Jimmy sat perfectly still on the part of the porch that extended past the stairs. He knew this spot well for he had come here at this precise time on almost every day of his 9 years in existence. The sun slanted just right through the trees, and the warm breeze from across the yard swirled playfully around his legs. Jimmy closed his eyes, and let the wind sway him from side to side; back and forth.
A shrill birdcall erupted from a tree to the left and awoke him from his peaceful daydreaming. He inhaled deeply, and then slowly walked around to the side of the house. Jimmy sat next to the faded green patio chair on a makeshift bed he had made himself. Soft blankets and half-torn newspaper lay around him as he leaned against the house. Once a week, his mother Kristen would come to this bad and add some scraps from the Sunday paper. She would joke around saying that he should read some of the articles and become more educated, but he never did.
Jimmy raised his nose to the wind, and for a moment, he smelled the most wonderful aroma. It was better than the best food that Kristen had ever made, and better than any of the vegetables he found outside the house. Then it was gone. The wind changed directions and the smell was lost, but Jimmy was wide-awake now. He stood stiffly, his nose turned in the direction of the scent, waiting. There it was again! How magnificent it smelled, multi-layered and full of rich sweet flavor. Jimmy set off at a run.
Stopping only briefly to scramble over the tall white fence encompassing the yard, he dashed eagerly into the forest. As he ran further the further, the smell became stronger, filling his nostrils. A few times he lost the scent, but after no more than a minute, it returned, more potent than ever. Just as his breathing became ragged and quick, Jimmy stopped. He stood at the foot of a great redwood tree, the tallest that he could see in the grove, and at it’s base, there was a tunnel. The entrance was large. Big enough for even Kristen to fit through, who was a good deal taller than he. Jimmy could not help but let a small drop of saliva slip from his bottom lip, for the obsessive odor was all but billowing out of the hole in the ground.
He walked inside slowly, and with each step, the light from outside diminished. It did not take long from his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but even if there had been no light at all, the smell would have forced Jimmy to continue. Damp earth surrounded him, and he jumped each time a droplet of water fell from the ceiling and landed on his head. The tunnel quickly grew wider, but suddenly there was something blocking his way. Jimmy had nearly hit his head on a cast-iron gate stretching across the tunnel.
Jimmy gave a sigh of exasperation. He knew that the source of the smell was just on the other side of this gate, but he could not see a way through. There didn’t appear to be a door, and the gate covered all sides of the tunnel completely. Jimmy tried squeezing through one of the larger holes near the bottom, but he was much too large to fit through. He paced. Side to side; back and forth. For almost half an hour he walked in circles, every few seconds glancing at the gate to see if some new loophole had opened up. None did.
He could not take the torment any longer. He needed to reach the source of this wonderful mystery smell. He needed help.
Kristen planted the hand-tiller firmly into the soil, and pulled sharply, churning the soft brown earth into uniform mounds. She smiled. This was when she was most at peace, doing garden work on a warm sunny day. The till went back and forth, the birds sung softly in the trees around her, and there was a faint tinkling in the distance. Kristen sighed, and stood up slowly, carefully holding her aging back.
“Ooo how the years go by,” she murmured to herself as she put her garden tools away and grabbed her walking stick.
There was a rustling in the bushes behind her, and as she turned, Jimmy came bounding out of the brush.
“Oh hello Jimmy boy!” Kristen said fondly. She bent down and obliged him by scratching one of the cheeks that he presented to her. “I’m just about to go for a walk, do you want to come?”
She and Jimmy often went on walks in the forest. It was a kind of mutual bonding time. Neither of them had initiated this tradition; it had just come to happen.
Jimmy crooned, and then lept off into the forest. Kristen laughed to herself.
“I guess we’re going this way then,” she said as she set off in pursuit of her elusive cat. Just after she broke through the bushes, she saw Jimmy just ahead, standing to the side of a blackberry bush. As she approached, he scampered off until he was just visible behind another stand of trees. This was how it often went – him leading the way and her following, yet today he seemed rushed. He ran much faster than normal, and although his features were beyond her ability to read, she thought that he looked impatient. Got to cut back on the Meow Mix from now on, she thought to herself.
Just as she reached where Jimmy had been standing, an awful smell reached her nose. Images of sour milk and decrement filled her head, and she almost gagged. Thankfully, after a few moments, the odor was gone, replaced by the crisp softness of a forest on a summer day. Jimmy called to her, and she barely caught sight of him dashing towards a magnificent redwood that shot high above its neighboring trees. With renewed interest, she marched forward once more. Jimmy was still waiting by the redwood.
Kristen suddenly stopped, and spat involuntarily. The smell had returned, and its oppressive scent pressed at her nostrils. She was now only twenty or so feet from the tree. Jimmy yowled at her again, then lept into the roots of the tree. No…there was a hold. A hole at the base of the tree.
