Read Online Totentanz by Al Sarrantonio - Free Book Online Page A

wander
around this spook land if he could get his business over with and
then get out?
    But wander he did. Instead of leading him
anywhere direct, the path he chose drew him through most of the
amusement park. He passed numerous shuttered, antique-looking
custard stands and cotton-candy setups, all in spanking new paint
jobs. There wasn't a spot of rust or use marks on anything, not
even on the old-time hot dog carts that stood sentinel at every
corner. He passed another long street of booths bigger than the
others. When he peeked behind one tarpaulin, he found a shooting
gallery with red-and-white wheels with bull's-eyes painted on them,
along with a double row of conveyor-belted ducks and bears.
Overhead there was a complicated gizmo that seemed to bring into
life a couple of large dirigibles; painted on each was a face with
its tongue sticking out.
    Again he had that feeling that someone was
just about to touch him, and he felt a drop in the temperature.
There was nobody there; but when he turned back to his inspection
of the shooting gallery, the feeling immediately returned. This
time he resisted it, and his heart nearly climbed into his throat
when a cold hand took hold of his elbow.
    "Jumping Jesus!" he cried out, whipping
around. There was no one there.
    He felt for his handgun. A thin, cold sheen
of sweat covered him now, and he thought of making his way back to
the front gate as fast as he could. But that frightened him as much
as the thought of continuing his search. There were probably
eyeholes in most of the buildings he was passing, just like the
ones in those movies about haunted houses.
    "I know you're out there," he said, and was
surprised to find that his voice came out weaker than he had
wanted it to.
    He continued walking. The shooting galleries
gave way to a clearing peppered with kiddie rides, each corralled
by a low white fence stenciled with circus clowns. A faint breeze
had risen, and a few of the rides—a caterpillar with a long canvas
shell that would cover it when the ride was in motion, and a ride
consisting of rockets hung from wires attached to a spoked overhead
wheel—were creaking gently. Barney looked at the sky; with the
breeze, the day had clouded over; a high sheet of grim clouds was
sliding across the faded blueness and making the day nearly as
chilly as September.
    Barney shivered in the gray sweat shirt and
sat down on the rim of the merry-go-round, hugging himself. He felt
very alone all of a sudden. Someone was following him, and he
dreaded the moment when whoever it was would appear. It was like
putting on a Sunday shirt and then having someone tell you there
was a spider on it but not telling you where. The spider was there,
all right, and would appear.
    "Why don't you come out?" he said. His voice
was like a little child's. He couldn't help it. He wanted to run,
but his legs would not carry him if he tried. A change had come
over him. He was a veteran of the Korean War, and if anyone had
ever told him he would act this way under any circumstances, he
would have laughed or hit him. He was not a big man and had kept
his leanness over the years, but he had always thought himself big
in spirit. He was tough but had only demanded his due, and he knew
that though he had no close friends, he had no enemies either. And
here he was, wanting to bawl like a baby.
    The feeling of helplessness was oppressive.
He fought to overcome it. He got to his feet, noticing now the
grotesque faces of the horses on the carousel. Half of them looked
not to be horses at all, but other creatures: half-lion and
half-bird: goats: a giant hare with eyes as big as hubcaps. "Eyes
as big as saucers," he suddenly thought, remembering a story a
buddy of his had told him the day before he left for Korea. Who had
written it? Whoever it was, Danny Kaye had played the star role in
the movie. It was about a soldier who met a witch who told him
about three treasures, each guarded by a dog. The soldier went
underground and