The Queen and I

by Russell Andresen

  The trick to all of this was to get Abby to do the introductions and prepare the community for the appearance of Saul so that it did not startle the crowd into hysteria. He was about to reveal himself to the entire town, small as it was, and the last thing he wanted was to frighten anyone. He needed Abby and Melissa to sooth the citizens of Zion into believing that the person they were about to meet, even though dead, was harmless to them because he thought of them as his neighbors and only wanted them to think of him the same way.

  Abby peeked out from behind the curtain and said to Saul, “Well, there’s no time like the present.” She smiled an unsure smile and said, “Let’s go, Melissa, I’m going to need your help with this.”

  The two women stated their case to the people of Zion, telling them of the existence of an actual ghost in their midst, that the rumors had been true, and more importantly, he was once a famous celebrity. That was the extra little kicker that Melissa decided to throw in, because she knew better than anyone the town’s desire to have celebrity in their midst.

  They talked Saul up as a benevolent, talented, and caring spirit who wanted nothing more than to be able to live among them and have some human contact again after all these years of solitude due to his current condition. They spoke of how Jeffrey was aware of Saul’s existence and was even friends with the ghost. Abby informed them of the madman who was in their town stalking Jeffrey to bring him to a violent end, and she said the whole town had a responsibility to look out for the newest member of the community. It was their solemn oath as Jews to defend the life of a fellow Jew, to never let the anti-Semite (she was quite convincing that Grecko was an anti-Semite) do harm to the man who they had welcomed with open arms.

  Melissa made her case as to how she had known Saul for almost two years and that he was kind and loving, funny and talented, and above everything else, he was loyal to a fault. As she spoke, Abby called upon some of the men in attendance to hand out copies of the pages from the book Saul had found to the residents of Zion.

  She explained this was a crash course in the Yiddish language, and the town had exactly twenty-four hours to become fluent if they were to become successful. The plan was that they would become commandos in the fight to protect Jeffrey, and they were to converse via walkie-talkies in the foreign tongue so that, if captured, Grecko would have no idea what they were talking about.

  A murmur of excitement rose from the crowd at the notion of participating in such a covert operation and also of becoming fluent in Yiddish. Everyone who was anyone knew that you could not consider yourself a true Jew until you had mastered the original language of love.

  A call from the crowd started for Saul to make his appearance. They had heard so much about him at this point that they were all in agreement; it was time for the ghost to make himself visible to all so they could size him up for themselves.

  Saul stood in the back, listening to everything that was going on, and began to feel a bit faint. Or was it just drama? He took a couple of unnecessary breaths and turned to show the town the true meaning of fabulous.

  The lights began to go dim in the temple and odd green phosphorescence filled the room. A sudden chill filled the air, and there were murmurings of fear and confusion, which were quickly quelled by Abby. She stated it was completely harmless, and before anyone had the chance to change his or her mind about helping the ghost who had come to ask for help for the newest member of the community, Saul appeared.

  Jaws dropped, a couple of people jumped from their seats in spite of themselves, and everyone was taken aback by the sight of a six and a half foot tall man with a five o’clock shadow wearing a dress standing in front of them.

  Abby quickly introduced him as Saul Milick, and Melissa quickly followed with, “But if you’re more comfortable, you can call him Esther Feltcher.”

  “But if you do that,” Saul started in that deep raspy voice of his, “make sure you treat me like a lady.”

  The silence was broken only by the sounds of seats creaking as the citizens retook their seats, and Saul continued, “Who wants to help hunt a putz?”

  Chapter Forty-Six: Devil among Us

  The creatures surrounded Louis Grecko in his hotel room, taunting him, daring him to do something about the despair that his life was now in, pleading with him to go on with what he had come to Zion to do. But the problem was that Louis was having trouble remembering what it was that he was supposed to do.

  Everything was blurry to him. There was no cohesiveness to his thoughts; everything was clouded. He struggled to recapture the former self that now only seemed to be a fading fingerprint, and found that the more he searched for those clues, the farther away they drifted from him.

  He watched as one of the bunnies came closer and left an envelope on his lap. He reached down through what felt like rubber arms and opened it to see what was inside. His heart skipped a beat, and he recognized the picture of his mother lying in a crumpled mess on the living room floor of the apartment they had shared for so many years. He struggled to understand how it was possible that these creatures had pictures of his mother, when he was certain nobody else had been in the apartment when he had killed her, when he had followed the words like the music had instructed him, and when he had finally offered himself to the Way as its Messiah.

  The sudden rush of images disturbed him as he watched the events of his life fly by in a swirl of places, people, and things, and finally came to a rest in the office of Heinrich Schultz. The strange little man was with him, laughing at Louis and mocking his dead mother. Louis wanted to tear the man apart, but found that his arms were of no use to him.

  Heinrich’s cat strode across the room and came to a rest on his lap and looked at him accusingly, if that was indeed possible for a cat to do, and it showed the same smile that he had seen the bunny give him in town, a mouth full of teeth that was more human than animal.

