The Deed of the Monkeys: A Short Story Read online

The Deed of the Monkeys: A Short Story

  by

  Shayna Krishnasamy

  Copyright © Shayna Krishnasamy 2011

  All rights reserved.

  This short story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are a

  product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual

  persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 9780981335247

  Cover Photography: ladyb

  Also by Shayna Krishnasamy:

  Home

  The Sickroom

  Regan

  Hide and Seek

  The Playhouse

  The Deed of the Monkeys

  They came upon the restaurant and took a table by the wall where he was sure the waiter would not overlook them. She sat on the edge of her seat and would not be calmed.

  Oh, it was so horrid, she said, rubbing at her bare arms. I cannot get it out of my mind. It runs over and over in my mind. I cannot be rid of it.

  He ordered two beers and asked the waiter to be swift about it. He told her that she would eventually be rid of it, and that she must try to put her mind on other things, but she would not listen. When the beers came, he drank his down right off and ordered another. He ordered a second for her as well, though she’d hardly taken a sip of her own.

  How can you be so calm about it? she asked him. It does trouble me that I am so upset and you are so calm. It was such a terrible thing to see.

  It was a terrible thing altogether, he said to her. It was terrible, but I am trying to be calm about it and you should try as well. You shouldn’t work yourself up in this way.

  How can I help being worked up? I feel entirely spent. I shan’t be able to eat anything at all.

  No, he said, no that’s alright. You needn’t eat anything, but you should drink. Drinking will help to soothe your feelings. With these words he drank nearly half of the beer before him and she watched him do it with some fascination. Already he was beginning to feel the effects and it made him a great deal less nervous. Perhaps this wasn’t such a disaster after all. Perhaps he could right it.

  He persuaded her to sit back in her chair and to allow him to hold her hand, though she wasn’t very keen on it. She kept trying to take her hand back, but he held it firmly.

  You need to be held in order to recover from seeing such a thing, he said.

  How horrible it was, she lamented, hardly having heard what he’d said and retrieving her hand for good. I have never before seen so much blood. Have you ever seen so much blood before? And on the street there, just on the street like that. It’s quite startling to think that we were just passing and it happened there on the street in front of us.

  Yes, one hardly knows what one will see when one walks the streets at night, he replied. He ordered another beer and again asked her if she would drink hers, but she said that she could not bring herself to drink anything at all. This was not what he had hoped for and he became somewhat moody about it.

  The least you can do is drink the beer you have in front of you, he said, sliding it closer to her on the small table. She took it in her hand but did not lift it to her mouth.

  Really, I feel awful tonight, she said. I feel quite ill about it. The poor man! I can’t quite bear it. I can’t see how such a thing can happen.

  You must know that such things happen every day. You must read about it in the papers.

  Oh, yes, of course I know it happens. It happens all the time, I know. I am not a silly girl who knows nothing of the world. But to see it happen before your eyes, now that is a different thing. That is a different thing altogether. Don’t you feel that it is so?

  She looked at him beseechingly, her eyes brimming with tears as she thought it over in her head, and he put his hand to her face, caressing her cheek. She did not draw back, though she did seem startled by the gesture, and he was amazed at his own boldness. The drink had loosened him a great deal more than he realized and he was surprising himself.

  Then, just as she was raising her eyes to his once more, he caught a glimpse of some figures in the window of the restaurant and rushed to his feet. She fell back in her chair and regarded him with surprise, the sorrow on her face replaced almost instantly with the kind of alarm that one feels only when a tender moment is all of a sudden wrenched away.

  Please, I won’t be a moment, he said, and walked towards the door of the restaurant, leaving her alone at the table as the waiter brought their next round of drinks. She sat with the drinks before her and a bewildered look upon her face.

  Outside, they crowded about him and he scolded them for coming.

  Keep away from the window! he warned, pulling them towards the pharmacist’s next door. What are you thinking coming here and lumbering past the window where you can be plainly seen?

  They laughed at him and would not be quiet. They were amused with him and could not be calm, just as the girl could not be calm.

  You did not do it! they laughed gleefully. We did just as you asked and you did not do it! She’ll never let you kiss her now. You will be sad tonight, sad and alone!

  Don’t be such monkeys, he chastised, looking about him to see if anybody had taken notice. You mustn’t talk about this out in the air. What is the matter with you? I won’t speak of this a moment more.

  Oh, yes you will, brother, they said, nearly dancing with the hilarity of it all. We did just as you asked. We brought a very small man, even smaller than you asked. And now you must pay us as you said you would! They were actually dancing now, two of them, dancing on the sidewalk. You must pay us even if you did not do as you said you would.

  You came by too fast and did not give me time to think what I should do, he protested. I hadn’t a moment before it was all over. How could I think what to do so quickly? You did me wrong and I will not pay!

  Oh yes, you will pay! they chorused, not at all bothered by his words. You will pay us because it was you who did not do as you said. We did it all just as planned. We even brought a smaller man than we discussed to make it easier for you. We did it just as you asked, and you will pay.

