The Thing Down the Road

Excerpt

Del thought back to his own childhood and the few times he’d been drawn into these places. He’d paid to see the desiccated remains of some poor creature, or worse, some trapped animal pace its cage. He figured out early that most of these specimens were just deformed or imported animals. His children hadn’t learned that lesson yet. His daughter squirmed in his arm and he let her turn around to look as the curtain slowly drew back.
He heard his children’s murmurs as they looked into the cage, their little eyes adjusted now. His oldest found it first and his little hands hit the glass wall as he pointed to the nest of rags in the corner. Del stared too, something about this cage made him uneasy. He half-listened to the proprietor as he studied the layout, the nest against the back wall, food supply, litter and waste, all present, but neat. Too neat, even for a nice zoo. At the press of a button on the remote held by the proprietor, the nest of rags started to move and without more prodding the creature crawled out.

The awe of his children matched the appalling sick knot in his stomach. Del didn’t say anything as he watched the creature pace the cage. Each time it turned he could see eyes, dark and deeply recessed, but hateful at its captivity, at its degradation. More than hate, maybe insanity at this point. The creature paced, but a few times stopped to stare back out of its prison. Del felt those deadly eyes cut through him and felt grateful for the heavy glass wall that separated it from his family. He had no doubt that creature could and would kill if it escaped this instant. He held his daughter tighter.

Del let his children look until their time ran out. He’d needed the time to gather his own emotions. When they returned to the gift shop he remained near the counter while they ran around to look at souvenirs. He picked up the little brochure that he hadn’t noticed going in and flipped it open. “I don’t think I’ve never seen anything like… that before.” He tried to sound impressed.

“Yes, I’ve had him for a while.” The proprietor leaned on his counter to watch the children’s continued enthusiasm. Like most of these tourist trap vendors, Del knew he hoped to add a few trinkets to the sale of tickets. “If you’re coming back this way in a week it should be more interesting, worth the stop again.”

“Oh yeah, why?” Del closed the brochure and picked up a little vial that appeared to have a tooth rattling around in the bottom. “Seems quite the draw already.”

“It is, but his last mate died, so I’m getting him a new one in a couple days. By the time you get back this way, she should be settled in.” The proprietor saw how Del quit shaking the vial, more interested. He picked up another vial. “If you want one of their teeth, I don’t have many left. This is it.”

Del looked at the vial and shrugged. “Sure, why not. My oldest will like the souvenir. He’s into this kind of thing right now. I’m sure you’ll see us again on our way back through.”