Halloween Fiction Cooperation: The tale of Thomas Braum.

Discussion of general Halloween topics
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Post by uncletor » Sat Jul 14, 2007 12:12 pm

The two of them had left the house by now, and Tom was walking towards the downtown. A wind was blowing, but it was warm.
He couldn't see her. Just hear the voice.
"So what am I going for?" he was staring straight ahead by now. Learned not to turn at the sound of her voice.
"Okay. Remember that MONKEY'S PAW episode from..what did you call it? THE SIMPSONS?"
"Yeah. Homer gets three wishes and this monkey's paw kind of VIBRATES and he screws it up and Flanders winds up with.."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It STARTS there, is all. Before that, it was a short story. Used to scare kids in school. Before THAT..it was a CUSTOM.."
Tom has to stop in his tracks. He felt sick. " You mean.."
"Yes.." he heard the hoarse reply."Some drunken sailors started a STUPID rumor. That monkeys from a certain island would grant wishes if you cut off their paw...The monkeys would suffer horribly. Often die."
"I am NOT.." he was almost shouting.
"You don't HAVE to...see, when the sailors went to a CERTAIN island, they messed with the WRONG monkeys; ones that were dedicated to Hamuman, the Hindu god. Krishna's..what is the word...'homeboy'..the story goes that every single person who hurt a monkey from then on, and not JUST that island of monkeys got a boomerang wish or just died horribly if the Hindu god happened to be out of sorts that day.
Tom was breathing through his mouth. His right hand holding him up against the wall. Mammy Promise kept going.
"Our version of Mr. Potter from IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE heard about that story...THE MONKEYS' PAW. Then he heard the rumor and the other story about people who got it up the tailpipe when you messed with monkeys. And he thought: what if you used HUMANS??
"Now, he KNEW that chopping off people's HANDS would do NOTHING..but he kept LOOKING, and found a way to BOTTLE folks' essence, souls you might call it, lifeforce, something..sort of like a genie in a bottle. He has dozens up there. Hundreds. I just want my families back. He can have the rest."
"You don't want to set everybody free??"
"I don't think I have the ability. I think if we get YOU in and OUT we will be doing good."
A cold cold chill went up Tom's back."You've done this before.."
"Yes."
"I should say TRIED before."
"Yes."
"And the kids get killed."
"Not always. Sometimes they just run away. I meant it when I said you can refuse.Sometimes they have gone nuts like that kid at your school. But I'm counting on a kid who really really likes Halloween to want to go up there..to see the whole set up..and rip off the meanest, richest guy in town in the ultimate Halloween prank.
"Admit it. You want to SEE those bottles."
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Post by uncletor » Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:58 pm