  These images were getting more and more terrifying to Louis, and he struggled to find a way to get away from them. His life was spiraling down a deep, dark hole that he could not climb out of. The Way had abandoned him, and he no longer had any guidance as to what to do next. His instruction had always come from the music, his order of conduct had always been from the Way, and the steadying factor in his life had always been his mother.

  He awoke with a start and looked around the room to try to get his bearings. He had obviously been dreaming, and the images scared him and talked to him of his mistakes. Louis was being punished by the Way for acting without the proper guidance. He should have never killed his mother; it was not her time to go. The plan was for her to be there to anoint her son as the new son of the Way and for Louis to spread the word across the country and eventually the world.

  His mother had been the only stabilizer in an otherwise unstable life, and when Louis killed her he left himself unprotected and unable to accept all of the truths that the music and the Way showed him. She had been his buffer, his filter. Now, with her gone, Louis had to navigate through the waters of confusion and fear while trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.

  He knew the creatures were close by; they were still in the room with him, and now they were beginning to give instructions of their own. He could hear their voices as faint whisperings floating on the wind. They wanted Louis to continue the work he had started with his mother, only now they would be the stabilizing force in his life. As long as he listened to them, he would be fine.

  Their first order of business was for Louis to find the sheriff of this town and to show him the Way before he had a chance to stop him. He was to go and seek out Heinrich and his companion next and do with them as he pleased in appreciation for all that they had done for him and his mother over the years; their thanks would be painful and very bloody.

  Finally, the bunnies told him of Jeffrey David Rothstein. The name itself enraged Louis. His life had not been the same since he had heard that name for the first time. Everything had changed—and not for the better. If it had not bee
n for Rothstein, his mother would still be alive. It was Rothstein who had snuck into the apartment when she was alone, it was Rothstein who had violated her defenseless body, and it was Rothstein who had snapped her neck and left her for dead like an animal.

  Louis would certainly take his time, when it arrived, in dealing with Rothstein.

  * * *

  Sheriff Pitts left the room of Heinrich Schultz after a few more hours gathering details about the man he claimed was in his town to do harm to the citizens. Finding this man was top priority to him right now, but he was also thinking toward the future and how he would have to deal with the billionaire and his associate.

  There was something about the two that he did not like and definitely did not trust. They were taking him for a fool, and that was unacceptable. He might not be from a big, flashy city like New York, but he was not a fool and did not appreciate being treated as such.

  No, once he caught this man who they had told him about, he would find a way, any way, to press charges against Schultz and teach him that he could not buy everyone. This was still his town, and he planned on protecting it with his life’s blood.

  He never felt the blade pierce through his back and out his chest. He was more surprised than anything else to see it glimmering red in the light of the early evening. He made no attempt to remove the blade, and actually felt a sensation of giddiness that he could not explain. Something about all of this was very amusing to him.

  Just a few hours earlier, he had been lamenting his not becoming the new cantor of Zion, losing to Rufus O’Neal, now he stared at his own mortality as his life slowly dripped off the end of the blade onto the floor below. He turned his head and saw a large man, nearly seven feet tall, smiling at him. The man gently pulled the blade from the sheriff’s back and wiped the blade clean on his jacket.

  Malcolm Pitts saw the smear of blood running down the arm of his jacket and felt anger at the man for getting blood on his uniform. It was funny to him that he should be upset by something like that. He looked the killer in the eyes and tried to speak, but no words came.

  The big man put one giant finger on the sheriff’s lips and simply said, “Shhh.”

  SheriffPitts nodded his head in understanding and dropped to his knees as his wound continued to bleed freely. He suddenly felt very cold and alone, and this frightened him. He thought of his wife and how she would look at his funeral, and he thought of Sean and how he had failed to ever get close to the boy.

  Louis Grecko walked behind him and snapped his neck.

  Sheriff Malcolm Pitts’s body lay in a broken pile of limbs and warm blood. The blood was steaming in the chill of the evening.

  One of the bunnies approached Louis and ordered him to follow. There were more people to kill, and it was going to be a busy night.

  * * *

  Heinrich Schultz watched in horror as Louis Grecko stabbed and then killed the sheriff of Zion. It was purely by chance that Schultz saw anything at all. He just happened to be walking past the window and decided to look out from behind the curtain. It was at that moment when he saw the blade explode through the man’s chest.

  He quickly got Mendel’s attention, and the two of them watched as Louis seemed to toy with the sheriff, mocking him as the man struggled for what little air he could still breathe. Fujikawa ran to his travel bag, removed a small revolver, checked to make sure it was loaded, and tucked it into the front of his pants. He pulled out his case with various butterfly knives of different sizes and checked to make certain that each one responded as it should.

  The two of them exchanged worried glances, knowing that Louis was most likely there because the two of them, and that his next victims would most definitely be them, unless they did something to prevent it.

  Mendel reached for the phone and found there was no signal. Louis was very thorough in seeing that his victims were safely caught in their snare and that they had no way of escape. He peeked out from behind the curtain and saw nobody, only the fallen body of Malcolm Pitts.

