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| Our first view of Gorak as drawn by Rick Geary |
Pizza, anyone? . . .
GORAK THE GOBBLER - Part 7
by Judith Cullen
(c) 2015
“Shroomies?!” Gorak screeched, “Shroomies for sitting not for eating. What kinda silliness be dis?” He began picking up individual mushrooms between two claws, as if they were infected, and tossing them on the slices nearest Jamie. “Yeck!”
“That was a
quick trip!” Jamie’s Mom observed as he burst happily through the kitchen door.
“Hi, Mom!”
Jamie gave his Mom a quick hug that had her gasping from its enthusiasm and the
reality of how big her “baby boy” had actually become. He was almost as tall as his Father, and the
thought of it made her head spin.
“It was just a
little errand. It’s all taken care of
now. What’s for dinner?”
“Your Dad and
I have an appointment tonight with Mr. Briggs, the accountant. I’ve ordered a pizza for you. It should be here in a few minutes. I ordered
your favorite: sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. There’s plenty of juice and
milk in the fridge.”
“Great. Thanks Mom!” Jamie kissed her on the cheek,
and left the kitchen. She watched him
head down the hall to the stairs. She
was engulfed in amazement.
Jamie was
elated as he took the steps two at a time up to his bedroom. He’d done it!
He’d actually done it! It really
didn’t matter to him what Robbie Martin decided to do. It was out of his hands and he wasn’t going
to worry about it. He had done the right
thing, and he had won a victory. It
wasn’t Robbie he was victorious over. He
had triumphed over himself: his doubts, his fears, and his teetering sense of
self. He liked how this felt. He liked it a whole lot.
He rushed into
his room and swept Spot off the bed, spinning around in a circle with the
shocked cat in his arms, hanging on for dear life. “It’s a great day to be me,
Spot!” he cried. He was so happy that he
didn’t hear the distinctive popping sound, and did not think to look around the
room for someone small and red, with a tail and teeth.
Jamie was
laughing out loud and Spot was expressing his surprise and not-quite-total
enthusiasm for this interruption to his 43rd nap of the day. The ruckus stopped suddenly when both boy and
cat heard a rumbling sound. Where was it
coming from?
The dresser
seemed okay. The book shelf was still
and silent. There was nothing under the
bed, and Jamies’s trunk was immobile. The closet! That was the only real option left. Jamie carefully reached for the knobs of the
bi-fold closet doors and pulled, more than a little afraid of what was on the
other side.
“TA DAAAAAAA!”
There stood
Gorak, feet spread apart and arms wide. At least Jamie thought his feet were
apart, he couldn’t actually see them.
Gorak stood in
the middle of the closet, resplendent in one of Jamie’s T-shirts. It was so big on him that the sleeves sagged
over the tips of his claws, and it puddled around his feet except where it
draped over his tail in the back. The
shirt proclaimed in bold letters, “Grants
Pass , Oregon
“Jamie got
great shirt! Jamie got lots great
shirts. Gorak had hard time
choosing. You likeee?”
Gorak turned
in a circle, and almost fell over as the puddling shirt twisted around his
legs. Jamie grabbed him before he fell
and set him down on his feet on top of the trunk.
“Pizza’s here,
James!” came the call from downstairs.
Jamie looked
Gorak in the eye and pointed a finger for emphasis, “Stay here – right here,
please. I’ll be back.”
“Okee! Gorak wait,” and he plumped onto his bottom
on the trunk with the t-shirt billowing around him.
When Jamie
returned, Gorak had slid off the trunk onto the floor, with the tails of the
shirt dragging behind him. He sat on the floor cross legged with his eyebrows
up in a look that challenged. Jamie did
not fall for the bait, but sat down on the floor opposite him with the pizza
and the other things he had brought with him from the kitchen. He opened the
box lid, and reached for a steaming slice.
“Shroomies?!” Gorak screeched, “Shroomies for sitting not for eating. What kinda silliness be dis?” He began picking up individual mushrooms between two claws, as if they were infected, and tossing them on the slices nearest Jamie. “Yeck!”
“Some people
actually like to eat mushrooms,” Jamie patiently suggested.
“Yeah? Some
people weird too. They can have Gorak’s. More shroomies for them.”
Jamie marveled
at himself. Gorak wasn’t getting under
his skin. He found he could accept the
little creature’s ways and not be annoyed.
Or maybe he was just still high from his encounter with Robbie. He wasn’t sure. He decided not to question it
all too deeply while there was hot pizza to be had.
“Suit
yourself. More mushrooms for me.”
Jamie scooped
a handful of displaced mushroom bits and dumped them on his pizza slice.
Gorak wrinkled
his nose and muttered, “Some people weird.” He focused in on the pizza:
reaching for a slice of pepperoni, peeling it off the pizza, licking it, taking
a thoughtful bite as if tasting a vintage wine, and then placing it back on the
pizza. He peeled another pepperoni slice
and repeated the process, making considering noises. He paused after replacing the second slice to
lick his claws and was just reaching for another circle of pepperoni when the
box lid came down with a slam.
Gorak’s
startled look met Jamie’s smiling face.
Jamie slid the pizza box away from Gorak, extricated the two
pepperoni-sampled slices and put them on a couple of pieces of paper towel. Gorak watched him keenly, and Jamie had the
feeling Gorak wanted to say something, that he wanted to object. The little red creature remained silent,
watching. Jamie made his own thoughtful
noises and reached for one un-sampled, shroomie-free slice and added it to the
others.
“Here’s
Gorak’s pizza. It’s great pizza. Gorak can make his pizza, this pizza, as great as he wants to.”
Jamie handed
the pizza slices on the towel to Gorak and sorted through the handfuls of
juices he’d brought, opening an apple juice and handing it to Gorak. Then he resumed eating, slurping the
cranberry juice he’d opened for himself and smiling. He hadn’t noticed it, but
when he’d been sorting the juice Gorak had tilted his head and smiled at him,
his funny little face suddenly wise and warm.
##
This will be the last pre-release installment of "Gorak the Gobbler" before The Blackberry & Other Tales That Creep goes on sale. To find out the wonderful resolution of this tale, stay tuned and grab a copy when it goes on sale on Amazon for Kindle and in Paperback.
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