The Body

Kit's mind was blank as a sheet of paper. She seemed to be drifting in a dark space. She came out of it slowly.

She slumped against the wall. She stared at him. He did not move.

Kit didn't dare to close her eyes. What if he moved? What would she do?

She looked around the kitchen. There was blood everywhere. How can one man hold so much blood in his body?

She looked down at her hands. Her fingers were still gripping the knife. She could see the veins sticking out on her hands, she was holding the knife so tightly.

She made herself look at him again. His eyes were open. They were staring at her accusingly. She shuddered and looked away again.

What was she going to do with the body? A clatter on the verandah startled her. Who was here?

Her next door neighbor's dog came in suddenly. It wagged its tail at her.

Kit looked at the dog. An idea began to dawn. She wondered if she would be brave enough to carry it out.

She looked again at the body. He was a big man.

She looked over to the dog. It was a wolfhound. It often came over to her house. She fed it sometimes.

The dog wagged its tail again. It was hungry. She was sure of it. She got up. She walked slowly to the larder. She opened the door and took out a piece of raw meat.

The dog whined. It could smell the meat. It came over to her.

Kit smiled at the dog. She patted its head. She then walked over to the body. The dog followed.

She put the meat on top of the body. Then, she stepped back.

The dog walked over to the meat. It licked the meat. It began to eat.

It was a small piece of meat. It was soon gone. The dog was still hungry. It began to gnaw at her husband's body.

*****

Kit followed the dog out. There was a bag in her hand. She saw Mrs. Steven, the dog's owner. She was looking for her dog.

The wolfhound went to his owner, licking his chops.

"Oh, there you are," Mrs. Steven said. She smiled at Kit. "You must have been feeding him again. I'm sorry, I can't seem to stop him from going into your kitchen."

Kit smiled dreamily. She said, "It's okay. I had a big piece of meat. And Martin called to say that he wasn't going to be home for dinner. I didn't want to waste the meat. I've still got some bones for him."

She handed the bag over.

Mrs. Steven took the bag from her. She laughed. "He'll be so happy with these to gnaw on tomorrow." She hefted the bag. "Why, this is quite heavy. You must have given him a whole week's supply of bones. Thank you."

Mrs. Steven opened the bag to take a look. Martin's skull came into view, the empty eye sockets staring up at her. There was still some flesh attached to it. She dropped the bag and screamed.

Kit smiled at her. "You're very welcome." She went back into the house and closed the door.