Lloyd was across the street from the Thorndyke Building in his car. When he saw Tom he was very glad he had not planned to bomb the joint.
Innocent lives had already been lost. And besides, it would RUIN Halloween if the town's tallest building went blewy. Folks would think it was a terrorist attack or something.
Nope. No terrorists. Just him. Lloyd. On his way out. This was HIS last dance.
He threw a butt out the window and stared straight ahead. That was the thing. He didn't FEEL like he was going to die. But the doctor told him in the spring that THIS was his last year. Period. If he was GOOD he would see the next Kentucky Derby. But not much else...and even if he lived PAST the Masters, HE wouldn't be here..just his body.
He really didn't feel like he was going to die.
It might be better that way.
He watched the kid crouch down beside the base of the building in an alley. It was like the boy was taking dictation.
What the HECK was all THAT about??
He started to get THE FEELING again.
THE FEELING was what happened in his gut when something WEIRD would go down. The first time it happened was when his Dad and he left town in a hurry. Dad had worked for Thorndyke longer then anyone. And then one night, 2 in the morning, his Dad came home and said they HAD to get out of town. He had found out FOR SURE Thorndyke's SECRET..and if they stayed they would both be dead men.
It was the first time his father called him a 'man'.
They slipped into a new life, a new identity. Dad had done his homework. And after five years, he started to relax. It was a nice business, south west. No way they SHOULD have found him.
But they did. Chinese restaurant. February. Lloyd had gone to the can. On his way back to the table, a man with a .44 aimed and blasted the back of his Dad's head off.
Forget what the movies say. When it happens to you , right there in front of you, it freezes the body. You just STAND there. And the guy turned and saw him and couldn't care a less. Just walked out.
Maybe THAT was what started it all. The killer didn't think he was important. He was only PAID for the Dad. Why do anything for FREE unless it was needed? And who NEEDED to kill a skinny kid?
Classic mob rub out. That's what everybody said. Lloyd knew better. His Dad had told him some of it. Not all..that would have blown the top of his head off, it was too WEIRD.
Lloyd spent two weeks in detention until he was farmed out to relatives. Ohio. Those two weeks were an insult he never forgot, either. His Dad was murdered, and HE went to teen jail.
Lloyd smiled. And now, here he was, back in town. Living out a cliche that was already in a million westerns; "You killed my pa...".
THE FEELING came back years later, when Snorkie's kid called him. Snorkie ran SNORKIE'S COSTUME AND JOKE SHOP here in town. Thorndyke had ran Snorkie out of business. The main reason was that Thorndyke was supposed to hate Halloween and everything about it. Fundamentalist Christian. Something.
The kid was alright. Nice. She kept in touch when NOBODY else did. Was the only person who WROTE him in detention. He never forgot that.
She had been his first kiss. Upstairs above the store. They would play with the masks and the costumes. Big brown eyes.
She went on to become an anthropologist. Said it was the masks and such..the costumes that got her interested..ritual...ceremony...folk tales.
And then she writes and tells him something.
Says Thorndyke was NOT a fundamentalist or fanatic or whatever. Had proof he REALLY worked with old occult stuff that was ancient and evil. Sort of like a genie in a bottle.
And Lloyd couldn't wrap his mind around it. He had already made up his mind to take the guy out..but this...why would Thorndyke hate Halloween if he was into the occult himself? What was it to HIM?
And Lloyd started to look for an answer. Carefully. Third or fourth parties. Easy, so as not to alert Thorndyke. It wasn't HARD when you knew what you were looking for. And Snorkie's kid told him where and what to be searching.
That took years.
Years longer to figure out a way in and what to do.
The doctor and his verdict just made it easier. He didn't have to work on too many plans for getting OUT.
Lloyd got out of the car and took two salesman's sample cases from the trunk, and started across the street. It looked like he sold door to door.
But what was inside was enough fire power to retake a small island in WWII. And that was the guns and stuff. There were the other things..holy water, voodoo stuff, zuni fetish, prayer wheels, powders, amulets, stuff maybe worse then the guns.
Let us dance, he thought.
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Post by uncletor » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:43 pm

Thorndyke smiled as he watched the man with the suitcases cross the street on the screen by his desk. His mood improved to the point where he rested the shot gun on his desk.His suite above the city was a freakish blend of the very old and the cutting edge...he had never gone on the internet and didn't want to. Couldn't care a less about ipods or imacs or iwacs or whatever. But he had equipment that he KNEW Bill Gates would give a years salary to look at.
One of his proudest acheivements was the energy/emotion meter. The thing glowed redder depending on how much beans and vinegar you had in your system. The man below with the suit cases was white.
Just the way Thorndyke liked his slaves. No passions. The more depressed the better.
He smiled to himself. The first time this clod showed up on the screen, the alarms went off like an air raid. He was carrying stuff that could really HURT his systems up here. Then they found out this guy was just a health food salesman. Herbs, plants, stuff like that. His security force, as an after thought, also told him he was probably carrying "a gun or something" by the way THEIR scanners were going off. Made sense to Thorndyke. You're on the road, pack a rod.
That was the reason, the REAL reason Thorndyke hated Halloween and to a lesser extent Christmas. Halloween made people happy..but in a WEIRD way. They would look at things that were scary and funny and cute and ugly at the same time..and a complicated emotion would surface..sort of as if everybody was saying;"I can't BELEIVE someone would DO this..NO WAY.."
They would see the world through different eyes. They would wake up and stop walking in their sleep so much. Their energy/emotional scale would go into scarlett sometimes.
That was what got Thorndyke. People had to be kept sleepwalking as far as he was concerned. Nice and calm and dull and sitting alone in front of that televiser or t.v or whatever and not too excited about anything. They were less likely to rise up against him and just do what they were told.
There was no telling what people could do looking at the world with a sense of wonder or excitement..or going door to door and meeting their neighbours.
That was his big beef against Halloween. The door to door thing. Christmas was pretty much stress and money and staying home now. Even with the peace on earth and jolly Santas. But Halloween got you into peoples front yards and laughing and giving stuff away FREE to STRANGERS.
How would you KNOW if they were excited to the point where they were ready to snap and take you out? You couldn't.
But this guy. Perfect. White. Beautfiul white. Probably totally depressed by his job...maybe he had cancer or something AND WAS GOING TO DIE. Anyway, he always parked in the same spot at the same time for over a year now. Would go to the hotel next door from the Thorndyke Building and go right to bed. Didn't even HAVE to check that...after months and months, you'd just KNOW....
People doing their regular routine. THAT was what Thorndyke wanted more of.
He turned away from the monitor and picked up the shot gun again.
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Post by uncletor » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:20 pm

