'The Secrets of Floda Reltih''

Danny Lyell likes to read Murder Mystery comics, when his mother suggests she takes care of a sick old neighbor in their home, Danny believes that he is hiding a secret. A story with a twist.

‘’The Secrets of Mr. Floda Reltih’’

 

Long before I was born the houses on Millbrook Drive were built, forty two to be exact, each one a mirror image of the other as you walk up or down the pristine side walk of Stereo typical suburban American three bedroom wood framed building with adjoining two car garages. Side by side sun burst orange blossom painted with white picket fences, the kind you see in all the good murder movies. Each neighbour taking the time to make sure their little patch is always kept clean of litter in summer or dead leaves in autumn.   

                                                                                My Mother June is I suppose just the same as all the others, she likes to tidy up most day’s weather permitting of course. She says it’s a good way to get some fresh air and be thankful to God for giving us all another day on this beautiful planet that he has created. I believe it’s more of her way to catch up on the local gossip by means of a friendly conversation with who ever just might pass by.

I’ve watched her on many occasions from my bedroom window brush the same mound of dust around and around for hours just until someone she knew would stop and she could chew the fat, so to speak. But woe unto those who got captured by her, once started she could go on for ever, she’s the only woman I know who has the talent to let each word link into the next, flawlessly allowing her to entrap her poor audience like a black widow spider weaving a web of gossip and they are the poor flies caught within. Most just nod and smile and remain routed to the spot with the fear of being disrespectful but after a while I can see them slowly waning and just like the spider sucks the blood of their prey she too can reduce them to withering wrecks bound in her cocoon of tittle tattle. And when she finally tires of them or she spots a new quarry who made the mistake that she might not see them passing on the other side of the street, she lets them go and I laugh to myself from behind my curtains as they stagger away dazed knowing they can never get that time back again. Don’t get me wrong! I love my Mother she’s the most decent human being I know, a god fearing church going woman who would give you her last dollar if she could but there are times I wish Dad hadn’t left when I was just five because I blame that time for making her as eccentric as she is now.

Maybe it’s because she had only me to talk to as I was growing up, being the two of us I suppose she just filled in the blanks because I couldn’t understand what it was she was saying most times and now she just can’t stop doing it with any one else. Even her job she does each day is an other means by which she can indulge in her fathomless need to gather useless information so she may quell her addiction. Mondays, and Thursday from 9am to 1pm she cleans the local library using that time while I am at school to earn a few extra bucks. Tuesday and Friday’s she serves behind the counter of Macey’s drug store on Main street-same hours-as an assistant to old Ben Macey who must be at least a hundred years old, well he looks it even if he isn’t. He’s really old that’s all I know, most people over forty look ancient to a fourteen year old boy. Wednesday’s she volunteers up at the hospital helping the cancer patients die with dignity. This is the only thing she never talks about, not to me or anyone. Mother respects their troubles and wouldn’t want to spread anything that she might be ashamed of if it got around and it was found out she was the source of it.

I let my self in on most Wednesdays customarily because she works late into the evening and school finishes at three, but on those day’s she leaves me a note informing me ‘’ Your Dinner is in the refrigerator Daniel’’ mostly it’s my favourite sandwich of cold ham, pickle and mustard wrapped lovingly in brown paper nestled beside a cold pitcher of milk on the middle shelf. She always finishes her note with a red lip kiss across the bottom of the page and a P.S ‘’I love you, see you when I can, Mom’’ Sometimes she get’s worried about leaving me alone at home where by she sermons me on the rules of the do’s and don’ts of safety, ‘’don’t talk to strangers, don’t let strangers inside the house, ring the police if something is wrong’’ you get what I mean. I try of course to remind her that I am a man now that I have turned fourteen last November and soon to be fifteen. Never the less she rambles on until she’s said her piece. I guess it just makes her feel better about leaving me, but truly I don’t mind. It gives me the chance to watch my favourite TV shows-the ones she prefers me not to view. I love to switch off all the lights and sit in Moms comfy chair with only the incandesce of the cathode-ray tube flickering off my face and play detective while viewing ‘’Unsolved murders in History’’ that airs on channel five after the 9pm watershed. Moms never home until well after 10.30 so I’m usually under the covers pretending to be asleep by then.  

