Friend of the Devil, Ch. 4

I was at a family dinner that never happened at my Aunt's house in Salt Lake City.

My aunt had advanced stage Alzheimer's.   She recently tried to kill herself and was now living in a round the clock assisted care facility.

But at the dinner she was running around, serving everyone, trying to keep everyone happy.

There were many more people at the dinner than usual.

All my cousins were there with all of their spouses and all of their children.   And probably all of their children's children.

This was Utah, of course

and I had long lost count of the number of remarriages involving my relatives.

There were so many people at the dinner that I didn't recognize or had never met that I don't remember seeing my cousins there. 

These people were all relatives of my mother.  

I told my father that it was good that the family was together.  

He looked at me uncomfortably--like a Catholic who had lived in Utah most of his life.

After dinner, Satan met me at the stairway leading to the basement.

We walked down and the basement opened up into an indoor shopping mall.

Satan pointed to a restaurant in the mall with a large glass facade.

"I heard the food there isn't too good," Satan remarked.

I've already eaten.

"In that case, follow me to the back of the restaurant, I have something to show you."

Satan led me to an elevator in the back next to a fountain.

The fountain was shooting water high into the air.

The noise was deafening.

Though Satan was trying to speak to me, I could not hear him until we were in the elevator.

"I think you'll find our next stop to be more to your liking.   For a man of your expanded sensibilities."

The elevator doors opened revealing a crowded hall with doors stretching left and right in both directions like a hotel floor.

There were multitudes of families congregating in the hall..  Many were seated in circles outside the room doors playing music with children playing all around them.  The air was fetid.   I had the impression they all were immigrants.  Like gypsies or some ethnic group of Eastern or Southern Europe. 

"Its such a close knit community," said Satan, "I'm sure you would like it here--better than your isolated life, to be sure.   But I want you to meet one of my friends."

He led me to a doorway at the end of the hall that opened into a balcony.

My friend L was out on the balcony with a group of people listening to music.   A man wearing a bear costume was handing out what looked like stamp books.

"Stanley," said Satan, speaking to the man in the bear suit, "There is someone here I want you to meet."

"Groovy, I'm always looking for fresh meat," exclaimed the bear man.

The bear had given L several of the stamp books and she was beginning to lick one of them.

"She's trying my new flavor called `Cuttlefish.'   Its way tubular.  Wanna try some?"

I was frantically trying to stop L from licking the stamps.  But it was too late.  My hand accidentally grabbed onto one of the stamps when I tried to wrestle them from L. 

Satan stepped in front of me blocking me from L.  

"Its too late for her, can't you tell? She likes the fish."

L's eyes went glassy and her smile became serene.

"Its also too late for you my friend."

I looked down at my hand that had touched the stamps and saw that a redness was starting to spread up my arm.

The balcony around me began to spin.

"Its much too late for you my friend."