Fur & Gold: Variations, #1

By Craig Laurance Gidney

In the tradition of Angela Carter and Tanith Lee, Fur & Gold explores the the bestial side of a familiar tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Craig Laurance Gidney
• Release date: Jun 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497727656

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© 2014 Craig Laurance Gidney

A Strange Alphabets Publication

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Kindle cover art designed and composited by Tom Drymon, drymondesign; images © shutterstock.com,© Nejron Photo,© Willyam Bradberry.

FUR & GOLD

{a variation}

Craig Laurance Gidney

The Beast waits.

Sometimes, he hides in the House. The trappings of humanity spark memories, some of them pleasant. The kitchen, with its pot-bellied stove, reminds him of warmth, and food. The bedroom, with its massive canopy bed, makes him feel safe, somehow.

The House has fallen and rotted. Mold creeps along the walls, in black and green tones. The ceiling is webbed with cracks in the plaster. Dust is heavy as snowfall on the black stove. The carpets are fouled with droppings and urine.

The human within recognizes this. And when the human within is awake—this is when the Beast leaves the House, and thus, his humanity. Into the overgrown grounds, thick with bushes and thorns, full of the scent of night and his fellow animals. The Beast smothers the human within, with wildness and instinct.

One time, the Beast went to the second floor of the House. In one of the rooms, there was a mirror. The human within him woke, catching his reflection. Instead of skin and clothes, he beheld mangy, tangled fur, alien eyes, fangs, and a blunt snout. Horns protruding from his head. A lolling tongue.

The human within cried out, in fear, in horror. The cry was not a human cry. The Beast ran from the image, terrified. The Beast does not go the second floor anymore. The Mirror is evil.

The Beast waits, but does not knew what he is waiting for. The waiting is instinctual, as inevitable and inexorable as the fur that covers his hide. Time has no meaning for the Beast. He just watches sunrise after sunrise, sunset after sunset. The moon rises, the moon sets. Sometimes, it rains, and others it snows. Time, like the House and