Lizzi Bizzi and the Red Witch

by Stefano Pastor

  «Why?», I stuttered.

  He laughed. «Don’t worry, you won’t even see the animals. We don’t send young boys to the actual slaughterhouse. I just want to be sure that you won’t leave us in trouble in two days».

  I explained to him that I wanted a job for the whole summer. By the end we reached an agreement, four hours every morning, five hours a week. This was more than good for me.

  «What do I need to do?», I asked him.

  He raised his hands. «Ah, I’m not the one taking care of these things!».

  I was handed over to the hands of Alfonso, the head of the butchers’ building. There were over twenty workers in that building, so it was impossible that they were all implicated, and I had seen the murderers only briefly, in the middle of the night. I had recognised with certainty only two of them, Aldo and Rico. It was useless to continuously wonder who the others could be.

  If I was expecting a stimulating job, I had to think again. Alfonso took me to the packaging department and he made me package any type of offal. I had to fill up the bags, to weigh them, to label them. It was a bit disgusting but I quickly got used to it. I was disappointed, anyway, there was only an older man with me and he never spoke to me, if not to give me advice that looked more like a scolding. I remained there for almost the whole morning and I started feeling depressed. This was way different from investigating, or from making deliveries around the city, this was precisely the boring job that I loathed so much.

  Aldo arrived in the late morning. He immediately recognised me and he nodded at me, then he went behind the counter. «I’ll steal him for a bit, do you mind?».

  The old man shrugged his shoulders. Aldo made me take my coat off, then he guided me outside. «And so, you came!», he started.

  I didn’t know what to say, he seemed rather happy. «What an asshole!», he continued. «He already put you in there, already on the first day. It seems like he doesn’t like you».

  He started shouting. «Al! I’m taking the boy, I need help».

  I heard a voice from afar. «Do as you please!».

  He winked at me. «This is sorted, too! Come.» And he made me go out, under the sunlight.

  We were in the loading zone, all tiled, but there was no vehicle waiting.

  «What do I have to do?», I asked, with an unsure voice.

  He burst out laughing. «Nothing at all! I just said it to make you go out! Let’s have a smoke!». Then, amused by my expression: «I’m smoking it!». He put a hand in his pocket. «You’ll have to do with these». And he threw a pack of chewing gums at me.

  He lit his cigarette. «Did they at least give you a tour, or did they just lock you up there?».

  I shook my head, more and more agitated.

  «Slave traders! I’ll take care of it, just let me finish my cigarette. You’ve worked enough for today».

  «A tour… where?».

  «Don’t worry about it», he said. «There’s nothing scary. Not at this hour, at least».

  I must have turned pale, because he added: «They do some things early in the morning, before even we arrive to work».

  Now I was really stuttering. «What sort of things?».

  «Why, killing the animals, of course! This is a slaughterhouse!».

  He was having fun! The bastard was trying to scare me. In fact, he burst out laughing. «Come on, don’t take it too seriously, I was just kidding. But it is the truth. Don’t worry, when you’ll arrive here to work it will all be over already. You can reassure your mummy, you won’t have to see a thing. By now, they’ve cleaned up everything».

  It was getting harder and harder for me to speak, and he noticed it. «Why did you come working here? I had warned you, it isn’t a place for you».

  Was he threatening me? I couldn’t understand. «You –».

  He shrugged his shoulders. «I was born here. My dad worked here, when he died I took up his place. I know everyone, they saw me grow up, they love me». He winked again. «That’s why they always turn a blind eye».

  «What does that mean?».

  «What about we take some time off?».

  He threw his cigarette to the ground and he stomped over it with his foot, then he took me by the arm. «Come, let’s have a tour».

  He didn’t bring me back into the building, he headed towards the back, to the part that wasn’t visible from the street.

  I was terrified. On the outside, Aldo was cheerful and lively, he was behaving like a good friend, but I remembered well what he had done to Giulia and to the other woman. What if he had actually recognized me and he was just pretending not to?

