Short Story

Bar Kathmandu

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for No Theme Thursday where Kevin
has offered us some incredible images to
inspire and get our creative juices flowing.
Revamping of a 2020 tale, this is my story.

© Kevin @ No Theme Thursday

“Coroner? What do we need the coroner for?” asked Police Sergeant Jefffries. “It’s obvious this poor slob jumped off the roof. Just look at him!”

“Not so fast, Jeffries” snapped Police Captain Russo. “Take a close look at the extensive amount of pimples on this guy. There’s something very strange about them.”

Averse to showing fear but knowing his boss was expecting him to man up, Jeffries crouched down and examined the various array of pustules. God, how he hated those disgusting zits!

“You know what I think, Cap? This guy was some sort of perv into kinky sex and weird stuff. Maybe this is some rare strain of an STD.” Jeffries looked up at his superior hoping to have made a good impression.

“Jeffries, sometimes I wonder how you ever made it onto the force” replied Russo sarcastically. “If you hope to be Lieutenant someday, you better prove you have what it takes. There’s something nefarious going on here and I can see it with my own two eyes. Have this entire area cordoned off and call the coroner pronto. I’ll bet you a week’s worth of doughnuts he’ll agree with my assessment.”

Humiliated again, Jeffries was beginning to think he really wasn’t cut out for this line of work – always tripping over himself and looking like a fool in front of the captain.

When Dr. Rusikoff, the coroner, arrived he took one look at the body and started barking orders: “Get this man in a body bag ASAP! Hold on … make it two bags; I want this guy double wrapped and hauled off to the morgue! I’m gonna call ahead. This body needs to be incinerated immediately. Jeffries! Make yourself useful and get a crew to scrub down this sidewalk with the strongest disinfectant you can find.”

Jeffries felt like a lackey but did as he was told. After the street was cleaned up he asked the coroner “Dr. Rusikoff, what’s going on here?”

The coroner looked at Jeffries as if he was an idiot. “Isn’t it obvious, Sergeant? Those aren’t pimples; they’re sacs and they didn’t appear naturally. These ghastly things were caused by some sort of aggressive virus manufactured in a lab. Both Russo and I could clearly see organisms moving around inside just waiting to bust out. I heard about this same thing happening in Gongabu in the Kathmandu Valley. Believe you me, Jeffries, it was a nightmare of epic proportions.”

Captain Russo ordered everyone back to the station. “Not you, Jeffries. You’re done for the night. Report back tomorrow.”

Talk about getting cut off at the knees! “I’m such a loser! I need a drink, a decent lay and some excitement in my miserable life” Jeffries thought.

He began walking aimlessly about and found himself outside ‘Bar Kathmandu’, the sleaziest dump he’d ever seen. But there were women inside and the hapless sergeant needed some stroking badly. Jeffries drank way too much and woke up the next morning with a killer hangover and a stabbing pain in his neck. That pock-marked hooker must have slipped him one hell of a mickey. Stumbling to the bathroom, he looked into the mirror and let out a blood-curdling scream; he was completely covered in throbbing pustules. Just before his head erupted, Jeffries caught a glimpse of thousands of tiny grotesque creatures breaking through their sacs and scurrying off.

Who will their next host be? They may be heading in your direction! And for the love of all things holy, stay out of ‘Bar Kathmandu’!

NAR©2024

No Theme Thursday: 10.24.24

This is “Katmandu” by Bob Segar

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

39 thoughts on “Bar Kathmandu”

  1. Pingback: NTT Showcase: 10.24.24 Edition – The Beginning At Last

  9. When I was in High School, this kid wit really bad acne walked into the pizza joint where all the cool kids hung out. This guy walked up to him and said, “Your face looks like somebody set it on fire and beat it out with a chain.” That kid never came back in the pizza parlor again. High School kids can be really cruel.

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  12. Grotesquely gooey and gory … Jefferies won’t going to the Kathmandu Bar any more …

    https://youtu.be/F1od9ScYXSk

    “What If I’m Wrong”, Lyrics, by Damien Rice

    I could wrestle with tomorrow
    Until tomorrow’s in the past
    Because I have torn apart what’s beautiful
    To prove that nothing lasts I have stayed locked behind these doors
    To show there’s no way out
    I got lost within the space between
    The question and the doubt
    I have built a wall between

    What I believed and what is true
    I have sacrificed the love I had
    For power over you

    I have convicted those who disagree
    And walked over the weak
    I have placed a gun within the mouth
    Of those who dared to speak

    And on an ordinary day
    In an ordinary way
    I have crushed the minds of children
    With extraordinary shame

    And I have carried on this war
    Though no one wins an endless fight
    I have claimed that God has guided me
    And killed to prove I’m right

    What if I’m wrong
    What if I’m wrong
    What if I’m wrong
    What if I’m wrong

    Is this soul worth saving at all?
    Cause if I lose my wings then surely I must fall
    And the gods prayed to the gods they made

    We could wrestle with tomorrow
    until tomorrow’s in the past
    We could tear apart what’s beautiful
    To prove that nothing lasts

    We could stay locked behind the doors
    To show there’s no way out
    We could get lost within the space between
    The question and the doubt

    But what if we’re wrong?

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