It was about a week after my birthday if I recall right that Mom came into my room after her shift had ended up at St Mary’s, I had failed to hear the front door opening because I was absorbed in my choice of reading, an old Penny Dreadful comic about a man who systematically murdered his neighbors by various different gruesome methods. It was while I was so engrossed in his latest killing of an old rich spinster by means of strangulation that she burst into my room; the astonishment of which sent the flashlight I was holding to highlight my reading tumbling onto the floor and spinning wildly below my bed. My heart moved into my throat just as a rupture of thunder crashed across the purple night sky outside my window, bringing with it a grandiose of brilliant white lighting that instantly lit up my dimly lit room.  She stood there motionless silhouetted in my doorway by the landing light dripping rain from her waterlogged coat onto my bedroom carpet. 

My Mother is a large woman, ‘’Big Boned’’ she calls it or ‘’Cuddly’’ depending on her mood, but with the added padding of her brown winter coat she looked like the grizzly bear who wandered into Lonigans Bar  last year after I had seen it going through the garbage bin about an hour earlier. By the time I had reported it to the police he had disappeared, only to scare the bejesus out of the drinkers inside. I got my name in the papers too, the Estes Park Trail gazette run the headline-‘Local boy Daniel Lyell warns town of rampaging mad bear’’ it made me laugh when they wrote I was a hero. Considering all I did was holler ‘’Bear on the loose’’ which no one at the time paid much heed to. But there he was all 350 pounds of hair, teeth and claws, roaring loudly and looking crazy, a bit like mom did now standing in my room.

‘’ Are you sleeping Danny?’’ she whispered in my direction slowly leaving the puddle she was standing in, she always calls me Danny when she has something important to tell me so I knew to some degree that what ever it was couldn’t wait till morning.

‘’What is it Mother?’’ I asked blowing out my cheeks while slinking down into my pillow.

‘’ We have to talk Danny’’ she said as she sat onto the foot of my bed pausing briefly as another crash of thunder rolled across the sky. I could see her mentally counting as she anticipated the inevitable discharge of lighting, it came quicker than she or I expected and seemed to electrify the entire house. She breathed out and finished her waiting with a smile then removed her damp coat and placed it over her arm. ‘’ Do you remember Mr Reltih who used to live in number 41’’

I nodded quietly back ‘’ the one with the big ash tree at the side?’’

‘’Yes that’s it’’

‘’Didn’t Dad do some work for him that year before he left, didn’t he install a new gas heating boiler or something, he’s a German guy isn’t he?’’

‘’Yes I remember, and I never seen a dollar of it, but lets not talk about that’’ she said looking forlorn               mostly because of the memories that were being dragged up. ‘’ Well the thing is Mr Reltih is sick and he needs some looking after for a while, so with the Hospital short of beds an all I sort of said that I would do it considering I have been nursing him any ways, what do you think Danny? He said he would pay me and we could sure use the extra money’’ she paused again as if waiting for another thunder crack, one that never came, but it was only for me to digest just what she had proposed.

‘’That would mean you would be up at his house a bit mor"‘’  I watched as she drew her lips back and raised her eyes before I had the chance to finish. ‘’Ah Mom!, not here!’’ I moaned slinking further back into my pillow after the penny dropped.

‘’Good’’ she said patting my leg ‘’ that’s settled then, he’ll be arriving tomorrow after breakfast, I’ll make up the bed in the spare room’’ she smiled skipping towards my open door ‘’ don’t worry Danny he’ll be no trouble just you wait and see’’ the sight of her blowing me a kiss made me cringe.                                                      ‘’Nighty night’’

