I don’t write a
lot of horror—some, but not much, since I prefer paranormal and fantasy writing
with a little literary fiction mixed in. But I do indulge occasionally. I have
written several stories for The Horror Zine, one of the best e-zines of that genre
on the web. One of them was “The Gremlin.”
Most people know
that Gremlins are creatures who tear up airplanes. RAF pilots in World War II reported seeing them—probably a result of
fatigue and stress from flying too many missions. They began to appear in novels
and stories and became famous with the publication of a book by Roald Dahl, better known for later stories like Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory and James and
Giant Peach. They took their place in mythology, a specialized sort of elf
or imp. But they weren’t always cute little creatures. Many people remember the
episode, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” from The
Twilight Zone where William Shatner sees a Gremlin on the wing of passenger
plane. Everyone remembers the scene where he pulls the curtain back and the
Gremlin is staring at him, its face pressed against the window.
I had been trying
to write a story in response to a call for submissions of Indiana stories. After
repeated attempts to write a tale about my hometown of Kokomo, Indiana (yes,
there is such a place; no, it is not the place the Beach Boys mention in their song),
I gave up on my original story and decided to switch it to a horror tale. For
some reason, I chose a Gremlin.
 |
| Elwood Haynes and early automobile |
One of Kokomo’s
claims to fame is that one of the first automobiles was invented there. It was
built and driven in 1906 by a man named Elwood Haynes (who also invented the
process for making stainless steel). I had originally meant to write a story of
his first drive down a road called Punkinvine Pike, but the story just would
not set up. So I switched it to a story about a young man and young woman
driving down the pike who are attached by a Gremlin.
Why would a
Gremlin attack them? I’m not sure. But those creatures seem to have an aversion
to mechanical things. I got the idea that Haynes’ development of automobiles
ruined their peaceful environment and they still harbor a lot of chagrin toward
mechanical things. They hit the gremlin, call the police, but the creature manages to
get away before they police arrive. They ask Alex (the main character, Alex Haynes,
is related to Elwood) what happened. He tells them they hit something, some kind
of animal that looked like an orangutan but had green fur. The police ask if he has
been drinking. His girlfriend’s parents take her home. Alex then is taken to
the police station. He asks why. They only say they want to question him
further out of “concern for public safety”—the creature he has described, they
say, might be dangerous, might have escaped from a zoo.
 |
| Gremlin from Twilight Zone |
At
the police station he is questioned by federal agents. They tell him the blood and
fur samples on his car are not related to any species except some they found on
British aircraft during World War II. Then they ask him if he knows anything about
Gremlins. Alex answers: “Gremlins? Well, it was a car produced by American Motors in the 1960s.
Or a monster—one of them scared the hell out of William Shatner on an old Twilight
Zone episode. Other than that, I’m not real up on them.”
They reply that they are concerned because Gremlins really do seem to exist, evidence of them has been found in the Middle East, and they are concerned this may be a threat to national security. “So he might be working for Al Qaeda?” Alex asks. After more questioning, they let him go. He returns home. The Gremlin comes after him.
It breaks into his house. He has a .22 hunting rifle—not a lot of
velocity—but puts enough bullets in it that the creature flees. When he jumps
out the window he broke in through there is the sound of machine gun and heavy
weapons fire. The local SWAT team and the federal agents are there. He knows a
SWAT team member from school. She tells them they have to take him in: standard policy for anyone they find with a
weapon, and he still had the .22. There, the Federal Agents tell him they
thought the creature might come back and so they and the local police staked
the place out. “If this was a gremlin, we
need to study it. Unleashing such creatures on our military installations,
especially in the Middle East, is something we must be concerned about—at least
about the possibility. We want learn as much about the creature as we can. And
we don’t want the existence of the creature to leak out so that we have an
uncontrollable media event on our hands. We’ll have to ask you to keep quiet
about this—in fact, we’ll have to insist on it.”
Alex understands. The Federal Agents say they will pay him “compensation” for all that has happened. If the government can’t throw you in jail, he muses, they can always pay you off. He feels some sympathy for the Gremlin, who takes on the stock role of the pitiable monster—like Frankenstein or the American Werewolf in London. He wonders if Elwood Haynes perhaps first woke the creature when he drove his early automobile; if the creature perhaps hibernated but was awakened by the scent of a relative’s blood. He wonders where it all will end. He also wonders how many more gremlins will begin to awaken now.
The story appeared in Shadow Masters, a publication put out by the very fine publication, The Horror Zine. It is available
through Amazon.
For more good horror, get a copy of my vampire saga, Sinfonia.
For additional titles check out my Writer's Page.
I would love to hear your comments.
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