Kzine Issue 19

by Graeme Hurry et al.

  He looked around at the booths, filled with jewelry, loose gems, carved ivory, rhodocrosite and jade, brilliant scarves and crystals in every shade of the rainbow. The colors were spectacular. He glanced back at his prey just as her hand made a very slight movement and an amethyst ring disappeared from the table in front of her. No one would have noticed if they weren’t looking directly at her hands, as he was.

  He had worked this particular tent extension as a security guard at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show for three years now. A gregarious sort, he enjoyed talking to the dealers when business was slow. They came from all over the world. The gems and carvings, mineral specimens and carved boxes were beautiful. He always wished he could take something home to his wife, Janet. Except this year Janet wasn’t at home anymore. She had died in the fall of breast cancer.

  He looked down at a exquisite bowl of green jade, cut so thin that it was translucent and sighed. She would have loved it. Green had been her favorite color. He felt the familiar bitterness wash over him. If they had only tried the new treatment her doctor had told them about. But the insurance company had said no – that it was experimental and they didn’t pay for experimental treatments. He had been investigating ways to get the treatment privately when Janet had suddenly developed pneumonia, and weakened by the chemotherapy, had died. So he still had the money he had saved over the years in the Army as a Ranger. Now he didn’t know what to do with it. He was working the gem show more to keep himself busy than for money this year. And his anger kept getting in the way of his enjoyment.

  His attention switched back to the old gal. She was leaning over one of the glass cases packed with jewelry and pointing to a bracelet with one hand, while the other, hidden by a fold of her coat, slipped a pair of earrings off the table. He was wondering if she worked alone, when there was a yell and a crash as an elderly man fell two booths down, grabbing the table next to him as he went down. The table was crammed with cut crystal dishes, each containing loose gems. Peridots, aquamarines, topaz, garnets and citrine fell in an arc of color onto the dirt. Ben switched his attention back to his lady just in time to watch an aquamarine tennis bracelet disappear into her purse. Everyone’s attention had been drawn to the accident. Ben noticed that several of the gems in the dirt were vanishing beneath the old man, who was complaining bitterly about his back. Concerned people gathered around him, trying to help. What a fantastic diversion. Great teamwork!

  Forsyth shook his head. Those two old farts were ripping off a big chunk of change from the dealers at this extension of the gem show. He wondered if they were married. As he watched, the old man was lifted back up to his feet and he shuffled off, radiating indignation, probably a few hundred dollars richer.

  He moved a little closer to the woman as she approached one of the better guarded booths. Here there be dragons, he thought with a chuckle. He wondered if she knew what she was getting into. The Cassidys had display cases with alarms. If you touched the sides of the case, it got pretty noisy. Not the front or the back though. People always tapped on the front to point out the piece they wanted to see closely. Couldn’t scare off paying customers. The only people who touched the sides tended to be those who didn’t want to pay.

  In addition they had two hired guards, off duty cops, who stood and watched each passerby with a jaundiced eye. The material there was expensive – very expensive – diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, the finest quality gems. The jewels sparkled and threw back rainbow hues at the lights.

  The woman moved with a limp, making a small grunt with each step she took. She carried much of her weight on the walker, but she made it obvious that just walking was a struggle. Moving into the space between the booths, she maneuvered her walker back against the wall of the tent and sat down. One of the guards gave her a glance, then turned his attention back to the more suspicious looking characters. Ben positioned himself on the side of the booth across from the Cassidys.

  A pretty young woman had crossed the small space behind the tables to speak to his lady. He had begun to call the old gal, Mabel, in his mind. The lovely lady leaned forward to speak to Mabel, gracious and polite.

  “May I help you, ma’am?”

  Mabel rewarded her with the sweetest, most grandmotherly smile. Her voice quavered. “Thank you so much, dear. Could I see the emerald ring with the little peridots on the sides?”

  The girl picked up a beautiful ring and handed it to Mabel, now watching her carefully. The ring could be worth several hundred dollars to tens of thousands, depending on the quality of the big emerald. And it was big – at least 3-4 carats. Ben had learned a lot in his years with the show. The brilliant stone threw back the light in viridian rays as Mabel turned it side to side.

  “Don’t push me!” came a yell from the next aisle over. Ben didn’t even have to look to know that it was Mabel’s elderly partner, whom he had dubbed Henry, although he couldn’t resist staring at the spectacle.

  Henry was shoving at a tall, middle aged man in jeans and a T-shirt with a graying ponytail hanging down his back. Softer voices, trying to placate the old man, were cut across by Henry’s strident “You stepped on my foot! You broke it, idiot! Where’s a chair? I have to sit down. Get me a chair!” The voice ascended in decibels until people were covering their ears.

  Tearing his gaze back to Mabel, he discovered that Mabel wasn’t there. Gone. Vanished. He looked around wildly and just caught a glimpse of her before she blended into the crowd. She had slipped out of her raincoat and now was dressed in navy blue. Sweet.

  He hurried after her. Neither the guards nor the young saleswoman had noticed the absence of their customer, and more importantly, their ring yet. Henry was still in full voice.