  On the back, they had the enclosures for the animals. I wasn’t prepared for this. «Do you keep them here?».

  «Sometimes», he replied nonchalantly. «When they are in excess. But they are quick to disappear». He pointed at a fence with about twenty calves. «Those will be gone by tomorrow».

  I had certainly regretted my decision, I couldn’t wait to escape.

  I saw some horses, too, and I grew pale.

  «You’re lucky», Aldo continued. «There are way worse periods of the year. When they bring the lambs in, for example. Those are really harrowing. When I heard them for the first time, I couldn’t sleep for one week. Then you get used to it. You can get used to anything». He jumped to sit on a fence and he showed me to sit next to him. I struggled to reach him.

  «You do eat meat, after all, don’t you? You aren’t a vegetarian, are you?».

  I shook my head.

  «Then you do know that the steak was a living animal, not long before. You accept that, you know that someone must have killed it before it arrived on your plate. So it’s almost as if you had killed it, isn’t it?».

  He made me turn around. Inside the fence we had sat on, there were a dozen of pigs, rooting. «Can you see those? From there you get salami, hams, cutlets, any sort of delicacy. How many animals do you think you’ve killed in your life? Think of all the times you’ve eaten their meat».

  I was silent, so he continued. «You need to get over it, that’s how life is. It’s necessary. There will always be someone needed to do this job».

  «But the act of killing –».

  «What do you want to know?».

  «How do you kill?».

  «For some, it is easy, it’s a job like any other else. I can’t do it. Dad did it, but I can’t».

  «And –».

  He jumped off the fence. «Come, I’ll show you the slaughterhouse».

  Was he doing it on purpose? Was he trying to terrorize me so I wouldn’t come back anymore? I wanted to be strong, I didn’t want to give in, but when we arrived in front of the big door from which they let the animals in, I froze.

  «There’s nothing there», said Aldo. «By now they’ve cleaned everything and they’ve gone back home. They work a different shift. There’s no one there anymore».

  The thing scared me even more. To get inside a slaughterhouse. With him. On my own.

  «Are you scared?».

  I couldn’t face his gaze.

  He took me by the arm. «Come on, hurry up».

  He almost had to drag me, because I was really stuck.

  «See? It’s all here, nothing scary».

  It looked like a bathroom, all paved with really white tiles, it must have been cleaned recently because it shined. I saw shower tubes along the ceiling.

  «For the calves, it’s easy, just a blow on the head, they don’t even notice. For the pigs, it’s worse, you should hear how they scream. The lambs… those are really sad to hear. But what can you do, everyone likes their meat».

  I stiffened, risking to betray myself. «What do you want to do?», I asked directly. «Why did you take me here?».

  He was uncertain, for a moment, then he cracked a smile. «I shouldn’t have, should I? My father did it with me, when I was a kid. To understand what I was made of, if I could live up to it».

  «I have no intention of being a butcher!», I shouted. «This is just a su
mmer job!».

  He burst out laughing. «Ok, ok, I got it».

  «You said I would have had to do deliveries! Just that!».

  He sighed. «Did I say that? Do you want to do deliveries? We’ll make sure you do those».

  His ironic smile made me uncomfortable.

  The following day, I did deliveries, and the next one, too. They gave me a scooter and only after several days I discovered it was precisely Aldo’s one. Shortly I knew all the butchers’ shops in the areas. But things at the Slaughterhouse had changed, too. Thanks to my new role, I often had to go around the various departments and I was able to meet many of the workers. They were all kind with me.

  Mum eventually reconciled herself, too, maybe because grandpa and his manias occupied every moment of her time. As if he had just discovered telephones, grandpa had started doing pranks to phone numbers randomly chosen on the phone book, and mum lived in the constant fear that sooner or later someone would have denounced us.

  One week after starting my job, I had settled in and after all I had nothing to complain about. My investigations, however, were slow.

