Chapter 3: "The Stink"

Theo laid in bed looking at the ceiling in the near darkness. His stomach fluttered like knots with wings as he tried to sleep. The next day was his first day of high school, which was exciting and scary all at the same time. He looked forward to seeing his friends, but wasn’t quite so interested in seeing his enemies. The fact that it was school lay moot in his mind. School was school. It was something everyone had to do and he would do just the same as them. New subjects and new teachers were in store, but none of it really mattered because it would just be gone in a year anyway.

He turned on his side and stared at the red digital numbers that read “12:34.” He closed his eyes tight and willed himself to sleep. It took time, but he tried to push everything from his mind and quell the butterflies. As he did, a terrible stink settled in the room. At first, he thought it was a dream, but after a few minutes it became overwhelming. He almost couldn’t breathe.

“Oh my god!” He heard Becca shout from the other room. “What is that? Theo, was that you?”

Theo pulled the covers over his head and pressed the blankets to his nose as he tried to keep the stench away. It didn’t help. Instead it permeated the very blankets he was holding. He finally pulled them away and he couldn’t believe how much worse it was. His eyes watered and he rubbed at them, but it stung. He rolled out of bed and threw on a pair of pants and a shirt.

Becca knocked on the door. “Theo!”

“Coming,” he mumbled. He opened the door to find his sister on the other side.

Her black hair was a disheveled mess and her pink pajamas wrinkled. She held her fingers over her nose and pinched it shut. “What is that?” Her voice came out nasally.

Theo shook his head and threw his arm around his own face. “We should wake dad. I could be a gas leak.”

Becca shook her head violently. “You wake him. And what gas? We don’t have gas here. It smelled like a skunk before, but now… do you really think it’s gas?”

Theo shrugged and pushed past his sister. He walked to the other end of the house and lightly rapped on the door. “Dad?”

A deep snore came from the other side of the door.

“Dad!” Theo yelled.

The snoring continued. Theo tried the door handle but it wouldn’t turn. It was locked in place. Becca came up behind him. He turned. “Do you have your phone?”

She nodded.

“Go outside and call the fire department. Stay away from the house.”

“How to I call them? What do I tell them?” Becca asked. She looked worried and anxious.

Theo grabbed her pink phone from her hand and dialed “911”. He handed it back to her. “Go.”

She nodded quickly and talked while she walked. “Hello? Yes. I’m Becca…” Her voice reached a high pitch and came out a squeak as she walked away.

Theo turned back to the door. He felt for a key above the door frame, but there was none. With a gallant shove, he threw his shoulder into the door, but it didn’t budge, instead his shoulder crunched in pain.

“Dad! There’s a fire! Dad!” Theo banged on the door with both fists. “Dad! We need you!”

He turned back to the living room. His dad kept tools somewhere near the desk. He flipped on the light and searched for the toolbox that was tucked away in some distance corner under a pile of old mail. The stench still filtered through the house and it really did smell like a gas leak. Maybe it was a gas line near the house or car on the street. He just couldn’t figure out why it was so strong in the house. But that didn’t matter much. He had to get his dad out of it, lest it be something like carbon monoxide poisoning or something.

He found a small screwdriver, like the ones used to fix glasses, and ran back to the door. He stuffed it in the small hole and turned it. The lock clicked. Theo pushed open the door. He flipped the light on and found his dad, a beast of a man, lying uncovered and half naked. His pants were still on, but unzipped. He stunk of booze. It was a small surprise he could smell it over the gas stink.

Theo shook him. “Dad! Come on, wake up! There’s a smell, like gas. It could be a fire. Please!”

His father snorted in a snore and coughed. His eyes blinked open, the blue glazed over with drink and sleep. “Wha?”

Theo pulled his hand. “Dad, we have to get out. Fire!”

Awareness rang through the man’s face. He stumbled to his feet. He scooped Theo up with one arm and threw him over his shoulder. A woosh of air escaped Theo’s lungs as his stomach laid over his father’s shoulder. His father started to run. Each pounding footfall forced a breath from him. The big man squeezed through the door frame and Theo ducked too. In a few moments they stood out on the lawn next to Becca who was still holding her phone clutched to her chest.

Morris, their father looked from the house to her. “Where’s the fire?”

“Fire? There’s a fire?” Becca asked. Her eyes rounded with worry.

“Gas leak!” Theo tried to shout, but his voice came out strangled. He flailed his arms and legs.

