Short Stories

by F. Paul Wilson

  He poised his hand over the bucket, then let the candy bar and dime drop. They landed with a soft squish.

  Not exactly the sound he had expected. He leaned forward to see what else was in the bucket but the child had swung around and was making her way down the steps.

  Out on the sidewalk, some hundred feet away along the maple-lined driveway, two older children waited for her. A stainless-steel bucket dangled from each of their hands.

  Cantrell shivered as he closed the front door. There was a new chill in the air. Maybe he should put on a sweater. But what color? He checked himself over in the hall mirror. Not bad for a guy looking fifty-two in the eye. That was Erica's doing. Trading in the old wife for a new model twenty years younger had had a rejuvenating effect on him. Also, it made him work at staying young looking -- like three trips a week to the Short Hills Nautilus Club and watching his diet. He decided to forgo the sweater for now.

  He almost made it back to his recliner and the unfinished New York Times when the front bell rang again. Sighing resignedly, he turned and went back to the front door. He didn't mind tending to the trick-or-treaters, but he wished Erica were here to share door duty. Why did she have to pick today for her monthly spending spree in Manhattan? He knew she loved Bloomingdale's -- in fact, she had once told him that after she died she wanted her ashes placed in an urn in the lingerie department there -- but she could have waited until tomorrow.

  It was two boys this time, both about eleven, both made up like punkers with orange and green spiked hair, ripped clothes, and crude tattoos, obviously done with a Bic instead of a real tattooer's pen. They stood restlessly in the chill breeze, shifting from one foot to the other, looking up and down the block, stainless-steel buckets in hand.

  He threw up his hands. "Whoa! Tough guys, eh? I'd better not mess around with the likes of -- !”

  One of the boys glanced at him briefly, and in his eyes Cantrell caught a flash of such rage and hatred -- not just for him, but also for the whole world -- that his voice dried away to a whisper. And then the look was gone as if it had never been and the boy was just another kid again. He hastily grabbed a pair of Three Musketeers and two dimes, leaned through the opening in the door, and dropped one of each into their buckets.

  The one on the right went squish and the one on the left went plop.

  He managed to catch just a glimpse of the bottom of the bucket on the right as the kid turned. He couldn't tell what was in there, but it was red.

  He was glad to see them go. Surly pair, he thought. Not a word out of either of them. And what was in the bottom of that bucket? Didn't look like any candy he knew, and he considered himself an expert on candy. He patted the belly that he had been trying to flatten for months. More than an expert -- an aficionado of candy.

  Further speculation was forestalled by a call from Monroe Community Hospital. One of his postpartum patients needed a laxative. He okayed a couple of ounces of milk of mag. Then the nurse double-checked his pre-op orders on the hysterectomy tomorrow.

  He managed to suffer through it all with dignity. It was Wednesday and he always took Wednesdays off. Jeff Sewell was supposed to be taking his calls today, but all the floors at the hospital had the Cantrell home phone number and they habitually tried here first before they went hunting for whoever was covering him.

  He was used to it. He had learned ages ago that there was no such thing as a day off in Ob-Gyn.

  The bell rang again, and for half a second Cantrell found himself hesitant to answer it. He shrugged off the reluctance and pulled open the door.

  Two mothers and two children. He sucked in his gut when he recognized the mothers as longtime patients.

  This is more like it!

  "Hi, Dr. Cantrell!" the red-haired woman said with a big smile. She put a hand atop the red-haired child's head. "You remember Shana, don't you? You delivered her five years ago next month."

  "I remember you, Gloria," he said, noting her flash of pleasure at having her first name remembered. He never forgot a face. "But Shana here looks a little bit different from when I last saw her."

  As both women laughed, he scanned his mind for the other's name. Then it came to him:

  "Yours looks a little bigger, too, Diane."

  "She sure does. What do you say to Dr. Cantrell, Susan?"

  The child mumbled something that sounded like "Ricky Meat" and held up an orange plastic jack-o'-lantern with a black plastic strap.