  Aldo was right, everyone liked him. They thought him a little weird but they loved him. He had a strange sense of humour, he was often ironic, but never mean, and I didn’t know what to think anymore. I even went as far as to secretly follow him, after work, but with no result. Aldo had a girlfriend, but he would see her only on Saturday nights. They went dancing, somewhere with friends. For the rest of the week, he would stay at home with his family, every night. He would never go out.

  Rico lived at the Slaughterhouse. He was an orphan, the social services had found him that job, many years before, and he had turned into an institution. Not even a greedy person such as Villa had the heart to throw him out on the street, even if there would have been many reasons to do so. He was a slacker, he would try to work as least as possible, he couldn’t even understand the orders that were given to him. The person I had thought to be the boss of a gang of serial killers was actually a poor idiot. Unless he wasn’t faking it, but that seemed impossible, too, as he had been in those conditions since birth. I really couldn’t find a logic in what was happening.

  Those two women were dead, I knew perfectly well who had killed them, didn’t I?

  One day, I found myself in Aldo’s company, who had been avoiding me for a week. I thanked him for the new job.

  «Do you want to take care of the animals?», he asked me.

  I wasn’t sure I had understood. «Which animals?».

  «They need to be feed, the enclosures need to be cleaned, do you think you can do that?».

  I started stuttering. «Why?».

  «You can’t grow fond of them, do you understand? It’s just a job. You just need to feed them».

  I was happy to be a delivery boy, it was even fun. The task that Aldo was offering me was definitely more tiring, almost hateful.

  «Why should I do it?».

  If I had accepted, though, I wouldn’t have been always going around, I would have had more free time, which would have helped me in my investigations.

  «Do you want to see if I can do it? If I’m capable of doing it?».

  «Something like that», he replied.

  «But you’re not the one who decides! You’re not the boss».

  He winked. «Is that so?».

  THE CHALK GARDEN

  SF-Horror Novella

  PLOT

  A villa abandoned for more than a century, an immense park. Amongst the trees hundreds and hundreds of statues, sculpted from chalk. Originally they depicted monstrous creatures, but by now no one can see them. With the passing of the years they deteriorated, decomposed, and now a white blanket has covered the entire garden, erasing life itself. An old blind military man goes to visit the garden every day. Waiting, for a long time. Waiting for a woman, Angelique. The beautiful nurse who, over fifty years ago, in Indochina, devoured his eyes. He knows she will come back one day, because that is her home, and he is ready to face her. He is willing to sacrifice anything to get his revenge, even becoming a murderer.

  EXTRACT

  1

  A discrete knocking at the door.

  «Ms. Mancini is here, mum», Lin murmured.

  Her voice was harmonious, she always spoke softly when she was in that room. Her mother was ill, a devious, unstoppable disease: she was going blind. It had begun two years earlier, a gradual decline in sight, which had become more and more aggravated. The doctor had given no hope of improvement in the course of the disease. It would not take long before reaching absolute blindness.

  Lin had abandoned her job, had improvised as a nurse, had devoted her every moment of her life. Because she loved her, she loved her so much. It was not the woman who had created her, that was what she knew, Lin was Korean, but Lucia Renda had adopted her, had taken care of her, and she never wanted for anything.

  Their life had always been happy and harmonious until the illness had taken root. Then expensive care had threatened their financial security. Lin had been forced to look for a job, and now Mrs. Mancini, a helpful neighbour, had to look after her mother.

  Mrs. Mancini also came in silently and took off her coat and gloves.

  Now Lucia Renda saw only shadows so everyone was trying to avoid sudden movements or sudden noises that would have frightened her.

  «How was your first day of work, Lin?».

  She had not had much choice, she did not have any qualifications. At first he had tried to resume her old job, assistant in a book store, but unfortunately it had not been possible. Thanks to the experience she had gained with her mother, she had been employed as a chaperone for a visually impaired person.

  «It will not be easy», Lin admitted.

