The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western (10 page)

“Yes, the artist is very famous.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

“No, he was dead years before I was born.”

“That’s a shame,” Cameron said.

“Isn’t it?” Miss Hawkline said.

• Soliloquy of the Shadow •

The Hawkline Monster had returned to its jar of chemicals in the laboratory. It lay there in repose… strange sections of light not moving. These chemicals, the long and arduous work of Professor Hawkline, were the energy source, rejuvenation and place where the Hawkline Monster slept when it was tired, and while the monster slept, The Chemicals restored its power.

The shadow of the Hawkline Monster slept nearby. The shadow was dreaming. It was dreaming that it was the monster and the monster was it. It was a very pleasant dream for the shadow.

The shadow liked the idea of not being the shadow anymore but instead being the monster itself. The shadow did not like to sneak around all the time. It made the shadow nervous and unhappy. The shadow often cursed its fate and wished that The Chemicals had given it a better throw of the dice.

In the shadow’s dream it was the Hawkline Monster and occupying a bracelet on the wrist of one of the Hawkline sisters. It was very happy in the dream and trying to please her by making her bracelet shine more brightly.

The shadow did not approve of the monster’s tactics and was ashamed of the cruel things that the monster had inflicted upon the minds of the Hawkline sisters. The shadow could not understand why the monster did these things. If fate were reversed and the shadow changed into the monster, everything would be different around the house. These cruel jokes would come to an end and the monster’s energy would be directed to discovering and implementing new pleasures for the Hawkline sisters.

The shadow was very fond of them and hated to be a part of the monster’s sense of humor and wished only pleasure and good times for the Hawkline sisters instead of the evil pranks that the monster loved to play upon their bodies and their minds.

The shadow also strongly disapproved of what the monster had done to Professor Hawkline. It thought that the monster should have been loyal to him and not pulled such a diabolical prank on him.

The bracelet dream of the shadow suddenly dispelled itself and the shadow was wide awake. It stared down at the Hawkline Monster sleeping in The Chemicals. For the first time, the shadow realized how much it hated the monster and tried to think of ways to end its evil existence and take the energy of The Chemicals and change them into good.

The monster slept unsuspecting in the jar of chemicals.

The monster was tired from a day of evil deeds. It was so tired that it was snoring in The Chemicals.

• Meanwhile, Back in the Parlor •

It was now almost midnight and a Victorian clock was pushing Twentieth Century minutes toward twelve. Its ticking was loud and methodical as it devoured July 13, 1902. Greer and Cameron casually but very carefully examined the parlor again to see if the Hawkline Monster had returned. It hadn’t.

They of course did not know that it was sound asleep, snoring in a jar full of chemicals in the laboratory and they were all safe for the time being.

After they were certain that the monster was not about, Greer said to Cameron, “I think it’s time we told them.”

“Told us what?” Miss Hawkline said.

“About the monster,” Greer said.

“What about it?” Miss Hawkline said.

Her sister had turned her attention from a cup of hot coffee in her hand to intently waiting for the next words from Greer.

Greer searched his mind to find the right words and a simple, logical sequence to tell them in. He paused a little too long because what he had to say was so fantastic that he could not easily find a simple way to say it. Finally the right words found him.

“The monster’s not down in the ice caves,” Greer said. “It’s here in the house. It’s been all over the place today. It spent a couple of hours sitting around your necks.”

“What?” Miss Hawkline said, incredulously.

Her sister put her cup of coffee down.

They were both now in a state of amused shock.

“The monster’s some kind of strange light that moves around followed by a goofy shadow,” Greer said. “I don’t know exactly how it works but it works and we’re going to destroy it. We don’t think there’s anything in the ice caves that we’ve got to kill. The light has the power to change things and to think and it can get into minds and fuck ‘em around. Have either of you noticed the light and the shadow that follows it like a dog?”

The Hawkline sisters did not say anything. They turned and stared at each other.

