Callisto by Torsten Krol

make me a criminal. It took around fifteen minutes and madea fairly high mound that would take a long time to settle back level, but that could be hid from view by putting the chicken coop over it the way I’m sure Dean planned. So I did that, following his wishes, you might say, dragged the coop over and positioned it over the mound, which got the chickens clucking angry at me for messing with their house, but it worked out fine that way, with the mound out of sight inside which you couldn’t see it except if you lifted the coop aside and looked, and who’s going to do that? Nobody, that’s who. There’s a square patch of scratched-over dirt piled with chicken shit left there where the coop stood till now, but that’s a natural thing that won’t get anyone interested in it, I’m thinking.
    So that was done, but I still had to figure what I’ll do with Dean, who is the pesky fly in the soup here. I went in his room and the smell there has gotten a lot worse because Dean has gone and shit himself, don’t ask me how a dead man can do that but he did, so now his room is just awful to be in. What I did, I got a spare sheet from the closet and laid it out on the floor, then drug Dean out from under the bed and rolled him up in the sheet and carried him downstairs and out to the barn just to get that smell gone from the house. I put him up in the hayloft out of harm’s way where no one’s likely to catch a whiff of him and smell a rat. It’s a good thing I already filled in the yard hole or I might have been tempted to put Dean in there just to be rid of that stink he’s making, but there’s no way I’m digging that dirt out again, so he can stay in the barn for just now while I do some more thinking about how I’m going to fix this.
    While I was out in the barn I checked the lawnmowingschedule for today and there’s no job penciled in until eleven, which suits the first part of my plan perfect. I took a shower then and put my clothes in the washing machine because I worked up a sweat filling the hole and carrying Dean out to the barn, then I went and phoned Lorraine. I was real hungry by then but it would not look good when she come over to have the house smelling of breakfast when I’m supposed to be in shock and horror about finding Bree down in the freezer. I got the story fixed in my mind, then I called Lorraine’s number right by the phone like she said. The phone rang a few times then her voice says, “Hello?” It’s still only 7.20 so I might have woke her up.
    â€œHey, Lorraine,” I said, “it’s me.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œMe, Odell.”
    â€œOdell?”
    â€œYeah, how’re you?”
    â€œWhat do you want, Odell?” She sounded grumpy, so I must have woke her.
    â€œWell, I have got good news and bad. Which one do you want first?”
    â€œThe bad,” she says, which was a surprise. Most people want the good news first to give them something to fall back on when they get hit by the bad, but it takes all kinds.
    â€œUh, maybe you should hear the good news first.”
    â€œWhatever.” She still sounded sore.
    â€œWell, this morning I went out on the porch to greet the day and there’s a package there waiting, so I thought maybe that’s the thing you were looking for last night. You said a package, so I’m thinking maybe this is the one.”
    â€œA package?”
    â€œRight outside the door, all taped up.”
    â€œDid you open it?” Her voice was awake now, with an edge to it, so I have got her attention, all right.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, don’t. When I get out there I expect to find that package intact. How the hell did it get there?”
    â€œI was thinking about that, and I think someone must’ve left it in the night. I’m a heavy sleeper so maybe that’s when it happened, when I’m asleep, that’s all I can think of