Thursday, September 14, 2006

Apatheia Chap 2: "Trespass"

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The serpent lived under the house for months.

She ate the hapless mice who wandered into the crawl space, but could still venture out for larger prey when she wanted. The mice were not very filling for a serpent her size.
The neighbors 6 month old kitten went missing. And the lady who lived 3 doors down had an older dog who went berserk everytime she walked past William and Clara's house.
There were fewer rabbits in the yard hopping about, but no one paid much attention to the bunnies other than the kids.

The serpent had been looking for a way into the home. At last she found the perfect spot.
A pipe in the laundry room behind the washer was not sealed properly. The hole was just large enough for the snake to flatten her head and push her way in alongside the pipe. The laundry room, while an active place in the daytime, was quiet every night and afforded the serpent the ability to come and go as she pleased.

Now that she was familiar with the occupants of the house, William, Clara, Billy, and Hannah, she wanted their things. She coveted them.
On her first entry, following a scent, she went straight to Hannah's room. The little girl was sleeping soundly in her bed, her door left ajar and a nightlight was glowing softly.
The serpent, impossibly silent, moved towards the bed and raised herself up to see the sleeping child, flicking her toungue to fully taste her scent.
"Sssssweeeeet", the beast whispered, with a vile look and an evil smile.
She lowered herself back to the floor and looked for something special.
An item completely covered with the scent of the child. She soon found it.

Hannah's favorite blue bear, the one she slept with nightly, had been thrown on the floor in a tantrum of sorts at bed time. It was gone in the morning.

Next, in the boy's room, a favorite silver race car disappeared.
The silver one had been his dad's. It was sleek, and fast, and even though it had been scratched up a little, it was pretty. He placed the little silver car on the edge of his window seal earlier in the day. Several more days would pass before he noticed it was missing.

In the mornings Clara did not have much of a beauty routine.
Dressing, feeding, and getting the kids ready for school was her top priority. If she had one minute to herself, after getting dressed, she brushed her hair, put on her moisturizer and her favorite lipstick.
It was one of the few things she did for herself- and sometimes didn't even have time to do that.
On this day though, she had a few minutes to spare. The kids were ready and waiting on the couch watching Sesamee Street. Feeling somewhat pleased, Clara headed for her bathroom.

She brushed her long brown hair, it was pretty when she left it down, but she usually pulled it back, it seemed to get in the way. She washed her face and put on her moisturizer, reached for her lipstick...and it wasn't there.
She looked on the floor, and in the drawers. She double checked her make-up bag, and the basket on her bathroom sink...She even went out to the living room to check her purse. It was gone!
This frustrated Clara. As she walked back to her bathroom- under her breath she scolded herself, "If I could just keep this house organized I wouldn't lose things!" And glancing over at her husbands side of the bed, which was empty and unmade, she muttered, "Of course, it would be nice if I had some help around here."

William's Swiss Army knife was missing too. He left it on his night-stand and usually put it in his pocket before heading to work. Clara was still asleep when he'd left that morning, so he couldn't ask her if she had seen it. She was always moving things like that to places where the kids couldn't reach them. He used the pocket knife several times a day- to open mail, and various boxes of stuff at work and he needed it. It had a cool little screwdriver and a bottle opener too. He was bummed about it, but assumed his wife knew where it was, and he'd ask her about it when he got home later that day.

The serpent encircled herself around her new found loot. The house was full of things, and she was greedy, but patient.
Eventually she inteneded to hoard most of their "prizes". She would drain the home, one by one, of its valued treasures, no mater how worthless they really were.

The faintest odor was beginning to permeate the home. It was stronger in some places than others, particularly towards the front of the house. It was the odor of death, of small things decaying under the house. Regurgitated bones of mice, and bunnies, and one kitten.
Clara got out an air freshener. "That should take care of things" she thought. And it seemed to.
But over all it was barely noticable. The kitchen trash, which daddy often forgot to empty, usually smelled worse.

23 comments:

..................... said...

....soooo the blame game starts....

Mayden' s Voyage said...

Anon- I hope so. I take it this did not go where you expected?

Schaumi- yes. The blame game...the irritations...the little unresolved conflicts that seem petty or vain- or simply annoying.

Anonymous said...

It goes where it goes, and I go with it.

X. Dell said...

I'm with everyone else, I see. I'm just going to have to wait and see what the snake wants with a Swiss army knife and a toy car.

I'm thinking too that if the snake has designs on eating the sweet little girl, it's gonna need an awful lot of bromo seltzer, pepto bismol, and perhaps a few other drugs.

