the first to recover, he faced her, “So,
she’s 150 cm?”
“Hmmmmaybe a little less.”
“Look, how tall is she?” Luv’s father was fed up.
“137 cm” Sundari blurted.
Luv sat down, “So I would be over 40 cm taller than her?”
“And the other one?” Luv’s father pointed to the folders at Sundari’s
place.
“Oh, she is a lovely girl”
Luv’s father held his hand out to her, “Give her picture to me, I will
decide.”
Luv stood just inches taller than his father, looking at the picture in
his father’s hand, he saw a middle aged woman.
“How old is she?” Luv asked a little upset by all of this.
Sundari smiled, “You must understand, it is getting towards the end of
the season.”
Vikaram was not smiling, “Do you have any women between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-eight?”
Sundari motioned to the mustached woman, “She is…”
“Without facial hair, at least 165 cm.” Vikaram’s face was red now.
Sundari saw everyone looking at her, waiting. She lowered her head, “No”
“We are done here then.” Vikaram threw the pictures of the women
unceremoniously in Sundari’s direction.
She put the pictures in the folders, put them back into the envelope and
into her bag, “If I find some, I will call.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Vikaram waved her away.
The women left; Luv, his father and his uncle were left.
“I will look for a good match don’t worry.” Rohan also left the room.
“What was that?”
His father looked at him, “You should be getting married. You have a good
job, you make good money, it’s time for you to marry and have a good life.
You’ve had your fun; it’s time to be a man.”
“But I told you I don’t want to be
arranged.”
His father looked at his hands and
stayed quiet.
Luv tried to appeal to his softer side, “Please, I don’t want to be
forced to marry someone I don’t love.”
His father made a sound of
disgust, “Love is a myth; stop chasing dreams. What’s real is to get a good
match, have good, strong, intelligent children and live your life.”
He controlled the anger he felt.
He respected his father, but on this he would stand strong. He had to think
what to say, he knew if he lost his temper now, his father would only see him
as a rebellious child. He slowed his breathing, when he felt calm, he began,
“You told me you would let me choose?”
“That was three years ago and what
do you have to show for it? Are you engaged? Even close to getting engaged? Do
you even have a girl you at least like?”
Luv shook his head, “I won’t be
arranged; I’ll run away if I have to.”
“Leave him alone”
They both turned to see his
grandmother coming towards them.
His father tutted, “Mami, please
stay out of it.”
She came to her grandson, took his
face in her hands and smiled at him, “My Luv.” She pulled him from his seat, “you
go see what Vimla is cooking, go.” She smiled and watched him leave.
“Mami, you should not have let him
go. You should have stayed out of it.”
“Ah, the way I left you alone when
your father wanted you to marry; and you were older than Luv is now, or do you
not remember; the girl with the nose for the face?”
“Yes, but”
She held up a finger, “And, you
were married not long after that.”
“Yes, but”
She held up a finger again, “And?”
He sighed, getting her point, “And
it turned out well.”
She smiled and touched her son’s face,
“He is just like you. And, like you, he will find his own way.”
He looked to the doorway, “But
Mami, I worry about him.”
Her face was kind, “That’s what makes
you a good father.”
He looked down at his hands, “He
hates me.”
“Nonsense, he loves you. It’s just
that you two are too alike; two headstrong men.”
“I just hope he will find his
way.”
She waved a hand, “He will be
fine. Just see.”
Luv went directly to his father’s
office, to his desk, to the bottom drawer and retrieved his phone. Turning it on, he looked at all the missed
messages. He smiled when he saw a message from the leader of the touring
motorcycle club he belonged to. Reading it quickly, before he could be found
out. A trip was being scheduled for Friday. Luv sent a message back, saying he
would be there; something to look forward to. Next, he opened the app that he
and Preti communicated on, he saw there were at least three pages of messages,
but he had to close it quickly when he heard his name being called.
“Luv? Come to dinner.”
“Coming” he said as he turned off
and replaced his phone into the desk drawer.
