Goat Mother and Others: The Collected Mythos Fiction of Pierre Comtois by Pierre V. Comtois, Charlie Krank, Nick Nacario Read Free Book Online

but she still remembered the intensity of its gaze and in the remaining hours of the night and into the dawn, she had come to realize that part of what she had seen there was confusion. She concluded that Adele’s spell or formulas or whatever, had worked. The Azathoth-thing had been drawn from outside and been at once freed and trapped in Daniel’s alien body… at the mercy of others for guidance in a strange new world…and in its desperation, eager to do whatever was asked of it in return. She didn’t know what Adele had planned, but she was sure a woman with her ambitions wouldn’t have killed her husband and disfigured herself in such a horrid fashion just to live it up in a backwoods town like Dunwich when there were so many other possibilities.
    Seeing that Daniel had finished his meal, Ruth picked up a napkin and dabbed at the corners of his mouth. For herself, she had more modest dreams. A prosperous farm, a long healthy life for she and Daniel, maybe children, but before all that could happen, other, less pleasant things needed to be taken care of. None of her dreams would matter for instance, if the events at the Turner’s farm weren’t taken care of first. Pushing the empty plate away, she leaned onto the table and whispered the name she had seen on the Turner’s refrigerator, the one Adele had attempted to use too late. And then, sensing she’d been heard, Ruth posed a question and for the first time since she’d interrupted Adele’s ritual the night before,
Daniel began to speak
…
n Dunwich.

Goat Mother
    arlene, honey…”
    “Bill, dear,” replied Darlene Cobb with growing exasperation, “can’t you get it through that thick male skull of yours? We’re just friends.”
    “But, Darlene, I was sure after what we’ve meant to each other over the past few months…”
    Darlene sighed loud enough so that Bill could hear her at the other end of the telephone line. “I won’t deny that it wasn’t fun, Bill, but that’s all it was. You’re a wonderful guy to be with and I appreciated the time we spent together, but I won’t be tied down the way you want me. Now if you can’t live with that…”
    “So I don’t mean anything to you, then?”
    Darlene sighed again. “You mean something to me as a good friend and that’s all. If that’s not enough for you, then there’s nothing I can do.”
    “Well, then…this is goodbye.”
    “If that’s the way you want it.”
    “It is.”
    Darlene heard a distinct click in the earphone as Bill hung up.
    Finally
, she thought, replacing the receiver onto its cradle. Men were so predictable. Just because a woman sleeps with them, they think they own her. Here it was the 21st century and it was as if the feminist revolution never happened. Well, wake up and smell the coffee boys, women don’t need you that way any more!
    Putting Bill out of her mind, Darlene retraced her steps back into the kitchen where she had been dicing celery before being interrupted by the telephone. On the way, she passed the front door and noticed there were envelopes on the floor beneath the mail slot. Changing direction in mid-stride, she crouched and gathered them up. Straightening, she began sorting through them: more bills, another offer for a Sears credit card, Greenpeace wanted a donation…and a letter postmarked Dean’s Corners.
    Tossing the rest of the mail onto the kitchen table, Darlene reached for the knife she’d been dicing the celery with, and slit the envelope open. Looking at the return address, she noticed it was from her Uncle Silas Cobb. Hmmph, she hadn’t heard from him in a while. Not that she’d made any effort to keep in touch. Generally, she preferred to forget her old home town. Dean’s Corners had just been so boring! A typical back-country, small Massachusetts town where nothing ever happened and everybody knew everybody else’s business. She’d hated living there, and as soon as she had the opportunity to leave, she took it. City life,