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    Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories
    Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories
    Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories
    Ebook85 pages51 minutes

    Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories

    By Victor J. Banis

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    About this ebook

    Publisher's Weekly has said that Victor J. Banis has "the master's touch in storytelling," and nowhere is this more true than in this collection. From horror to literary fiction, from contemporary characters to older settings, Banis continues to show why he is widely heralded for his talent and style.

    Compiled here for the first time in one volume are Banis' Untreed Reads short story releases. These include:

    Tell Them Katy Did
    The Kiss of Death
    Midnight Special
    Changing Views
    Neighbors
    Illusions
    Clouds
    The Princess of the Andes
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUntreed Reads
    Release dateJun 29, 2014
    ISBN9781611876970
    Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories

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      Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories - Victor J. Banis

      http://www.untreedreads.com

      Tell Them Katy Did and Other Short Stories

      Victor J. Banis

      Tell Them Katy Did

      You’re being followed.

      Huh? I said, not very brightly. She had spoken in a whisper, but the effect was the same as if she had shouted. The voice, practically in my ear, made me jump. I hadn’t heard anybody even approaching me, would have sworn I was entirely alone on the street. A woman, walking by yourself late at night, you needed to be careful. I had thought I was. Where the hell had she come from?

      I looked sideways. A stranger, cute, young, white-blonde hair. In the moonlight, her eyes, staring hard into mine, looked fashioned of silver.

      What did you say? I was still having trouble getting a handle on this. What was going on here?

      Not so loud, she said, still whispering. I said, you’re being followed. No, don’t look. If they know you’re on to them, they’ll take after you.

      They who? And who the hell are you?

      They’re gangbangers, five of them. They’ve been tailing you since you left The Midnight Oil.

      Why?

      Her smile was mirthless. Why do you think?

      Well, yeah, but, Jesus, that’s four, five blocks. If that’s what they wanted to do…

      A car went by. I saw as it passed that it was a cop car. The guy on the passenger side glanced over at us, said something to the driver. I thought about flagging them down, but by the time I’d had that idea, they were gone, disappearing down the street. Another car went by in the opposite direction, a woman, driving alone, staring steadfastly straight ahead.

      That’s why, she said. It’s too public here. They’re waiting for you to turn down one of the side streets, where they can do it without witnesses.

      This is crazy, I said. I live down Adams Street. It’s like a tomb there, no street lights, everybody’ll be in bed by this time. You mean as soon as I turn down there, try to go home, they’ll come after me? What am I supposed to do? Shouldn’t we start running now, or something? Try to get away from them before I get to my street?

      Worst thing you could do. It’s like a mountain lion, someone starts to run, it gets the cat excited, he goes after them. That’s what they like, these guys, they want to know that you’re scared, it turns them on.

      I was scared, and getting more so by the minute. Two women, five guys, probably hopped up on something. What, then? I asked, my voice going up in pitch, even though we were still whispering.

      Then…this. She gave me a sudden shove. We were at a corner, one of those dark side streets she had mentioned, and before I knew it, we were around it. Now we run, she said, grabbing my arm to emphasize her words.

      We did. I thought I heard a shout behind me, and I wondered if we could really outrun them. I jog, not as regularly as I should—not as regularly as I now wished I did—but it was almost 2 a.m., and I’d had half a dozen beers at The Midnight Oil. I hadn’t planned on any track practice.

      Here, she said, pulling me through a tall, open gate, and behind stone walls, thick and ivy covered.

      We were in a cemetery, the old Saint Agnes Cemetery, no longer used since they’d built the new one at the edge of town. She tugged, me, breathing a little too hard, behind a big stone angel on an oversized pedestal, the kind of monument no one put up today. I was glad someone had, whenever. I dropped to my knees in damp grass.

      Just in time, too. I heard footsteps running past beyond the wall, deep male voices exchanging barely discernable remarks: "…a car down there, maybe she…where’d she…fuckin’ bitch.…"

      They’ll come back, I started to get up. They’ll look for us. We need to get out of here.

      No, she said, her hand on my leg. No, they’ll give it up, now that you’re gone. I know these guys. By now, they’re a block or more away. They’ll just keep going. It’s what they do.

      You know these guys? I was kind of torn, wanting to run, the primitive animal instinct, and trusting her. She’d rescued me, hadn’t she, when I hadn’t even known I was in danger, hadn’t known I needed rescuing?

      And, there was that hand on my leg. For a long moment we looked at one another, kneeling in the wet grass behind a cemetery angel. Her eyes locked on mine, a half smile curving her pretty lips. She was beautiful. I hadn’t had time before really to register that. The Midnight Oil. She knew where I had been, then, and there was only one reason a single woman would go to The Midnight Oil—and it wasn’t to pick up a man.

      For a long time, her hand was motionless, but it began to move, then, ever so slowly, her touch hardly more substantial than the late night breeze that blew over us. Her smile widened.

      Pretty, she said. Pretty pretty.

      * * *

      This is so crazy, I said, sitting up afterward. I don’t even know your name.

      Katy, she said. Katy did.

      "Katy did?"

      She laughed. Just a nickname, something people called me.

      She stood up. I did the same, brushing grass and leaves from my jeans, and looked toward the street beyond the cemetery gate. Will it be safe now, do you think? I asked.

      Yes, she said.

      We walked together to the gate, paused on the sidewalk. The street was dark, empty, utterly silent. Wherever our would-be assailants had gone, they hadn’t hung around here.

      Which way are you going? I asked.

      The opposite. She moved as if to leave.

      Where will I find you? I blushed at my own audacity. I was not as a rule the one to take charge in a relationship. Mostly, I hung back, let the other set the pace, but something about her…she was unlike anyone I’d ever met before. What had just happened was unlike anything that had ever happened to me before. If, well, you know. I stammered, feeling like a silly schoolgirl.

      She laughed. Do you know In Your Face?

      I know where it is. I’ve only been in town a few months. Do you hang out there?

      Tell them Katy sent you. Tell them Katy did. She looked up and down the street, and smiled at me. Better not hang around here.

      I looked, too. There was no one to be seen. When I looked back,

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