THE EXTERMINATOR

THE EXTERMINATOR

I was enjoying a long-awaited movie, with popcorn and soda beside me when something caught the corner of my eye. Looking up at the wall I saw three flies. Never saw them flying around, but there they were. Jumping up for a newspaper to swat them with, I notice two more on the drapes. A couple more were on the kitchen window desperately trying to get out. I felt like I was in the middle of a horror flick. It seemed like I spent half the night killing flies, but didn't put a dent in the infestation.
It was too late in the evening to do anything about it, but tomorrow I would be calling Sam's Insect and Pest control. Sam was the only exterminator in town. Though the town was very small he told me he was extremely busy this summer. Not only was his business booming, but he had been busy taking small plants he had been growing, placing them neatly in small pots, and hand-delivering them around town. I myself received this little token of friendship. He was a bit crazy in a lot of ways, but everyone thought the gesture was nice and invited him in for a cold drink. "I'll get in touch with him tomorrow," I thought and get him to come over and spray. By morning most of the flies were dead or dying, but still, I never wanted another night like that again.
In the morning I tried to get in touch with Sam for the good part of the day. The only response was his answering machine. "Flies and Bugs Bugging You", he had a sense of humor. I'll say that much for him. Well, I'll call him from my sister Jean's house. I promised to go shopping with her. As I walked into the living room Jean was frantically running around the room spraying with a can of insecticide. Her small house was infested with flies. She said she had been trying to call Sam for the last two days, and all she got was his ridiculous phone message.
It seemed the local Walmart had a run on insecticide. They sold the last few cans the day before. Trying to make our purchase at the local hardware store, we were met with the same empty shelves. The whole scenario seemed far- fetched and Twilight Zoneish. On the way home, we noticed two out-of-town Exterminator trucks parked outside the neighbor's home. I guess they got tired of trying to reach Sam.
Sam's truck was parked in front of his house when we drove by, so now would be a good time to call him. We know he's home. "FLIES AND BUGS BUGGING YOU" was the only response to our numerous tries. Jean had suggested we call his brother, who lived across town. "Maybe he's ill," she told him how we had been trying to reach Sam for two days.
Ben opened his brother's door, as he entered the dirty rundown house, his nostrils immediately recognized the stench of death. Backing out from the hundreds of flies that were flying and buzzing around the room, he called the sheriff's office from the phone at the corner garage.
Sam's garden was one, that was truly of a demented variety. In the basement, the Sheriff's Dept found a variety of human body parts that were infested with Maggots, that Sam had gotten from his friend who worked as a coroner at the city hospital, in exchange for money. The Detectives found incrementing paperwork that led them to Sam's coroner friend. From his confession was how they pieced together the grisly secret of what was going on inside the exterminator's house. You see, Sam's business was (DEAD.) But after talking with his coroner friend they devised a plan to get the money rolling in. Sam's friend would secretly bring him human body parts that were supposed to be cremated. Then Sam would insert into the rotting body parts a good helping hand of fly larva (MAGGOTS) that he was harvesting in his basement. He then placed the severed parts inside the flower pots. After that, he would fill the flower pot with dirt and plant a small flower inside. Then he gave the flower plants away to everybody in town. No one would be expecting This (MAGGOT NEST PLANT) to be infesting their house with flies. Small flower pots sat on the table waiting for the next harvest. Sam's inhalator that he'd used was laying among the squirming hatching maggots.
The Coroner recorded his death due to suffocation. The morning headline read "CRAZED EXTERMINATOR EXTERMINATED"