  "That's what I like to see!" he said. "A real Halloween treat holder. Better than those stainless-steel buckets the other kids have been carrying!"

  Gloria and Diane looked at each other. "Stainless-steel buckets?"

  "Can you believe it?" he said as he got the two little girls each a Milky Way and a dime. "My first three Halloween customers this morning carried steel buckets for their treats. Never seen anything like it."

  "Neither have we," Diane said.

  "You haven't? You should have passed a couple of boys out on the street."

  "No. We're the only ones around."

  Strange. But maybe they had cut back to the street through the trees as this group entered the driveway.

  He dropped identical candy and coins into the identical jack-o'-lanterns and heard them strike the other treats with a reassuring rustle.

  He watched the retreating forms of the two young mothers and their two happy kids until they were out of sight. This is the way Halloween should be, he thought. Much better than strange hostile kids with metal buckets.

  And just as he completed the thought, he saw three small white-sheeted forms of indeterminate age and sex round the hedge and head up the driveway. Each had a shiny metal bucket in hand.

  He wished Erica were here.

  He got the candy bars and coins and waited at the door for them. He had decided that before he parted with the goodies he was going to find out who these kids were and what they had in their little buckets. Fair was fair.

  The trio climbed to the top step of the stoop and stood there waiting, silently watching him through the eye holes of their sheets.

  Their silence got under his skin.

  Doesn't anybody say "Trick or treat?" anymore?

  "Well, what have we here?" he said with all the joviality he could muster. "Three little ghosts! The Ghostly Trio!"

  One of them -- he couldn't tell which -- said, "Yes."

  "Good! I like ghosts on Halloween! You want a treat?"

  They nodded as one.

  "Okay! But first you're gonna have to earn it! Show me what you've got in those buckets and I'll give you each a dime and a box of Milk Duds! How's that for a deal?"

  The kids looked at each other. Some wordless communication seemed to pass between them, and then they turned and started back down the steps.

  "Hey, kids! Hey, wait!" he said quickly, forcing a laugh. "I was only kidding! You don't have to show me anything. Here! Just take the candy."

  They paused on the second step, obviously confused.

  Ever so gently, he coaxed them back. "C'mon, kids. I'm just curious about those buckets, is all. I've been seeing them all day and I've been wondering where they came from. But if I frightened you, well, hey, I'll ask somebody else later on." He held up the candy and the coins and extended his hand through the door. "Here you go."

  One little ghost stepped forward but raised an open hand -- a little girl's hand -- instead of a bucket.

  He could not bear to be denied any longer. He pushed open the storm door and stepped out, looming over the child, craning his neck to see into that damn little bucket. The child squealed in fright and turned away, crouching over the bucket as if to protect it from him.

  What are they trying to hide? What's the matter with them? And what's the matter with me?

  Really. Who cared what was in those buckets?

  He cared. It was becoming an obsession with him. He'd go crazy if he didn't find out.

  Hoping nobody was watching -- nobody who'd think he was a child molester -- he
grabbed the little ghost by the shoulders and twisted her toward him. She couldn't hide the bucket from him now. In the clear light of day he got a good look into it.

  Blood.

  Blood with some floating bits of tissue and membrane lay maybe an inch and a half deep in the bottom.

  Startled and sickened, he could only stand there and stare at the red, swirling liquid. As the child tried to pull the bucket away from him, it tipped, spilling its contents over the front of her white sheet. She screamed -- more in dismay than terror.

  "Let her go!" said a little boy's voice from beside him. Cantrell turned to see one of the other ghosts hurling the contents of its bucket at him. As if in slow motion, he saw the sheet of red liquid and debris float toward him through the air, spreading as it neared. The warm spray splattered him up and down and he reeled back in revulsion.

  By the time he had wiped his eyes clear, the kids were halfway down the driveway. He wanted to chase after them, but he had to get out of these bloody clothes first. He'd be taken for a homicidal maniac if someone saw him running after three little kids looking like this.

