Horror tales; Science fiction; Short stories; Spouses -- Fiction
"--see," he finished, at the bottom of the tub. He was still wondering
how he had gotten down there when the lid came down, bang, and it grew
very dark. He felt the tub sail up, come to rest on something and begin
to move forward with an up and down rocking movement.
It did not take Goro long, in his bucket-shaped night, to realize that
the yamam'ba, having no further reason to pretend a feminine weakness
she probably despised anyway, had placed the tub on her head and was on
her way home. To the mountain.
"Excuse me," he called out. "Where are we going?"
"To dinner," came his former wife's voice through the wood. It grated
unpleasantly. He decided to ask no more questions.
Deep into the woods went the yamam'ba, cutting through thicket and
underbrush, the tub jouncing easily on her head, up and up into the
mountains. Tireless on her long, rangy legs, she travelled along
dead, forgotten roads lined with gnarled ugly trees. Goro heard their
branches, bump-crack-bump, against his self-made prison. A thin edge
of lesser darkness began to show at the top. He hoped it was the first
time the lid had slipped on a tub made by Goro; this sort of thing
could ruin years of reputation. But it might mean a way out of the tub.
The opening grew wider. Looking up, he was able to see a few stars. Did
he imagine it, or was the tub slowing down? He hoped he was not going
to be eaten immediately.
The tub stopped and settled.
Something rough, twisted, and snakelike appeared in the opening. It did
not move. Nothing moved. He put out his hand--it was a branch.
He gave the branch a delicate jiggle; it felt solid. The yamam'ba, he
guessed, must have tired and sat down to rest against a tree. Very
cautiously he lifted himself by the branch, trying to move neither the
lid nor the tub which must still be resting on the monster's head.
He heard a faint snore. Top or forward mouth, he wondered. He pulled
himself to his feet, trying not to breathe and at last stood with his
head out of the tub. The branch was thick, and the next branch, right
above, looked dependable. Healthy wood; he appreciated that. Then came
a few feet of bark--that would be hard climbing--but above that, four
or five branches, almost a ladder. Further, it was too dark to see.
He tensed, took a deep breath, then gave a push and sent the heavy lid
crashing down on the sleeping yamam'ba. Up she leaped, and the tub
went flying, but Goro was already climbing from branch to branch. In a
nearby tree some monkeys woke up and watched Goro's footwork with shame
and envy.
From the ground the yamam'ba stared up at him. It was a rare chance to
see just what a yamam'ba really wore for a face, and he decided it was
not very attractive.
Down below, the monster was letting down her horrible hair in a
businesslike manner.
"Dinner will be early," she said with a ghastly, girlish laugh. "I was
getting quite hungry."
She started up the tree, the top mouth opening and closing. There were
teeth in it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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