The meal was steaks and potatoes and biscuits and gravy. It was a typical Eastern Oregon meal and eaten with a lot of gusto by Greer and Cameron.
Greer sat there thinking about the monster and thinking about how this was still the same day they had awakened in a barn in Billy. He thought about all the events that had so far transpired.
It really had been a long day with the prospects of much more to follow: Events that would lead him and Cameron to attempt to deprive the Hawkline Monster of its existence and the strange powers that it possessed sitting across the table from them, staring out of two necklaces about the throats of two beautiful women who were completely unsuspecting, at faith with their jewelry.
Cameron counted random things in the room. He counted the things on the table: dishes, silverware, plates, etc… 28, 29, 30, etc.
It was something to do.
Then he counted the pearls that the Hawkline Monster was hiding in: … 5, 6, etc.
The Hawkline Monster in the Gravy
Toward the end of supper the Hawkline Monster left the necklaces and got onto the table. It condensed itself into the space of a serving spoon that was in a large bowl of gravy on the table. The shadow of the monster lay on top of the gravy pretending that it was gravy.
It was very difficult for the shadow to pretend that it was gravy but it worked hard at the performance and sort of pulled it off.
Cameron was amused by the monster getting on the table and he understood how difficult it was for the shadow to pretend that it was gravy.
“Sure is good gravy,” Greer said to Cameron.
“Yeah,” Cameron said, looking over at Greer.
“You hoys want some more gravy?” Miss Hawkline said.
“It sure is good,” Greer said. “What about you, Cameron, more gravy?”
The shadow of the Hawkline Monster was lying as flat as it could on top of the gravy. The monster itself was slightly uncomfortable in the spoon that had a little more reflection to it than it should have had.
“l don’t know. I’m pretty full now. But…” Cameron pun his hand on the spoon. He was now touching the Hawkline Monster. The spoon, though it was in a bowl of hot gravy, was cold.
Cameron casually thought about how in the fuck he could kill the monster but he couldn’t think of a way to kill a spoon, so he just used the Hawkline Monster to put some more gravy on his potatoes.
The monster obliged and fulfilled the function of a spoon. The shadow squirmed off the spoon when Cameron lifted the gravy from the serving bowl and it fell very awkwardly back into the bowl.
The shadow was very uncomfortable, almost sweating.
Cameron put the spoon back in the bowl and again disturbed the shadow which was now on the edge of panic. “How about you, Greer? You want some more of this good gravy?”
The Hawkline sisters were pleased that their gravy was getting such rave notices.
“No, Cameron. Good as it is, I’m just too full,” Greer said. “I think I’ll just sit here and watch you enjoy it. I like to watch a man eat who likes what he’s eating.”
The shadow thought that it was going to throw up.
Parlor Time Again
After supper they retired to a front parlor leaving the Hawkline Monster dangling spoon-like in some gravy. There was a large painting of a nude woman on the parlor wall. Greer and Cameron looked at the painting.
The Hawkline Monster did not follow them into the parlor. It went downstairs to the laboratory to get some rest in The Chemicals. It was tired. So was its shadow. Supper had been very long for them.
“Our father was fond of naked women,” Miss Hawkline said.
Coffee was served in the parlor with snifters of cognac by the Hawkline sisters who looked even prettier if that were possible.
Greer and Cameron kept looking at the nude painting of the woman and then at the Hawkline sisters who knew what they were doing but acted as if they didn’t. They could have chosen a different parlor. They were excited by the situation. The only way they showed their excitement, though, was by a slight increase in their breathing.
“That’s 1 pretty painting,” Cameron said.
The sisters did not answer him.
They smiled instead.
Greer and Cameron while paying attention to the nude painting and the beauty of the Hawkline women had carefully gone over the entire room looking for the monster and it was not there.
They had a couple of cups of coffee and a couple of snifters of cognac as they waited to see if the monster would return but it didn’t and their appreciation of Hawkline beauty increased some.
“Who painted that painting?” Cameron said.
“It was painted in France years ago,” Miss Hawkline said.
“Whoever painted it sure knew how to paint,” Cameron said, staring at the Hawkline sister who had just answered him. She liked the way Cameron was staring at her.
“Yes, the artist is very famous.”
“Did you ever meet him?”
“No, he was dead years before I was born.”
“That’s a shame,” Cameron said.
“Isn’t it?” Miss Hawkline said.
Soliloquy of the Shadow
The Hawkline Monster had returned to its jar of chemicals in the laboratory. It lay there in repose… strange sections of light not moving. These chemicals, the long and arduous work of Professor Hawkline, were the energy source, rejuvenation and place where the Hawkline Monster slept when it was tired, and while the monster slept, The Chemicals restored its power.
The shadow of the Hawkline Monster slept nearby. The shadow was dreaming. It was dreaming that it was the monster and the monster was it. It was a very pleasant dream for the shadow.
The shadow liked the idea of not being the shadow anymore but instead being the monster itself. The shadow did not like to sneak around all the time. It made the shadow nervous and unhappy. The shadow often cursed its fate and wished that The Chemicals had given it a better throw of the dice.
In the shadow’s dream it was the Hawkline Monster and occupying a bracelet on the wrist of one of the Hawkline sisters. It was very happy in the dream and trying to please her by making her bracelet shine more brightly.
The shadow did not approve of the monster’s tactics and was ashamed of the cruel things that the monster had inflicted upon the minds of the Hawkline sisters. The shadow could not understand why the monster did these things. If fate were reversed and the shadow changed into the monster, everything would be different around the house. These cruel jokes would come to an end and the monster’s energy would be directed to discovering and implementing new pleasures for the Hawkline sisters.
The shadow was very fond of them and hated to be a part of the monster’s sense of humor and wished only pleasure and good times for the Hawkline sisters instead of the evil pranks that the monster loved to play upon their bodies and their minds.
The shadow also strongly disapproved of what the monster had done to Professor Hawkline. It thought that the monster should have been loyal to him and not pulled such a diabolical prank on him.
The bracelet dream of the shadow suddenly dispelled itself and the shadow was wide awake. It stared down at the Hawkline Monster sleeping in The Chemicals. For the first time, the shadow realized how much it hated the monster and tried to think of ways to end its evil existence and take the energy of The Chemicals and change them into good.
The monster slept unsuspecting in the jar of chemicals.
The monster was tired from a day of evil deeds. It was so tired that it was snoring in The Chemicals.