Page 93 - TheRedSon_PrintInterior_430pp_5.5x8.5_9-22-2019_v1

over the face of a terribly perturbed sea when I quickly
realized the whitecaps were completely unjustified. There
was no storm to cause them, not even the slightest breeze.
So, I bent close to the water, trying to sneak a peek beneath
the foaming waves. That’s when I saw the wolves under the
water, thousands of them, biting, frothing, and killing. It was
their battle that stirred the water, and let me tell you, it was
quite the donnybrook.
“I was thoroughly enjoying the show when from the
middle of the sea there emerged a figure. Now, I’m not all
that knowledgeable when it comes to what a shepherd is
supposed to look like, so who’s to say what the being actually
was? Although, he did have one of those lovely curving rods
I know shepherds sometimes carry about. It was the color
of freshest blood, and he lifted it from the water, up over his
head. After a few seconds, he slammed the butt of the rod
back down into the water, which seemed to have the effect
of transferring the blood-red color of his staff to the sea. The
waves rose and swept me into the depths, where I joined
with the wolves in their war. Again, my arm, please. I’ll be
needing it all too soon.”
I loosened my grip slightly, for which he thanked me.
I had no desire to rid the world of—or even injure—yet
another muse if I didn’t have to. It was then, fully joined
in conversation, that we noticed it—a cold blast of silence
coming from the car in front of us. I released Janus from my
grip, and we both slid into the shadows to investigate.
When we entered the next car, we discovered a space
of emergent dreams—headless bodies, overstuffed with
additional organs leaking like lolling tongues from their
smiling stomachs, and tiny flames hopping and shivering
from within an assortment of hanging, brightly grinning
heads. The carved jack-o-lantern faces were just open
windows to the small lights that burned within them,
illustrating a fact beyond flesh—this was clearly the work
of the artist known as Jack Lantern. He was in the passenger
96 | Mark Anzalone