Just Underneath by Jason Palmer

Author:Jason Palmer [Palmer, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JPF
Published: 2023-04-03T23:00:00+00:00

I’m not sure what to say about “Worm Problem”: it came easily, and I enjoyed writing it. It doesn’t develop in the way that people expect, which seems to please them. The story was published in 2017 by Kasma.

Worm Problem

The fat grey worm was three feet long and half as wide. It had segments like inner tubes and no visible eyes or mouth.

“It’s one of them,” said Josh.

“Gross,” said Dina.

It just sat there on a mat of rotting leaves beside the pond. Josh started looking for a twig.

“Is it dead?” said Dina.

“They’re all dead. Nobody’s found one alive. Well, there was that one they found that wasn’t quite dead yet, but it didn’t do anything except crawl a few inches and die.”

“I don’t like this.” She looked around as if the air had changed. “It’s really weird. Where’d they come from?”

Another couple stopped along the trail and watched. The man didn’t have to restrain his German shepherd; the dog didn’t seem to care about the worm. “There’s another one, other side of the water.”

“They’re here,” the woman agreed. She pulled a scarf up over the lower half of her face while she looked at the worm.

Josh couldn’t find a twig and touched it with the tip of his shoe. “Where’d so many of them come from, so fast?”

“They must have come up from underground,” the man said.

When Josh went to nudge it again, Dina pulled him back with an impatient sound.

“Well,” said the man, politely, and they went on with their hike.

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