  Arms akimbo, he hurried to the utility room and threw his shirt into the sink. Why? his mind cried as he tried to remember whether hot or cold water set a stain. He tried cold and began rubbing at the blood in the blue oxford cloth.

  He scrubbed hard and fast to offset the shaking of his hands. What a horrible thing for anyone to do, but especially children! Questions tumbled over each other in confusion: What could be going through their sick little minds? And where had they gotten the blood?

  But most of all, Why me?

  Slowly the red color began to thin and run, but the bits of tissue clung. He looked at them more closely. Damn if that doesn't look like...

  Recognition triggered an epiphany. He suddenly understood everything.

  He now knew who those children were -- or at least who had put them up to it -- and he understood why. He sighed with relief as anger flooded through him like a cleansing flame. He much preferred being angry to being afraid.

  He dried his arms with a paper towel and went to call the cops.

  "Right-to-lifers, Joe! Has to be them!"

  Sergeant Joe Morelli scratched his head. "You sure, Doc?"

  Cantrell had known the Morelli family since Joe's days as a security guard at the Mall, waiting for a spot to open up on the Monroe police force. He had delivered all three of Joe's kids.

  "Who else could it be? Those little stainless-steel buckets they carry -- the ones I told you about -- they're the same kind we use in D and C's, and get this: We used to use them in abortions. The scrapings from the uterus slide down through a weighted speculum into one of those buckets."

  And it was those bloody scrapings that had been splattered all over him.

  "But why you, Doc? I know you do abortions now and then -- all you guys do -- but you're not an abortionist per se, if you know what I'm saying."

  Cantrell nodded, not mentioning Sandy. He knew the subject of Joe's youngest daughter's pregnancy two years ago was still a touchy subject. She had only been fifteen but he had taken care of everything for Joe with the utmost discretion. He now had a devoted friend on the police force.

  A thought suddenly flashed through Cantrell's mind:

  They must know about the women's center! But how could they?

  It was due to open tomorrow, the first of the month. He had been so careful to avoid any overt connection with it, situating it downtown and going so far as to set it up through a corporate front. Abortions might be legal, but it still didn't sit well with a lot of people to know that their neighbor ran an abortion mill.

  Maybe that was it. Maybe a bunch of sicko right-to-lifers had connected him with the new center.

  "What gets me," Joe was saying, "is that if this is real abortion material like you say, where'd they get it?"

  "I wish I knew." The question had plagued him since he had called the police.

  "Well, don't you worry, Doc," Joe said, slipping his hat over his thinning hair. "Whatever's going on, it's gonna stop. I'll cruise the neighborhood. If I see any kids, or even adults with any of these buckets, I'll ID them and find out what's up."

  "Thanks, Joe," he said, meaning it. It was comforting to know a cop was looking out for him. "I appreciate that. I'd especially like to get this ugly business cleared up before the wife and I get home from dinner tonight."

  "I don't blame you," he said, shaking his head. "I know I wouldn't want Marie to see any buckets of blood."

  The trick-or-treaters swelled in numbers as the afternoon progressed. They flowed to the door in motley hordes of all shapes, sizes, and colors. A steady stream of Spocks, Skywalkers, Vaders, Indiana Joneses, Madonnas, Motley Crues, Twisted Sisters, and even a few ghosts, goblins, and witches.

  And always among them were one or two kids with steel buckets.

  Cantrell bit his lip and repressed his anger when he saw them. He said nothing, did not try to look into their buckets, gave no sign that their presence meant anything to him, pretended they were no different from the other kids as he dropped candies and coins into the steel buckets among the paper sacks and pillowcases and jack-o'-lanterns, all the while praying that Morelli would catch one of the little bastards crossing the street and find out who was behind this bullshit.

  He saw the patrol car pull into the drive around 4:00. Morelli finally must have nailed one of them! About time! He had to leave for the women's center soon and wanted this thing settled and done with.