  Ben saw Mabel take off her glasses and pull some pins from her hair, which now fell to her shoulders. She finger combed the hair until it reached a semblance of order. Her appearance was totally different. She was leaning over a table several aisles away when the hue and cry went up at the Cassidys. One of the guards walked right past her, his eyes sliding across her and never noting her presence.

  As the guard passed, Mabel closed her eyes for a long moment. Ben watched as her shoulders relaxed. It must have been a very tense moment. Then she looked away from the vendor’s wares. Following her gaze, he saw Henry watching her. She made a slight motion with her chin at the exit. They began making their separate ways slowly, very slowly toward escape.

  Ben slipped between tables and hurried to another exit, then ran to the opening where they emerged, now arm in arm, laughing. Falling in beside them, he spoke softly.

  “Very nicely done. Where are you going to sell the emerald ring?” he said.

  Henry and Mabel looked at him with wide-eyed innocence written large all over them.

  He flashed his security badge and a look of fear slid briefly into Henry’s eyes.

  Mabel smiled, undaunted as she squinted at his badge. “What can we do for you, Mr. ..ummm… Forsyth?”

  Ben smiled back.”I was watching very closely, Ma’am. I saw what you did in there. You, too, Sir. That emerald ring snatch was truly a work of art.”

  Mabel very nearly smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she protested, starting to huff up.

  Ben raised a placating hand. “Oh, yes, you do. Let’s not play games when there’s no one else around.”

  Henry snorted. “You could be wearing a wire.”

  Ben snorted right back. “Except for the emerald ring, what you stole was small stuff. Not worth a wire.”

  Mabel looked up at him. “You gonna arrest us?”

  Ben stopped walking and stared down at her for a long moment, as his mind set forth on a new course..

  “Actually I was going to take you both to lunch and propose a business arrangement.” he said with a big grin.

  FORETHOUGHT

  by Eddie D. Moore

  “Mom, can I keep my iPad close just in case we need to sell it for food?” Janna stopped what she was doing, blinked twic
e, and turned her head slowly to face her daughter. Becks held her favorite doll wrapped in a blanket and cradled in her right arm. Her face held a serious expression, and she waited patiently for an answer.

  “You do remember that the internet doesn’t work on it after eight-thirty, right?”

  Becks rolled her eyes and said, “Well duh. It’s bedtime; I just want to keep it safe.”

  “Don’t well duh me young lady.”

  Becks smiled sheepishly and twisted her hips while rocking her doll. “Sorry mom. Can I keep it close please?”

  The corners of Janna’s lips turned up slightly. She unplugged the iPad with a mock exasperated sigh and handed it to her daughter. “Okay, but you go to bed. I better not look in there later and see you playing with it, or I’ll have to tell your father when he gets home next week.”

  Becks snatched the iPad from her mother’s hand and held it tight to her chest as she ran from the room with an infectious smile. Janna opened her mouth to call her back and chasten her for snatching the pad from her hand, but she was overwhelmed by her daughter’s sheer cuteness and decided to let it go. The corners of Janna’s mouth twitched upward a fraction of an inch, and she shook her head a second before turning her attention back to the project in front of her.

  * * *

  A nerve racking screech instantly snapped Janna from her dreams. After a moment of fear and confusion, she smelled smoke and jumped out of bed. She ran to open the bedroom door, but she jerked her hand away from the door handle when it burned her hand. The smoke in the room was thickening, and she could feel the heat from the fire through the door. Frozen in terror, she looked down and saw flames licking at the carpet from under the door.

  Becks screamed from the adjoining room and without hesitation Janna ran to the window and shouted, “I’m coming! I’m coming!”

  She opened the window and pushed out the screen as a large fire truck stopped in front of the house. The siren wailed to a slow stop as the firemen climbed out and leapt to the ground. One of them ran to help Janna out of the window while the others immediately began unrolling a long hose and connecting it to a nearby hydrant.

  “Get my daughter!” Janna waved a frantic hand toward the next window over. “Get my daughter!”

  The fireman slid something from his tool belt as he approached the window and popped out the screen. After a quick tap against the glass, the window pane shattered, and he quickly cleared away the larger pieces. He reached inside and pulled Becks through the window while she held tightly to the iPad and her favorite doll.

  Janna quickly took her daughter from the firefighter. “Thank you. Thank you. Are you okay baby? Tell me you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, mom. Look I kept the iPad safe.” Becks held the iPad out for her mom to see.

  Janna glanced at the iPad and then turned back to the fireman. “My phone! It’s on the night stand by my bedroom window. Can you reach it?”

  The fireman shined a flashlight into the smoke filled room. He flinched back when something inside the house exploded with a loud pop and then reached inside and grabbed the phone. He held the phone out for her as an ambulance stopped behind the fire engine.

  “Here’s your phone. There’s no one else in there right?”

  Janna shook her head.

  “Good, now let’s let the EMTs have a look at you both while we put this fire out.”

  Janna allowed the fireman to lead her toward the ambulance. She glanced at the flames flickering in the windows and the smoke boiling out of the attic vents while she held her daughter tight. “What was that pop a second ago?”

  “It was probably just a pressurized aerosol can; it happens all the time.”

