Hornets and Others

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Some of these stories are old and dear friends of mine; others, after visiting them for the first time in ten or twenty years since their publication, seem like new ones. I was particularly pleased to reread one tale and be totally surprised by the ending: is that craftsmanship allied to a bad memory, which I have ever owned, or merely incipient senility? Two stories are brand new to both of us.

In any event, dear reader, I do hope you find something herein to enjoy, and, more importantly, something that scares you...

Al Sarrantonio – May, 2003

The Ropy Thing

The ropy thing got most of the neighborhood while Suzie and Jerry were watching Saturday morning cartoons on TV. Then the cable went out and Jerry's dad put on the radio but then that went out too. By then Suzie and Jerry were watching the ropy thing from the big picture window in Jerry's living room. The ropy thing was very fast, and sometimes they saw only its tip stretched high and straight, or formed into a loop, or snaking over a house or between trees or moving over cars. It hesitated, then shot into the moving van in front of Suzie's house across the street, pulling a fat uniformed mover out, coiling around him head to toe like a mummy and then yanking him down into the ground. It pulled Suzie's mom into the ground too, catching her as she tried to run back into the house from where she had been directing the movers from the curb.

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