The Cottage

By Jeff Baker

Years later I went back to Pending, Kansas and drove past the stone house. It was much the same; it still looked like a cottage in a fairy tale. I wondered if the new owners had made a lot of changes. I wondered if my old room was still upstairs to the one side. And most of all I wondered if the cistern in the back yard was still tightly sealed, the way we left it twenty years ago.

I debated about going around to the back and checking it but I thought the better of it. Besides, the sun was shining, birds were singing and life was continuing.

So I knew the cistern was sealed and what was in there, trapped under the ground was still there.

For now.

—end—

Author’s Note: The first lines are a variation on the opening of C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner’s story “Call Him Demon.” I couldn’t resist that or the picture. I thought I was just going to do the opening of a story but this one feels complete! —-jeff baker, 1/6/18