The Anything Box

Her mouth opened to let out the terror that was constricting her lungs, andher frantic scream coincided with the shrill clamor of the telephone. TheEater hesitated, then slid swiftly toward the repeated ring. In the pauseafter the party line's four identifying rings, it stopped and June clappedboth hands over her mouth, her eyes dilated with paralyzed terror.
The ring began again. June caught Dubby up into her arms and backed slowlytoward the front door. The Eater's snout darted out to the telephone and thering stilled without even an after-resonance.
The latch of the front door gave a rasping click under June's tremblinghand. Behind her, she heard the choonk and horrible slither as the Eater lostinterest in the silenced telephone. She whirled away from the door, staggeringoff balance under the limp load of Dubby's body. She slipped to one knee,spilling the child to the floor with a thump. The Eater slid toward her,pausing at the hall door, its ears tilting and moving.
June crouched on her knees, staring, one hand caught under Dubby. Sheswallowed convulsively, then cautiously withdrew her hand. She touched Dubby'sbony little chest. There was no movement. She hesitated indecisively, thenbacked away, eyes intent on the Eater.
Her heart drummed in her burning throat. Her blood roared in her ears. Thestarchy krunkle of her wide skirt rattled in the stillness. The fibers of therug murmured under her knees and toes. She circled wider, wider, the noiseonly loud enough to hold the Eater's attention—not to attract him to her. Shebacked guardedly into the corner by the radio. Calculatingly, she reached overand clicked it on, turning the volume dial as far as it would go.
The Eater slid tentatively toward her at the click of the switch. Junebacked slowly away, eyes intent on the creature. The sudden insane blare ofthe radio hit her an almost physical blow. The Eater glided up close againstthe vibrating cabinet, its snout lifting and drinking in the horriblecacophony of sound.
June lurched for the front door, wrenching frantically at the door knob.She stumbled outside, slamming the door behind her. Trembling, she sank to thetop step, wiping the cold sweat from her face with the under side of herskirt. She shivered in the sharp cold, listening to the raucous outpouringfrom the radio that boomed so loud it was no longer intelligible.
She dragged herself to her feet, pausing irresolutely, looking around atthe huddled houses, each set on its own acre of weeds and lawn. They were alldark in the early winter evening.
June gave a little moan and sank on the step again, hugging herselfdesperately against the penetrating chill. It seemed an eternity that shecrouched there before the radio cut off in mid-note.
Fearfully, she roused and pressed her face to one of the door panes. Dimlythrough the glass curtains she could see the Eater, sluggish and swollen,lying quietly by the radio. Hysteria was rising for a moment, but sheresolutely knuckled the tears from her eyes.
ABC Amber Palm Converter,http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The headlights scythed around the corner, glittering swiftly across the
blank windows next door as the car crunched into the Warrens' driveway and
came to a gravel-skittering stop.
June pressed her hands to her mouth, sure that even through the closed door
she could hear the choonk and slither of the thing inside as it slid to and
fro, seeking sound.
The car door slammed and hurried footsteps echoed along the path. June made
wild shushing motions with her hands as Mrs. Warren scurried around the corner
of the house.
"June!" Mrs. Warren's voice was ragged with worry. "Is Dubby all right?
What are you doing out here? What's wrong with the phone?" She fumbled for the
door knob.
"No, no!" June shouldered her roughly aside. "Don't go in! It'll get you,
too!"
She heard a thud just inside the door. Dimly through the glass she saw the
flicker of movement as the snout of the Eater raised and wavered toward them.
"June!" Mrs. Warren jerked her away from the door. "Let me in! What's the
matter? Have you gone crazy?" Mrs. Warren stopped suddenly, her face
whitening. "What have you done to Dubby, June?"
The girl gulped with the shock of the accusation. "I haven't done anything,
Mrs. Warren. He made a Noise-eater and it—it—" June winced away from the
sudden blaze of Mrs. Warren's eyes.
"Get away from that door!" Mrs. Warren's face was that of a stranger, her
words icy and clipped. "I trusted you with my child. If anything has happened
to him—"
"Don't go in—oh, don't go in!" June grabbed at her coat hysterically.
"Please, please wait! Let's get—"
"Let go!" Mrs. Warren's voice grated between her tightly clenched teeth.
"Let me go, you—you—" Her hand flashed out and the crack of her palm against
June's cheek was echoed by a choonk inside the house. June was staggered by
the blow, but she clung to the coat until Mrs. Warren pushed her sprawling
down the front steps and fumbled at the knob, crying, "Dubby! Dubby!"
June, scrambling up the steps on hands and knees, caught a glimpse of a
hovering something that lifted and swayed like a waiting cobra. It was slapped
aside by the violent opening of the door as Mrs. Warren stumbled into the
house, her cries suddenly stilling on her slack lips as she saw her crumpled
son by the couch.
She gasped and whispered, "Dubby!" She lifted him into her arms. His head
rolled loosely against her shoulder. Her protesting, "No, no, no!" merged into
half-articulate screams as she hugged him to her.
And from behind the front door there was a choonk and a slither.
June lunged forward and grabbed the reaching thing that was homing in on
Mrs. Warren's hysterical grief. Her hands closed around it convulsively, her
whole weight dragging backward, but it had a strength she couldn't match.
Desperately then, her fists clenched, her eyes tight shut, she screamed and
screamed and screamed.
The snout looped almost lazily around her straining throat, but she fought
her way almost to the front door before the thing held her, feet on the floor,
body at an impossible angle and stilled her frantic screams, quieted her
straining lungs and sipped the last of her heartbeats, and let her drop.
Mrs. Warren stared incredulously at June's crumpled body and the horrible
creature that blinked its lights and shifted its antennae questingly. With a
muffled gasp, she sagged, knees and waist and neck, and fell soundlessly to
the floor.
The refrigerator in the kitchen cleared its throat and the Eater turned
from June with a choonk and slid away, crossing to the kitchen.
The Eater retracted its snout and slid back from the refrigerator. It lay
quietly, its ears shifting from quarter to quarter.
The thermostat in the dining room clicked and the hot air furnace began to
hum. The Eater slid to the wall under the register that was set just below the
ABC Amber Palm Converter,http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
ceiling. Its snout extended and lifted and narrowed until the end of itslipped through one of the register openings. The furnace hum choked offabruptly and the snout end flipped back into sight.
Then there was quiet, deep and unbroken until the Eater tilted its ears andslid up to Mrs. Warren.