I caught one on Beady’s Hill last night. It was dull mooned and I saw him there – precious as a child – praying as his skin shimmered in the dark cloud’s penumbra. He was wretched gorgeous, but I needed him to tell me my future. I needed him to let me know how it would end. So I snuck up behind him, caught him deep in unaware prayer, and I snatched that salamander!
Ha-ha! Oh man he squirmed and juiced and tried to slip his way out, but I had the sunnuvabitch vice-gripped. I turned my head sideways to see the incline and find a flat, level spot. I wanted to do this there and then, without a chance for him to get away or for the salamander goop marking my tracks.
The grade revealed my best route to the top of the hill and I took it – avoiding the rocks and other faithful animals. I found a clearing where the grade subsided and placed the salamander on a dry patch to better see what the juices revealed.
A laid him down on his back and boy he wriggled and rocked on his pointed spine to turn and get away. But I had him pinned with my weak hand. I reached for my switchblade in my pocket and flicked it open.
He spat fluorescent phlegm in my left eye – blinded for a week or so. Ha! A pittance. He didn’t even get my good eye.
“Quick and painless … Quick and to the pointless…” I mumbled past promises to myself. We locked eye and he was disgusted.
I let a low grunt out and plunged the blade into his throat with a hiss. I tore down his belly and felt the creature writhe, drip, and then completely dry up in my hand. What had been slippery and vibrant was instantly rubbery and dulled. He was wrinkling, turning pruned and ugly.
It wasn’t right. I squished his little body and he felt hollow. A leather sack remained from a corpse so recently moist and alive. I heard something rattle within as I shook him. I thumbed the flap I had made in him and rooted around in the deserted carcass. My fingers found something smooth.
I pulled out a smooth black stone. It was shiny and porous, but finished and expertly cut. Like coal but clean.
It was already here. I was too late.
Ha-ha! Oh man he squirmed and juiced and tried to slip his way out, but I had the sunnuvabitch vice-gripped. I turned my head sideways to see the incline and find a flat, level spot. I wanted to do this there and then, without a chance for him to get away or for the salamander goop marking my tracks.
The grade revealed my best route to the top of the hill and I took it – avoiding the rocks and other faithful animals. I found a clearing where the grade subsided and placed the salamander on a dry patch to better see what the juices revealed.
A laid him down on his back and boy he wriggled and rocked on his pointed spine to turn and get away. But I had him pinned with my weak hand. I reached for my switchblade in my pocket and flicked it open.
He spat fluorescent phlegm in my left eye – blinded for a week or so. Ha! A pittance. He didn’t even get my good eye.
“Quick and painless … Quick and to the pointless…” I mumbled past promises to myself. We locked eye and he was disgusted.
I let a low grunt out and plunged the blade into his throat with a hiss. I tore down his belly and felt the creature writhe, drip, and then completely dry up in my hand. What had been slippery and vibrant was instantly rubbery and dulled. He was wrinkling, turning pruned and ugly.
It wasn’t right. I squished his little body and he felt hollow. A leather sack remained from a corpse so recently moist and alive. I heard something rattle within as I shook him. I thumbed the flap I had made in him and rooted around in the deserted carcass. My fingers found something smooth.
I pulled out a smooth black stone. It was shiny and porous, but finished and expertly cut. Like coal but clean.
It was already here. I was too late.