Morris set him down on the ground. “Gas leak? In our house? We don’t have gas.”

“But daddy, what else could it be? It smells like gas,” Becca said and then pinched her nose again. “I can still smell it all the way out here.”

Their father took a big whiff of air. Then waved his hands towards his face as he tried to get even more air in. “I still don’t smell it.”

Theo shook his head. Of course he couldn’t smell it. How many times had he broken his nose? The thing looked like a smashed wad of clay rather than a proper nose. He set his hand on his father’s arm to get his attention. “It’s a very strong smell. It started out like a skunk, but now it’s even worse.”

An alarm blared in the distance followed by lights. A fire truck rolled up to the edge of the gravel driveway. Five men poured out of the vehicle and walked through the tangled weeds of the unmowed lawn.

A tall fit man approached with two other just behind. “We’re here about a gas leak. Are you the owner of this property?”

“Morris Knowles. The kids tell me there’s a gas leak, but I don’t smell it. I’m sorry if...”

The fireman held up a hand to stop him. “I can smell it from here, sir. We’ll go check it out. Do we have permission to enter your house?”

Morris nodded.

“Please stay here.” The fireman and his two buddies walked towards the house. He held up a device and said a few things as they walked the perimeter, but they were too far away for Theo to hear it clearly.

“Do you think it’s going to be alright? What if there is a spark and the whole thing explodes?” Becca asked. Her eyes followed the fireman as they paced.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad. There’s nothing wrong yet,” Morris said.

Becca came up and threw her arms around Theo from behind him. “What if everything blows up and I lose all my clothes!” She buried her face in her little brother’s back as she cried.

Theo shrugged her off. “Grow up. There are more important things in there then clothes. Like pictures of mom.” He whispered the last bit so his dad wouldn’t hear.

Becca sniffled. Theo turned back to the house and watched the firemen disappear into it.

“Excuse me sir. I’d like to ask you a few questions.” A paramedic said, turning all their attention away from the house as he suddenly appeared.

Morris nodded.

“When did you first start smelling the gas?”

Morris looked around for an answer.

Theo stepped forward. “Just a little after twelve thirty.”

“And you said it smelled like gas?”

“It smelled like a skunk and then got worse. That’s what gas smells like right? Sulfur?” Theo asked.

The man nodded. “Yes it does smell like sulfur and that can smell like a skunk. Were you running any appliances at the time? Stove? Heater? Anything?”

“Everyone was asleep,” Morris said. “We don’t even have gas to our house. Is this the cities doing? Do they have gas lines running underneath my house? I’ll sue, you know. If this is the cities fault, I’ll sue.” He pointed a big finger at the paramedic.

The paramedic held his ground. “No sir. There are no gas lines anywhere near here. Let’s just let our men look the place over and see what they find.”

Morris crossed his arms. “Better not take anything,” he mumbled.

Theo squeezed his eyes shut. Half to push the tears from the gas out and half out of frustration. He wished his dad would just be cooperative instead of always picking a fight. Besides, what did they have to steal? They had nothing of value to begin with.

The firemen exited the house. A rough voice crackled over the radio at the paramedic’s shoulder but he couldn’t decipher it. The firemen continued around the perimeter. The one in the lead still looked at the device and led the way. They disappeared around the back of the house. After a few agonizing minutes, they returned.

The tall fireman came up to them as the other two went back to the truck. Theo watched Becca eyeing the man like candy and rolled his eyes. Morris stood tall using his bulk to look in control of the situation.

“Sir, it’s not a gas leak,” the fireman said.

Morris’ bushy eyebrows furrowed. “Then what the hell is it?”

“A skunk has died under your house.”

“Wha?”

“It was an eight on our gas meter, but it’s not a gas leak. It’s a skunk.”

“Well, I’ll be…” Morris rubbed at his stubble. “And it sets off the gas meter, huh?”

The fireman nodded.

“Well, did you get it out?”

The fireman shook his head. “Sorry sir.”

Morris’ face darkened. “But you saw it?”

The fireman nodded.

“And you didn’t drag it out? What lazy pieces of…”

Theo cut in before his dad could finish the sentence. “Thank you for your time mister. Is there anything we should be careful of? Is it poisonous to breathe or anything?”

The fireman’s eyes turned from Morris and he shook his head. “No, it should be safe. You’ll just have to deal with the smell. I suggest removing the body and opening all the windows to air it out.”

