The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western by Richard Brautigan Page A

darkness. The Hawkline Monster stopped at a dim space of light that shined under the laboratory door.
    It was waiting for something to happen. The light of the monster was now almost surgical in its perception. It looked under the door and down the hall.
    The monster was anticipating something about to happen.
    The shadow waited behind the Hawkline Monster. The shadow wished that it could look out underneath the door to see what was happening, but, alas, its role in life was only to follow and so it detailed itself right behind the ass of the Hawkline Monster.

• Whiskey •
    Everybody started to leave the parlor to go downstairs and pour out the Hawkline Monster but just as they reached the door and one of the Hawkline women had her hand on the knob, Cameron said, “Hold it for a second. I want to get myself a little whiskey.” He walked over to the table where the liquor was in various cut-glass decanters. He paused, trying to figure out which bottle was the whiskey. Then one of the Hawkline sisters said, “It’s the bottle with the blue top.”
    That Miss Hawkline was carrying a lamp.
    Cameron took a glass and poured himself a big slug of whiskey. Greer thought that this was strange because Cameron never took a drop before a job and certainly the destruction of the monster was a job.
    Cameron held the glass of whiskey up to his nose. “Sure smells like the good stuff.”
    Greer in sudden anticipation of killing the monster did not notice that Cameron, though he had poured himself a big glass of whiskey, did not take a drink from it. When they left the room, he was carrying the glass in his hand.

• Searching for a Container •
    Then a parlor door opened to the hall and one of the Hawkline sisters stepped into the hall, followed by another sister and Greer and Cameron who had a glass of whiskey in his hand.
    The shadow could not see over the Hawkline Monster but the shadow heard the door opening and the people coming out into the hall. It wondered what was up, why the monster was so interested in the people at this time. Then the shadow shrugged. It was useless to continue with this line of thought for there was nothing that the shadow could do about it. The shadow could only follow the Hawkline Monster which it hated.
    The Hawkline Monster watched them come down the hall toward the laboratory door. It waited, contemplating what form of action to follow next. It tried to realize a container, a shape to put its magic and its spells in and then to evoke that container upon these people who threatened its existence.
    The shadow by now had given up trying to figure out what was happening. The shadow just didn’t give a fuck anymore.

• To Kill a Jar •
    “Do you think we need a gun?” Greer said to Cameron.
    There was no reply.
    Greer thought that perhaps Cameron hadn’t heard him, so he repeated the question.
    “To kill a jar?” Cameron said.
    The Hawkline women smiled.
    Greer did not get the joke. He also did not notice that Cameron still had the glass of whiskey in his hand. Greer was unusually excited by the prospect of direct confrontation with the Hawkline Monster.
    Cameron was carrying the glass of whiskey the same way he carried a pistol, casual but professional, waiting to be supereffective without any impression of menace.
    Even the monster watching from underneath the laboratory door paid no attention to the glass of whiskey in Cameron’s hand.
    The Hawkline Monster had by now formulated a plan to take care of the threat to its life. The monster smiled at its own cunning. It liked the plan because it was so fiendish.
    The monster suddenly backed its ass up and moved down a step toward the laboratory floor and knocked the unsuspecting shadow down two steps.
    Fuck! the shadow thought and tried to regain some of its nonexistent dignity while keeping a close watch now on the Hawkline Monster, so that it could follow what the monster did next because that is the business of shadows.

• The Elephant