Bodo

© 2000 K. Irving
All rights reserved.

It was dinnertime. I fired up the gas grill, then threw on a couple of marinated chicken breasts and a hot dog. Chenise popped open a cold bottle of Chardonnay.
"Congratulations to my wife! Or should I say, Doctor Wife?" I raised my glass to Chenise.
"I'll go by wife for now." She blushed. I had picked a beautiful woman to marry. Her smile reminded me of this.
"You want to frame that letter of acceptance, put it up on the wall?"
"I don't think so Tony. Why don't we wait until I actually graduate and earn the title doctor before we start boasting."
"Oh now, It's never too soon to brag, baby. I'm going over to Manny's tomorrow and brag, brag, brag about my new computer and my new contract."
"You're a born show off."
"That's me! A shining star. Just like my new unit. It'll make Manny's computer look like a dinosaur, not fit for the dog to use! I'll be able to outrun, out-speed, out-fax everyone on the block!"
"Don't count your chickens."
She couldn't knock down my enthusiasm. I was high on pride. "I don't want to hear it. Admit it Chenise, we're on an upward spiral. Marissa's soaring through accelerated day care. Kid's a genius. She'll be reading the dictionary by the time she's four! You're going to be a doctor and I'm going to be rich while I sit at home and surf the net. Up. Up. Up. We're all moving up."
"I don't know if there's enough room in this house for all three of us and your ego."
"You know you love it."
While we toasted our mutual successes, Marissa sat on the back deck with a plastic comb in one hand, a pink and white pony in the other.
Chenise and I clinked glasses. "Here's to us."
"Bodo." Marissa looked up at the twilight sky with saucer eyes. "Bodo."
"What's that?"
"She's been talking about Bodo all week. Must be something she picked up from television."
"Bodo's coming." Her little voice assumed an authoritarian tone.
"Bodo? What's Bodo? Is that your pony's name?" I poured myself another glass of wine. The first one only wet my whistle. Whistling was weak. I wanted to sing!
"Bodo! Bodo's coming." Marissa jumped to her feet and dropped the tiny pink comb. It fell through the cracks in the wooden deck flooring. "Bodo!" Her face carried a smile.
Manny's dog let loose a howl. The hair on the back of my neck bit my skin. I drained my glass in one swallow.
Another howl. Clouds rolled across the sky. Grey and black splattered shapes, like a paint spill, they completely blocked the sun. Instantly, any lasting patches of powder blue, the beautiful remnants of a remarkably wonderful day, were gone. Suddenly it was dark. Cold.
Oddly, I was reminded of a girl I'd dated in college. She'd designed sets for the drama society. Gifted, she could see things no one else could. With a paintbrush and a couple of lights she was able to instantly change mood. Everything she did placed the players up against the perfect backdrop. Her attention to detail was anal but wildly effective. The sets added an exclamation point to the performance. And although I could never pick out which particular detail had made the change so compelling, I could appreciate the work behind it, the powerful insight that had made the transformation possible. The overall variance was bold and obvious due to small pieces that came together as one.
As I stood there, delicious smell of grilled chicken spoiled by the sound of fat and blood sizzling on lava rock, taste of sweet wine turned sour on my tongue, anticipation of a rich life roiled into a knot in my stomach, sensuous light of impending sunset muted by an ugly change in the atmosphere, my mood evolved as effectively as if my old girlfriend had designed a new set and transported me into it, unawares.
The anomaly was too much. I wanted the old set back.
"Bodo!" Marissa screeched the words.
I was concerned the neighbors might hear. If I couldn't understand her, what would others think? Chenise set down her wine.
"Calm down sweety. Mommy's right here. I've got you." She grabbed Marissa up in her arms, but the child didn't want comfort. "Bodo. Bodo." Her tiny brown finger pointed at the muddy sky. She wrestled her way down. Tiny sandaled feet pattered on wooden slats.
Anxiety turned to anger. I wanted her to stop. I don't why I felt that way. I simply did.
"What is it? What is Bodo?" I hated the sound of my voice.
"Bodo." Marissa shook her finger at the clouds and walked to the deck's edge. With her little neck bent and black eyes wide, she looked straight up.
"What's wrong?" Chenise directed the question at me and my anger swelled. I didn't know. I too, was in the dark.
The dog yelped and howled.
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
Manny yelled out to him. "Shut up Bogey!"
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
Bogey continued to cry in doggy talk. Bodo. Bodo. Bodo. I don't know how that was true. It simply was.
"Tony? What's happening?" Chenise's question hit me like a fist.
