From: skagos@hercules.cs.uregina.ca (panagiotis skagos (187802923))
Subject: Come to Mommy ( a story )
Reply-To: skagos@hercules.uregina.ca (panagiotis skagos (187802923))
Organization: University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan
Distribution: alt.prose,alt.good.news
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 05:16:35 GMT

Hi,

  This is a story written a while ago that I'm posting in protest to
the attack on Rick Rauser's stories in alt.good.news.  This is a nice,
simple story that has a good news kind of message to it -- especially for
cat lovers.  Enjoy!



                                  Come to Mommy
                                       by
                                 P. Takis Skagos
                                    1991/7/29


               It was a  warm summer  night, hot actually,  as it  had
          been  for  the past  two  weeks.   A  full  moon high  above
          reflected  hauntingly  in  the  crystal  blue swimming pool,
          illuminating the nude body of Michelle Thorne who was lazily
          drifting from one end to the other.  At the edge of the pool
          sat Kiki, a slim Egyptian Mau.
               "Here girl.  Come to mommy," called out Michelle as she
          pulled herself out of the pool.  "Give us a kiss."
               Kiki  moved towards  Michelle  and jumped  up into  her
          arms.   Somehow she managed  to avoid touching the sparkling
          water  droplets cascading  down Michelle's  glistening skin.
          Kiki's blue nose gently touched Michelle's.
               "That's a good girl.  You  sure are!"  Kiki bounced  to
          the  ground and Michelle proceeded  to wrap herself  up in a
          large white towel.  "Oh, that's the door."  Michelle quickly
          secured the towel and stepped up onto the patio  deck on her
          way into the house.

               Kiki  sauntered, as that is  what cats do,  back to the
          edge of the  pool just out of reach  of the water.   She had
          been  with  Michelle  for  more  than  twenty years  now,  a
          lifetime for most cats, ever since that night in the park.
               Michelle was  young, just out  of high school,  and was
          waiting for her  mother to meet her  in Victoria Park.   The
          curtain of night  quickly closed around  her, yet she  still
          sat there, waiting.  At almost 2 o'clock in the morning when
          Michelle had finally given up, two large men approached her.
          They wore dark suits and hats, and black wraparound glasses.
          The  following morning  Michelle learned  that two  men were
          found floating in the lake, bruised and beaten.
               Michelle  did not  remember  a thing  about that  night
          except that this cat had followed her home.
               Kiki was large and had always been large.  She  did not
          seem to age the way a cat should.  Everything  about her was
          odd, and the fact that she had no eyes only made her more of
          a mystery.

               There  was a noise in the  house, a crash of some sort.
          Kiki raised  her  head and  directed  her ears  towards  the
          sliding door  a little bit further  up on the  patio.  There
          was another sound, more of a thud as if something was tossed
          against a wall.  Kiki stood up.

               "Tell  us where she is," calmly  ordered the smaller of
          the  three men who now stood over Michelle's prone body.  He
          wore  a  dark  blue suit,  a  dark  blue  fedora, and  black
          wraparound glasses.   In a gloved hand he held  a long strip
          of metal studded leather.

               "I don't know what  you mean," cried Michelle, touching
          her finger  to her swelling lip.  Her vision was blurred and
          she  felt as  though  she was  missing some teeth.  "Please,
          don't kill me ..."
               "The Institute  has been watching  you for a  while now
          Michelle.  We want to now where she is."
               "Wh ... who?"
               "Our  glorious  founder  of  course.    Where  is  your
          mother?"
               "My mother is ... she's ... dead ..."
               Michelle was  silenced by  a solid  kick  in her  solar
          plexus.   She was then tossed  onto a couch by  the same man
          who had kicked her, a tower of solid muscle.
               "We have no patience for lies, Michelle."   The smaller
          man took  a seat across from  Michelle.  He removed  his hat
          and placed  it on the coffee  table.  On his  forehead was a
          hazy yellow circle  with a black slit  running vertically in
          it.  To  Michelle it  looked like some  sort of  disembodied
          cat's eye.  "Now, Michelle, tell us where your mother is."
               "I ... I ...",  and Michelle began to convulse.   Blood
          and bile started from  her mouth and nose, running  into her
          eyes  as  she  tossed   her  head  back  and  forth   in  an
          uncontrollable fit.  She did not and could not see the patio
          door slide  open, letting  the sterile white  moonlight fill
          the room.

                                       ***

               Michelle was stretched  out on  her bed.   She had  not
          been asleep for very long when she was woken up by a pain in
          her stomach.  Michelle dismissed it as simply too much pizza
          from the night  before.  Kiki, as  usual, was sleeping in  a
          basket beside the bed.
               On the  way to  the bathroom  Michelle switched on  the
          television.    As she  was  preparing  an Alka  Seltzer  for
          herself, a news update  on the television told of  car found
          in the lake  that morning.   In the car  were the bodies  of
          three men.


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| Panagiotis Takis Skagos         | Stamp out redundancy. |
| (skagos@hercules.cs.uregina.ca) | Stamp out redundancy. |
| Computer Science, Honours.      | Stamp out redundancy. |
| University of Regina.           | Stamp out redundancy. |
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