Today I Remember by Martin L. Shoemaker

Author:Martin L. Shoemaker [Shoemaker, Martin L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WordFire Press

Renfield danced down the stairs and through the mortuary lobby. There was no music, but he danced anyway, twirling the garment bag like a beautiful lady. Somewhere there was music, he was sure, and so he danced through the door and to the Manhattan sidewalk, which was still damp from last night’s rain.

He liked dancing almost as much as handstands. And flowers. And knights. And real scissors (not safety scissors). And staplers. And doing a good job and pleasing the Master.

Renfield knew he was different. Papa had called him a failure, Mama had called him a burden, and the police had called him a dummy. The woman in the white coat had called him a deluge (at least he thought that was the word), and the man in the black robe had called him a danger to himself. The attendants in the Home called him special. But the Master called him an ally. He gave him work to do, important work, and that was more than the attendants had done. They had let him do some small tasks when he had first arrived, but every time he had trouble with a task, they took it away and did it for him. They never gave him another chance, they told him how special he was, and soon they did everything for him. For a while they had let him make cloth dolls. He couldn’t figure out needle and thread, but he could staple the cloth together. Then they decided that even a stapler and safety scissors were too hard for him. Little kids could use staplers and safety scissors, but not him! They were very nice, but they treated him like a not-very-bright animal, and the Home was his cage. Renfield knew the Master was not a nice person and did not-nice things; but even when the Master was angry, he treated Renfield like a person, and so Renfield had run away from the Home to serve him.

And Renfield knew he didn’t see things right. Sometimes he saw things that weren’t there, or saw them wrong. That was what made white-coat woman called him a deluge (though what water had to do with it, he didn’t know—he never saw water that wasn’t there). But he couldn’t help it; he tried to see what she told him to, but he couldn’t, and it hurt to try. He was comfortable with the world he saw. So, when he saw yellow elephants in the street where other people saw yellow cabs, he was okay with that. Either one would take him to the honeysuckle office, right?

Amid the cars and trucks that rolled past, splashing water as they went, there was an elephant just down the potholed street. (Or maybe it was a cab?) Now what did people say to call an elephant? Renfield was sure he had seen that on TV (though the elephants looked like cars there). Was it …

“Taxes!” Renfield shouted, but the elephant did not budge.

“Toxic!” Neither did the turbaned man who sat atop the elephant.

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