These Bobcats These Wolves These Snakes These Squirrels These Scorpions These Bats These Owls

from the October 2009 issue of Keyhole Digest, a story by my student Kevin Catalano.

The Word Made Flesh
Kevin Catalano

And the men came down the mountain, came out the wilderness, cast in furs and skins, the smart of beast and rot and rank on their brown bodies, a fearful mystery in their eyes. Damp early morning, the waiting multitude gasped and backstepped to the lip of the lake crisp at their heels. Women and children and men, they locked arms and shivered not for the cold. From the mountain men charged forth one, fanged and noseless and translucent-eyed, and he spoke, and when he spoke, the creatures of the mount spewed from his mouth. These bobcats these wolves these snakes these squirrels these scorpions these bats these owls these all shrouded the multitude in a deafening cloud. When it was all told, the savage teller reclaimed the creatures into his mouth, and the men retreated back into the wilderness and up the mountain, leaving the lake to lap at the congregation of bones.