Otarra Koybe was fresh from the docks of Yokahama and couldn't get enough of this 'Halloween'. He had HEARD of this holiday when he was in Japan, learned more about it as he prepared to come to America and help run his companies auto plant.
But nothing, NOTHING prepared him for the real thing. This was his second year here, and it just got better every time. The teenagers dressed as punks or ghouls. The lawn display that could give the Walt Disney parks a run for their dollar. Adults dressed up. The next door neighbour looking quite mouthwatering in fact...in her cat suit...People going up and down the street laughing and getting stuff door to door, shouting in happy eager voices.
He was smiling as he heard MONSTER MASH being played on the radio while driving to the Thorndkye Building. He had recieved a text message saying there was going to be a big big party there tonight. Hayride possibly. At any rate, a dance..maybe Miss Cat Suit would be there..he grinned like a loon over the idea of an 'American style girlfriend', like the guy in 16 Candles used to say...
All in all, a nice country. Rather hard, intially, he thought, to wrap your mind around the SIZE of it..you could drive all day in some parts and never even SEE another person..most extraordinary. And what could prepare you for New York when you finally saw it after seeing it in SO many t.v shows? How do you come to grips with Vegas?? But the people were proud and worked hard and raised their families in ways not unlike the ways back home.
He was supposed to go back in two more years and pick up a bride in a marriage to be arranged between his family and another. But now..he was actually thinking of staying...these were a good people..and it was possible to buy a decent pizza AND a Frankenstein automated door knocker.
As he pulled near the front of the Thorndyke Buidling, he saw the traffic bumper to bumper, with a woman who had to weigh 400 pound stabbing her finger into the chest of a security guard. Not good. The mood seemed to be getting ugly.
He would try to help.
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Post by uncletor » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:58 am

Billy Russell was sitting in his living room when he got the call. The cel phone played 'Bridge on the River Kwi' theme. Ottara.
He opened the phone without taking his eyes off his wife. "This BETTER be good..."
His wife had dressed up like a pirate for him...stockings, thigh high boots, lots of other stuff, but those stockings and boots and that black leather bustier where holding his attention right now. She had taken off the eye patch and the hat while "A Pirates Life for Me" played in the background.Billy was very glad he had cut down in his salt and trans fats.
"How would you like to stick your finger in Thorndykes eye?" Said the voice on the phone.
"Who is THORNDKYE??" Russell asked.
Ottara laughed. "You hate him. You have always wanted to make life hard for him. He fired a hundred guys from his plant and put the jobs in non union off shore dirt holes just to spite your union."
"Doesn't ring a bell..." The wife was leaning back over a chair and running her fingers through her hair as her back arched.
Ottara laughed some more. "I can tell your wife has unleashed your Hallowen surprize. I will be brief. There is gonna be a riot right here in front of his building. Take my word for it. I was there when a Korean plant went up and they didn't have HALF the provocation this guy has given the town..."
Bill waved his hand and moved his head towards the couch. His wife sat down beside him. Serious. Professional.
"Kagi, this is Stevie..you're on speaker now..what's happening.?"
"My guess is that somebody fired off a text message to say there would be a party at the Thorndyke Building..I'm GUESSING 500 people are here now..this thing has taken off and has a life of it's own..The crowd is getting ugly and I could see them getting hurt...whaddya say we give them a REAL party???"
Billy turned to Stephanie...Stevie...his wife and said;"HE KNEW about this..."
She turned to Billy, deadpan.."...yes, it was too good to KEEP, but relax, he didn't see the outfit, or the routine..he just advised about what would drive you WILD..." She gave her husband a deep kiss.
"Do you think it's a deliberate attempt to CAUSE a riot??"
"Who can tell??? I would LIKE to think it started as maybe a prank but took a life of it's own..my guess is that the town would simply LIKE to blow off some steam..you Americans' get less vacation and less paid holidays then just about anyplace this side of Argentina...and even THEY get some decent time off now that Martin Boreman stopped running things."
Billy and Stevie laughed. "Kagi" was full of pop culture references like that..in fact, his nick name was from KAGI NO KAGI...KEY OF KEYS..a Japanese spy movie Woody Allen had brought over to America and dubbed with jokes in English...and renamed WHAT'S UP TIGER LILLY??? It broke the three of them up every time.
"Okay, what do we need???" Billy had a pen and pad by now..
Get Judge Farcus on the phone. Get a permit for the party. Tell him there's a Italian deep dish in it if he goes along..the man is a slave to pasta and pizza, hates Thorndyke and might go for it...I'm gonna talk to the crowd...pretend the thing is ORGANIZED only just LATE..Americans can dig that...but don't take too long getting her with some geets."
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Post by uncletor » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:34 pm