“Well?” Greer said.

Finally a Miss Hawkline spoke, “It’s a strange light that moves around with a clumsy shadow following it?” she said.

“Yeah, we’ve seen it all over the place,” Greer said.

“It’s been moving around with us, dogging us. For a long time this evening it was right there in your necklaces. It left a while ago and hasn’t been back since.”

“What you’re describing is one of the properties of The Chemicals,” Miss Hawkline said. “There’s a strange light in the jar and a kind of swirly awkward shadow that stays near the light and follows it when it moves in the jar. The light is an advanced stage of The Chemicals. Our father told us before he disappeared that the light would eventually be changed into something that would be extremely beneficial for all mankind.”

“We’ve needed some more chemicals to complete that change and those are the chemicals our poor butler brought us from Brooks. We were going to finish the experiment as soon as you killed the monster,” the other Miss Hawkline said.

“I wouldn’t finish anything,” Greer said. “I think what you should do is to throw that batch of stuff out and start over again. You’ve got something that’s out of control down there. I think that stuff killed your butler and is responsible for your father’s disappearance and it also changed one of you girls into an Indian and has fucked with our minds, too.”

The Hawkline sisters stared on, lost in deep silence.

“Let’s go down and get that jar of fucking stuff and throw it out and then get a good night’s sleep,” Cameron said. “I could stand it. I’ve never buried a dwarf before and I’m tired. I’ve fucked so much today I’m afraid my prick’s going to fall off.”

“The Chemicals were our father’s lifework,” Miss Hawkline said, breaking silence desperately. “He dedicated his life to The Chemicals.”

“We know that,” Cameron said. “And we think the fucking chemicals turned on him. Bit the hand that fed them, so to speak. You saw what it did to your butler. It killed him and changed his body into a dwarf. The devil only knows what that fucking stuff is going to do next. We’ve got to throw it out before we’re all changed into dead dwarfs. There’s nobody to bury us in a bunch of suitcases.”

• Meanwhile, Back in the Jar •

The Hawkline Monster, a light in a jar full of chemicals, slowly turned over like a sleeping person and then turned over again.

God-damn it
, thought the shadow and slowly turned over and then turned over again.

The monster was now uncomfortable in its sleep and moved again like a person on the edge of waking up and turned over again and
God-damn it
, thought the shadow and turned over again.

The Hawkline Monster was uneasy in its sleep. Perhaps it was having a bad dream or a premonition. It turned over again and
God-damn it
.

• A Man’s Work Turned to Nothing •

“You mean you want us to destroy our father’s lifework?” Miss Hawkline said.

“Yes,” Cameron said. “It’s either that or have it destroy you.”

“There has to be another alternative,” the other Miss Hawkline said. “We just can’t throw away what he spent twenty years working on.”

It was a minute before the hour of midnight. Miss Hawkline got up and put a lump of coal on the fire. The other Miss Hawkline poured Greer some more coffee. She was pouring from a silver coffee pot.

Everything had stopped momentarily while the Hawkline sisters were thinking about what to do next. It was an enormous decision for them to make.

“And don’t forget we think that fucking thing got your father, too,” Greer said, as the clock began tolling midnight and changing the world into July 14, 1902.

“4,” Cameron said.

“Give us a few more minutes,” Miss Hawkline said, looking anxiously over at her sister. “Just a few more minutes. We’ve got to make the right decision. Once it’s done, it’s done.”

“OK,” Greer said.

“12,” Cameron said.

• Waking Up •

The Hawkline Monster continued stirring in The Chemicals. It was now almost awake. The shadow sighed as the monster hovered on the edge of waking. The shadow dreaded again being a part of the next thing the monster would think up. He did not approve of the way the monster fooled with the Hawkline women, making them do things that were completely out of character. The transformation of one Hawkline sister into an Indian, the shadow thought, was a very gross deed.

