Devils' Tag by John Schaeffer

Author:John Schaeffer [Schaeffer, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781468538144
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2012-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Sigmund Freud, The Hotdog Salesman

VERY CONFUSED, TOMMY TRIED TO see his top hat, but too many things moved. He fought it, but he felt himself lifted like a sack of potatoes and passed from hand to hand. He heard sirens and smelled gunpowder burning. A thousand pesky bugs seemed to jump at his skin. “I need my hat!” he heard himself say, but more firecrackers exploded and knocked his words away like kernels of popcorn on a hot griddle.

Tommy kicked at the hands that passed him along. Once again he felt out of control of his own movements. Why do I even bother thinking, he wondered? Then he saw sunlight, and a crew of firefighters scurrying by with pails of water. What if you measure a fireman anew, he asked himself? More people rushed by with water, clowns and bearded ladies. “False alarm!” somebody in the distance called out, and others echoed: “False alarm!” “False alarm!” “Alse alarm!” “Alse alarm!” “Ss Alarm!” “Larm!” “Arm!” Tommy thought he saw a joker slip past him and give him a dirty look.

“Right back atcha!” Tommy heard himself say. Then he felt pushed down into what looked like a gutter, and he slid down a slide through darkness. He smelled mold and mildew, and the slide felt bumpy and hurt his back and tailbone. He tumbled out onto a pile of loose hay and sneezed. Several other figures slid down right after him and knocked him over each time he attempted to stand up. So finally he just lie there, quiet. Maybe if I play dead, they’ll leave me alone, he thought.

But they did not leave him alone. The note-slipping boys pulled him to his feet and dusted off his tuxedo. One put his top hat back on him. “Here, I found your hat.”

“Thanks,” Tommy said, though he felt a bit dazed and confused. Several of the boys from the warehouse stood before him, but not the serious, stocky leader. Tommy found him conspicuously absent.

“Tell him!” one boy urged.

The shortest boy asked: “How come you weren’t gonna come to the alley?”

“The alley? I told him the theatre,” another boy said, and then he turned in a circle to his left three times and counted on his fingers.

“Not the theatre! The pier!” the one balancing on a pogo stick complained. Tommy noticed a discoloration on the left side of his face.

“What was wrong with the clock tower?” the one with the bird-beak nose asked.

And the boys began to fight and push each other around.

“Who said I wasn’t coming?” Tommy asked. At the sound of his voice, they all stopped and stood at attention. “Thanks for my hat,” Tommy told them, and then he tried to climb back up the slide which had delivered him to this uncomfortable place.

“Wait! Don’t go!”

“Yeah! We need you!”

“You have to lead us!”

“Lead you where?” Tommy asked, realizing he could not climb the slide.

“Shhhh! He might hear us.”

“Who?”

“It’s William!”

“Well, well, well! What have we here?” A door slammed in the

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.