Family Matters

by Darren O. Godfrey

About the Author: Darren O. Godfrey's work has appeared in Black October Magazine, The Art Times, Gorezone Magazine, as well as The Museum of Horrors, Borderlands 2, Borderlands 5, Borderlands 6, Horror Library Volume 6, and Quietly Now: An Anthology in Tribute to Charles L. Grant. His story “Recess” was selected for All-American Horror of the 21st Century, the First Decade, edited by Mort Castle.

Excerpt

Neatly arranged trees throw shade over newly-mown grass; robins on their branches swap ideas through song, and two squirrels chatter in what may be agreement, but probably isn’t. This is an American small-town park in early summer and a gathering is afoot. Casually dressed people mill about under a pavilion’s peaked tin roof. They laugh, gossip, pick at foil-covered pots and pans and trays of food arrayed over picnic table surfaces. The aroma of the victuals is inviting.

The petite municipality where this takes place is tagged with the name Downard and this park, Downard Park, is its emerald isle; a slightly deeper shade of green than the LDS church’s lawn four blocks east, and a much more luxurious green than the cemetery across town.

At the north end of all this verdancy lies a wide stretch of pale gray: a parking area consisting of smooth stones too fine to be called gravel. It not only services the park, but also the connecting baseball field to the northwest, and the rarely used tennis courts to the northeast. It currently holds eleven cars, three pickup trucks, and two behemoth RVs.

Seven more vehicles line the streets along the park’s eastern and southern borders.

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