|
|
|
| Alarmingly Strange Stories |
|
|
The Frogman |
|
| She added one-eighth cup melted butter and one half a tablespoon of sweet basil,
one teaspoon salt and just a pinch of pepper. She browned both sides of the afterbirth and lowered the heat to
medium low. Then she let it simmer for three and one half minutes. Mmmmmm. Mmmmmmm, good. Fresh meat is good. She ate and she curled up in a ball and went to sleep in a corner. Billy cried for food. His four foot umbilical cord started to move around the area surrounding the infant. It found a cockroach, snatched it up and squeezed. The insect's exo-skeleton crackled and a blue haze radiated around the bug. Soon, only the hollow exoskeleton remained. Billy stopped crying. As Billy slept, the cord rose, looking for food. Then it saw Billy's mother and considered devouring her, then realized she was an intelligent life form. It decided to probe her for information. When she awoke, exhausted from the ordeal, she looked at young Billy sitting on the pile of dirty clothes where she had left him. "Oh my, I'll have to do something about that umbilical cord," she said to herself. "I'm afraid that would not be a wise decision." The high-pitched baby voice came from the Billy. "The cord will remain with me. I'm famished and in need of nourishment, a feeding would be appropriate, if you don't mind. You are my mother, aren't you?" His mother did not feed him. She did not reply. Her eyes rolled up and she feel limply to the ground. As years went by, the cord grew with Billy. When he was learning to walk the cord would prop itself against the ground to stop Billy from falling. It could probe and absorb information from any intelligent organism that it was near. It had absorbed all the information contained in his mother's brain by the time Billy was two. This rapid intake of information turned Billy into a genius and the massive intake of nourishment from the cord caused Billy's growth to accelerate. But the constant stream of information being fed to Billy's brain was too much for him and soon Billy had become quite insane by the time he was four. By the time he reached five, he had no comprehension of the world around him. The cord cared for Billy. It leads him around like a blind man's dog. The cord cared about two things, finding nourishment and knowledge. It could absorb either from any source, and often took both. Sometimes, when Billy just wanted to play, he would try to distract the chord, or not pay attention to its commands. The cord would punish him with pain. A severe migraine that would cause Billy to lose track of what he was doing. He would lose his sight and hearing. All he knew was the pain. Then he would pass out. Being a big fan of Elvis, the cord usually waited until Billy was in the bathroom to punish him. Mid-stroke of a bowel movement, it would strike. Billy would be found later, face down on the bathroom floor, just like Elvis. And with a messy bottom, to boot. By the time Billy was six years old the cord was as long as one of his legs. With any sudden movements, Billy usually got his legs tangled up with the cord and he'd just fall right down. |
|
Navigation: |