The Mommy Phenomenon
A Horror By Richard O Jones
Although my English degree is in Creative Writing, I have mostly written nonfiction since then, and only occasionally have I dabbled in more imaginative prose. But a few weeks ago, I had a dream that was just so eerie and spooky, I wanted to try to convey that sense of doom and dread in short story. But dreams don’t always follow good story-telling practices, so as I developed a narrative, I drifted so far from the source that you would not recognize it if I related it to you. I will just keep that part to myself, but here is the first piece of fiction I’ve had to share in a few decades. I hope you get a chill…..
Ahead of us, a seemingly mismatched couple in their 50s bicker. She’s bickering, anyway, chastising him for dragging her along on this goose chase, and what are all these people doing here? Short and stout, wearing brightly clashing animal print clothing, something you might expect to see on a Flinstones character, the woman does not seem to belong to the tall, lanky, khaki man. At every complaint, the beleaguered husband calmly responds in a musical Kentucky twag with, “The Mommy will explain that,” or “That’s a question for The Mommy.”
“Howard Lewis, you are absolutely crazy!” she exclaims as we overtake them. “Your mother’s been dead for thirty years.”