Lloyd could have told Kagi a lot about that text message.
He had started it with five different people..each text message saying it was from one of the other five people.
But Lydia and Beetlejuice, this thing had LEGS...he had just started one about a PARTY...when he was text back about 150 people later, a LOT of details had been added...by the time he got a text at around 300 the thing had a life of it's own..
This town was starved for Halloween action.
Lloyd knew about the emotion detectors aimed at the street...his plan was for a LITTLE PATCH OF RED so he could walk through..
He figured there was six hundred people down there now. Minimum...
This could only help.
Lloyd also took a boo for that kid he had spotted at the side..in the alley.
Gone.
Good; this could get hairy.
He had seen riots before...and he knew about the extent of the firepower in the Thorndyke Building.
Hitchcock on a crutch, he just wanted some kids begging for some chips or a Coke and get the guards distracted...he only needed seven minutes. The guards even handed out stuff on their OWN some years to keep the peace...
He watched dry mouthed..and hoped they had a box or two of Dorritos..but he knew in his heart it might not swing it this time..
Last edited by uncletor on Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by uncletor » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:10 pm

Tommy had found the old rusty door that used to be a laundry chute or delivery drive through door or something. He was in.
He slid down head first on a solid metal ski slope aimed right at the basement.
Coal chute. Dang.
Bounced off an old Sealy matress..
He thanked God for street people with a sense of humor.
"So this Hamuman is the big boss then?" he asked Mammy Promise inwardly. "Krishna is the real true religion?"
He could hear Manny sigh." I only know the OUTCOME..Just because someone SAYS it doesn't make it SO..and remember, just about every religion thinks it would be a BAD idea to be cruel to animals..the Catholics have St. Francis- says he loves animals right there in his job description...he might think it was a HOOT to cream a bunch of drunks that were mean to monkeys and let some local deity that looks like Kenny Rogers and King Kong take the credit..or blame, depending..
"If folks knew how complicated things are on this side, they just might not want to send folks over to it so much...
"Okay...over to the side..you want the air shaft that leads to the central building..there is an x behind it in RED...Do NOT turn on a light...do it by feel...until you get over there...confirm with a burst of flashlight no longer then a second or two."
Tom had walked through some piles of things he did NOT want to know the origins of and thought it was best to follow the advice.
"By the way...hell of a crowd you cooked up outside." he thought he should keep the talk nice...walking with an old feeble building emerg services light as his only illunination was already getting to him..
He heard her suck in her breath. Bad sign."That wasn't YOU???"
Oh, damn...he thought..."No...folks just started to come and the next thing I know you're giving me the directions in after we finished the map of the place..I know as much as you do...I thought YOU cooked it up.."
"Someone is working our side of the street, Junior." she replied distractedly. "I can't take the time to find out who either..not good, not good, I don't want us shooting at Thorndyke and hitting each other by mistake..that old wives tale of two hunters who go looking for a grizzly and wind up killing each other has more truth then you would think..."
In the dark, it was Tommy's turn for his mouth to go dry."I know you were talking in example about US..I don't have a GUN..but what about the other people???"
"I don't think Thorndyke's sensors would let a gun IN the building...he was shot at in '33 and figured out his first detector THEN...picked up even TRACES of the chemicals bullets or bombs would need..so I don't THINK guns would WORK here...unless someone figured out how to duck the system."
"Flashlight going on. Red 'x'. Flash light off."
"Four bolts are on the bottom of the shaft as it elbows up into the wall. Take them off, slide up..we are going next door. The grate on the other side tells you where to drop."
"Man, NOBODY has sealed these up from the LAST time..doens't ANYONE come down here??"
"Homeless people mostly. Ex employees sometimes who have become street people..the guards know them sometimes..sometimes they are ex guards...and look the other way....the organization doesn't ENCOURAGE loyal workers..."
Tom took a deep deep breath to ward off the panic he felt as he scrambled up into the air duct and felt encased in a steel square that went off into the distance not much bigger then a coffin...very close. Close to his face. To his mouth. To his chest. Very close.
He closed his eyes and did some breaths to keep control.
It was working..just barely.
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Post by uncletor » Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:56 am

