Image of the Beast and Blown Read Free Page A

patent leather and was parted
down the middle. His forehead and nose were white as
the belly of a shark. His eyebrows were thick and black
and met over his nose. The eyes were large and black.
    He was dressed as if he were going to a movie
premiere. He had on a formal suit, a stiff white shirt with
a black formal tie and a diagonal red band across his
chest and a medal or order on his lapel.
    He wore blue sneakers.
    Another comic element which only made the situa-
tion more horrible.
    The man lowered the cloak to show a large hooked
nose, a thick black moustache which curved down around
the ends of his thick rouged lips, and a prominent cleft
chin.
    He cackled, and this deliberately corny element was
even more horrible than the sneakers. The laugh was a
parody of all the gloating laughs cranked forth by all
the monsters and Draculas of every horror movie.
    Up went the arm, and, his face hidden behind the
cloak, the man rushed toward the table. Colben was still
screaming. The woman jumped away swiftly and let the
man into the Y. The penis was still jerking and emitting
blood and spermatic fluid; the head was half-bitten off.
The camera switched to the woman's face. Blood was
running down her chin and over her breasts.
    Again, the camera panned back to the Dracula (so
Childe thought of him). Dracula cackled again, showing
two obviously false canines, long and sharp. Then he
bent down and began to chew savagely on the penis but
    within a short time raised his head. The blood and
spermatic fluid was running out of his mouth and making
the front of his white shirt crimson. He opened his mouth
and spit out the head of the penis onto Colben's belly
and laughed, spraying blood over himself and Colben.
    The first time, Childe had fainted. This time, he got
up and ran toward the door but vomited before he
reached it. He was not alone.

2
     
     
    The Dracula and the woman had looked into the camera
and laughed wildly as if they had been having a hilarious
time. Then, fade-out, and a flash of TO BE CONTIN-
UED? End of film.
    Herald Childe did not see the ending the second time.
He was too occupied with groaning, with wiping the tears
from his eyes and blowing his nose and coughing. The
taste and odor of vomit were strong. He felt like apolo-
gizing, but he repressed the impulse. He had nothing to
apologize for.
    The Commissioner, who had not thrown up but who
might have looked better if he had, said, "Let's get out
of here."
    He stepped over the mess on the wooden floor. Childe
followed him. The others came out. The Commissioner
said, "We're going to have a conference, Childe. You
can sit in on it, contribute, if you wish."
    "I'd like to keep in touch with the police, Commis-
sioner. But I don't have anything to contribute. Not just
yet, anyway."
    He had told the police, more than once, everything
he knew about Matthew Colben, which was much, and
everything he knew about his disappearance, which was
nothing.
    The Commissioner was a tall lean man with a half-
bald head and a long thin face and melancholy black
moustache. He was always tugging at the right end of his
moustache—never the left. Yet he was left-handed.
Childe had observed this habit and wondered about its
origin. What would the Commissioner say if he were
made aware of it?
    What could he say? Only he and a psychotherapist
would ever be able to find out.
    "You realize, Childe, that this comes at a very bad time
for us," the Commisioner said. "If it weren't for the …
uh, extraordinary aspects of the case ... I wouldn't be
able to spend more than a few minutes on it. As it is …"
    Childe nodded and said, "Yes. I know. The Depart-
    ment will have to get on it later. I'm grateful that you've
taken this time."
    "Oh, it's not that bad!" the Commisioner said. "Sergeant
Bruin will be handling the case. That is, when he has time.
You have to realize …"
    "I realize," Childe said. "I know Bruin. I'll keep in touch
with him. But not so often he'll be bugged."
    "Fine, fine!"
    The