Afternoon Feast

Mr & Mrs Dennison live in a quiet little cul-de-sac at number 22, it is a home they have occupied for 30 years or more, they have two children who have long gone both having done rather well for themselves qualify as professionals from university. Mr & Mrs Dennison are proud of their children’s achievements and proud of the fact that their lives turned out just as they had planned it. They look forward to the children visiting with their families on high days and holidays when they can all sit around the table happily passing the salt and chatting. They are also comfortable with the fact that at their age in life (59 & 56 respectively) they have no mortgage or large borrowings, they have money in the bank and have adequate pension schemes in place to see them through. Mr Dennison will finally retire and take the gold watch in just two months time.

They plan to holiday and visit old friends who have emigrated to Oz, for years now they have worked on an agenda for this, the notice board in the kitchen looks like something akin to a military plan with neatly placed notes of places to see and visit, details of stop overs in Dubai – timetables and references - and of course the obligatory pictures of the Opera House and the Rock.

If you were to choose one word to describe the Dennisons it would be disciplined , you get the feeling they both came out of the womb standing to attention and that is exactly how (when at a given time chosen by themselves) they will meet their maker, in single file and correctly dressed of course.

Ain’t it strange how one knock at the door can destroy a whole lifetime of order?

“Good afternoon,” said a man as Mr Dennison opened his front door.

“Can I help you?” asks Mr Dennison curtly.

“Well if I may just have a few minutes of your time…”

“Are you selling?” Mr Dennison interrupts, “because if you are selling, I am not interested.”

“Just a few minutes,” continues the man.

“No sorry I am a very busy person and have things to do, - go sell elsewhere.”

“But I can assure you this is a very big opportunity you will be missing,” the salesman asserts.

“No sorry – goodbye.” Mr Dennison throws the door shut and swivels on his heels to face back down the hallway in one smooth motion. “More double glazing,” he shouts to his wife in the kitchen.

“I said this will only take a few minutes.”

Mr Dennison freezes mid step and looks back over his shoulder to see that the man is now in the hallway and that he is not alone, he is accompanied by a creature that at first glance appears to be half monkey half human.

The Monkey looks up at his master and asks, “Is he mine?”

“Yes – he is yours.”

With that the creature leaps landing on Mr Dennisons chest knocking him to the ground, it places its open mouth across Dennisons neck bites down and removes a portion of his windpipe with a single action. It then squats on the shaking and gurgling dying man and begins to chew on the gristle and cartilage finally swallowing the warm mass. The bloody mouthed beast then returns to the gaping wound tugging with its teeth at the carotid artery whilst slurping on the deep red juice gushing from its severed end.

The salesman steps over his feasting companion and enters the kitchen, “good afternoon madam, your husband let me in and asked me to wait in here.”

“What do you mean?” asks Mrs Dennison, “and what is all the commotion in the hallway? Where is Peter?”

“Just a little accident,” Replies the sales man as he rubs his beard. “Allow me to introduce myself I am Drufus. Please sit back down.”

“Not until I see my husband, now let me pass, - I heard something in the hall.” Mrs Dennison is insistent and launches herself passed Drufus just as Mr Dennison enters the kitchen.

“Ah I see you have met Mr Drufus,” he says “sit down dear and listen to what he has to say.”

Mrs Dennison looks to her husband, “What was all the rumpus in the hallway?”

“Oh I knocked over that vase on the side table by the door, I was just coming to get a cloth to wipe up with.” Mr Dennison looks to Drufus and smiles, “please take a seat Mr Drufus this won’t take me long.”

Both Drufus and Mrs Dennison take a seat at the kitchen table as Mr Dennison grabs a dish cloth from the work surface then he quickly and efficiently places his left arm around Mrs Dennisons neck whilst forcing the cloth into her mouth with his right hand he then grabs her head and twists. A loud crack and her neck snaps instantly between C3 and C4 severing the spinal cord, her eyes role back and her face becomes a blank page.

“Good work Heldac,” says Drufus as the shape that was Mr Dennison transforms back into the monkey creature.

“Thank you master – may I return to the corpse in the hall I am still hungry?”

Drufus laughs, “Yes go little one, - go gorge yourself.”