Kagi made it to the front and smiled as he took the steps two at a time.
"How would you like a raise?" he asked the guard, who no longer even tried to look calm.
"Sounds good, sounds good.." the guy in the double knit uniform replied."But Mr. Thorndyke.."
"Son, after TONIGHT..you're going to be FIRED..the only question you have to ask is what you are going to be known for at the NEXT job...the guy who let things turn into a riot and had people killed, or the guy who helped the tall Japanese fellow start the town's first Halloween bash.."
"Go on..." the guard replied."But also tell me about that raise..."
" Your raise comes with the answer to that question. Help me here, tonight, and I can get you work at a better client, more pay...try and work the Thorndyke party line and you will be chewed up, spit out, and blamed for the riot we BOTH know could go down at any minute.."
"I'm your man.."
"Okay, back inside..bring out as much Halloween stuff as you got..I HEARD about you guys giving out chips before to the kids..Get it ALL..and also bring any boxes that REMOTELY look the same as the chips or whatever..and get THE REST of your crew over to A&P and get the store to send over chips and pop as FAST as they can...I figure your boys can keep us stocked if we move it out slow and steady and we make a show of having lots and lots here for them..."
"Got it..."
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." Kagi had turned to the crowd...only a few feet behind him. It took all his wil power to smile."Welcome to the FIRST city centre Halloween party..as you MIGHT expect..we are running a bit behind and we APOLOGIZE for that...we have THREE things planned for you tonight.."
THAT shut them up for a second...now he just had to figure out WHAT three things he could DO..
"FIRST...we're getting the stuff from the Thorndyke Building for you..everybody gets a bag of chips AND a pop, free. NOW after THAT...you can get transportation to the Optimist hayride...or the Union dance...OR our OWN street show....which will be starting soon...We'll start handing out the stuff in a few minutes...in the meantime, THANKS for the patience...and THANK YOU for coming out..."
Scattered applause. Kagi even helped them get lined up.
The fat woman who had rammed her finger into the guards chest bellowed out;"WHERE is the stuff??"
Kagi made his eyes go wide like the coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons and got on the cel and made a pantomine like he was trying to find out. The crowd laughed. The lady decompressed. The promise of free food was enough..for now..
But Kagi wasn't calling for the food."Hi. Maddy."
"Hey, big boy..."
"Want a paying gig for your all girl band??"
"You serious???"
"Coudn't be MORE serious..I'm out in front of the Thorndyke Building..a crowd's gathered and we need a rock and roll combo to keep things from getting murderous...and WHO better then the states leading GO GO'S tribute band???"
Maddy sighed."WHY did I ever tell you that???"
'I'm just GLAD you did...can you get the girls and be here??? Remember, you also get some SIDE benefits..."
"Like WHAT???
"FIRST you get good publicity for the church...towns leading female minister shows she can still get down and boogie, and that HALLOWEEN should not be hated or feared..the way the mega church that Thorndkye pours money into preaches..."
"...you are SOOOO good..." she purred.
"SECOND ...you get the kids that the mega church has turned it's back on...the NEXT generation of church goers who wouldn't MIND if their minister PLAYS Belinda Carlisle or Chuck Berry, and might have OTHER ideas politically then SHUT UP AND LISTEN to RICH WHITE MEN.."
"...we can have the van loaded and ready in ten minutes..the girls have waited MONTHS for a gig...we'll be there.."
Kagi smiled again..geniune this time. Time to get Billy back and make arrangements for the trasnport to his union dance...it JUST might turn a profit now...
And like angels from heaven, the first boxes of chips and cases of Coke came out front.
Kagi began to think they just might get out of this alive.
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Post by Halloween_Girl » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:27 am

?Um hi?
Beware Beware your in for a scare
The chair is rocking but nobodies there
The owls are mocking the Ghost are stocking
Beware Beware your in for a scare!