  Fujikawa fumbled for his cell phone and dialed 911, hoping it would connect him to the local authorities. The phone rang and continued to ring without anyone answering. Finally, a recorded voice answered, “Zion emergency services are not available at this time due to the observance of the Sabbath. If this is an actual emergency, I’m sure God would not mind you driving to the hospital. Shalom.”

  Mendel threw the phone to the ground in disgust and called for Heinrich to come close. “There’s nobody answering in this fucking town. We have to try to get to the car.”

  Schultz nodded in agreement, and the two of them headed for the door, expecting Louis Grecko to burst through at any moment. It was very quiet, which was disconcerting to say the least, and Fujikawa slowly opened the door to the hotel room. He looked out in the direction of the limousine and saw two feet lying down next to the front bumper with blood around them. Louis had obviously killed their driver and was on the move again. No matter, Mendel tried to think positively, I know how to drive.

  He turned to tell Heinrich to follow, when a large hand, the size of a baseball mitt, grabbed him around the throat and pulled him from the room. Mendel fired off two shots wildly, hoping to hit his target, but he knew he had missed with both of them. His air supply was being cut off, and he was struggling to pry the vice-like hand from around his throat to no avail. He felt Heinrich grab him by the ankle and pull to save his companion’s life, but Louis was too powerful. Heinrich, who was fearful for his own safety, was not willing to expose himself to the madman he had unleashed.

  He lost his grip, and Fujikawa disappeared from view. He heard two more gunshots and then silence. He hoped that perhaps Mendel had been successful in his aim, but he was not about to risk exposing himself to Louis in order to find out. He waited in eerie silence and prayed Mendel had been successful, but he knew Louis was too gifted at what he did to be taken out by the little man with nothing more than a gun and some knives. He held his breath to keep himself from shaking and hoped that when the end came, it came quickly.

  He heard screaming beyond the door out in the street, and then what sounded like snowballs hitting the walls of his room. There had been no snow this season, and when he had last been outside it hadn’t even seemed cold enough.

  The screaming grew louder, and Heinrich could clearly make out that the words were in a different language. Is that Yiddish? he thought.

  * * *

  “Ver dershtikt!” Mayor Baker yelled as he threw another matzo ball at the large man who they had just seen kill the little Asian fellow. The citizens were doing their best to maintain the protocol that Saul had dictated by speaking only in Yiddish, but some of them were struggling with their phrases and words. The mayor had properly used the term “Choke on it” and was reloading from the bucket of matzo balls donated by the Country Home.

  “Mer vi dayn kop zol od nit onvern!” yelled Rufus O’Neal. His was a perfect example of saying the wrong thing, as what he said was literally, “May I not lose anything more than your head.”

  A small crowd had formed and the walkie-talkies proved to be of great use, except for the fact that the citizens confused their words and phrases and most of them were just insulting each other.

  Cries of goniff, meshuganah, shnorer, schmendrick, and schmuck flew about and almost all of them were used out of proper context. The real miracle here was that a fight did not break out.

  Louis covered himself in anger at the barrage of flying dumplings and looked back at the room to see if Heinrich was still there. He watched in deep anger as the limousine pulled out of the parking lot with Schultz behind the wheel, heading in the direction of Rothstein’s house.

  This will work, Louis thought. The two men he wanted dead the most would soon be in the same location, and all Louis had to do was to get to them before these goddamned townspeople could warn them. He spotted his car on the other side of the lot and took cover to make his way there without being hit by another flying dumpling of d
eath.

  Chapter Forty-Seven: Eyes of a Monster

  Louis avoided more of the barrage of matzo balls as he swerved and rolled through the bombardment toward the car he had arrived in. Schultz was on his way to Rothstein’s house, and this pleased Louis because he would have both of his remaining targets in the same place at the same time and could finish what he had started and what the animals were now telling him to complete.

  They had replaced the Way. Somehow their power was beyond anything he felt before from the Way, and he thanked his dead mother for this gift. It was obvious to him that her murder had precipitated the arrival of the bunnies and other creatures without names who were now guiding Louis and encouraging him.

  He was confident this was the course his life was meant to take, and when he was done with his former employer and the man who had brought so much grief to his life, he would be free to wander the earth and spread the light of his new world order. They would all serve him and his animal overlords, and there was not a force in heaven or on earth that could stop him. His mind was a jumble of thoughts that he did not recognize, and he wondered where they had come from. He had always thought of himself as a sane man, but the arrival of the bunnies had left him questioning his own existence and purpose in this world. Louis acknowledged that the shock of being the one who had killed his mother might have pushed him over the edge to insanity, but then he reminded himself that it was not by his hand that she was dead, but rather that of Rothstein.

  He accelerated to almost redline speed as he raced to reach the cabin before Heinrich had a chance to warn Rothstein of their impending doom and make their escape. This was his time now, and it was going to go exactly as he had planned it. The animals had promised him he would be victorious, and nothing of this world would be able to stop him from achieving his goal.