I opened my mouth, ready to make my anger known, when a booming sound punched my ears. It was like the noise of a can opener puncturing an airtight seal. Amplified. Unbelievably loud.
And the sky split in two.
"Bodo!" Marissa voice's broke.
"Tony!"
I couldn't answer. What could I do?
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
The clouds separated. It was like watching a huge knife slice through dirty whipped frosting. The split opened and a shiny, wet, black beam jetted out. It slapped the ground in Manny's yard.
The dog stopped howling.
"Oh my God! Bogey? Hey! Give me back my dog!" Manny's voice was a fright. I wish I hadn't heard it.
Marissa giggled. "Bodo took Bogey."
The black stream slipped back into the crack like a tongue curls into a mouth. I heard the sound of a vacuum and again, the watery beam emerged, touched down in Manny's yard, then rolled away.
"Bodo took Manny."
Before I could register the meaning of the words, the noise sounded.
"Bodo." Marissa held out her tiny finger. She wore a slim gold band. My mother had given it to her for Christmas. She had a pretty little hand. It was a beautiful ring.
"No!" Chenise opened her arms out to Marissa. So did the wave. It slapped down from the clouds, stuck to Marissa, twirled around her and was gone.
"No!" The voice was mine...or Chenise's. I don't know who, or if we both screamed.
The wave shot out again and again and screams filled the neighborhood. I watched several of my neighbors disappear. Everything it touched was instantly gone. Dogs and cats. A kid on a bike. A lady with a shopping bag. Two little girls on a swing. A pregnant woman with her hands wrapped around her stomach as if to protect her unborn child. An old man sitting on his front step, a smoldering pipe in his mouth. Most of the people I knew. Some I didn't.
The screams were broken up by the sound of the vacuum and the wet smack of the beam. Black and slithery, it sprang, gathered up a victim, then curled out of sight.
How long this lasted, I don't know. Forever. For a minute.
The next thing I remember, Chenise was in my arms and we were inside the house, on the floor huddled in front of the glass doors that lead to the deck in the backyard. This offered a perfect view.
We watched Bodo. It's movements quick and precise. Soon, the streets were clear. All at once, it was quiet.
"Marissa." Chenise's voice was eerie. I guessed she was in shock. "My baby. My baby girl. Where's my baby?"
I listened to her for a moment, dumbfounded, until I finally found my legs and went to the phone. It was out of order. Dead, like the air. Like the power. No lights. No refrigerator hum. No drone of the television. Gone was the soothing, friendly whine of the computer hard drive. The ceiling fans were still. Never in my life had I experienced such quiet.
All was silent, inside and out.
Except for Chenise. She cried and rubbed the glass. "Marissa. Where's my baby? Marissa. Baby?"
I tried to block her out, to keep my hope alive.

Time passed. I don't know how much. My watch had stopped. Nothing worked. Not even me. Useless, powerless, I remained still. Everything else was, why not me?
I waited.
No one came.
Little girl gone, wife in a ball on the floor and I simply stood there.
Finally, as my manhood spilled out into my lengthening shadow, I decided to go for help. I found my keys and had my hand on the doorknob, ready to go out to the car, when Chenise found a new word.
"Stop."
"What's that?"
"Mr. Greer's in his garage. He's going to his car."
I ran to the door and watched Mr. Greer jump into his Lexus. A knight in a shiny green sedan. His gray head dipped down and his shoulder worked back and forth.
"Come on. Turn over. Turn over."
From my position, I could see his head bob and his hands beat the steering wheel. The car wasn't going anywhere. I bet a cruel blast of foul language probably filled the soundproof cabin space when he realized that his leased luxury, like time, the air...everything but a handful of people and a wicked black wave, was dead.
"Stay there. Don't get out of your car." Mr. Greer defied Chenise's hushed warning, opened the car door and made a dash for the house.
The sound of a vacuum, followed by a black shadow under a charcoal puff of clouds slapped at his feet, rolled up and he was gone.
"Should've stayed in the car old man."
"What?" Chenise looked up at me as if I was an alien, like I had three noses and one eye. I couldn't believe I'd said it either. Maybe I was an alien. I felt like someone else.
"What do we do?"
She was so needy.
"What about Marissa?"
I was so helpless.
The light faded until it was completely dark. Nothing could be seen. Not the moon. Not one lone star. The cloud cover cloaked any trace of light.
I'd never known such complete blackness. It was repulsive.
We slept on the floor in front of the sliding glass doors. In case Marissa fell out of the clouds, we would be right there to run out and catch her. I can't believe I slept at all. But I did. It was an occurrence that should have been, but was not, a blessing.