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Post by uncletor » Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:23 am

Tommy felt something CRAWL up his neck behind his ear....to his hair.
THIS one he would have to squash...couldn't take things in his hair..
The bugs had been bad..spiders, mostly. He didn't even swat them out of his face anymore.and they had started to back off when he came to the other side of the wall and was lowering himself into the next room like Mammy Promise wanted.
He took a couple of seconds to brush off any hitchhikers when he landed...and found one under his belt line...THEN he was able to match it's crawling with the sensation so near his underwear..he let out a low moan as he swatted it to the floor and then stepped on it.
Okay. Side wall. Elevator bank. The elevators went down to JUST the floor above him. Open the door and crawl around to the back of the elevator pit.
He must be nuts.
He got in and wigggled around the steel cables to the back. The cables were roughwith strands that stuck out and cut his clothes at the merest glance..Tom winced thinking what it would do to flesh.
He found the ladder at the back wall..in the dark..didn't have to turn on the lights. He also didn't take too long. No matter WHAT Mammy Pleasant SAID, he did NOT want to be UNDER ELEVATORS...the ladders took a bit to climb, and Tommy was going slow. The trick was to get climb past the top of the closest elevator car and to stay put for the half minute it would take to swing over and lay FLAT on the roof..there was FOUR FEET of clearance between the outside ceiling of the elevator and it's highest piece of equipment, and the inside roof.
Made sense..you couldn't have the elevator banging into stuff when it went to the top floor everytime. But...
He paused for a long time just above the elevator on that ladder. He KNEW he would hear the relay first and if he did, he was NOT to go onto the thing..it would take off before he could lay down..these were old elevators and you could actually count ONE STEAMBOAT, TWO STEAMBOAT, THREE STEAMBOAT before the contacts connected.
Okay, okay, okay...
He got on in a shuffling rush and crouched quickly down on the outside roof of the elevator...to the left of the pully ops like the map said.
Then he laid there and tried to calm down..before the take off.
And then, he heard the relays and felt it MOVE..he was up in the air being pushed up like water being forced to the end of a hose...no resistance...and he closed his eyes and didn't breathe and tried to find something that he could grab onto.
Too soon. He was only half way up the building..he would have to wait.
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Post by uncletor » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:43 pm

Thorndyke had trained his security forces to respond to silent alarms twice every week. Two detachments were now running down the hall to his office in response to the alarm lights that strobbed red in the halls.
"Go out front.." yelled the leader of one group to the second."I'LL talk to Thorndkye...you guys just make sure everything is cool out there..he just wants human sacrifice."
It was true.
When the guard was ushered into the office, he saw the billiionaire in a breezy, light mood.
The guards blood ran cold. Bad Bad BAD...very BAD.
"PLEASE tell me why there are people in front of my building..." Thorndyke intoned.
"Best we can figure is a Halloween prank.." the guard sighed. " Some cel calls were passed...we think honestly...it just snowballed..it looks like that spontaneous crowd action you have worried about for so long.."
"Can we open fire?"
"No...nobody is on the property proper..they are in the street and the sidewalk, but the tall guy is keeping them away from the stairs. I just sent the rest of guards out to make sure they don't get ideas..Right now I think they're listening to a rock band..."
"WHAT tall guy???"
"The Asian from Japan...he runs the car plant...he must have gotten the same messages and decided to run with it..unless he really DID plan a party..he's new to town..wouldn't know your STAND on things.."
Thorndyke groaned. "Carry on..."
The guard left and sighed inwardly. He strolled to the elevator hallway and hit the button. Then his eyes caught something. Very slowly, he drew out his service revolver and pointed it at the second door to this right.
"Okay...come out slowly..."
The elevator door opened and a kid walked out. The guard put his gun away. The two stared at each other.
Future events such as these will effect you in the future

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uncletor
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Post by uncletor » Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:50 am

