Goat Mother and Others: The Collected Mythos Fiction of Pierre Comtois Read Free Page B

there you know…”
    “Yes, yes, go on!”
    “…that Adele and Dan Mills are foolin’ around.”
    “No!”
    “It’s true. Lizzy said she accidentally listened in on a phone call Adele made to her father, who still lives up at the old Coburn place, and she told him that Josh wouldn’t do for her but that Dan was quite ‘satisfactory.’ Can you believe that?”
    “That’s what she said, ‘satisfactory?’”

    “Lizzy swears it…makes you wonder why Ruthy was constantly smiling those first years after she and Dan were married!”
    Both women laughed then and moved on but Ruth stood rooted to the spot, the can of peaches forgotten in her hand. Could it be true? Daniel had seemed more distant ever since he began working with Josh a few weeks before. And before that, his relationship with her had settled into a dull routine but no more routine than what was expected of a couple married for many years. But as Ruth continued to turn what Myrtle had said over in her mind, she began to see a pattern of impatience and short-temperedness in Daniel over the past few weeks that was out of character for him. Could he have taken up with this woman? The notion seemed so outlandish. Cheating like that only happened on television or to other people. Nevertheless, all the way home, Ruth couldn’t help but turn the possibility over in her mind.
    As the afternoon wore on to evening, she prepared supper as usual but when Daniel didn’t show up at his regular time, all the fears she’d gone over earlier in the day returned. Adding to her doubts was the fact that Daniel had told her that he might stay later that night. To work in the field or…? Suddenly wracked with doubt and fear, she decided to give Josh a call and picking up the telephone receiver she dialed the Dunwich exchange…hopefully, the Turner’s did have a phone. But when she heard Lizzy Doderholz’ voice come over the line, she immediately hung up. One thing was for sure, if she was going to call Josh’s place, she didn’t want Lizzy listening in and passing the gossip along to Myrtle Potter!
    Looking outside, she saw that there was still an hour or so of full daylight before sunset and determined to drive out to Josh’s farm and find out for herself if anything was amiss. If things were as Myrtle said, well…she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
    Throwing on her coat, she left the house and backed the car to the road. Her decision made, she had to consciously keep from pressing too hard on the gas pedal and watch her speed. In a few minutes, she had reached the Aylesbury Pike crossing and turned north as the road led out of Dean’s Corners. Immediately, the forest seemed to grow thicker, wilder, and more impenetrable as she proceeded. She hardly noticed the roadside placard informing motorists that they were entering the town of Dunwich, est. 1718 so overgrown it was with creepers. The going was easy so long as she stayed on the Pike which, as a state road, was well maintained, but as soon as she took the turn off for Dunwich proper, the way became more difficult. At first, the roads were paved, although cracked and crumbling fast with long neglect, but soon enough, after she’d left the main road, they turned to bare earth and forced her to slow to a crawl in order to keep her car from being damaged.
    She’d forgotten to take into account the wild nature of the forest in Dunwich and how soon it would cause the region to darken as the sun began to set. In no time at all, it seemed, the world around her settled into the gloom of dusk alleviated only by the occasional firefly or kitchen light shining from some far off farmhouse. More than once, the crooked shape of an abandoned barn or silo would bulk up against the sunset sky and then vanish behind her as she continued along windy, twisty back roads that she knew led to Josh Turner’s farm. Leaning forward tensely in her seat, Ruth peered anxiously into the gathering darkness looking for the