  An EMT wrapped a blanket around Becks and handed another one to the fireman, who placed it around Janna’s shoulders. “How do you feel? Any trouble breathing?”

  Janna cleared her throat with a quick cough. “I’m fine. Check my daughter first. I need to call my husband… Oh no, my purse was in the living room; it had all my credit cards in it.”

  The fireman glanced at the house and shook his head. “I’m afraid that I cannot help this time.”

  Janna sighed as the EMT took Becks to the ambulance for a checkup, and her shoulders dropped. “My husband drives a truck, and he’s a thousand miles away. Without my cards, I have no money. What will we do?”

  The fireman nodded. “Don’t worry. There’s a local motel that will let you and your daughter stay for a couple nights without charge. They help families after a fire all the time. Once the fire is out, the chief will drop you off.”

  A tear rolled down Janna’s cheek. “Thank you.”

  The fireman nodded once and then went to help the others.

  * * *

  The sunlight streaming through the motel window forced Janna to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted. She glanced at the clock on the night stand and sighed. Half the day was over already. She opened the window to let in some fresh air as Becks sat up rubbing her eyes. Whatever the restaurant by the hotel was cooking smelled delicious, and the aroma filled the room causing her stomach to rumble.

  “Mom, I’m hungry.”

  “Me too, honey. We missed breakfast, so we’ll walk down to the bank in a few minutes and get some money so that we can buy something to eat.”

  Janna turned the television on, and when she saw the headlines, she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no!”

  “What is it, mommy?”

  “It’s Columbus Day; that means that the banks are closed today. Your father dropped his trailer and is bobtailing home, but he will not be here until tomorrow.”

  Becks held up the iPad. “I told you that I’d keep this safe so that we could sell it for food.”

  Janna’s jaw dropped, and she was silent for a moment. “That’s right you did. There is a pawn shop next to the restaurant. We’ll just pawn it and get it back when your dad gets here.”

  “Mom, could you write down daddy’s number for me before we go?”

  “Why? It’s programmed in my phone.”

  Becks shrugged. “You never know.”

  Janna opened the contact list on her phone and wrote down the number on the note pad by the hotel phone. “Okay, if that makes you feel better.”

  Becks took the number from her mom and handed over the iPad. “Can we go eat now?”

  “Sure, slip on your shoes.”

  A few minutes later, they stepped out into the hallway, and Janna pressed the down button on the elevator. Becks looked up excitedly. “I’m glad they put us on the top floor; I like being up high.”

  The elevator doors slid open and Janna’s phone beeped, notifying her of a message. She lifted her phone to check the message as she stepped into the elevator and dropped her phone. The phone slipped perfectly between the floor and the elevator, like a coin into a busted vending machine, and was gone.

  Becks smiled sympathetically as the elevator doors closed. “Don’t worry, mom. I have daddy’s number in my pocket.”

  Janna closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She wondered how her luck could be this bad, and what were the odds of Becks being right about the iPad and the phone number? She hadn’t memorized a phone number since ninety-seven.

  * * *

  The waiter placed their drinks on the table and asked, “Are you ready to order?”

  Becks rocked slightly as she kicked her feet back and forth under the table. “I want the chicken fingers.”

  Janna smiled, nodded, and replied, “I’ll have the fish.”

  “Very good.” The waiter took back the menus and then walked toward the kitchen.

  Becks scrunched her lips together and appeared to be thinking very hard about something.

  “What are you thinking about, honey?”

  “Do you have a life insurance policy?”

  Janna eyes widened, and then she suddenly stood up and shouted at the waiter, “I’ve changed my mind; I’ll have the chicken!”

  Contributor Notes


  Alex Acks (formerly Rachael Acks) is a writer, geologist, and dapper as fuck. His debut novel, Hunger Makes the Wolf, was published by Angry Robot Books under the pen name Alex Wells. He’s written for Six to Start and been published in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and more. He lives in Denver with his two furry little bastards, where he watches movies and bikes. For more information, see www.alexacks.com.

  Dennis Bushlatov is a horror writer from Ukraine. He has two collections of horror short stories published which are widely sold within the book-stores of Ukraine and Russia and also via internet stores.

  Jeremy Essex is a member of the Horror Writer’s Association Of America. His short novella The Sound Of Time was published by Samhain last year. His short stories have appeared in Acidic Fiction, ‘9 Tales Told In The Dark, Crystal Codices, Night Terrors and Sepulchre. Find out more about his writings at http://jeremyessex.co.uk.

  C.R. Hodges has had over twenty five short stories published and won first prize in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Award contest. Markets in which his work has appeared include Cicada, EscapePod,and Perihelion

  Graeme Hurry edited Kimota magazine in the 90s and a horror anthology called Northern Chills in 1994. Now he has branched out by editing this kindle magazine, Kzine. He has a story in Terror Tales of The Scottish Highlands anthology and an honourable mention in Year’s Best Horror 2001 for a story he collaborated on with Willie Meikle called The Blue Hag.

  Douglas Kolacki has had stories published in Weird Tales, Dreams & Visions and The Lorelei Signal, as well as an upcoming appearance in The 5th Dimension.