"Who ARE you..?" the guard asked, very quietly.
"I'm a tagger..." the kid replied in a sullen voice."You know? Spray paint? You have like, a tag? You leave it? It's your mark? Well, like, this place is the BIG ONE..we've ALL wanted to tag this place for years I guess..and I get a hundred bucks if I can make it to the top floor and leave a tag.."
And sure enough, the kid pulled out a 50 and said;"See?? I get the other 50 if I make it back with a cel phone pic of the tag.."
"No..the call will be picked up. I've got a better idea...will a Polaroid shot do??"
The kid didn't think twice."Sure!! Just some sort of proof! What happens if they catch the call??"
"When I was your age, this group, Wings, had a song on the air called "Band on the Run". There was a line in it:"..for the rabbits on the run.." YOU would be the rabbit. A detachment of Mr. Big's goons' would do the hunting. Savvy?"
"What does 'savvy' mean?"
The guard sighed inwardly."John Wayne used to say it to the Apaches in his westerns. It means 'understand what I just said' "
"Oh..."
The guard knew, just knew that deep in his heart the kid wanted to ask who John Wayne was.
"By the way..HOW did you GET in??"
The kid smiled for the first time."Through the front door. I pretended to be delivering food for the guards. They are all pulling overtime tonight, you know that..for the first couple of KFC deliveries, they checked me. On the third, they let me go through. I just came up here."
The guard was floored by the simplicity of it all. They had planned for it all. But this...
"Okay..c'mon. The polaroid is downstairs. We'll come back up and I'll take your pic beside your tag. Fair enough?"
The kid suddenly stopped."Why are you DOING this?"
"This guy running this place is behind THAT door waiting to blast the first person who comes through with a gun. He's that nuts. I don't want it to be some kid...You look like you could use 50 bucks...and you have more guts then I do.."
"Whaddya mean?"
" I wouldn't have done it. But I know the joint better then you do."
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Post by uncletor » Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:37 am

Tommy started to move to the next elevator when the car he was on made it to the top floor. The small cat walk above both elevators for repair purposes made it easy, but it was still pretty hairy for him. HOW many stories was he up, now??? And ONE slip...
It got worse when he heard the guard tell the kid in the elevator that had brought him up to come out. Until the kid replied, he was almost ready to come down and put up his hands and say;"You got me."
But the two went down on the same elevator to get the guard's Polaroid and Tommy could breathe with all his lungs again..
Oh man...
"...hey, where did the kid come from??' he muttered under his breath.
"Some kid who wants to tag the place, is all..." Mammy Promise replied distractedly." I just unconsicoulsy worked on his urge to do so, and on his pals to make it worth his while, is all. "
Tommy smiled as he popped the doors and slid down to the floor in front f the elevator. From behind him, he heard Mammy say:"I'll be here when you get back.."
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Post by uncletor » Sun Aug 19, 2007 5:59 pm

Okay, thought Tommy, we are on our own for the next few minutes. The lady can't help you because she can't even TALK to me down these halls, let alone SEE down them.
So we use the map. The map won't fail.
Have to pick the right door. Okay. Okay. Down this hall. We hit the third door to the left on the far side. Very quiet...then we have to get to the next hallway over, and get to the door under the stairs.
His mouth felt dry as he softly and slowly went down the hall. Tommy would have given anything for ANY noise right now, but the thick carpets just killed the noise.
Just as well, just as well.
He slowly opened the door, not knowing what to expect. The ghost had told him to be ready for anything..but that it couldn't MOVE.
The room was dark, he hit the light switch.
And then wished he hadn't turned it on.
No.
Ahead of him was Britney Spears.
Sitting in a chair.
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Post by uncletor » Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:51 am

