The Monster of Hinchley

by Michael D. Davis

   Mama Leroy never left the shade of her porch, nor did she ever need to. People came to her.

     Sitting on her swinging bench, the old woman would watch the town of Hinchley. The cars scooting along, people walking, children playing. People waved as they passed, more often than not completely stopping, so they could sit and visit awhile. Everyone knew Mama Leroy was always there to talk. Often when some were feeling down, or simply didn't know where to turn, they came to her.

     If something truly needed handling away from the porch, Mama would call her boy, Flick. A whisper in the ear and he was off completing his task. Standing seven-feet-seven and weighing over five hundred pounds, there was little Flick couldn't handle physically. Although people liked saying it around town, he was no moron, either. It was an assumption, among others, that people always made about him because of his size and the way his head tilted so his left ear was sitting upon his shoulder. Also, his voice, the fact that no one had ever heard it, not even people say, Mama Leroy herself.

    In town, kids laughed at him and ran, shouting at the top of their lungs, "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! IT'S THE MONSTER OF HINCHLEY!" Flick never minded them.

     Littering the usual tasks put upon Flick, there was always an odd one. One time, R. W. Barnett came running up to the porch, shouting that a fight had broken out at his bar up the street, and those bastards were gonna wreck the place. Mama called for Flick, and he went walking up the street at no hurried pace. As he entered the bar, the few wise fellows stopped what they were doing. Two middle-aged men, who created the main ruckus, went at each other on the floor. Flick simply picked them both up by their collars and took them out. That was that.

     None of this ever bothered Flick, because he was doing it for Mama. He'd do anything for Mama. There was only one other person he cared for as much as he did Mama. A girl he knew back in school named Kate. Now, I don't know if this is true because Flick never seemed like the social type to me, but some say back in the day, those two were thicker than thieves. Sounded like she was always an oddball type as well, so rumors could be true but either way, it was her that Flick's heart beat twice for.

     Out of school Kate got herself married to a local boy and had a kid. The years passed under growing clouds until one dark day. Mama Leroy sat swinging on her bench when a little girl came fast down the street, tears rolling down her cheeks. It was hard to understand through the sobs and cries what exactly she was saying, but Mama finally deciphered it. The little one's Mommy was in trouble and her Daddy was mad. It was Kate's daughter; Mama Leroy knew it and so did Flick.

     The door flew off its hinges as Flick ran out of the house. No one had ever seen him run, but today he was sprinting up the street. At Kate's house, he entered shoulder first. On the living room floor, Kate laid unconscious. Entering from the kitchen was her husband, drunk and angered.

    "What the fuck are you doing here?" he yelled.

     Flick grabbed the man's throat and lifted him off the ground. With some of the largest hands in the world, Flick crushed the man's neck, letting his head fall limp and dead. It's said that he was still holding his lifeless body when Kate came to, on the floor. She looked up at Flick with her husband in his hands and screamed and screamed and screamed.

     Dropping the man, Flick ran back out of the house. When the cops nabbed him, he was in the fetal position at his mother's feet, bawling his eyes out. Mama Leroy was on her bench, Flick’s big hand in her lap. She patted it, and whispered to him, trying to calm him, tears running down her cheeks as well.

Michael D. Davis is an author and cartoonist from Iowa. He has written a multitude of short stories and drawn a feverish amount of cartoons in his measly years on this rock. Author of one short story book, four cartoon collections, and one coloring book (all available on Amazon), and he is just getting started. If Michael isn't at home doodling or working on his next book, he just may be in a field somewhere laying an egg or blowing his nose. I should know because I am Michael D. Davis or at least I think I am. I just might be a talking dog named Theodore, you'll never know.