Sourmouth (26 page)

             
“We’re sorry. You have to understand that all of this seems incredibly
farfetched and frankly impossible. We’re having a hard time coming to terms
with it,” she tried to say to calm things down.

Tsitusem
silently stared at
Violet, examining her face as much as her words.

The waitress came once more to the discomfortingly
quiet table and placed their food on the now uncluttered surface. After
glancing from face to face the young woman stepped back off to her position by
the door.

“Might I ask...
”
Tusem
started, “Why are you so concerned about the
impossible? You do realize that this is all just speculative legend?” 
             

             
Violet stared down at her plate, which held a single large bun about the size
of a baby’s head, leaking of thick sauce with protruding strips of
peameal
bacon.

             
“What if it isn’t?” she asked cautiously as if suddenly the very thought might
cause
Tusem
to get up and leave.

             
The young man didn’t respond.

             
Riley on the other hand was already shoveling pieces of pie in his mouth. The
key lime was covered in a thick meringue and coconut cream topping while the
peanut butter pie was smothered in a substantial amount of syrupy jam. The pies
were sufficiently diabetes-inducing for his personal
tastes.     

             
“Are you trying to suggest that
Sourmouth
was real?
As in, the wolf-man is something that once walked the earth?” the young man
questioned with obvious disbelief.

             
With a mouthful of food Riley deadpan responded, “We would appreciate it if you
did not respond with such incredulity...”  

             
Tusem
didn’t laugh.

             
Violet toyed with her food as she attempted an approach to picking up the bun
without dropping everything to the plate.

             
“What I’m saying is that
Sourmouth
might still be
here”.

             
She lifted up the sandwich and took a large mouthful, chunks of meaty sauce
splashing to the plate below.

             
Tsitusem
looked back from one Tyler to the other,
trying to read their faces. He readjusted his watch on his wrist and made it a
point that they could see as he squinted at the time as if it were some
incredible task. He huffed and stood up, his folder pressed against his body as
he picked up his plates in his free hand.

             
“I would complain about you two wasting my time but somehow I am doubtful that
you would care,” he stated with clear infuriation in his no longer delicate
tone.  
             

             
Tusem
started off towards the kitchen to most likely
request a takeout container in order to leave the restaurant.

             
“We can prove it”.

             
It was Riley that yelled out across the floor of the Artisan Pie Company.

             
The young student halted in his stride, contemplating what the stranger was
trying to tell him.

             
“We’re renting a place up at the lake. And in it is what you think is
impossible. Just waiting for you. You wanted to document Squamish culture; we
have the only opportunity that you’re ever going to get to come face to face
with the oldest piece of your history that exists. All you need to do is come
with us,” proposed Violet.

             
Tsitusem
turned back and nearly dropped his folder to
the ground in the move.

             
“After bringing me all the way to this island with nonsensical stories about a
creature that could not possibly exist, you want to continue to waste my time
by making me come to some secluded house in the mountains? If we are talking
legends here, I have a sinking sensation that you are trying to steal my
kidneys”.

             
“In all seriousness, you made the trip over here because you were curious about
what we wanted from you about
Sourmouth
, which means
that you’re as interested in it as we are. Now just imagine how you’re going to
feel after you see what we have waiting for you. Hell, even if it’s only a
quarter as spectacular as we’re playing this up as, I still think you’d walk
away thrilled,” Riley said.

             
Tusem
looked around the restaurant, mulling over
whether it would be a smarter idea to just get his food to go and put the
strange outsiders behind him. But after a few seconds he took his seat again in
front of the pair.

             
“That sounds like an ominous threat, ‘what we have waiting for you’”.

Riley snorted, “I can’t say that it isn’t. But I can
swear that we’re not what you have to worry about. Not in the slightest”.

             
Violet wiped a gob of grease from the corner of her mouth, “Are you in?”

             
Tsitusem
looked back and forth between them once
more, “I am...for the sake of science”.

             
Violet let out a sharp barking laugh that frightened the young man.

“Sorry...” she apologized, “...but it’s best that you
leave your science behind”. 

Chapter 14

             
The never-ending car ride to Killarney Lake seemed twice the length of the
normal trip with
Tsitusem
sitting in the backseat. At
one point the
Tylers
thought they were running over a
rough patch of rubble on the road but guessed that it was probably just
Tusem
gritting his teeth. They attempted to make small talk
but their guest was having none of it. Every question or comment from the
couple was shot down with single word answers or grunts. For a man that seemed
so beautiful and gentle he was rather a pain in the
arse
.
Despite the fact that he was willing to make the trip to
Poyam’s
house, he wasn’t interested in discussing the situation further until he could
lay his eyes on something tangible. And he certainly wasn’t interested in
making any new friends.

             
On the trip the duo had lost track of the time. It couldn’t have been later
than mid-afternoon and yet the skies were overcast with clouds. They dreaded
the idea of some sort of storm approaching which would make sleeping in the car
even more agonizing. Add the downpour of raindrops on the roof of a small tin
can and the sleepless night would quickly become an escapade in torture. 
             

