written today over lunchtime

“Hey, you,” said the unearthly horror.

“Go away,” I said.

Its bristled, wet protuberance squirted a puff of foetid air into my ear. “I hunger,” it said in a voice like gravel scratching your best pie pan.

I slapped it aside. “You can’t have my soul or my dried fish.”

“I only wanted one of those things,” it wheedled, but I ignored it and focused back on the bushes.

There was a heavy whump beside me, followed by a series of quieter, rhythmic thumps on the ground.

“Go and bother the urchin girl before I carve a psalm or three into your filthy hide,” I said through my teeth, still not bothering to make contact with the acidic red pits it called eyes.

“She’s awesome,” the unearthly horror said. It did not move. The thumps continued. My target had gone by now.

I stood up in one graceful motion and kicked the abomination in the rear. It was worth the time I spent later sewing the trouser leg beck together.