Inspired by
this unbelievably ugly Christmas ornament.
Milk pooled in the cracks on the sidewalk, trickling into gutters and turning the run off cloudy and white. Simon picked up a discarded carton, turning to the picture of an unsmiling Steve Konkalewski beneath the "missing child" banner.
"His eyes have been pecked out," he whispered, hugging himself inside his over-sized hand-me-down sweater. "Marshall, do you think the ravens have joined forces with the creepy garbage guys?"
Marshall shook his head.
"No," he said. "The ravens never align with anyone outside of other corvids. Plus the garbage men don't even have eyes, so as far as the ravens are concerned, they don't really exist."
Simon clutched the mangled cardboard to his chest, his own eyes darting nervously about.
"What do you think did it, then?" he asked, his voice still hushed. "Is someone going to war with the Eerie Dairy? Is that prophecy the Zoltar machine made about the Mooncalf descending from on high and feeding all of Eerie to the Great Moon Maw finally coming true?"
Marshall looked up, his eyes squinting against the bright and cloudless blue of the winter sun.
"Worse," he said, and pointed.
Above them wheeled a flock of seagulls
"Oh no," said Simon.
( Read the rest of the Trusted Associates verse here )( Read the rest of the Milkman series here )( Read the rest of the Children series here )