It was between sets at street level, and Kagi could really see a light at the end of the tunnel. He and Maddy were sitting side by side, grinning.
They had just tore through a set together and ended with Billy kicking in on trumpet for CONQUISTATOR. Pretty much identitcal to the Procol Harum solo.
The crowd was doing Halloween karoke, and going to and from the union dance and the hayride...the food kept coming, which helped. Also helping were the free cold, cold, cold cokes that gave everybody full bladders and got them to settle down in the process of looking for restrooms.
Kagi had his tie around his forehead like a headband and had shared rhythm guitar on stage.
"...and where did you learn our rock and roll so well?" Maddy asked.
"Yokahama. Used to play in a bar band to get through college. LANCE AND THE CREW CUTS. We'd do frat rock songs like LOUIE LOUIE for the sailors and merchant marine when they hit town. Chuck and Richard Berry are close to an international language."
Now it was Kagi's turn:"And you??"
Maddy took a drag on her Coors. "Everyone thinks that to be a Christian now a days is to be the wet blanket in the room. Did you know MOST Christians DON'T hate Halloween? Even the official exorcist for the Vatican figures it's just a secular holiday. I think he said something like 'if American kids want to dress up like witches, who CARES?' Hey, the central message of the religion is love and reaching out to others..expressing God's LOVE..shouldn't that also include tolerance?? By the way, I keep seeing you in church..doesn't that put you in something of a minority yourself?"
"Yup. Less then one per cent of the Japanese population is Christain. But my attraction for the religion pretty much dovetails with why I also dig Halloween."
"This I HAVE to hear..." Maddy deadpanned.
"One of the biggest Christian writers in Japan is a guy named Kagawa. They asked him what the best day of his life was. He smiled and said when he got T.B.
"You could just SEE the interviewers HAIR stand on end and the guy go 'ewwwww'..But Kagawa was SERIOUS. Told how in Japan the disease made you an outcast and how he had to go down to the beach and build a shack with the other T.B victims..exiled. And then one day, this guy comes around to talk to him about Jesus, and he figures if this Jesus guy was big enough for this other guy to get over the T.B. thing, it was worthwhile to listen to.
"Halloween is the same thing. You are taking things that most of us KNOW are very serious and scary..death, darkness, horror, and making it into a nice reassuring community festival. Something close to love."
"And I thought you just came to church to try and pick me up."
"That too...by the way, the tights and the gloves are pretty hot tonight."
"You say that to all the Belinda Carlisle impersonators, I bet."
"Just the ones I want to romance."
----------------------------------
"You're Britney Spears!"
"No...I'm...not..." the voice was labored. Sure sounded like Britney, though.
"Then you're her double..I'm here to look for..."
"A martian..yes..I'm what you're looking for.."
"Holy toledo. Martians look like Britney Spears??"
"No. Ray Bradbury got it right...we change shape and form to accomodate your mental images. We are prisoners of what you are thinking. Right now, there are dozens of people downstairs who are thinking Britney Spears for some reason. I don't know why..but when that changes, I become something else."
Tommy sat down in front of her."So WHAT happened??? How.."
"Did I GET here??? Remember the Halloween broadcast of WAR OF THE WORLDS??? That was LIVE. It happened. One of our generals went renegade. Decided he'd take over earth and use it like his private dog pound. The high command found out after he started the invasion. They cleaned things up quick. On the recording of the show, you can almost hear where the mindcontrol stuff from us takes over and Orson Welles believes he's been doing a play ALL ALONG."
Tommy's mouth hung open.
"Thing is, mind control is like a two way street. We influence you. You influence us. We first started sending messages out at the beginning of the last century. Only Edgar Rice Burroughs was sensitive to them..he made a fortune from them with his MARS books. Ray Bradbury wound up with the same thing when he did HIS Martian stories.."
'Britney' took a gulp of water.
"Geez, 70 years give or take stuck on this green humid rock, and I still couldn't get used to your air or gravity..I forget how much MORE I weigh down here. A lot. That's why you have to help me."
"Yeah. Mammy Promise said. Our end of the deal for you helping us."
"Very good. And it will be a pleasure to nail Thorndyke. He's had me prisoner since the invasion."
"You were caught."
Britney turned away and stared at the wall."I was young and stupid and wanted glory and riches and the renegade general got me going. Was seperated from the rest. Thorndyke, damn him, knew a REAL Martian invasion when he heard one on the radio, and hot footed it out to Grovers Mills New Jersey. I worked on tripod maintenance. Didn't even HAVE a weapon.
"Remember THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH with David Bowie? That was my cry for help. Someone got it into a book. But that's what happened. He made me a drunk and stole as much high tech stuff from me as he could..even the life essence preseves..."
Tommy's mouth was open again."So it wasn't..."
"His spells or whatever???? No. He might as well had tried to use a voodoo dance. Funny thing. After all these years, he probably has, and probably did. And probably even believes it...but...times a wasten' as they used to say down here...c'mon use this lift to get me into that wheel chair. Don't let Britney's looks fool you. I weigh like a ton. Use the lift. Let's go."
Future events such as these will effect you in the future

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