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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Hi You All in group2,</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>I’m submitting my piece early.
The actual submission date is Jan. 17. This is the first part of a longer short
story.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The whole story is way too
long for Magnets and Ladders submission. I was hoping there was some way that
the first part could stand alone.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If it could, it would probably best end directly after the house
description. I definitely want your suggestions about that.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt">
<P
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"
class=MsoNormal>In the meantime I’ll post the whole story in pieces on the
general PartyLine. I won’t expect you to respond to my posting there since
you’ll be doing so in our group 2 meeting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></P>
<P
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN> </P>
<P
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">Leonard </SPAN></P></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT></U> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">House of Horrors<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></U></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>by</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Leonard Tuchyner </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">The house, if it merited such a noble classification, had
long since worn off any sign of paint, if ever it had been adorned by that
protective cosmetic. Rotting wooden board siding hung loosely on the hovel’s
sagging frame, like dead winter oak leaves waiting for a gust of cold air to
blow them away. Only ancient, mostly-rusted nails, forged by a blacksmith when
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Jersey</st1:place></st1:State> was
hardly more than back country, held them in place. The senescent, grey house
sagged like a dying old crone caught in a bog.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">In the back of the house was a tilted storm door
entrance, typical of many old structures of the time. But no door remained to
keep out the inclement elements. This opening led to the cellar beneath the
sagging hovel. Lenny had been in that cellar once, but only once, until one day,
when he had more than good reason to wish he had never allowed himself to be in
the clutches of that foul monstrosity. In that earlier day of exploration, he
was forced to bend his seven-year-old body way over to avoid scraping his head
against the bowed, half-caved-in floor above. A few posts were all there were to
prevent the final crumbling of the spectered dwelling; for dwelling it still
was. If ever there was a house deemed less likely to harbor life, save termites
and vermin, then surely it was a desolate place.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Little good should have come out of that place. But there
were two souls living there, nevertheless, who were of exemplary character. One
was Blackie, a very large jet black dog and the other was Ina, a beautiful,
vivacious blonde teenager who just happened to have been Lenny’s babysitter a
few years back. Lenny had never met the parents, not ever having been invited
into the deplorable dwelling, which by modern laws, would have been condemned a
decade before Lenny’s seventh birthday. In all likelihood, the tenants therein
were as ashamed of that shack as the shack was of itself.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Oh yes, there was one other member of that family,
Georgy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At least ten years older
than Lenny, he was all the evil of that domicile, manifest. He had the same
golden hair of his sister, Ina, but his heart was as black as the cellar; and
with that heart came the power to corrupt.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Some houses of the same vintage were kept up with love
and pride by their caretakers, adding to the houses’ humble beginnings as time
passed. These houses that were cared for, in turn, took care of the people they
sheltered.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Homes and families kept
up with the changing times. Such buildings were valued for their antiquity. But
somewhere in the passage of years, this particular structure was neglected and
became a misfit in a progressive neighborhood, where it languished less than
fifty yards from an A&P grocery store, in a lot coveted by said market. To
make the situation even worse, it was a mere forty yards off a major
thoroughfare, where it stood out like a sore, infested thumb , surrounded by
respectable homes and businesses. This impoverished abode had no lawn, flowers
or trees to soften its stark grey nudity. The gravel parcel it sat on was used
mostly for business parking. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Except, in the far back, there were three marvelous acres
of untended vacant lot wildness, where Lenny and his friends often played, made
short cuts to other destinations, and threw hard, wild peaches at each
other.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If the shanty could have
only lived in the midst of that contained land of the untamed, it could have
died with some dignity, slowly merging and even nourishing the land -- its roof
gently folding into and blending with the un-straight lines of a natural
environment. It could have been an oil painting echoing beauty instead of the
desperate evilness that had doomed it.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Yes, this building was soon to be condemned, bulldozed,
and its land confiscated by the A&P, which expanded to compete with Grand
Union, newly built across the street. But that was not to happen for three years
in the future, and after Lenny was deeply injured in the old, damned cellar. But
first we must go to one year previous to that episode. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Lenny watched with a sickly fascination as Georgy nailed
the garter snake to the rickety porch banister. The flaxen-haired older boy
stood over two heads taller than Lenny, who<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>had only watched Georgy from afar until
that day.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He wouldn’t have come
into his territory if Mark, Lenny’s long time friend, had not beckoned to him.
He had often seen Georgy and Mark hanging together, but being of a shy nature,
he had never dared to join in. The older boy made him feel
uncomfortable.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Georgy used a hunting knife to cut the impaled, foot-long
snake along its elongated belly, as the serpent thrashed wildly. Lenny was too
young to feel real empathy for the creature, but something felt wrong about it.
He was scared by what he was witnessing. Mark, on the other hand, didn’t show
any reaction, other than emotionless interest in the procedure.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The knife cut just deeply enough to
sever the skin, without damaging the internal organs. The snake-skin was splayed
out to either side and nailed to the splintery banister.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The animal made no sound as it squirmed
crazily. Its heart could be seen beating, which Georgy pointed out with a
self-satisfied, tutorial air.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When
he finished giving his lecture, he walked off into the fields surrounding his
ugly house, while Lenny watched the snake slowly becoming motionless, its
impaled body stretched over the now bloody banister. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Lenny saw Mark follow Georgy into the vacant lots. He did
not want to look at the snake any more, so he turned and walked back to his own
house, where he could look at the pictures in his Donald Duck comic
book.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">It wasn’t the first time he had seen bloody violence
perpetrated on helpless animals. When he was younger and lived in a house on the
border of a swatch of woodland, he once watched a white chicken tied upside down
while blood dripped out of its slit neck. The sight of its attempts to flap away
from its tethering post was not a pleasant sensation. But the young boy did not
understand what he was feeling. Neither enculturation nor brain development was
adequate to give him a clear sense of revulsion or sympathy. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Once, he watched Tommy, a slightly older boy, beat a box
turtle to death with a bat.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The boy
laughed as he swung the bat over and over again, his face turning red as blood
oozed out of the turtle’s shell, and its head lolling senselessly. Lenny could
not understand that either. He never sought the company of Tommy again after
that, but he could not have explained why this was so.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">He was not innocent of cruel acts himself. When but a
toddler, playing in the park’s community sandbox, he delighted in burying
scurrying ants under handfuls of dry sand, watching their tiny antennae popping
up through the surface, as they dug their way out to hurry along their way; no
matter that he entombed the same ant time after time. They were animated toys
whose feelings he did not understand, nor care to.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For that matter, he had little
understanding of his own feelings. Feelings for him were only of the immediate
present and purely egocentric. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When
he was old enough to play with five-and-dime-store punks, he enjoyed touching
ants with the red hot tip of the burning incense stick. The touched part of the
ant shriveled and melted under the glowing tip, while the rest of the creature
tried to keep going. It never occurred to him that pain was part of the
experience. Strangely enough, he had lots of sympathy for Black Beauty, the
horse. But in the story, Black Beauty could talk and eloquently express his
feelings. He had lots of empathy for poor puppies who were tied up and left to
be by themselves. The whining sounds they made were unmistakably the sound of
crying. He knew exactly how they felt, because he felt the same way sometimes.
Ants made no sound. They did not communicate. They just kept going until they
were broken and couldn’t move anymore, or were all burnt up.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Now that he was a little older, his feelings were more
complex, as was the world in general. Snakes were no longer interesting toys. He
didn’t know what they were, but watching Georgy treat that snake as a thing
didn’t harmonize with his growing sensibilities.
</FONT></P></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>