“Sailing home from San Nicolas Island,” by John Post
Easy Reader Anniversary writing contest
Honorable mention
by J.E. Marshall
“Get out of my car!” the floral delivery man shouted. It was noon on Halloween but the streets of the Hollywood Riviera were already filling with odd sorts.
“Take me to the dentist!”
“Does this look like an Uber to you?” The back of the SUV was a sea of fall colored chrysanthemums with plastic pumpkins on sticks, save for one giant bouquet of red roses.
“Take me to any dentist.”
“You’re mad, but incredibly lucky. I’m running late. My next stop is a dentist. You drop off the roses and I won’t charge you.”
“It’s a deal.”
Jake found the doorway was blocked by three young skateboarders in red tights with devil tails. The stepsons of Sheriff Sam Scully were trick or treating and flirting with a dental assistant wearing a name tag that read, “Plum.” Jake checked the card on the roses. It read, “Plum.” She was cute. Her skirt was obscenely short. He decided he would have her before the day was done. He crumpled up the card and put it in his pocket. He was not discouraged by the huge engagement ring she was wearing.
“Plum, sweetheart, I thought if I brought you these roses you might pity me and give me immediate care. I have a wretched toothache. We’re filming on the beach and I can’t concentrate on my lines.” His teeth were fine. He wanted pills.
“OMG! It’s Jake Angelo!” A young girl with cotton in her mouth squealed.
Albert, Desmond and Chip, the Sheriff’s devilish stepsons, mimicked and mocked the girl. They would resume their mission to disgrace Plum later.
Jake Angelo, the lead singer of Pipe, notorious for kicking over the Oscar statue when the movie he had a cameo in won best picture, was striking. No matter what you thought of him, he caught your eye. His long brown hair was shiny, caught the light and cast flashes of red and gold.
After all the patients and Plum were gone, Dr. Tyler Anderson and his brother Dr. Mark Anderson had words in the hallway. Mark’s son, Paul, had told him that he was afraid of Tyler, that he feared his uncle was having a mental breakdown. Mark was upset that Tyler had given Jake the prescription and samples. He scolded Tyler for inviting Jake Angelo to Plum’s engagement party at Hennessey’s Tavern that evening.
“She’s your daughter. How could you set her up like this? You’re so impressed with celebrity that you would throw your own daughter to the wolves?”
******
Sheriff Scully’s wife interviewed the hitman in broad daylight. It was easy enough. She owned The Magic Stone Gallery, and part of her routine was telling fortunes and selling expensive stones to attract love, ward off evil, and cast spells. She pretended it was just another fortune teller job. She gave Aaron a piece of paper with the name of the person she wanted killed. He was surprised it was not Plum.
“But you hate her so much!”
“I want her to live with what my sons are going to do to her tonight. Death is too good for her.” Tiffany knew Sheriff Sam Scully married her on the rebound after Plum turned him down. Now Plum was going to marry Sam’s brother, Barry the jeweler.
******
Night fell and the streets of the Riviera Village were jammed with trick or treaters. Dr Tyler Anderson’s sons, Quinton, Martin, Morgan and Lucas came to their sister’s engagement party dressed as four Musketeers chocolate bars. Plum was dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein. She and her girlfriends drank Cosmopolitans and sang karaoke while waiting for Barry to arrive. He was late. When Jake Angelo jumped on the stage to sing the Social Distortion version of “Ring of Fire,” no one recognized him in his Lone Ranger costume. Then his cowboy hat fell off, out came the cascade of shiny hair and girls started screaming. Three men in red devil costumes jumped up on the stage and started pushing and punching Jake. He sang louder and punched back. People packed in from the street to see what was going on. Someone called the police and six ambulances arrived. The Four Musketeers and two others were rushed to the hospital.
Sheriff Sam Scully went looking for his brother Barry. The jewelry store’s front door was locked but the jewelry was still in the window. Barry’s severed head was bleeding all over a bed of pearls. Sam ran around back. Barry’s car was there. The back door wasn’t locked.
Trick or treaters ran screaming out of The Magic Stone Gallery. There was a huge bowl of unattended candy, bloody candy. Tiffany’s head was under the candy. Only her nose was sticking out. In the courtyard where she read fortunes sat her torso with a giant rose quartz stone where her head used to be. From the olive tree by the fountain hung the three red devils, upside down with their throats slit.
Plum’s uncle Mark found her and carried her out to the paramedics. She was still alive but had lost a lot of blood. Sheriff Scully fell asleep in a chair by her hospital bed. Her face was cut from ear to ear and her lips and nose were gone. She was stable and asleep when someone slipped into her hospital room and stabbed her in the heart. Scully shot the person in the back as he left the room. The bullet killed the man and the nurse who came to see what the matter was. Scully was horrified to see he had killed Dr. Tyler Anderson, Plum’s dad. Musketeer Lucas managed to make his way from his room to Plum’s room in spite of his serious injuries. When Lucas saw what Scully had done to his father, he pulled the knife out of Plum’s chest and killed Scully. Tyler’s last words were that he couldn’t let his daughter live like that.
Musketeer Morgan lived long enough to tell his nurse that his father stabbed him for trying to stop him from going after the red devils. Musketeers Quinton and Martin were dead on arrival. The police arrested Aaron because his fingerprints were found all over the rose quartz stone at the Magic Stone Gallery. Jake Angelo was reported missing and a person of interest. No one at the hospital recognized him. He was registered as a John Doe. Whoever broke his jaw and put him in a coma had also cut off all his hair. ER