Theo nodded. “Thank you, sir.” He turned back to his father who was still steaming. His face started to turn purple as he held back words. “It’s okay dad. I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”

Morris’ eyes followed the fireman as he walked away and loaded everyone back up in the firetruck. They drove off before he completely lost it.

“Holy shittin’, ugly mother fuckin, ever lovin’ sons’ of bitches. Lazy punk ass…” And so the slew of curses went on until Morris was hopping around and shaking his fist at them. He kicked up a dirt clod from the lawn and it flew catching the light of the porch in the direction the fire truck had vanished.

Theo grabbed Becca’s hand and led her back to the house while his dad carried out his meltdown. “Open all the windows.”

Becca put her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do?”

Theo frowned. “I’m going to get the skunk. Unless you want to do it?”

She held her hands up in front of her. “No, that’s okay. I’ll get the windows.”

Theo took a deep breath and walked into the house. He found a flashlight in the hall closet and tied a pair of shoes on his bare feet. He left out the backdoor and found the crawl space beneath the house. The darkness loomed over his shoulder as he looked back at the small acres of woods behind him. He didn’t much like the dark, especially forest dark, but he had to do this. His father wouldn’t fit and Becca was worthless.

He crawled on his hands and knees and tried to take a deep breath but gagged on it. The smell was completely revolting. He almost vomited on the air. Once he recovered, he stuck the flashlight in his mouth and crawled forward into the dark square tunnel.

As he crawled, the light from the flashlight swung back and forth. The crawl space opened up into larger areas to each side. He looked around. The beam of light moved with his head and he eased it along until he finally saw the pile of fur. He crawled forward. He hand stuck in something cold, wet, and sticky. He looked down with the flashlight to see his hands covered in animal poop. The stink of it was almost as powerful as the dead skunk.

He held back a retch and squeezed his eyes shut. It was just poop. Just poop from some wild animal that killed a skunk and dragged it under here on the first day of school. No, nothing wrong with that. It was just the worst possible thing that could happen on the worst possible day. The string of cuss words his father said earlier repeated through is mind. He wanted to throw a tantrum too. It wouldn’t get anything done, but he might feel better. It seemed to work for his father.

He shook the feces off and continued forward. The piled of bloated black and white fur lay straight ahead. The stench was overwhelmingly horrible. It made his stomach swirl and his vision swim. This would have been better if he’d gotten his nose broken a dozen times like his father. At least he would be able to stand the smell. He gritted his teeth, grabbed for the tail, and pulled. The little body was heavier than he thought it would be. The fur was thick and coarse with an oily residue. He moved back the other way and pulled the dead thing after him. He crawled quickly now. He didn’t like holding it. He backed out of the crawl space, with the body dragging behind him.

When he reached the opening, he sprang to his feet and ran. At the edge of the forest, the edge of the darkness, he wound up his arm and threw the skunk by its tail into the dark. The body flew. Bits of oil caught the light as drops of stench flew from it. It landed in the bushes with a thud. Theo turned and ran. He ran from the forest, from the darkness, from the stench.

The cement pad of the porch was base and he reached it, winded from his sprint. He kicked a box of old shoes in the crawl space hole to keep out the unwanted guest he had just stole dinner from. With any hope, the thing wouldn’t be back. Theo kicked off his shoes and went inside. The brown feces still coated his hands and he went straight for the shower.

“Oh my god, you stink even worse,” Becca said as he rounded the hallway. “Is it taken care of?”

Theo bobbed his head.

“You need a shower.”

“Duh.” Theo reached his poop covered hand towards her.

She realized what it was and shrieked. “Gross!” She turned and slammed her bedroom door shut.

Theo smiled to himself. At least she was easy to get rid of. He opened the bathroom door, which was decorated in pink and purple. Little plastic butterflies coated the walls adding a cheery air to the stinky house. Theo washed his hands first then showered. The hot steam rolled out the open window as he scoured and scrubbed at the stench. He thought he would never be free of it. When the shower started to run cold, he got out and wrapped himself in a pink towel. He didn’t care much for the color, but there also weren’t a lot of options.

He went back to his room and dropped like a rock in the bed, towel and all. If he wasn’t tired before, he would have no trouble sleeping now. The wind blew and the stench wafted through the permeated house. It whispered of things beyond this world, of things that could be different and Theo fell fast asleep.