The new day’s autumn sunlight was trying hard to dry up the puddles that the storm had left behind in the driveway pot holes. I heard Mom leave about 7am even though she tried to be as quiet as she could; the main door had swollen with last night’s downpour making it hard to close, it took her two raucous attempts. By the time I had roused myself for school I hadn’t time to think about our new lodger who would be arriving soon, so I skipped the breakfast of cold milk and Cheerio’s that Mom had set out for me on the kitchen table alongside a loving note that she would be here when I got home at four. In between classes I went to the library to read up on German history and their way of life so that I could make Mr Retih more at home for my Mothers sake. She never indicated just how long he was to stay but I thought if I knew a few things about his home country we may just get along. I decided to keep two books on loan so that I could read them later in my bedroom, one about the towns and cities of Germany  and another that described the rise and fall of the third Reich, and the war in Europe, all of which I presumed he would find interesting. I wanted him to think I was well versed and interested in his culture so a bit of late night reading would be called for. 

When I returned home the Sun had done its job and dried up all the rain that had gathered in the driveways pitted holes, it looked like Mom had spent the day clearing up after the storm by the four mounds of wet brown ash leaves that sat the garage door ready to be bagged. I was quite certain that a few well spun conversations had eased the chore of it all with some of the neighbors and prolonged the task. But I knew she liked to talk, that was the only pleasure she got these days, and to be honest I preferred my comic books to listening to her, something I feel bad about it so maybe having Mr Reltih here might not be so awkward after all. The door was still stiff and I had to give it a good push to get it open, from the hall I could hear voices talking and laughing and one had a distinct Arian lilt with a hint of Colorado twang. I hung up my coat on the hall rack and covered its collar with my scarf and baseball hat. Thinking I could tip toe upstairs to hide my books I placed them carefully under my arms and removed my shoe’s, I knew the third step from top always creaked so I figured I could be more light footed without the restraint of my leather oxfords and less likely to be caught up in a mind numbing tete a tete. I was wrong, the sound of me forcing the door had alerted Mother to my entry and before I reached the a’fore mentioned step she was out from the sitting room and calling me to attention.

‘’ Danny’’ she spoke up to me ‘’ Lets not be rude young man, come and say hello to Mr Reltih he’s been dying to meet you, and I have told him just what a good boy you are so don’t let me down O.kay?’’

I felt my shoulders drop and my books get suddenly heavier, ‘’O.K Mom, I’m coming’’ I sighed making more of my returning steps as I relented to the fact I’d been caught.

Mom stood half way into the room with her left arm outstretched in a faint guiding motion and pulling a ludicrous smile, I could smell the odour of Hospital underwear before I rounded the door to greet Mr Reltih. He was sitting in wheel chair just over by the bay window with a brown tartan blanket covering his legs, his loafers stuck out from under it and I wondered if he was wearing any pants. A vision that instantly left me in the hope he wouldn’t stand up to shake my hand, thankfully he didn’t but merely held it out limply. His face was peppered with liver spots and his pale skin hung like wet clothes on a washing line, what little hair he had was combed to one side of his head and he bore the remnants of a small grey moustache that resembled a very old postage stamp.

‘’Hello Daniel’’ he croaked ‘’ I’m Floda Reltih, so nice to meet you at last, sit, ve hav much to talk about’’ his grip felt wet and lifeless and his smile looked faintly fabricated.

‘’Ah I see you hav brought me some reading material yah?’’ I looked to my books and sent back a circuitous smile ‘’ Yes, I suppose so’’ I agreed reluctantly ‘’I thought we could read them later’’

‘’That vould be gud, I vill look forward to it’’

Mom could see the awkwardness between us was lasting longer than it should have been so I was glad when she suggested we have some tea, ‘’ Come Danny’’ she smiled taking my arm gently.  ‘’Why don’t you come into the kitchen and help me make some sandwiches’’ I looked at her then back to the frail old man sitting in the wheel chair, even though his eyes were grey with age I could feel them burning into me as I turned and left the room.

‘’What is the matter with you’’ Mom hissed at me in the hallway ‘’ He’s a sick old man show some respect’’

‘’What!’’ I protested throwing out my arms ‘’What have I done now?, and what do you really know about this person any way?’’ When Mom gets asked a difficult question she begins to hum out loud and try to elude giving an answer in the chance it could make her look stupid. I tried to follow after her into the kitchen but she kept droning loudly avoiding my query. I watched her bang a few plates around and slice some bread with an air of annoyance about her, finally she stopped and blurted it out.

