A Fantasy short story by I.M. Gerhi
Nicotine Strawberry needs to get past the Lollipop Whirlpool. She does not know why. But she gets the help of anybody she can, an uncle, a vampire, an undercover dinosaur, and a gnome but it all seems for naught because the frogg is coming to get her.
Strawberry Bites is an adventure story of a different kind where reality gets sucked right through the bottom of a lake and comes out a bit twisted on the other side.
At the moment Strawberry Bites is only available as part of the short story collection Night Light Tales.
Read a sample:
Uncle Joe placed his hand on the freshly painted wrought iron gate. There was a metal bat in the middle of the iron filigree. Beyond the gate, a stone path wound down to Sep Keep’s mansion. They had come here on a mission and had to hike half an hour downhill to get here. But now Uncle Joe stopped and put his other hand on Nicotine Strawberry’s shoulder.
“Listen now, gal,” he said. “You can’t dweeb out in front of a guy like this. He’s a cold-stoned killer.”
Nicotine clenched her fists and cocked her head. “What else do you want me to do? I’ve got no other option but his boat, and you know that.”
“I know that,” said Uncle Joe. “But he ain’t know that. Not yet, and we got to keep it so. First sign that we are weak, and he’ll snip us to bits in a blood frenzy.”
“What do you want me to do then?”
Uncle Joe stooped and picked up his violin case. “You just follow your main Uncle’s lead, babe. Keep quiet and act tough like a gum nut.”
“Aa—” said Nicotine, but Uncle Joe held up a hand and stopped her from speaking.
The gate squeaked like a pig stuck in a dry mud pit. In silence, they walked down the winding path and stopped in front of the corrugated iron, extra-wide front door.
The door opened before they knocked. It seemed to open by itself because there was nobody there to greet them.
“Hello?” said Uncle Joe as he leaned over the threshold.
Nicotine pushed him from behind, and together they edged into the foyer. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all tiled in red onyx. The foyer led into an open space that covered the whole of the ground floor.
The far wall was wrapped in a glass curtain, and they could see the Lollipop Whirlpool shimmering with a green haze on the horizon beyond.
Nicotine shivered and clutched onto Uncle Joe’s arm.
In the middle of the foyer, a cast iron staircase wound tightly upward, disappearing into a dark hole in the ceiling.
“Seems as if we are expected,” said Uncle Joe and started for the stairs.
Their shoes clanked loudly on the metal steps, the barren space throwing dull echoes back at them. Nicotine regretted wearing platforms.
The stairs opened up onto a dimly lit landing. There was only one door open. The greenish light from the door showed that the distant room also looked out at the Lollipop Whirlpool.
“How can he stand to look at it all day?” said Nicotine.
“Shush,” said Uncle Joe. “He ain’t a man like you and me.”
Sep Keep sat in a dark chair with the green light of the Lollipop Whirlpool as a backlight. He was only a dark shadow, and he spoke with a nasal twang that surprised Uncle Joe and Nicotine.
“You can’t have it.”
Uncle Joe stopped short at the door, and Nicotine bumped into his broad back.
“What do you mean?” said Uncle Joe.
“My boat, you can’t have it. I’m not renting, loaning, selling, or giving it away. No to no one, no how.”
Uncle Joe looked at Nicotine and then glanced at the Lollipop Whirlpool. “How did you know we were here for the boat?”
“There were only three boats on the lake that could cross the Lollipop Whirlpool,” said Sep.
“Were?” said Uncle Joe.
Sep snorted as if a large piece of mucus was stuck in the back of his throat. Then he continued, slightly more hoarse than before. “Dravit Scrimpers let his boat rust out last season, and it’s sitting full of silt in his boathouse. Lady Sue actually sold hers to a foreigner, and it sank twenty paces from shore. Took the foreigner and twenty cases of Tabasco sauce with it. That leaves only my boat. The Lollipop Whirlpool is in full bloom, and you need to get across it.”
Sep Keep waited for a moment, but clearly, it was for effect, and he did not expect Uncle Joe or Nicotine to speak.
“So there you have it,” said Sep.
Nicotine stepped past Uncle Joe, her neck held stiff.
…end of sample
Strawberry Bites © I.M. Gerhi