It was a horrible sleep. I wish I hadn't done it. It was a dreamless sleep that left an aftertaste of terror in my mouth, as if I'd screamed all night.
Wednesday morning dragged by slowly. Still no help and no sign of Marissa. We watched two more of our neighbors get swallowed up. Rene and Willy ran like madmen from their house on the corner. Once they reached the street, they split up. She ran to the left and he to the right. The strategy didn't work. Bodo got both of them. I made a mental note.
Wednesday afternoon I ate food that tasted like cardboard and Chenise stood watch. It was all I could do. All she could do. What else could we do?
Wednesday night a helicopter tried to pass by the cloud. It was destroyed. Not by the black wave. Rather, it disintegrated. One second it was there. The next, it was gone. I guessed that help via air was out of the question. It gave me hope, however. Even as it evaporated, the sight of the helicopter told me that the cloud did not cover eternity. Beyond Bodo was life and they knew we needed help. I gave a sigh of relief.
Thursday morning a rocket of some kind came from the west. It sailed over Manny's rooftop and headed in a direct line for the center of the cloud. Before the missile could hit target, it was erased.
Friday came and went. Saturday followed the same.
Sunday was too much for some.
Chenise was by the door when I heard her tell our friends, the Jared's, goodbye. "Good bye Lana. Bye-bye Benton. Tell Marissa I love her."
I ran to the door to see Benton and Lana walking slowly to the middle of their yard. It struck me odd that the grass hadn't grown at all. It was trimmed short and neat. On the perfectly groomed lawn, Benton stood with Lana's hand in his. They wore matching glazed expressions. Both smiled.
I pounded my fists on the door. "No! Get inside! Benton!"
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo." Chenise chanted at my feet.
"Stop!" It sounded frail. The circumstances magnified my weakness. I'm positive that if I'd have looked in a mirror, I wouldn't have seen a reflection.
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo. Bodo"
"Stop it!" I aimed my anemic voice at my wife. "Stop it! Do you know what Bodo is?"
"Not what. Who. Bodo is a who."
"What are you talking about?"
"Bye-bye." She looked out and I trailed her stare.
Smeared with fingerprints and tears, the glass showed a bleary picture of the outside world. The sound of a vacuum was followed by a perfect horizontal split in the dingy clouds. From the incision, came Bodo. Greasy in appearance, black and slick, it slurped over Lana and Benton, wrapped them up, then spun back into the clouds.
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo." Chenise chanted quietly.
"Who is Bodo?" My words came from between clenched teeth.
"Bodo's lonely. He wants." She turned her eyes up to me and held them.
I hated the answer, so I left her there.
In the study were boxes of brand-new computer components. It was a sad sight. I might never have the chance to hook them all up and relish the technology behind it all. I had looked forward to the new business, our new lives. Now, it was just so much clutter.
The rest of the day was a waste.
Time and terror broke down several more of the neighbors.
I heard Chenise say good bye to Wendy Falco and her sons, Jordan and Scotty. She also said goodbye to Wanda Williams, Mr. Bevins, the Frieze's with their baby, and Mr. Copper and his three kids.
All the while she chanted. "Bodo. Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
I avoided her and worked in the kitchen. I emptied the cupboards and took inventory of edibles. The refrigerator had warmed up and everything in it that I hadn't already eaten was ruined. To this point, Chenise hadn't eaten anything, but I rationed the food for two.
There was an assortment of canned foods - vegetables, stew, tomato sauce and several fruit cocktails. Marissa loved fruit cocktail. The cans pleased me. The juice would have to last, to sustain us. It was all the fluid available.
After I'd sorted everything, I imagined we could probably stretch it out for two weeks, maybe longer. Surely, by then, someone would have this thing figured out.
Next, I took my mission to the bathroom where I'd already set up a wash bucket for waste collection. Beside the sink, I set out a large measuring cup. I'd read somewhere that in extreme situations a human could survive by drinking their own urine. I didn't think it would come to that, but there's nothing wrong with being prepared.
I was in the bathroom when the sliding glass doors opened. It was a soft swish that sounded like a rocket blast.
"Chenise!"
"Good bye."
"Chenise!" By the time I'd made it the door, she was on the deck.
"Chenise! Come back inside. Please don't do this! It won't help! It won't bring..."
She stared at me and her mouth worked. "Bodo. Bodo. Bodo." She'd gathered up some of Marissa's favorite toys; a giggle bear, an alphabet book and a plastic hammer. Marissa loved that hammer. It was one of those things that leave a parent with a big question mark. Of all the expensive toys she had, Marissa would spend forever banging on anything and everything with that hammer. Why?
"Please don't do this. Don't be crazy!"
