The Storage Space simply couldn’t tolerate Irwin Le Grand Rat a moment longer. It would have screamed at the top of its lungs, if only a building could…
An intruder!
Out back with the all the trash that appallingly inadequate Irwin hadn’t taken to the dump yet. Including the bags with that Frank’s body parts in them, which Irwin had actually used to conceal some other bags that presumably contained something even more dreadful or incriminating.
No one but Irwin was ever out back; it wasn’t possible for anyone else to gain access. Yet this man wasn’t Le Grand Rat! Perhaps…were it even possible…this intruder was an even grander rat.
Tall, clad quite literally in rags that whirled around him like a thick fog. Tattered hood concealing most of his face. The poor long-suffering Storage Space strongly suspected he smelled even worse than all the garbage combined.
But there was something peculiar about what little was visible of his face. That goatee was rather impeccably groomed for a bum.
He was going through the garbage bags, one by one.
Again it was strange that when he found a veritable smorgasbord of fresh food, he tossed it aside. Any self-respecting bum should have been delighted!
He started opening the bags that contained Frank’s body parts. The Storage Space would have held its breath, if only a building could…
What? The bum tossed what was obviously part of a human leg aside without the slightest reaction. Other body parts got the same treatment until he got to Frank’s head. The bum was about to toss that aside too. But suddenly he caught sight of Frank’s face and did a double take. Completely ignoring the gore and garbage, he sank into a seated position, still holding Frank’s head.
“How could I?” the bum asked aloud, addressing Frank’s head. “How could I have thought that you’d betrayed me?” With a shaking hand he pushed his hood back, revealing the tears in his eyes.
At last he got to his feet, putting everything back the way he’d found it. Checking it over, though, he frowned at the bags with Frank’s body parts shielding some other garbage and started going through those other bags. From deep within one of these he fished out some ripped up paper he carefully pieced back together. His first reaction was dumbfounded shock. His second was a huge, evil grin.
