Hoarder by Armando D. Muñoz Read Free Book Online Page A

called her behind her back when she left following her weekly shopping excursions. Bird Lady was too kind, and Crazy Bird was not severe enough. They called her The Vulture .
    Later it would become incorrect legend that The Vulture started the fire that night inside the Mega-Mart.
     

Chapter Six
    They were stuck in Missy’s kitchen. Keith thought they were stuck like rats in a glue trap. Meanwhile, the real rats were not stuck at all as they darted from one fetid food source to another.
    Will saw movement all over the place. For every rat, there were at least a hundred roaches. Neither vermin seemed particularly alarmed by their presence. Missy let the pests have free reign in her house, and they had no reason to fear humans anymore. Will thought that Missy needed better friends, the kind that didn’t have an exoskeleton or carry the bubonic plague.
    The next time Missy went shopping at the Mega-Mart, Will would have to tell her about any sales on rat traps, roach motels, or bug spray. There were an awful lot of gnats and fruit flies swarming around her kitchen. He was about to say something about it when a particularly juicy fruit fly flew into his open mouth. Will spit the nasty little bugger out and kept his lips shut.
    It occurred to Ian that the current hoard they stood on was far less level than the basement below. If that was even possible, and apparently it was. This was the first time that Ian found himself nearly eye level with Will. What made this room so different from the basement was the fact that this room was used everyday. Which meant it was piled higher with mounds of ever growing and shifting garbage.
    Ian noticed that the kitchen was considerably muggier than the basement below. It had to be at least fifteen degrees hotter in here, which wasn’t a surprise; heat rose. Ian didn’t think that Missy employed any heaters or air conditioners (where would she keep them?), but the hoard seemed to trap and hold the heat. It also explained the enormous petri dish that the house had become. Mold flourished in warm and humid environments.
    Regardless of the heat, Ian felt a chill when he thought of how stifling hot the upstairs might feel, like Missy’s Easy Bake Oven. He hoped they would find Fiddlesticks fast and not have to go upstairs and find out.
    Dani covered her nose with her free arm as she filmed her surroundings. She was profoundly revolted by the smell of so much rotten food, and something worse – dead animal – which she didn’t want to think about – dead CAT! Don’t think about it, just document it .
    Dani focused her camera in close-up on the filthiness around her. A half hour ago she barely knew what a hoarder was, and now here she was dissecting the details of a food hoard, a concept she had never before considered in her life. She was quickly becoming an expert.
    Missy’s menu was scattered everywhere, most of it partially eaten and moldy. From the food scraps on display, Dani knew Missy was not a healthy eater: chicken bones, pizza crusts, hardened donuts, sandwich cookies with the filling scooped out, French fries that looked as fresh as the day they were deep fried, a pie with one slice gone and black, putrescent filling spilling out (she thought the flavor might be deathberry).
    Dani’s attention moved from the food to the containers that held it. She noticed a preponderance of fast food wrappers, Styrofoam food boxes, TV dinner trays, and fountain soft drink cups. Every dish and utensil was caked with yesterday and yesteryear’s meals.
    Among the littered packaging, Dani noticed the familiar pictures and logos of unhealthy convenience foods that she shared Missy’s fondness for, delicious junk like Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, Hostess Twinkies, and Pillsbury Toaster Strudels. She wondered if she’d desire to eat another Twinkie or Pop Tart ever again. They had been psychologically spoiled.
    “I want to puke,” Dani warned the others.
    “Use the sink,” Will recommended.
    “What