  "No luck, Doc," Joe said, rolling down his window. "You must have scared them off."

  "Are you crazy?" His anger exploded as he trotted down the walk to the driveway. "They've been through here all afternoon!"

  "Hey, take it easy, Doc. If they're around, they must be hiding those buckets when they're on the street, because I've been by here about fifty times and I haven't seen one steel bucket."

  Cantrell reined in his anger. It would do no good to alienate Joe. He wanted the police force on his side.

  "Sorry. It's just that this is very upsetting."

  "I can imagine. Look, Doc. Why don't I do this: Why don't I just park the car right out at the curb and watch the kids as they come in. Maybe I'll catch one in the act. At the very least, it might keep them away."

  "I appreciate that, Joe, but it won't be necessary. I'm going out in a few minutes and won't be back until much later tonight. However, I do wish you'd keep an eye on the place -- vandals, you know."

  "Sure thing, Doc. No problem."

  Cantrell watched the police car pull out of the driveway, and then he set the house alarm and hurried to the garage to make his getaway before the doorbell rang again.

  The Midtown Women's Medical Center

  Cantrell savored the effect of the westering sun glinting off the thick brass letters over the entrance as he walked by. Red letters on a white placard proclaimed "Grand Opening Tomorrow" from the front door. He stepped around the side of the building into the alley, unlocked the private entrance, and stepped inside.

  Dark, quiet, deserted. Damn! He had hoped to catch the contractor for one last check of the trim. He wanted everything perfect for the opening.

  He flipped on the lights and checked his watch. Erica would be meeting him here in about an hour, and then they would pick up the Klines and have drinks and dinner at the club. He had just enough time for a quick inspection tour.

  So dean, he thought as he walked through the waiting room -- the floors shiny and unscuffed, the carpet pile unmatted, the wall surfaces unmarred by chips or finger smudges. Even the air smelled new.

  This center -- his center -- had been in the planning stages for three years. Countless hours of meetings with lawyers, bankers, planning boards, architects, and contractors had gone into it. But at last it was ready to go. He planned to work here himself in the beginning, just to keep overhead down, but once the operation got rolling, he'd hire other doctors and have them do the work while he ran the show from a dis
tance.

  He stepped into Procedure Room One and looked over the equipment. Dominating the room was the Rappaport 206, a state-of-the-art procedure table with thigh and calf supports on the stirrups, three breakaway sections, and fully motorized tilts in all planes -- Trendelenburg, reverse Trendelenburg, left and right lateral.

  Close by, the Zarick suction extractor -- the most efficient abortion device on the market -- hung gleaming on its chrome stand. He pressed the "on" button to check the power but nothing happened.

  "It won't work tonight," said a child's voice behind him, making him almost scream with fright.

  He spun around. Fifteen or twenty kids stood there staring at him. Most were costumed, and they all carried those goddamn steel buckets.

  "All right!" he said. "This does it! I've had just about enough! I'm getting the police!"

  He turned to reach for the phone but stopped after one step. More kids were coming in from the hall.

  They streamed in slowly and silently, their eyes fixed on him, piercing him. They filled the room, occupying every square foot except for the small circle of space they left around him and the equipment. And behind them he could see more, filling the hall and waiting room beyond. A sea of faces, all staring at him.

  He was frightened now. They were just kids, but there were so damn many of them! A few looked fifteen or so, and one looked to be in her early twenties, but by far most of them appeared to be twelve and under. Some were even toddlers! What sort of sick mind would involve such tiny children in this?

  And how did they get in? All the doors were locked.

  "Get out of here," he said, forcing his voice into calm, measured tones.

  They said nothing, merely continued to stare back at him.

  "All right, then. If you won't leave, I will! And when I return -- " He tried to push by a five-year-old girl in a gypsy costume. Without warning she jabbed her open hand into his abdomen with stunning force, driving him back against the table.