“Were you frightened?” asked James.
“I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to be too afraid. I couldn’t believe the Other would hurt its own mother, but then I got scared for her when I heard whippoorwills calling. They got so loud I didn’t hear the lock turn when Wilbur opened my door a while later.
“He didn’t try to talk over the racket the birds were making, but I could see tears on his cheeks. He just walked over to where I was lying on the bed and picked me up. He set me on my feet, looked long and hard into my eyes, then wrapped both arms around me. I found myself returning his embrace, and we stayed there holding and comforting each other for some time. Then the tone of the birds changed, getting louder and wilder, so finally Wilbur let go of me.”
James rose half way out of his seat in excitement. “Didn’t he offer any sort of explanation?”
Galvin nodded. “All he said was, ‘The ’wills got ’er, Abe. She’ll rest easy naow. She ne’er understood all that Gran’pa got her inta; she wuz jest his pawn.’”
None of the trio spoke for several minutes. Finally, Jeffrey focused on the fresh bottle of whiskey and poured a round of drinks. All three joined in a silent toast in memory of Lavinia.
“The birds didn’t fully disperse ’til dawn. Wilbur climbed the ramp with me behind him. He told me to stay back while he went through the gable to fetch Lavinia.
“My curiosity got the best of me when he didn’t come right out, so I climbed up high enough to peek in. There’s no way I can describe the feeling that came over me when I spotted Wilbur, standing just a little way inside, struggling in what looked like a tug o’ war with Lavinia’s limp and lifeless body floating like some kind of Kewpie doll about six feet in the air. Wilbur had told me the Other was invisible, but I guess I hadn’t expected to see the walls right through it like there was nothing there at all. I could only really be sure there was something there by the way Lavinia’s body was being pulled back and forth. The Other was grunting and whining like a frustrated child clinging onto its favorite toy.
“It let out a squeal when it saw me gaping at it in the doorway, and it let go of Lavinia. Wilbur ran by me, cradling what was left of his mother in his arms and yelling for me to shut the door on the thing, to hold it as best I could until he got back with new locks from the shed, which I did. Wilbur carried the withered body downstairs and laid Lavinia out in her room, then returned to secure the door with new locks and boards.
“Lavinia’s clothes were all ripped up and her body was covered with big round welts from top to bottom. She’d been sucked dry as a leaf.”
“But why did she feel compelled to go in there?” It was James this time.
Galvin poured another drink without bothering to offer the bottle to the others. He slammed it on the table before answering in a voice choked with emotion. “Wilbur just said, ‘She a’ways felt it wuz her duty ta suckle us both.’
“He wouldn’t accept help with her burial, and he didn’t bother notifying the authorities. After performing some kind of esoteric service over her body, he never spoke her name in my presence again.”
The control returned to Galvin’s voice as he continued.
“Wilbur didn’t need my help with translating any more, but he begged me not to leave as he couldn’t bear the idea of being there alone. He had to stay to keep the Other contained. I told him I’d become too attached to just leave him there.
“During the summer of 1927, Wilbur repaired the large tool shed next to mine and moved the wood-burning stove from the house to outside so heat could be piped into both sheds. Then we started moving his books and makeshift desk from the house to Wilbur’s shed as the Other was getting way too big for the upper half of the house. I boarded up the windows and doors of the house’s ground floor while Wilbur gutted the remaining partitions between rooms and floors.
“That winter saw Wilbur doubling his efforts to get access to the Necronomicon; we didn’t know then that Armitage had already contacted the libraries to warn them against him. They wouldn’t even allow him to copy particular pages from the book. He was so desperate for a way to control his own growth as well as that of the Other that he travelled on horseback all the way to the library at Cambridge. Armitage had done his work well, though, so Wilbur wasn’t allowed near the book.”
Again Galvin paused, hesitant to relive the next series of events.
“We managed to keep things in check all that winter and on into 1928, but by late summer it became obvious that the Other was quickly outgrowing the old farmhouse. The walls bulged whenever it turned around, and its movement in general became very constrained. Something had to be done to stop its growth before all hell broke loose. That’s when Wilbur realized he had to try and steal the book from the library at Miskatonic. He wouldn’t allow me to come with him as someone had to keep feeding the Other while he was away or it would break out for sure and go on a killing spree.”
“You blame Armitage for Wilbur’s death, don’t you?” James asked.
Galvin reacted adamantly. “You’re damn right I blame him! He knew Wilbur couldn’t control the Other any longer without the spell, yet he did everything possible to force the crisis. He wanted Wilbur to come crawling to him and agree to his hellish plan. The only other option was for Wilbur to steal the book. Armitage knew that too. Why do you think, knowing how dogs universally hated Wilbur, Armitage suddenly added watch dogs in addition to the regular security at the library? When he found Wilbur bleeding to death on the library floor, Armitage did nothing to save him. He feigned shock at seeing such an alien monster simply for the benefit of his colleagues!”
Neither interviewer knew what to say, so they waited silently for Galvin’s fury to subside. His story was fascinating despite many surprising revelations.
“Wilbur felt there was a real good chance he’d be arrested while attempting to steal the book, so he made me promise to leave if he hadn’t returned within a week. It never occurred to me that worse might happen, but it must have occurred to him.
“Before he left, he said he could feel the Other’s claustrophobia. As often happens with twins, he and the Other shared strong emotional feelings to a certain extent. He said it felt trapped and afraid.
“I hesitated to leave, however, hoping my friend would come back safely with the means to halt or even reverse the Other’s growth.
“I decided it was time to leave when I had used up all the cows to feed the Other. That was on the first of September. Earl Sawyer had been providing them regularly for that purpose, but he heard the creaking and the straining sounds coming from the house and it frightened him away. I admit I was afraid too, so on the ninth I decided to leave. I was packing a bag when I heard a real loud noise, like the logs of the farmhouse wrenching and cracking apart. I stepped out of the shed to get a better look, and the whole world exploded around me.
“It was pouring down rain so hard I could barely see. Doors, plaster, and glass filled the air; huge chunks of walls were flying in every direction. The farmhouse had been ripped into sections, parts of which were still moving. A huge chunk of roof floated in the air, the gables and chimney still intact. Mud was splashing up in waves and an ungodly stench hit me so hard, I threw up.
“The next thing I knew, something slimy grabbed one of my legs and thrust me thirty feet or so into the air. I couldn’t see what had me, but it felt like a mass of wet, living rope winding and knotting all over me. I tried to get a grip on whatever held me, but it was like trying to grasp an armload of oily snakes—only these were as thick as my thigh. I could feel mouths clamping down and biting me right through my clothes, and I saw the rain turn red as it struck my body. My chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vise, so with the first air I caught, I started screaming and hollering for all I was worth.