             
At last the
Tylers
and their reluctant visitor
arrived at the house, parking the car in the front by the mailbox.

             
“I hope that this lives up to your lofty expectations,” Riley said as he
stepped out from the driver’s seat into the almost frigid air.

             
Tsitusem
exited at the same time as Violet and looked
around at their surroundings, apparently not impressed.

             
“I am going to have a body part on the black market, aren’t I?” he asked as he
stared down at the ground, which had become a slopping mess as the moisture
from the weather softened up the dirt below.

             
“Believe it or not, aside from the haunting bit this area is wonderful. It’s a
great view. It has nice
neighbours
. And you get to
spot all sorts of animals running around at all times of the day,” Violet
confessed as she walked towards the house. She was trying her best not to let
it be seen, but on every step she had to fight her legs giving out underneath
her. She was trying to remain calm for their guest, but inside she was readying
to scamper away herself.

             
“That is where you are mistaken. I was raised in the city. All of this is
beyond my level of comfort regardless of the cute and fluffy animals and the
desktop screensaver view,”
Tusem
humbugged as he
followed her along.

             
“Hey,” Riley said to draw the attention off his wife, “Do you notice anything
weird?”

             
“Are you kidding? After everything that’s going on you have the chutzpah to ask
me if I’ve noticed anything
weird?
”

             
“No, I don’t mean in general. I mean do you notice anything weird right this
moment? As in around us?” he clarified as he craned his neck to look
around. 

             
Both Violet and
Tusem
examined the painting-like
scene before them. The dark sky diluted the
colours
of the afternoon, the lake’s water thrashed about against the land and the
breeze whipped through the trees and lashed the branches about. All seemed
normal.

             
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, babe,” Violet said with a cringe, looking
to see if their city dwelling guest had any idea.

             
Tusem
shrugged as he shivered in the cold draft that
pushed by.

             
“Where are all of the animals?” Riley asked as he took a spin on his feet to
look out once more.

             
Violet searched for any of the animals that she was so used to seeing by that
point, but she couldn’t spot a single one. There were no birds chirping from
the trees. There weren’t any small rodents scurrying about in the grass. There
were no deer drinking their fill by the water. Killarney Lake was dead silent
and utterly void of wildlife.

             
“Maybe...maybe it’s the rain that’s coming? I’ve read that animals can sense
changes in air pressure or something. The animals are probably hiding so that
they don’t get soaked or drown,” she tried to answer even though she didn’t
believe the words that were coming out of her own mouth.

             
Riley winced with his hands on his hips like a disappointed teacher. He didn’t
believe her theory either.

             
“Perhaps they are running away,”
Tusem
volunteered.

             
“Running away?” Riley questioned as he started his walk to join the other two.

             
“When a large predator enters a new hunting space such as a lioness, the smart
animals run away while the getting is good. It could be that the animals here
sensed something dangerous was afoot,” he hypothesized as he looked for tracks
in the mud.

             
“I suppose those are both options” Riley conceded as he fished the house key
out of his pocket, stopping just before putting the key into the door. In a
flash he ran through scenarios in his head, hesitating whether or not any of
what they were doing was a halfway well thought-out plan. For all he knew as
soon as they entered the house the monster would go into hiding like it had so
many times before. And then they were back to square one. Riley turned towards
his wife to see whether she was having second thoughts as well.

             
Violet’s expression was surprisingly almost blank. It was if she either didn’t
register anything that was happening anymore or just didn’t care. Either of the
two were dangerous mindsets to be in.

             
Tsitusem
motioned towards the door to get Riley to
continue, “I am very interested in finding out what it is exactly that you have
inside of here for proof of your wild claims”. 

             
Riley struggled out a small smirk as he pushed open the front door.

             
The trio entered in a row, wary of the dark room that waited before them.

             
Violet broke off from the group first, walking over to the lamp and flicking it
on.

             
Despite what the
Tylers
might have been imagining,
the house was exactly the same as they had left it. Except that now
Sourmouth
was nowhere in sight.

             
“You brought me all the way up here to look at your home-décor-catalogue
reject,”
Tusem
said in a way that conveyed that he
wasn’t asking.

             
Riley was getting sick and tired of the bloke’s attitude and was contemplating
giving him a smack when his wife decided to interject herself between them.

             
“
Tusem
, if you could please have a little bit of
patience. I promise that you’re going to see something that is going to change
your life. We just need to figure out how to show you”.

             
“It would help if you gave me some sort of clue as to what I’m supposed to be
seeing so that I am not feeling like a fool standing here in your gaudy living
room,” he replied tersely.

             
Without consulting his wife, Riley treaded over to the side of the room by the
cuckoo clock and grabbed onto the curtain that Violet had swung over to cover
the window.

             
“Riley...” she mumbled as she backed up closer to the door in case a quick exit
was required.