‘’He’s from Austria, that’s all I know, and he’s been living here since the houses were first built, in fact I think he was the first one here’’ she pointed her knife downward towards the bread board, ‘’The Drive, and why does it matter?’’ I shrugged my shoulders while she waited for a reasonable answer.

‘’Oh I don’t know’’ I sighed at last ‘’, there’s just something about him that doesn’t feel right and I just can’t put my finger on it’’

‘’You read far to many of those silly comic books Danny Lyell, they will make go kook eyed if you read any more in the dark’’

‘’Oh! You know about them’’ I said nervously ‘’ How?’’

‘’I found them under your bed beside your flashlight that was still on after you left for school this morning ‘’I’m sorry Mom, you’re right, it’s nothing’’ I said giving in and placed my books on the dining table.

Mom stopped her cutting and came round to face me, she clicked her tongue, shook her head and breathed out ‘’Your just like your Father Daniel he liked to read too, one of the last thing he said to me was  ‘Reflections never hide the truth’ I guess he read it in some book or other’’. She paused before running her plump fingers through my curls and around to cup my cheeks. ‘’ I never figured out just what he meant by that, Now how about some tea’’

After that I thought it best to keep out of the way the rest of the evening so I did as I had promised my self I would do and read up on the books I had brought home. The lounge is just below my bedroom and while I was engrossed in the history of world war two I could hear the muffled laughter and their mellowed discussions, Mom was in her element now that she had a captured audience. Slowly I drifted off into a deep uneasy sleep, there was something familiar about Mr Reltih’s voice I was sure I had heard it some where before.

I probed Mother the next morning before she left for her cleaning job at the Library if Mr Reltih had ever been in the house at any time, for a moment she looked perplexed at my question and struggled to remember if what I had asked was possible, then like a strike of the lightning that occurred the night before her face lit up into a broad grin ‘’Oh My!’’ she exclaimed ‘’ You smart little boy, he was here, how could I have forgotten that. He requested that your Father install a new gas heater when you were only five years old, you must of over heard them talking, of course that’s it!’’

I felt elated and yet deflated all at the same time.

‘’Yes I guess that’s it’’

‘’ Right!’’ Mom stated, confidently putting on her brown winter coat (the one that makes her look like a bear) ‘’Mr Reltih will be sleeping most of the morning seeing as how I gave him some pills with his breakfast, I need you to pick up some clean clothes for me up at his house before you come home today. Here is the key can you do that for me?’’

My sudden depression soon returned to a hidden euphoria, this would be my chance to do some detective work and find out just what secrets the old man upstairs was keeping. If any.

‘’ Yes Mom’’ I replied leave it to me.

All that day I couldn’t wait for school to finish, I felt like Sherlock Holmes about to take on his most diabolical case ever as I rode my bike feverously through the park, down Millbrook Lane, past the old water wheel by the river and out onto the top end of Millbrook Drive. From the crest of the hill the rows of petite houses seem to dip and rise up onto the skyline. Number 41 was at the uppermost end of the drive, I kicked off and let gravity carry me down faster than I could of pedalled.

A nervous energy came over me as I slowed to a halt at the end of 41’s white fence; the paint was aged and flaking ,money spider cobwebs draped the spaces between the slats, some still with the fragments of ancient entrapped prey that had once been a feast. I leaned my bike precariously against it and pushed open the small gate at its end. Rusted hinges groaned above the sound of the afternoon breeze that was whipping up the Ash trees discarded foliage that had been left un- attended. Mom would have a fit if she could see how untidy Mr Reltih’s drive had become.

With every step I took up to the front door it seemed like the dead leaves were attached to my ankles, swirling around them like ripples on a pond. There were two wooden steps up onto a small porch that ran between the downstairs windows; my ghostly reflection appeared in the doors dust caked glass as I approached to insert the key Mother had given me.   

