|
#1
MAY 10 |
 |
“Down on the Farm” Part One
“It’s been about five years now since Kay and I came back to Earth, and look how far we’ve come.” He thought to himself. “Who would have ever guessed I would be working as a farm hand, and Kay would be a cashier at a grocery store.”
The large orange robot stood patiently outside of Dwayne’s Grocer next to a space ship ride that only required a quarter to heighten a child’s imagination. Looking in the window at the woman he had spent many years protecting, and caring for, he thought to himself how beautiful she looked wearing that little red vest, and if he could smile he would.
“I can’t believe how far we’ve come.” He whispered in her general direction “You seem to have everything completely under control.”
Of course he was referring to her 70+ personalities which was a result of exposure to the Dominators’ gene bomb. At one time she thought she was cured, as none of the personalities had shown any signs of existence. Last time they had seen the rest of the Doom Patrol she had been given her personalities back during a battle with a parasite, but this time they did not seem to faze her. They come when she calls, and don’t when she doesn’t need them.
For the first time in a long time Cliff Steele was happy to be where he was. Living on a farm that Danny the World was providing them with. Waiting for his girl to get off work so he could walk her home. He felt like a young robot again, a Robotboy if you would. Everything was sunshine and rainbows in the little town of Nowhereville.
Cliff watched Kay as she clocked out and headed for the door.
“Were you going to stand out here all day and stare at me?” Kay asked
“You have no idea how many kids tried to put a quarter in me for a ride.” Cliff responded
“You would think they would be use to you by now,” Kay said with a giggle “You’re the only big orange robot with over-alls that lives here.”
Kay took a letter out of her pocket and handed it to Cliff.
“Hey,” she said “We were invited to some kind of party tonight at George’s farm.”
George was a forty something year old guy who lived alone on the outskirts of town. He came to the grocer every other day for one reason or another. Nice enough guy, kind of weird though.
“What kind of party could George be having.” Cliff asked “I hope he doesn’t expect me to raise another barn for him.”
“I'm sure it's nothing like that silly.” Kay said “He seems a bit lonely, and needs some friends. The whole town will be there.”
“Yee-Ha!” Cliff exclaimed “Maybe I can rustle me up some chickens while we’re there!”
They laughed together as they finished their walk home.
“Finally!” a male voice shouted into a large empty basement “Preparations have been made, and tonight you will rise!”
After the echo had subsided there was once again silence, and the man walked back up stairs.
“Do I need to wear a tie?” Cliff yelled into the other room.
“That’s just what everyone wants to see Cliff,” Kay replied “A robot wearing a tie.”
“Well I don’t know” He said. “We don’t go to many of these things.”
Just then there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” Cliff asked
“It’s Earl from next door!” the voice yelled from outside.
Cliff opened the door to see the 5foot 4inch suspender wearing beer gut having 68 year old man holding a dead opossum. Earl lost his wife a year ago, and his kids all grew up long ago and moved to the city to find work. He was alone on his farm, but a good man none the less.
“Found this guy in your yard” Earl said as he held up the opossum. “Ya’ll want it?”
Cliff looked at the opossum wondering why he would want it. It had obviously been stabbed rather then shot, and it was dripping blood all over his porch.
“….no… thank you?” Cliff responded
“Well alright then” Earl replied. “That ain’t the real reason I came over here.”
“What can we do for you Earl?” Kay asked as she peeked around from behind Cliff.
“Well ya see, I have a visitor coming in from outta town this evenin’ and I wanted to have a little surprise party for’ im.” Earl continued. “He’s an old friend that lived in this house long before ya’ll moved in, and lotsa folks from town are gonna wanna see im. I know ya’ll don’t know ‘im, but I thought I would give ya an invitation anywho.”
“Thank you kindly for the invite Earl, but we’ve already promised George that we would go to his house tonight.” Cliff said.
“Alrighty then” Earl replied. “I guess I’ll see ya when I see ya.”
“I kinda like good old Earl.” Cliff said.
“Why is that?” Kay responded
“He’s lost everything important in his life including his wife Elli last year, but he still manages to chase and stab an opossum to death” Cliff continued “and that’s ok in my book.”
Night had come, and no one was on the streets. Friday nights were usually more frantic with activity; however on this Friday night there was a party that everyone was going to. It appeared that Cliff and Kay arrived at George’s house before anyone else.
“What kind of person has a deer head mounted on the outside of their house?” Cliff asked as they approached the front door.
