The Adventures of Dead Dan: The Old Religion
by John Rossi
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Table of Contents, parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
conclusion
When the memory hit him, it hit him hard. Dan remembered years ago, when he was just a boy, in this very room with his grandfather and his first pug, Donut.
Days before, he had been helping his grandfather dig a drainage ditch in the back yard after a particularly bad storm. His grandfather always had the right tools for any job. Amongst them was a green, heavy-duty cast iron pump that seemed to weigh a ton.
After they had drained the backyard, Dan, who must have been about eight at the time, had tried to move the pump back to the garage for his grandfather. The damned thing had been so heavy he couldn’t hold upright the wheel barrel it had been in, and he dropped it. The pump had cracked when it hit ground and didn’t work right after that.
His grandfather had been seriously pissed off; it was an expensive piece of equipment after all. He’d yelled at him, not understanding how much that simple act had wounded Dan. He had idolized his grandfather, and to have earned his anger really hurt him.
Dan had avoided going over after that. He felt a sense of shame at having been so stupid and costing his grandfather several hundred bucks. When his parents finally brought him back over, they brought the pugs with him. Nana had loved them, too.
His grandfather was only too keenly aware that his grandson was upset. While Dan was alone in the living room playing with Donut on the couch, his grandfather came in to confront him. “You avoiding me boy?” he asked.
“Yes,” Dan answered honestly.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I know you’re mad at me for being stupid and breaking the pump. I’m sorry, Grandpa; it was dumb to try and move it. I’ll stay out of your way from now on. I won’t touch any of your tools again, I promise.”
“Hey,” his grandfather said as he lifted Donut up and gently deposited the pug next to himself, opposite Dan. Then he picked Dan up and put him on his lap. “I was mad, but people get mad. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you around. There’s no tool in this world more important to me then my family, and there’ no pump more important to me than my grandson.”
As the memory consumed him, Dan could see his grandfather’s face clearly. He could hear his voice in his mind as if he were talking to him again in this very room. He could smell his cologne as if he were sitting right next to him. Dan felt a sensation he hadn’t known in years cross his face. He reached up and wiped away from his cheeks tears he hadn’t known he could shed. So the undead can cry, he thought.
He looked towards the small dog in his arms with gratitude, though Chubby could never understand why. The pug had brought back a dear memory to him when he needed it most by reminding him of his beloved, pug predecessor Donut and, more importantly, his grandfather’s words.
The depression that had been threatening to overwhelm him started to fade. Dan decided that if his grandfather had been alive to discover what he was, they would have worked it out. His grandfather had never been afraid of a damned thing. Dan found it impossible to believe he would have feared his own grandson.
Dan realized, as he hugged Chubby close, that pugs might not be able to power-press forklifts or create magical charms, but they had a power all their own. Now that he felt more like himself again, he sensed his mother stirring before she even came out of her bedroom. He found her presence comforting when she appeared.
“Hey,” she said as she walked into the living room. “You’re home late.” He looked up at her, cradling the playful pug in his powerful arms. The moment she saw his face, she knew something was wrong. She didn’t know he was undead. She didn’t know he possessed awesome supernatural power, but she still knew her son. “What’s wrong?” she asked with a mother’s genuine concern.
“A friend from work... I was hanging out with, she lost someone very dear to her tonight,” he said, speaking as honestly as he could.
“Oh,” she said sadly, “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you okay?”
“No,” he told her frankly. “I guess I let it get to me, and then I started thinking about Dad, Nana, and Grandpa.”
She came over to him and sat down next to him on the coffee table. “I miss them, too, especially your father. But they’re always with us. Especially with you. Sometimes I wondered whose son you were: your dad’s or your grandfather’s.”
Dan laughed.
“I see Chubby has finally warmed up to you,” she said tenderly, and she reached out and petted the pug on the head. In return, Chubby eagerly licked her hand.
“Yeah, he finally stopped being a jerk. You know, Mom, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. You’re right, this is the place where they still live in a way. I just can’t picture us anywhere else.”
“Well, Daddy always said that one day this house would be yours,” she confided. “You belong here, Danny; you always will.”
“Always,” he said in wistful way that perplexed her. She could never understand what that word meant to him now.
“Why don’t you call out from work tomorrow? It's late, and you have to wake up soon. Maybe you should just take the day off.”
“No, no... I have a couple of big assignments I have to get done tomorrow.” Dan was lying; he desperately wanted to go to work to tomorrow, and then come home to her and Chubby, as if it were a normal day.
“Will you be okay? I hate the thought of you on a forklift if you’re tired.”
“That’s what coffee’s for,” Dan said with a half-smile. “Besides, if I get done early, I can probably knock off early.”
“Well, all right then, but you really should get some sleep.”
“You’re right, Mom, I’m gonna turn in now.”
“Why don’t you take Chubby with you, like you use to with Donut.”
“Yeah,” Dan agreed again, “I think I will.”
“All right. Good night, sweetheart,” she said and kissed her son on the forehead. “You’re cold again,” she immediately commented worriedly.
“I didn’t have a chance to take my pills tonight.” he lied.
“Well, you should do that before you go to bed.”
“I will,” he assured her.
Dan’s mother smiled and turned to go back to her room. Then she stopped, and turned back. “And don’t forget to turn off your phone tonight. You always leave it on. I can see it glowing under your door whenever I come out to use the bathroom. You’re going to kill your battery.”
“Oh, good idea. I’ll make sure it’s off.”
She smiled tenderly at her son and then went back to bed. She would never know what her presence there and then had meant to him in that moment. Her voice was like a beacon calling him back home. Between the power of the pug and his mother’s soothing presence, Dan felt okay again; he felt at home. Here, he was thirty years old, and she still called him sweetheart. Dan prayed that she would never stop.
Having had enough of the world for one day, he carried Chubby into his bedroom and wrapped him up warmly in his blanket. Dan was cold, maybe not his heart, but his powerful undead form certainly wouldn’t keep Chubby warm through the night.
When the pug was comfortable, Dan took off his pants, kicked off his shoes, threw the jacket his mother had not noticed in the dark onto a nearby chair, then made sure his cell phone was off and crawled into bed. Finally, as Chubby snuggled up next him, he gladly fell asleep. Outside his room, if anyone had been there to see, they would have witnessed a soft, white glow begin to emanate from beneath his door.
Copyright © 2021 by John Rossi