                                                                        

I tried to look inside by cupping my hand over my eyes to shield them from the afternoon low sunlight, but with the darkness of the hallway and the dirt on the glass it was impossible to see anything. I took a deep breath and turned the key in the lock, and like the gate the matured door creaked into submission. I stepped inside with the sound of my racing heart pounding in my ears. The hall way was as I expected, furnished with an antique oak coat stand that held two grey trilby hats a few well worn blue scarfs and various sizes of umbrella’s. The green patterned carpet was thread bare and faded; it smelt of dampness and old people, a bare clear light bulb swung wistfully above me catching the draught that was coming through the gaps at the side of the door. Just a head and to my right was the stairway that lead up to the bed rooms, beside me was the door to the lounge and straight on at the end of the hallway was the kitchen. Exactly like my own home, each layout the same. Below the stairs was a small door leading down to the basement, this is where dad would have fitted the new heater, and the most likely place Mr Reltih would hide his secrets, my errand to get his clothes could wait until I had a look.

To my amazement the door was unlocked; but at first it resisted my attempts to pry it open. Eventually with a concerted effort and the help of one of the umbrellas from the hall stand it popped open against its will. At the top of the basement stairs another naked lamp protruded from an old fitting that was screwed onto the wall, I fumbled for the light switch in the semidarkness with my trembling fingers, flashbacks of stories I had read in my comic books were a monstrous hand grabs the investigator from the door and drags him down screaming into the dark cellar invaded my thoughts. But I shook them off as quickly as they had arrived and switched on the lights, oh how I wished I had brought along my torch that I had carelessly left below my bed. Five wooden steps lead down into the area below the lounge and the hallway, each one seemed creakier than the last as I descended with just enough head room for me or a small man to stand upright.

For an endless moment I let my eyes get used to the pale light of the cellars glow, at first I could see nothing out of place that should be in an under ground store. Boxes of old books were stacked along one side of the gas heater and two old leather suit cases lay against the other. On one wall there were some old black and white pictures of men in German officer’s uniforms and one that showed what looked like a younger Mr Reltih standing smiling with him pointing skyward on a Mountain View balcony somewhere I assumed was in his homeland. Scattered about the floor were a few old rolled up faded maps of the world, some had burst open and I could see that they were covered in writing and dates, undecipherable and anarchic like they had been transcribed by a troubled mind nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

 Just  as before I felt deflated, it would seem that Mr Reltih had no secrets after all and that it was just my over active imagination, as Mom had pointed out. I had read too many silly comic books. It was time to get my errand completed and head home. Rather than leave the maps to rot on the damp ground I began to gather them up and place them in what looked like a dry spot between the joists above my head.

         

As I pushed the last into place I must have dislodged something that was hidden on a wooden support. It fell to the floor with a clunk; in the dim light I could make out that it was a leather wallet. Inside the fold of one side as it lay half open was a small color photograph of a young smiling woman and an inscription seared into the outer layer of one pocket. The more I looked down at it the more I became afraid, because I recognised the face that was smiling back at me it was my own mother and this was my Fathers wallet. The engraving confirmed my fears when I picked it up in my trembling hand and began to read ‘To my Dearest Husband William  Lyell on your 30^th Birthday I will love you always’  did he drop it when he was installing the heater? If so when then why was it not returned by Mr Reltih and why did he hide it down here all these years.  It didn’t make sense. I knew he was hiding something and this was it, I needed to show this to Mom then both of us could confront him later. I placed the wallet in my coat pocket and turned to go, what I seen next sent a surge of energy down my spine, in all my concentration I had failed to hear someone coming in and down the stairs, standing in the door way was Mr Reltih and he was pointing a German luger pistol at me. I had seen a picture of one in my library books that I had been reading the night before. He smiled at me again with his fabricated grin and began to tut his tongue.

‘’Oh dear, dear, young Daniel it vould seem you have found my little secret "hnmm?’’

‘why do you have my father’s wallet’’ I asked him boldly, his smile vanished and I could see a flash of hatred in his old grey eye’s.