There was no way of knowing what the monster would come up with next. No thing was too terrible for the monster not to consider and of course its powers of dark invention had just barely been tapped.

The light which was the monster continued to toss and turn in The Chemicals as waking roared toward it like an early winter storm.

The shadow sighed again.

God-damn it
.

Suddenly the monster was awake. It stopped stirring about and lay very quietly in The Chemicals. It looked over at the shadow. The shadow stared helplessly back, resigned to its fate.

The light looked away from the shadow. The light looked about the room. The light was anxious. It continued looking about the room, still a little sleepy but rapidly becoming energized. The light felt something threatening but it didn’t know what it was.

Momentarily, it would be in full control of its powers.

The Hawkline Monster felt that something was very wrong.

The shadow watched its nervous master.

The monster’s mind, like a tree in an early winter storm, shook off the leaves of sleep.

The shadow wished that the Hawkline Monster were dead, even though it would probably have to follow the monster into oblivion.

Anything was better than the living hell of having to be in partnership with the Hawkline Monster and do all these evil things.

The shadow remembered back to previous stages of The Chemicals and how exciting it was to be created by Professor Hawkline. At that time the light was benevolent, almost giddy with the excitement of having just been created. There was a future with the possibility of help and joy for all mankind. Then the light changed in attitude. The light concealed its personality change from Professor Hawkline.

The light started pulling little pranks that the professor let pass as accidents. Something falling over or something being changed into something else, so that the professor thought that he had made the mistake or something had been mislabeled and then the light found that it could leave the jar and move about and of course the poor innocent shadow of the light was forced to follow and become a participant-observer in pranks that gathered in momentum until they became acts of evil.

After while Professor Hawkline knew that there was something very wrong with The Chemicals but he kept thinking right up to the moment that the monster did that terrible thing to him that he would be able to correct the balance of The Chemicals and complete the experiment with humanitarian possibilities for the entire world.

But that was never to be because one afternoon when the professor was upstairs working on a new formula in his study the light pulled its most gross evil prank upon him. The shadow shuddered to think about it.

The light was at last totally awake and knew that it was being severely threatened by the people upstairs and it had better take care of that threat right now.

The light crawled out of The Chemicals and balanced on the rim of the jar in preparation for departure and the shadow reluctantly prepared to follow.

• The Decision •

“Yes,” Miss Hawkline said, finally.

Her sister nodded in agreement.

“It’s a difficult decision but it’s the only way,” Miss Hawkline said. “I’m sorry that this had to happen to our father’s lifework but there are things that are more important.”

“Yeah, our lives,” Cameron interrupted. He was impatient. He wanted to go downstairs right now and throw that jar of stuff out and then sleep tonight beside the body of a Hawkline woman. He was tired. It had been a long day.

“We have the formula to The Chemicals,” Miss Hawkline said. “Perhaps we can start over again or give it to somebody who might be interested in it.”

“I don’t know,” the other Miss Hawkline said. “I’m a little tired of the whole thing, so let’s not talk about the future now. Let’s just pour the stuff out and get some sleep. I’m tired.”

“Those are my feelings,” Cameron said.

• Upstairs •

The monster drifted off the lip of the jar and glided across the laboratory to land on the bottom step of the stairs that led upward to the house.

The shadow clumsily followed behind it, darker than the darkness in the room, more silent than complete silence and alone in the tragedy of its servitude to evil.

Then the Hawkline Monster flowed like a reverse waterfall up the stairs. It sparkled and reflected as it moved. The shadow followed behind it, a reluctant complement of darkness. The Hawkline Monster stopped at a dim space of light that shined under the laboratory door.

It was waiting for something to happen. The light of the monster was now almost surgical in its perception. It looked under the door and down the hall.

The monster was anticipating something about to happen.

The shadow waited behind the Hawkline Monster. The shadow wished that it could look out underneath the door to see what was happening, but, alas, its role in life was only to follow and so it detailed itself right behind the ass of the Hawkline Monster.