“Come And See”: Part Eleven

~ beetleypete

This is the eleventh part of a fiction serial, in 822 words.

Jimmy soon discovered that Lesley liked to watch a lot of television. She had many favourite programmes, which she also liked to talk about all the way through them. He didn’t mind too much, as every so often he would get a familiar message from the screen. One of the soap opera characters might be spouting the lines that Lesley expected to hear, but Jimmy would hear them saying “Make A Difference”, in that same voice he had heard in bed that night.

Reverend George wasn’t in the phone book. That meant Jimmy would have to go out on Sunday. He told Lesley he was going to visit his mum in the new unit. He would do that too, just so he was seen there by staff. Lesley was looking forward to cooking them a Sunday dinner. “I got a nice half leg of lamb, and I make my own mint sauce. Yourkshire puddings too, if you want. Try to be back by two, so I can time it all”.

Finding a place across the road from the hall where the prayer group met, he managed to wait out of sight on the corner. Knowing what time they usually finished, he only had to be there for a few minutes, so was unlikely to attract any attention. The scary old lady was out first, after unbolting the door, then a dozen or so followed her before George Greaves appeared and waved them goodbye. Then he locked the outside padlock, and took the key into the social club before walking away at a brisk pace.

Following at a reasonable distance, Jimmy had to be careful not to be spotted. The streets were quiet on that Sunday morning, and it would have been easy for Greaves to suddenly turn and spot him. Fortunately, he didn’t turn, keeping up his fast pace until he got to a row of shabby-looking shops that were all shuttered up. Between two of them, George stopped and let himself in with a key. Presumably, he lived in a flat above one of them, Jimmy concluded. Checking the time on his watch, he wondered if he should get on with things now, or come back another time.

In his head, he heard one of his mum’s favourite sayings. “No time like the present”.

There were two doorbells. One had a faded paper name-plate with ‘Strickland’ on it, so Jimmy pressed the other one. It took some time for George to answer, and he seemed very surprised, almost startled to see Jimmy. “What can I do for you, young James?” Jimmy explained about his mum being in the long-stay unit, and that he had hoped to talk to George about the special work that the Lord had for him. Checking his own watch, he stood back from the door. “Come on up, but I don’t have long I’m afraid”. He didn’t ask Jimmy how he knew where he lived.

Inside, the pokey flat looked nothing like a residence you might associate with a man of God. Piles of clothes covered most surfaces, and a glipmse into the kitchen as they walked past had showed that no washing up had been done for a very long time. George sat down on a greasy-looking armchair, and pointed at the one opposite. Jimmy didn’t sit. Instead, he asked George if he could use the toilet, and the man nodded. “Just by the front door, opposite the kitchen”.

In the small bathroom, Jimmy removed a plastic carrier bag from his coat pocket. It contained a knife he had brought from home, with a blade about eight inches long. He inverted the bag until it covered his hand and sleeve, then grabbed the knife through the plastic.

George was pouring himself a whisky when Jimmy returned, his right hand behind his back. Before he could offer a drink to the young man, Jimmy stabbed him once in the side of the neck, turning the blade flat as he withdrew it. As George dropped the bottle and glass, a mystifed look on his face, Jimmy stepped smartly to one side, carefully avoiding the jet of blood that spurted from the neck wound. George tried to stand, but fell forward onto his knees, the colour draining from his skin.

Leaving the reverend face down on the floor making a strange gurgling noise, Jimmy turned and went back into the bathroom. Running the plastic bag and knife under the tap, he waited until there was no chance of any blood drips, then turned the bag inside out, and put the knife back inside. Before leaving, he went to check that George was dead, waiting a full two minutes to be certain his chest wasn’t moving. Then using his sleeve on the catch, he opened the door and let himself out.

On the way to the hospital unit, the thought of that roast lamb was making his mouth water.

48 thoughts on ““Come And See”: Part Eleven”

  1. I as a little surprised to find that the reverend lived in such shambles. I was expecting that he was fleecing that little congregation. Well done getting rid of him, however. He creeped me out more than James.

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  2. (1) TV Evangelist; “Make a difference. Change the channel.”
    (2) Is Reverend George in God’s phone book?
    (3) “I got a nice half leg of lamb.” Somewhere, there’s a partially amputated lamb using a crutch to get around. #LambChop
    (4) “…it would have been easy for Greaves to suddenly turn and spot him.” If the itsy-bitsy angel on the reverend’s right shoulder hadn’t been so busy arguing with the wee little devil on his left shoulder, perhaps he would have noticed that the reverend had attracted a follower.
    (5a) The itsy-bitsy angel could have put a bug in the reverend’s ear.
    (5b) The wee little devil is good at debugging human auditory devices.
    (6) “Come on up, but I don’t have long I’m afraid.” Thus spoke the prophet Greaves.
    (7) A prayer, by George Greaves:
    “O Lord, please launder my dirty clothes and wash my grimy dishes.
    Dear Lord, please scrub and polish my greasy armchairs.
    For if you can cleanse me of sin, you can surely cleanse my filthy apartment, no?
    I beseech you, Lord. Grant me these small favors!
    I humbly confess that I’m a God-fearing con artist with a crooked conscience.
    But I’m in your service, right?
    Anyway, thank you for lending me your divinely generous ear.
    Yes, I know that my prayers really bug you. So please forgive me!
    That’s all for now. Amen!”
    (8) Jimmy will praise the lamb, but sacrifice the reverend.
    (9) The bathroom faucet made a strange gurgling noise. Jimmy turned it off. “Bloody tap!”

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  6. You seem to have waded into a bit of controversy with the direction this story is taking Pete…but in my opinion, you are showing exactly how a disturbed mind is influenced by the world they inhabit, and how it helps manifest their worst actions…as you know. we have such a huge problem here in the US with twisted minds acting out in the most horrific ways…and they were either “so nice and quiet” or “we always knew he was strange”…but nothing is ever done to prevent the next one.

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  8. That didn’t take long …Now he has eliminated the recipient of his mother’s funds…it doesn’t bode well for his mother, the solicitor or Lesley…time will tell… another good chapter, Pete x

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    1. He hasn’t scorned her, Cheryl. He is simply using her with her compliance. She has what she wants, a home life with an attractive lover, and the prospect of marriage later. I doubt she will have any ‘fury’. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  11. So that was the sword. Now I am wondering who (and how) will be killed by hunger. Probably not Lesley yet as she is appears to be finding a way to his heart through his stomach.

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  13. It is a bit of a worry that readers do not realise this is a story – only a story. I’m probably not religious these days, but I am comforted by the fact that, in general, Christianity is so tolerant of other religions and opinions.

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