The Golem of Brooklyn by Adam Mansbach

Author:Adam Mansbach [Mansbach, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

The Black Hand

Len sipped from his Mason jar and winced. This stuff was terrible, and he could practically feel it making him go blind. But if he’d ever needed a drink, it was right now.

“Yeah, no, I strongly disagree,” he said. “In no way is that the only logical response to the situation.”

Uncle Josh poured them each another two fingers from what looked like a brass watering can, then topped off Miri and The Golem, neither of whom had touched their portions.

The cabin was more or less as Len remembered—books and VHS tapes overflowing from handmade shelves, dried flowers and salamis hanging from the rafters, giant framed 1960s Italian advertising posters that had seemed sophisticated and fun when they’d hung in the high-rise South Loop bachelor’s condo of a rich Chicago litigator but felt somehow apocalyptic here.

Uncle Josh, meanwhile, looked like shit. He’d lost most of his hair, except for a gray fringe that started at the crown of his head and hung halfway down his back, as did his beard. His arms were still wiry and strong, but his stomach was enormously bloated—less like a gut than a hot water bottle filled to the bursting point.

He was clad in nothing but his boxer shorts and a pair of knee braces, and seemed perfectly comfortable entertaining his nephew, a strange woman, and a golem in this state of undress. The bigfoot costume lay inside out at his feet, all its secrets laid bare: the rough hand-stitching where the flaps of bear hide were joined, the smears of dried blood, the foam inserts to extend the arms, the jerry-rigged stirrup system that added nearly three feet of height to the legs and looked like an absolute bitch to walk in.

“I lost my paradise,” he said. “I used to walk naked in these woods. Swim naked in the lake. Sleep naked under the stars. And then”—Uncle Josh snapped two thick fingers—“everything changed. They parceled it up and sold it off. I don’t hear the forest anymore. I hear construction crews. I hear Bob the investment banker telling his wife to flip the steaks. There’s jet skis on the lake. It’s everything I came here to get away from.”

“So naturally, you started dressing up like Bigfoot and terrorizing your neighbors.”

“They terrorized me first.”

“The game plan being what, exactly? That if they think the missing link is wandering the woods, they’ll pack up and leave?”

Uncle Josh shrugged, and Len saw moisture rising to the corners of his eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just…” He sighed. “It’s something to do.”

“The suit is very impressive,” said Miri.

“Thank you. It’s been a labor of love. And hate.”

“Did it ever occur to you that you could get hurt?” Len asked. “Or shot?”

“Did it ever occur to you that you could get hurt or shot, running around with a fucking golem?”

“It definitely occur to The Golem to hurt him or shoot him,” said The Golem.

Uncle Josh dropped his elbows onto the table, peered across the room at him, and said, “You, my friend, are a miracle.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.