“Jimmy! Don’t go in there!” she cried out to him, but the only response she got was a soft meow coming from somewhere under the tree. Against her better judgment, she stepped forward until she was at the lip of what now appeared to be a hollowed out cave. The noxious scent was all around her, so she covered her nose with her shirtsleeve.
“Jimmy!” she
called out. No reply. “oh, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Kristen began to walk into the cave. Slowly at first, then a bit
faster as she was coaxed on by what strangely sounded like meows of
encouragement from up ahead. The acrid smell intensified, and just as she was
about to turn around and leave the cave, she saw Jimmy. He was standing next to
what looked like an iron grate, and staring through one of its many holes at
something hidden in the gloom.
“There you are!” Kristen said, and she rushed over to pick her cat up. He had never before fought her embrace, but now, he raised hell. He thrashed and hissed so suddenly that she was forced to drop him onto the ground, where he resumed his longing stare through the grate.
“No Jimmy! Bad!” said Kristen in shock. She looked through the grate, but could barely see anything in the dim light. “What’s back there anyway?” she said, now annoyed by her pet’s lack of cooperation. Covering her nose even tighter, and felt along the grate until her had fell on a hinge, and then a handle. She turned the handle slowly. The door was open.
Jimmy listened to the slow creak of the hinges impatiently. He walked back and forth beneath Kristen’s legs, and mewed loudly when she stood in the middle of the doorway, blocking his way. Finally, she took a step forward, and there was room enough for Jimmy to pass. Just as he darted past her, she le out a shrill scream that reverberated around the cave. Jimmy leapt up in shock and looked around in confusion. The next second, he had forgotten Kristen’s outburst, and ran forward towards the back of the cave.
Here, the smell wafted up in a thick aroma, blanketing his senses in ecstasy. It was all around him, as were many dark huddled shapes. Jimmy ran towards the nearest one and sank his teeth into a hunk of warm, juicy meat. If it was possible, it tasted better than it smelled. Just as he began his second bite, he heard faint footsteps coming from the mouth of the cave. He froze. Kristen was retching behind him, and she looked up long enough to hiss, “Jimmy, NO!”
Kristen went back to heaving silently and obviously did not hear the approaching footsteps. Jimmy’s fur stood on end. He had a bad feeling about this intruder. Quickly, he ran past Kristen towards an especially dark corner, and sat quietly. Kristen saw him dash past, and followed. Once she had arrived, he allowed himself to be scooped up, and stoked softly. She smelled strongly of vomit. After a moment, she grew still as well, for the footsteps now echoed clearly around the cave. Jimmy listened as Kristen’s heart began to race.
A beam of artificial light appeared at the entrance to the main cavern, which was followed quickly by a hulking man. He wasn’t exactly hulking, he just looked that way due to the limp form draped over his shoulder. Kristen stopped breathing. The man was whistling softly, and he walked slowly to the rear of the cave. There, he dumped his load, and stood for a few moments examining the mass of lumped figures against the wall.
It was then that a slightly different smell reached Jimmy’s nose. It was much like the ever-present, obsessive aroma from before, except this was more pungent, more fresh, sweeter. He could not help himself from dashing away from Kristen’s arms towards the newly dumped shape. He didn’t make it halfway across the floor, because the flat end of a shovel came rushing towards his face.
Then, there was darkness.
Jimmy awoke as if in a daze. Bright sunlight flashed in his eyes in soft patterns accompanied by the swishing of willow trees to his left. A breeze tickled his fur, and he slowly opened his eyes. A bird called from behind him, and his ear perked up in that direction. Four lives down, five to go, he thought silently. Jimmy looked around. He was back at the house, lying in his soft bed of cloth and paper. How long had he been asleep? And how did he get back from the cave in the woods? Was any of that real? There was no way to tell, so he contented himself with sitting quietly. He let his head fall against the bottom of his bed, and a newspaper clipping blew into view. Normally he didn’t glance twice at these scraps of paper, but on this one, there was a familiar image. It was the mouth of the cave beneath the redwood. There was a caption underneath it, which read:
Late yesterday afternoon, 55 year old Kristen Reeman called in and reported an alleged “hoard of human bodies” in a cave not far from her home in Santa Cruz, CA. Police later arrived on the scene and reported that there was in fact a secret cavern filled with human carcasses, and that it is the work of a serial killer on the loose known as the ‘Body Barron.’ Reeman claims that it was her cat who led her to the cave, and credits him with the exposure of the crime-scene…
Jimmy was growing tired again, so he stopped reading and closed his eyes. With a slight twinge of regret, he realized that the delicious aroma was nowhere to be smelled.