Tom Piccirilli - Emerald Hell

The shadow children, the great seraphim, cried and crooned.

Clinging to the dark brush, with Duffy's hand squeezing her arm roughly, the three-eyed girl pointed to Ma'am McCulver's house and said,"There.The girl you want is inside. She's just had a baby."

"What's that place?" Duffy asked.

"It's the granny witch's home."

"You people and all your hag houses."

"Looks like Jester's a granddaddy," Deeter said. He held up the shotgun, looking for trouble, but didn't see anybody. "This young'un got himself an extra leg or nose or ear? He got a chin on his forehead? He got a red tail?"

"Its a baby girl," the three-eyed woman told him,"and no, she's what the world calls normal."

"What I'd call normal then too, honeypie."

"You're a cruel malignancy." The woman turned away, as if unable to witness the awful sight of the beautiful Ferris boys. "You'll die tonight with your brother."

"Yeah, how so?"

"By your own misdeeds. By the hand of your master."

"Ain't got no master, missy," Deeter told her. "I'm my own man, and don't you forget it none 'lest I carve out your liver for you."

"Aw, forget her ranting," Duffy said. "She does go on and on, just like Ma if you recall."

"I do recollect."

"This one here, she got the brain damage, I s'pect, from that third eye growing out her head. It affects the noggin."

"Don't see how it couldn't."

The door to Ma'am McCulver's home, the witchy palace, opened and out came Doc Wayburn, who trundled off across town muttering to himself.

A minute later, out came John Lament, not so full of his usual vim but still looking strong and a touch larger than he should. The Ferris boys ducked down and dragged the girl with them, watching through the brush. In the moonlight Lament's, white streak burned bright, and so did his eyes, filled with-well, the Ferris brothers couldn't quite tell what they were filled with. Whether it was joy or fear or a combination of both. Duffy and Deeter had run afoul of John Lament plenty of times over the years, and mostly they wound up with bleeding heads, cracked bones, and bruised egos. They'd been wanting to kill him for a month of blue Sundays, but it never seemed the right time.

"Should I put two shells in his back?" Deeter asked.

"I don't like his look of conviction. Let Jester handle him too. Makes our night a little less complicated. We're just here to get the girl and hand her over. Then we steal what we can pocket and get the hell back to Enigma, free of that crazy preacher."

"No-need to play coy," Deeter said. "Iffun that granny wants trouble we'll give it to her. Otherwise, we march up and kick in the door, take the girl, and we're off."

Thanks to the rain the town was brimming with puddles. They started toward the house but before they'd gotten to the porch, the door opened. Sarah stepped out holding her newborn daughter wrapped in a yellow Easter blanket.

Behind her came Ma'am McCulver and the pumpkin-headed boy who glowered and tried to look mean but just couldn't do much. Especially considering his little tuft of hair was swaying so humorously back and forth in the breeze. The boy moved out in front and met the Ferris brothers at the foot of the steps.

"What you want, jughead?" Duffy asked.

The pumpkin-headed boy hauled off and socked Duffy in the face. It was the first punch he'd ever thrown, and he seemed sad and stupefied to have thrown it at all, but at least Duffy let go of the three-eyed woman. Or at least he did so after Fishboy Lenny swam out from a mud puddle and sank his teeth back into Duffy's ankle.

Duffy yowled, looked down, and saw the godamnedest sight he'd ever seen. There was a kid down there gnawing on his foot, flapping his flipper hands around and keeping afloat in the puddle. Duffy started dancing around but the boy just looked up and his mouth was red in the porch light and his needle-sharp tiny teeth were strung with bits of Duffy's flesh.

Deeter shouted, "Hellfire!" He aimed the ten-gauge but couldn't draw a bead with all the sudden activity. The pumpkin-headed kid dove for him, grabbed the barrel of the shotgun, and tried to grapple it loose. Deeter held onto the stock with one hand and pummelled the boy to his knees with the other.

The weirdo fish kid went, "Fweep."

"This ain't no gator, girl!"

"No," the three-eyed woman said, "that's Lenny."

"Fweep mwash," went Fishboy Lenny.

"He done chewed up my foot!"

Deeter said, "I'm gonna have to shotgun him into next Sunday now. Seen that before, did you?"

"No, it was new to me."

"Reckon you need a fourth eye for that, huh?"

"Enough," Ma'am McCulver said, stepping into the moonlight, the pale silver illumination embracing and enhancing her beauty. Her presence was both calming and fearsome. Her black hair was a mass of wild curls that rose and reached. Fishboy Lenny tugged at the nearly unconscious pumpkin-headed boy and drew him away through the mud.

Ma'am McCulver scowled, and the wind grew louder and the storm suddenly seemed closer. The Ferris brothers didn't know what to make of any of this witchy business and simply stood there, wondering who to kill next.

Sarah said, "Please, Ma'am, this is a family argument. It's my fight and no one else's. Only I can do anythin' about it and put a stop to all the fuss."

"I know you," Duffy said to Sarah, "least I almost reckon I do. We seen you about."

"You have," she told them.

Deeter said, "You're Sarah, the girl been causin' us so much trouble."

"Deeter Ferris," she said, "you're one rotten soul, through and through. And how is it I've caused you any bother?"

"Well, the bother really started a bit before you was even mentioned, when we were takin' care of the lady saleswoman in the swamp, but anyways a bother you've become all right, thanks to Jester."

Duffy released the three-eyed woman and grabbed Sarah's arm instead. Her sleeping baby sighed loudly. He held his cutting blade to Sarah's cheek, turned to Ma'am McCulver and said, "Now that's it, no more trouble! You gonna raise a hand to me, you gorgeous piece of love?"

"I won't. It will do no good."

"Glad you reckon that. You gonna keep that jughead and fish-head away from us?"

She held out her arm and the pumpkin-headed boy climbed to his feet, stepped close to her, and laid the side of his bleeding face against her chest. Fishboy Lenny swam up and rested against her knee.

"All apostles must face their masters on their own," Ma'am McCulver said. "You two evil brothers are no different."

Deeter stared at the granny witch and a crazed leer split his face. "I'll be back for you, darlin', and we'll have ourselves a good ole time, I promise. We'll have us some catfish and pumpkin pie for snackin'."

"You'll be dead within the hour," the three-eyed girl said.

Deeter looked back at his brother and said, "For swamp folk who know how to kick up a fine hootenanny, these people are startin' to work on my nerves some!"

"Mine too," Duffy said. "We'll burn the whole place down before we leave." He looked at Sarah and told her, "Come on along, little miss. Your daddy is waitin' on you."

You are many things , the children said, bonded of great love and extreme hatred. Power and resilience. Ego and narrow-minded bias. Threatened and threat. Hopeful and hope. He is remote and He is not. He is vast and He is not. He is here within you and He is not. You are. You are in need of acknowledgment and response. Your questions can neper be answered because He is beyond understanding. You rely on faith. This is the distance between you and Him, you and the Almighty. We seek to bring the world closer. We seek to reopen Eden. We dream of taking down the flaming swords at the gates of the garden. It is our duty and our grace. We are mistaken, we have much to learn. We give thanks for your efforts. We love. He loves. You love . The children wailed because it was what children do. Because they couldn't understand all they were and all that was around them in the great divine experiment of humanity. They were lost, in need of their father.