‘’Your Muther is right you are very much like your Fader, he too vould not leave it alone’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’This morning vhen you both thought I vas sleeping I overheard you ask your Muther had I been in the house before, I did not swallow the pills she gave me, so I vas able to listen. The sound of voices travel quite vell up through the floor, as I’m sure you know. Any vay, I befriended your Muther when she began vorking at the hospital; I knew you vere getting older and I needed to vind out if you vere asking questions about your Fathers disappearance’’

‘’Mom thought he had just run away with another woman, and always hoped that someday he would return’’ I watched him roll his eyes at my reply,

‘’ She can be quite Naïve, but I’m afraid it is rather more permanent than zat . Ven my old heater broke down I asked your Father to install a new vone, zat is ven you and I first met. You ver only five. Don’t you remember?’’ he paused. ‘’Of course you do, now vhere vas I?, oh yes! Your Fadder agreed to do se job, things vent ok for a day or so but soon he began to ask questions, he had found  the picture of me standing on the terrace of my home in the Masurian woods, at first he wasn’t sure if vhat he was looking at was really me of course. I vas much younger zen, more than thirty years ago look.’’ He pointed to the framed photograph with the point of his luger and wheezed a short chuckle. ‘’ He kept pushing me for answers like ‘did I fight in ze var, vas I a nazi, or maybe a var criminal. I assured him I vas nothing of ze sort but I knew he didn’t believe me, zen I made a fatal mistake’’

‘’Which was?’’ I asked.   

‘’Stupid of me really’’ he sighed and for a moment he lowered his fire arm as if in thoughtful regret. ‘’Vhen he had finished the vork I paid him, I vas still suspicious but he hadn’t vent any further vith the questions so I let it go. He asked me to sign my receipt and of course I did, so I wrote my name quickly vith out zinking. Floda  Reltih’’ he left and I forgot about it’’

‘’Then what?’’ I asked confused.

‘’He came back!  It vould seem a simple shaving mirror could lead to my demise, he had set a copy of my receipt on his bathroom sink ze reflection turned my name around and disclosed who I really vas, I should hav been more careful with my choice’’

I said ‘’I don’t understand, what did the paper reveal?’’ I could see he was tiring of me.

‘’ Oh Danny, I thought you ver a smart boy but it looks like I vas wrong, it read Adolf Hitler of course’’

I looked to my feet as the verbal bomb shell he just spat exploded in my brain, suddenly it all made sense.

‘’that’s what he meant when Dad said to Mom ‘Reflections never hide the truth’  I heard my self whisper ‘’ You killed my Father didn’t you?’’ he nodded and agreed with his contrived smile.

‘’How, why?’’ I asked forcing a tear away from my eye.

‘’I had to’’ he sighed ‘’ I could not take ze chance after he confronted me about it, I could not allow him to tell your Muther, you know how she likes to talk soon everybody vould have known about me’’

‘’ But you’re supposed to be dead how did you end up here in Millbrook Drive, didn’t the Russians burn your body along with Eva Braun?’’ I watched as he gave out a hearty laugh that led him to convulse into a wheezing cough.

‘’It looks like your books ver of some use after all Danny’’ he choked,  ‘’ but history is wrong, poor Eva she vas naive like your Muther. I shot her first as ve agreed in the bunker, then I shot my servant who vas the same height and build as me. I put my clothes and signet ring on him and pulled both of them out into the snow. Then I set fire to ze bodies, the Fuhrer and leader of the greatest race on earth vould never commit suicide. I got avay and hid in Poland for a few years vith my new identity, ven the var was over I came here’’

‘’And my father, he found you’’

‘’Yah! That vas Unfortunate’’ he said with an air of egotism  ‘’ I lured him down here explaining and promising to show him more proof, he vas standing vere you are now looking at some old photo’s vhen I hit him over the head with my leaf rake. He didn’t die right avay I’m sorry ‘’

‘’ So what did you do?’’ I asked wishing instantly I hadn’t.

‘’ You really vant to know, don’t you’’ I nodded a nervous yes.

‘’ Quite simple really, your Father did such a good job vith my new heater that I used it to kill him, all I had to do vas remove the igniter, switch on ze gas and lock the doors and vindows. I do have some experience in that field of murder, vouldn’t you agree’’

‘’B*****d!’’ I shouted at him and stepped forward. In an instant he levelled the luger at me again laughing. ‘’Yes, Yes! I have been called zat many times’’

‘’Where is he? I asked crying tears of sadness and hatred.