Mayden' s Voyage said...

X~ :) The little one is safe enough- she has more to fear from parents out of sync than she does the serpent...though I will tell you that the little child will see the snake- and no one believes her. Apathy at its finest.

Bird said...

oh damn would somebody in this house wake up and realize what's happening? they are so caught in their patterns and mundane life (daddy and his garbage - hahaha1)...they cant figure this out.

the snake doesn't want those things xdell the snake wants the effect that taking those things creates. hmmmm... well, at least, that's what i think so far.

and yes, mayden, i hope your tale has a happier ending than my poem. but it will if you make it so - you're in charge!

Lady Prism said...

Cora...

me' gots ur' mail...your posat is really swell..but gawd..I gotta' rush somewhere right now...I'll be back to read up more thoroughly...I'm going to be deluged by an insurmountable amount of paperwork this week and the next...unbelievable...want you to know that i have you in mind and hope that you will be doing great this weekend..

Hi Schaumi!...read up on your comment this am...have fun as well..

luvs and hugs..

Lady Prism said...

lol!...post not "posat (???)..he!he!

..................... said...

yes, that snake definitely lives off the discontent insidious vibes that slowly yet ever increasingly occur in the household..

Libby said...

...the most awful aspect of the truthful story is that sometimes only one person in the house knows the snake is there, but doesn't tell anyone else, they just embrace the snake as if it were welcomed...

Mayden' s Voyage said...

Bird- this particular story does have a happy ending...bittersweet- I think.

Lux, I'm thinking of you- hope you get through all the work with no problems :)

Schaumi- I wish I had talked to you before I wrote this story! :)
We could have shared notes :)

Libby- I read what you wrote and almost teared up. Yes- I have seen that, and it is sad. In my case many things went missing before I realized there was something afoot. We are dealing with it- I'm tring to find a Mongoose now! :) (a snake eater :)

Libby said...

cora...unfortunately, i need to borrow your mongoose after you're done with it....

Lady Prism said...

ey' cora..It's almost 9 here...woke up late...I'm in a cyber while waiting up for some hamburgers I ordered...I've been itching to read this thoroughly...gawd...this is great...exciting...you sure know how to tell a story....I can hardly wait for the rest...

Helene said...

You were made to write Cora! Great story...

How often do you change your photo?hehehehe

Great great great to HEAR ya! We'll have to do it again soon!

cheers!

..................... said...

have a great weekend, cora....

..snakes hate laughter and humor, btw...
i'm gonna try to laugh a lot this weekend..

i'm off to fix some coffe, muffins and all that other good stuff..

.....smooch/err/moo?/err/meow?.....;)

Unknown said...

well written, despite the fact that it does seem to have some biblical undertones in it -- ie the serpent.

a good analogy for life today -- we spend so much time seizing on the insignificant and exculpating ourselves we lose sight of what's the point of all this.

X. Dell said...

Apathy, or denial?

Libby said...

i'm finding out that after apathy moves in, its cousins rage & frustration aren't far behind...

Mayden' s Voyage said...

Libby- :) I'll bring the critter right over :)

Lux- I know how it ends...I just have to keep writing it :)

Kate- WOW! What an awesome pleasure to talk to you! :) Thanks for the call- I will be in touch soon :)

Schaumi- Hope you have a good one too :) We are having a quiet one, the kids are with Granny for the weekend~

Velvet- I could have made the villan the white rabbit from Monty Python's Holy Grail...the one with "Big Sharp Pointy Teeth" But it just didn't work out as well.

X- Apathy or denial- hmmm. At least with Denial, a person puts in enough energy to pretend that all is well. They actually have to work at pretending that everything is ok. With Apathy- we pretend nothing...we just don't care enough to do anything...until we are forced to.

Libby- it's painful to me to see how much you understand this story. Almost as painful as to write it...I'm thinking of you~

Mayden' s Voyage said...

test

Rachel said...

OOOOh have chills running up and down my spine, hate snakes so bad I feel sick just imagining your words come to life

sparringK9 said...

/bark bark bark

good to see the sun again mayden i wasnt rollin with the cows. and er, was that a KITTY in one picture? are you trying to put me off my feed? grrrrrrr!

came by to give you a kiss before i away.....i will check in on ya grrrrrrrrrrl. in case any varmits interlope into the yard (besides the literary snake)

/grrrrrr

boneman said...

OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD
The serpent is LOOSE!

and the trash not taken out!
Oh, I'm so nervous, it's all that I can do t'not shout!

WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!