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
I looked deep into her eyes. Crazy? Perhaps, she was already there.
"Bodo. Bodo!" Toys in hand, Chenise ran in crazy circles.
There was the sound of a vacuum. I didn't look up. Forgive me. I couldn't watch the sky split to make itself ready for my wife.
I heard a cry. Not Chenise. It was a painful bawl, full of sorrow. It reminded me of old women dressed in black wailing for the dead. It was that kind of sound. Mournful. Powerful. Even though it had come from a distance up the street, it was loud, intense and filled with emotion. "Bye-bye Chenise!"
I listened hard. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't put a face to it. This angered me. Someone had watched my wife go, had bid her farewell and I didn't know who it was.
Odd, that such a thing would bother me. But it did. I thought about the voice and its owner for the rest of the day and most of Monday.
I didn't watch by the door. On and off over the next week, I heard the sound of the vacuum and the slap of Bodo. He'd come for someone, another lamb to sacrifice.
Much of the time I spent in the study with my computer. I unpacked it, carefully arranged it on the workstation and plugged everything in. Then I sat and stared. Countless hours were wasted, lost in thought. It would have been nice to use it. I missed it. The touch of the keys. The global connection. Power with the push of a button. But all I did was sit and imagine. There wasn't anything else I could do. After a while, that bothered me. I should be able to do something.
No help came. I imagined men and women on the perimeter of Bodo, gawking, full of "Oooohs" and "Ahhhhs". Had some of them witnessed the kidnappings? Surely no one from the neighborhood. No, it would be a group of strangers intermingled with sorrowful family members grabbing at their moment in the sun, riding the wave of my monstrous tragedy. I pictured it and hated them. They repulsed me. Worthless curiosity seekers.
Days passed in a gray and black blur.
After some mental coercion, I convinced myself to go to Marissa's room, as if I might find her there asleep, the whole thing a dream. I went. She was gone. No dream. I found Rolly-The-Hamster dead. We'd gotten Marissa the little rodent to teach her responsibility. It'd been her job to care for him. She was very good about it. I, however, had forgotten all about him. His food was gone. I pulled out the water bottle, uncapped it and stuck in my tongue. It came out dry. I left him there in his cage.
That was when the tears began. At first, I tried to stop them. They were a waste. I licked as many as was possible...for the fluid.
Rations dwindled. I was down to a cup of potato flakes and some flour. If I was careful, they could them last another week.
Moral collapsed.
Against my inner voice screaming in disgust, I tried the urine. Enough said.
Who was left out there, on my street?
No one. I knew that life in my neighborhood had been whittled down to one.
I'd never been a religious man, but took a moment to wonder about the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale. How had he felt, trapped under the eyes of the omniscient? Was I nothing more than a reluctant Jonah?
Bodo waited for me. I don't why or how. It simply was.
Accepting this realization, I went to the study, packed up the computer, then stacked it neatly in the corner. What a useless hunk of plastic. It could do nothing. Junk.
Much like myself. Somewhere along the way I'd become dependant on the wiring. Without the bleeps and blips, I didn't have a purpose. Through the recent loss, I'd mourned for what I'd never be, for myself. It had taken all this time for me to understand that I was already gone.
I had become a piece of the thing, the buzzing whining system that ran for its own sake. Neither husband nor father, I was barely a man.
Bodo showed me this. He'd taught me more than I could ever have learned in a million years with a billion circuits.
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo." I chanted and looked at the study a final time. Weary eyes took it in, then fell upon my briefcase. Finest hand-stitched leather stuffed with worthless contracts and...
I ran, unsnapped it and threw the contents around the room. Where? It was...hands tore through the mess. Excitement boiled in my belly. I'd never felt so alive. It was there! I threw aside proposals, memos, an appointment book until I found Bodo.
How could I have been so thoughtless? I held the picture in trembling hands. My heart ached. Marissa's artwork. A gift to me. I hadn't taken time to look at it before. Tears flowed so I could barely focus.
Bodo. I laughed out loud. Probably sounded like a madman. I held a crayon sketch of a stick figure. He was seated on a cloud, feet dangling, hands huge rolled coils. He smiled a crooked crescent. On his pillowed seat were tiny figures, arms in the air, waving. Miniature houses spread out on both sides of the odd monster.
Marissa knew Bodo. She'd been glad he'd come.
Beyond the smeared glass doors, he...they wait for me. I set my mind on Bodo and stare into the sky.
"Bodo. Bodo. Bodo."
With the blind faith of a child, I open the door and step outside.
I can't wait to see my family. I have so much to say to them.
And I will see them. I don't know how this is true. It simply is.

Back to top of page