“Be nice” Kay said. “George may be a little off, but he is a good man.”
“It’s like a warning sign for all deer to “KEEP OUT!” Cliff continued.
“Hush!” Kay said with a giggle as she rang the door bell.
“Hey guys!” George said as he opened the door. “Come on in.”
The two walked in the door to see the room set up for a fairly large gathering.
“Make yourselves at home” George said. “I have some board games on the table there. Go ahead and pick one and we can play when I get back.”
“If he comes back with a spaghetti strainer on his head we’re outta here.” Cliff said.
“It does seem a bit odd that we’re the only ones here.” Kay confirmed.
“Why didn’t we just go to Earl’s house?” Cliff questioned “He had like 15 cars parked out front.”
“Shut up and hand me that deck of cards.” Kay said as Cliff let out a long sigh.
“The guests have arrived, and the ceremony will begin shortly.” A voice said into the darkness of a basement. “Soon you can return to this world and I will have my revenge!”
“Who wants popcorn?!” George said loudly from the kitchen.
“I’m good” Cliff said.
“Sorry,” George said as he walked back in the room, “I thought more people would have shown up.”
“Word around town is that Earl is having some sort of bon fire tonight too.” Cliff said. “Some old friend coming back into town. He said it was the guy that lived in our house before….”
Cliff stopped himself in mid sentence. The house they were living in was part of Danny the World, so no one could have lived there before them.
“I thought you guys built your house.” George said confused.
“I think we’re gonna have to go, George,” Cliff said “Something came up.”
“What’s wrong Cliff?” Kay asked.
“No one lived in Danny before we came here, Kay!” Cliff exclaimed.
The two stood up quickly and headed back home. George stood there quietly and asked out loud to an empty room “Who’s Danny?”
Cliff and Kay arrived home soon after. They ran into the house to see if everything was alright.
“Danny!” Cliff exclaimed “Has anything happened while we were gone?”
The computer printer started printing out a page.
“There were screams coming from Earl’s farm, honey” the page said.
Cliff looked at Kay and said “We may need Jane’s help for this.”
“You already have it Cliff, let’s get over there.” Jane/Kay said as they left the house again.
Cliff kicked down the door to find no one around. The sheer silence of the house was unsettling, considering the amount of cars parked out front and the fact that there was supposed to be a party going on. After looking around cautiously for a few minutes a sound from the basement was heard. The first of many problems reared its ugly head, as there was no entrance into the basement. Charging out the back door in search of some way to get inside, Cliff and Jane stumble across a large bon-fire with hay bales set up around the perimeter. Still there was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen, except a faint glow coming from the outside cellar doors. The couple ran down the stairs and entered the basement.
“Howdy.” A voice said as they reached the basement “Glad ya’ll showed up.”
Cliff looked around the basement to see about 20 people assembled in a circle on the floor. Candles were burning, and there seemed to be something written in the middle of the circle.
“What’s goin’ on down here Earl?” Cliff asked.
“Come on in a have yourselves a seat.” Earl said ignoring Cliff all together. “I reckon I should introduce you to everyone.”
Jane looked at the people sitting in the circle and noticed that no one was moving.
“Is that a pentagram drawn on the floor with blood, Earl?” Jane asked
“How rude of me” Earl continued. “Ya’ll want somthin’ to drink?”
“Cliff and Kay, these are all my friends.” Earl said with a smile “They were the ones that let Elli die.”
Just then, all 20 of the party members fell over revealing that none of their heads were attached to their bodies. The pentagram began to glow very bright as if something was coming through.
“You see, Elli needed blood…” Earl explained. “These here folks wouldn’t give her none.”
“Elli was almost 70 years old Earl” Jane explained. “She lived a full life!”
“Point bein’ little lady,” Earl continued, “They wouldn’t give freely, so I took it from them!”
The room began to shake, and the floor within the pentagram began to crack and fall into the ground. Earl had opened some sort of summoning portal, and had used the town’s folk as sacrifice.
“It’s coming Cliff!” Jane said loudly. “Whatever it is, it’s coming!”
A large hand possessing 12 inch pointy fingers emerged from the now gaping hole and slammed down into the floor. Another hand followed, and soon what looked like a head began to surface.
“Say hi to my anger, my sorrow, my revenge!” Earl said as the beast began to pull itself out of the hole.
|
|
To Be Continued...
Previous Issue | Next Issue