Hear no Evil, See no Evil
A Short Story
Even when the monkey died, they never invited me around. I can’t say as I was surprised. Even Mother Hajek thought I was a fool to buy Donovan a seeing-eye monkey rather than a dog. I tried to explain that the boy couldn’t walk, couldn’t do any more than roll over on his own. What was he going to do with a dog? A monkey could be taught to play games with him, fetch stuff, he could even get help if anything happened. But noooooooo! They all said I was an idiot. Monkeys were dangerous and filthy creatures. But I’ll show them…
The snow crunched pleasantly beneath my feet, like dry bones snapping. My leather gloves were soaked through causing the fingers to throb and ache.
“They’ll be warm soon enough”, I thought and indulged in the joyful memory of blood oozing from a clinched fist.
A half-moon crept from behind the clouds and sent his feeble rays to light the street. I had no fear of being troubled, not this night. All around me were the collected denizens of the underworld along with various superheros, tv stars and the odd farm animal. Who was going to look twice at a slightly ragged cowboy, his face covered in a bandana? Halloween was the one night of the year when I could become who I was meant to be.
“Happy Halloween!” I called out to a Fairy Princess who had spilled her bag of candy when she slipped in a patch of ice. Through her tears came a choking, “Th-thank you Mister.”
It didn’t take me long to gather-up her scattered treasure. She was still looking around for any orphan chocolate bars when I tossed a $5 bill into her bag.
“Get some hot cocoa. It’ll take off the chill.”
Her voice faded in the distance as so many week-old roses. There was business to attend to and I had no time for little girls.
Forty-five minuets passed before I could approach the house alone. The family had never been generous but with their new-found wealth I guess this year was different. A steady stream of ghosts and goblins had kept my vengeance at bay, but that would make the moment all the sweeter.
Their old door buzzer had been replaced by one of those tacky programmable ones. You know the kind where people usually recorded something stupid like, “Hey, answer the door” or “I hear ya knocking but ya can’t come in”. My anger rose with every note. How dare they? Had they no respect for the dead?
The heavy oak door swung open to reveal an overweight and over-coiffed vampira, trying to look seductive. Her ample bodice was too revealing to be an accident.
“Happy Halloween”, she said brightly, “and where are the little…?” Her face grew dark as I pulled down my mask.
“What’re you doing here George? You’re not wanted anymore.”
“Maybe not”, I wheezed through the frigid air, “but you are. The police will be here in just a few moments, and you, Sally, will be spending the rest of your life modeling the latest prison fashions.”
Her sour face betrayed not the least bit of surprise. Just the anger of someone caught in the act.
“I don’t know what you mean George. But step inside and we can talk about it.”
Not in a million years would I go willingly into her tangled web.
“Sally, I only have time to say this once so you had better listen. You summoned me here and my year is up. I no longer answer to the charm.”
She glanced at her right palm where the scar of her voodoo spell could be plainly read. The anger in her eyes drained out, leaving the realization that she was powerless over me.
“Yes, I’m free to do as I please. You brought me forth to kill the boy but I couldn’t do it. He was protected by a power beyond your own. I fell in love with his pure spirit and now you will pay for what you have done.”
Her cackle chilled me far more than the arctic blast. “What can you do? At you will crumble into the clay I made you from and your murderous spirit will go to the Hell you deserve.”
“Hell I deserve and Hell I will get. But you forget that I still have power over the human mind.” Her eyes crossed suddenly and lost all focus.
In a singsong voice she cooed, “Why yes officer, I do have the money. It’s buried under the bougainvillea. How did Dono catch rabies? Oh we said it was the monkey but it was really a stray dog we found. How that little brat screamed each time he was bit. You have no idea how hard it is being a foster parent. Yes, I’ll come quietly.”
The truth didn’t make things any easier but then life had never been easy for me.
“Are you ready to go Sally? Have everything you need?”
“Just one more thing”, she sang and walked into the back bedroom.
Only one precious hour remained for me. I had to get the money and deliver it to Donovan’s grandmother. She deserved his life insurance. After that…
The loud report of a large caliber handgun rocked the house.
“After that I will escort Sally to our eternal reward.”
One poor assignment from a creative writing class. 2009
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