  Mrs. Mancini greeted Lin’s mother, who was lying on the bed, and sat down beside her. «How was he?».

  Lin sighed. «Odious».

  Mrs Mancini chuckled softly. «You just met him!».

  «And I already don’t know how much more I can take».

  «It can’t be that bad!».

  «You think? He was in the military. In fact, he believes he is still there».

  «That does not seem like such a terrible thing».

  «Do you know how he lost his sight? Fifty years ago in Indochina. Right during the war with those damn yellow gooks. He does nothing but repeat it».

  «Oh». Mrs Mancini shook her head, embarrassed. «And how did he react when he knew you…».

  «He doesn’t know!», Lin said. «I avoided telling him! To him I’m Miss Renda and that’s all, there is no need for him to know anything else. He’s blind, don’t you remember? He can’t see».

  «Sooner or later someone will tell him».

  «I will resolve that when the time comes. As long as I can tolerate him until then».

  «Is he offensive?».

  «Against the gooks? Yes, a lot. Very offensive».

  «And what are you going to do?».

  Lin did not answer and smiled at her mother. «We need his money».

  Lucia Renda shook her head. «We have not reached that point, Lin. If you don’t like it just leave it. I do not want you to suffer».

  Lin got up. «Don’t worry, I know how to deal with it. And if he continues this way, I will tell him clearly what I think of him».

  «Are you sure you can do it?».

  «He’s an old man, Mom. Despite what he says he’s just a poor old blind man. His tongue is sharp, but he can no longer hurt anyone».

  «I still don’t like you going to him. Look for another job, Lin».

  «I will, but for now, we could use his money ».

  Then she smiled at Mrs. Mancini. «I hope to be back by this evening».

  «Do not worry, dear, I do not have anyone at home waiting for me, don’t trouble your self on my account. Your mother and I will keep each other company. Right, Lucia?».

  Lin kissed her mother and left.

  His name was Gérard Brainc. That he was a soldie
r was obvious from his appearance and his bearing. What rank he had achieved was a mystery. Lin suspected that his military career had stopped shortly because of his impairment, but in his mind he was still there, in Indochina, every single day of his life.

  Though French he was fluent in Italian, but with a slight foreign nuance. From what she had gathered he had been living there for many years now.

  The first day had been terrible. Despite the cold, Brainc wanted to be accompanied for a walk outside It had been more a forced march than a walk, he was never tired. Hours and hours in which he had spoken continually, leaving her confused and exhausted.

  Brainc hated everyone, truly everyone: the damned Catholics, the dirty niggers, the homosexuals, who he called with more colourful names, the infidel Jews, but especially the pig gooks.

  Lin had never met anyone so racist, so full of hate, so acrid. A repugnant individual.

  That morning she found him ready to go out with his long coat that went town to his feet and the inevitable stick in his hand.

  «You’re back, I would not have expected it!». This was his welcome.

  Lin knew that Brainc had already changed several companions: no one stayed long with him.

  «Hurry up, I’ve been waiting for a lifetime. Let’s move».

  It was not easy to be his eyes. Often, Brainc got fervent in his monologues, gesturing, and ignoring Lin’s warnings. The day before he had almost fallen a couple of times and he almost finished under a taxi.

  «Colombian, do you understand? I asked for a maid and they sent me one of them! I told them what they could do with her!».

  Get away, pretend not to hear it, resist the impulse to push him herself under another taxi.

  «Moves, you’re not paralytic! I can not always wait for you’re fancy!».

  «I said I want to turn right!».

  «But there is nothing there, Mr. Brainc. On the other side, instead…».

  «Are you not listening to me? Are you deaf? Have they sent me someone deaf now?».

  Lin let it go. «To the right there is only the chalk garden».

  «So? Am I not free to go?».

  «We’ll get dirty, Mr. Brainc. Also the wind is rising».

  «Is this what you are concerned about? Dirtying your pretty little dress? Or would you prefer to still have a job, tomorrow?».