The sound of his laughter grew louder and for a moment I thought he might just drop dead in front of me by the way it had taken hold. Slowly he began to compose himself again; his old face was pumped red with blood and he could barely breathe.

‘’ Zat is the most ironic zing of all’’ he choked. ‘’You know how everyone here likes to keep zings clean and tidy, ha! Especialy your Muther. You vill never guess vat I did mmmn?, I cut him up and put him in vith the ash leaves and asked, her and my good neighbors to gid rid of zem. And zey did, they put the bags in the trash and he vos gone’’                                   An evil man had done an evil thing to my father and used every one to clean up his execution and here he was empowered over me too.

Finally he stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his heartless eye’s ‘’ Now young Danny Lyell’’ he whispered indicating to the ground with his pistol ‘’ Turn around and kneel down, zis vill be quick and painless’’

The ground was cold and damp on my knee’s and all I could think of was my Father lying here still breathing, maybe even calling out for my Mother just before he died. I crossed myself and said a quiet prayer hoping that it would be indeed be painless. I heard the old man shuffle to me then the click of the pistols hammer being cocked….

The thunderous sound of the bullet exploding behind me electrified my entire spine, my heart was racing, my temples throbbed, and I waited for the sensation of what dying might be. Yet when I dared open my eye’s there was no blood, no bits of my brain or face spewed across the cement floor, nothing but silence. I was ridged with fear. Had his old trembling hands merely missed and he was about to fire again. An endless moment passed, and in that moment I thought about fighting back, maybe I could swing round and over power him before he had a chance to fire again. Then a voice so heavenly spoke from within the dimness of the cellar, a voice I loved and held so dear to me whispered my name from within the darkness of death. ‘’Danny, it’s your Mother, are you Okay?’’

The vision my eyes fell upon as I turned was like an angel with a trident in hand silhouetted by the arc of light the Edison lamp was emitting. But when my eye’s refocused and became more clear the staff she was holding was in fact a leaf rake that was dripping with blood and lying at my feet as Mr Reltih, or should I say Adolf Hitler. And oozing from three holes in his head was the same evil blood that was now pooling below him.

‘’I heard everything’’ she said helping me up ‘’ I came back early from the library and decided to clean up the dead leaves on Mr Reltih’s drive’’ I looked at her sideways ‘’ I know, I’m sorry but it’s a good job I did isn’t it?. When I saw your bike I came in, he never heard me coming down the stairs, I guess you were right after all’’

‘’So what now Mom’’ I asked. ‘’What do we do with him?’’

‘’Well, you can’t kill a dead man twice can you, and there’s some ash leaves needing cleaning up, why don’t we bag this trash, and talk no more about it’’ she smiled.

Some how I think Millbrook Drive is going to be much quieter place from now on.

 

A short story Will Neill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Author's Note

This story is quite long (as are all mine) sorry. But please dont skip, if you do not wish to read it all at once put it in your libary and come back to it. You will be gald you did.
Enjoy.
Will

Reviews

[richieb]

Excellent story Will. I knew the old man would have a Nazi background but I never expected him to be Adolf Hitler. Very clever with the name being spelled backwards.
Your story was very engrossing.The length of a story does not bother me as long as it is interesting and well written. Your was both.
Richie

[Will Neill]

Just a bit of fun Richie, thanks for reading.
Will

[Woody]

another good one Will. your ability at spinning a yarn is astonishing. I could never carry on that long.
ok I won't say anymore so I won't spoil it for the readers.
I enjoyed the read as always.

[Will Neill]

Woody, Thank you my friend for perservering with another long story, I hope the pay off was worth it.
Will

[Woody]

it certainly was Will!

[Marie]

I read it all, WIll. It would be easier to read in a bigger font; you might think about that next time. I thought it was long at first, but I knew it would be worth reading, and it was.

[Will Neill]

Thank You Marie, sorry about the small font.But I'm happy you enjoyed it.
Will