  A smaller man! He was so small I could hardly see him. And the street you picked was so dark, I could hardly see anything. Besides, I did not expect her to scream so.

  Yes, they agreed, she did scream an awful lot. But this is not our fault, brother. We did as you asked and you will pay us.

  Now there was a warning tone in their voices and he could not get out of it. He did not wish to make them angry, for they had certainly proven themselves no jokers tonight. They were serious men and he had to be serious with them now. He had no choice.

  You will pay us now, they said, or we will go inside and tell her everything.

  They advanced toward the window and he pulled them back by their collars in alarm.

  Stay away from there, you monkeys, you numbskulls! he exclaimed. Of course, I will pay you. Though it was dark and I could hardly see and this wasn’t the result I had in mind at all, I will pay you as I said I would. I am an honest man, monkeys.

  Oh yes, an honest man, they teased, crowding around him once more. He took out his billfold and their eyes grew wide at all the bills. Then he gave one bill to each and they thanked him and were calmer. They did not ask for more than their share and he was glad.

  What will you do now, brother? they asked. How is she taking it?

  Not well at all, he said, as he put his billfold away again. I must get back to her. She is very agitated.

  Yes, but that is to be expected, they said. Women do get so agitated over trivial things. We tried to be neat about it.

/>   You were hardly neat about it at all, he said, his voice cold now that their transaction was done. You made such a mess of it, she’s almost distraught. I hardly asked for that.

  Oh no brother, you are mistaken, they said, shaking their heads. You asked for just that. Do him in, is what you said. Make him right and scared and then do him in violently, just as you are passing. That is what we provided. We are always sure never to give more than what is asked.

  Yes, I suppose I may have said some such thing, he said, straightening his tie. Perhaps I didn’t think of what I was saying. But all has been taken care of thoroughly, am I right? You have taken all the necessary precautions?

  You insult us, brother? they asked innocently. We are not men to do things halfway. We know our business and we do it straight. All has been taken care of, brother. We do just as we are asked.

  Good, he said, quite done with them. Now be off with you, I must go back to her. She is very upset.

  He started toward the door to the restaurant and they bid him farewell in a delighted fashion. As he was opening the door, one of them called after him that perhaps next time he should choose a different sort of girl.

  Choose a girl who loves a coward, he called, and you will never be sad and alone as you will be this night!

  He told them again to be off and they laughed as they went, waving their bills at him.

  When he returned to the table, she was indeed in tears and asked to be taken home. He took his seat and began to drink.

  We can’t leave now, with all these drinks before us, he said. Come, help me drink them up and then we’ll be gone.

  No, I can’t! she exclaimed, beside herself with distress now. Look at what I’ve found. There is blood on my dress! Blood, just here. Do you see it? Please, I must go home.

  He squinted at her dress but could see nothing at all, though he took the opportunity to put his hand on her leg and leave it there.

  Don’t you see it? she asked him and he told her he did see it and that he would ask the waiter for a cloth to wipe it away.

  But I don’t want a cloth, she said mournfully. I want to go home. Please, take me home. It has been such a terrible night.

  Drink and then we will go, he said, but she would have none and he soon gave up on it. He was completely drunk now, but still able to pay the check, and he did so as she waited by the door, anxious to leave.

  He wove some as they walked on the street, but insisted that she take his arm all the same. He would walk her home and perhaps she would invite him in. Inviting him in was certainly the courteous thing to do, and when she did, he would try what he might, although he was very drunk.

  What a horrid night, she said, as they walked. Her home was not as close as she had mentioned and he was a little put out by it, though not much. He would go in and perhaps it would not be as sad as they said.

  You know, I do feel bad that we simply ran off, she said. We ought to have done something for the poor man, although I’m quite sure he was killed. He was killed, wasn’t he?

  Yes, it’s very sure he was killed, he said, for he knew it to be true.

  I do feel bad that we did nothing at all, she went on as they walked. Don’t you feel you ought to have done something? Don’t you think you should have stepped in?

  He did not like the turn this conversation was taking, but he felt absolutely incapable of turning it a different way. It had all gone wrong tonight and he’d been at fault in every way. It irritated him to be so at fault. She was such an irritating girl to be reminding him that he was so at fault.

  It all happened so quickly, he managed to say. I suppose I was simply alarmed.

  Yes, but a courageous man would have stepped in, she said.

  It hurt him so to hear these words. In his drunken state, he could hardly stand it. These were the words he had so been hoping to avoid. It cut him to the quick to hear them from her. He nearly wept.

  They arrived at her door and she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and told him that it had been a horrible night once more, before going in. She did not ask him to follow, though he waited a moment or two in expectation, after the door had closed. Then he turned and stumbled back down the stairs to the street and followed his own course home, lamenting the awful shame of being a coward and not being able to impress a girl, even with the help of monkeys.

  ***

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