Otto and Windsor

All his life George Windsor wanted to be a ventriloquist. As a teen, he read books on the topic and practiced in the mirror. He worked with socks, and empty boxes. He worked with closed closet doors to actually act out knock-knock jokes. George found with a little imagination he could make anything appear to talk. The more he watched ventriloquists on TV, the more he became convinced he was as good as any of them. Unfortunately, he lacked follow through; he either quit or failed at anything he ever tried in life. When he was in school as a boy, he never went beyond the fifth grade. George Windsor was a simple man who was easy to manipulate and take advantage of.

One day while he was browsing in a small antique and curio shop, he came across a ventriloquist puppet. He was captivated by it. It had big round green eyes and a sarcastic smile painted on its face. It was dressed in a plaid shirt with big buttons and brown pants with suspenders. Something about its big green eyes drew him in; it was almost as if the puppet was looking at him.

The shop owner offered him an absurdly low price for it. He seemed almost anxious to be rid of it. As he rang up the purchase, he kept looking nervously at the puppet. George knew it was impossible, but the puppets' painted sarcastic smile seemed to almost look like an evil grin but he knew that just couldn't be.

As he put his new friend in the trunk of his car, he decided to call him Otto. Just before he closed the lid, it seemed like Otto the puppet was looking directly at him.

When George got home, he practiced with Otto in the mirror for a few hours. The more he looked at it, the more the grin seemed more evil than sarcastic. After he got tired of practicing, he put Otto in a sitting position on his bureau and went into the parlor to watch TV. When he returned to his room to retire for the night, he noticed Otto was still on the bureau but his position was different. When he left the room Otto faced the closet, he now faced the door and Georges' bed. It must be my imagination, George thought.

The next day he went off to his job as a projectionist at a second rate movie cinema. When he got home, as he put his hand on the doorknob and took out his keys, he thought he heard the sound of little feet running away from the door. He quickly opened the door and stepped in thinking to find a burglar, but there was nothing. However, for a second he thought he saw a flash of movement in his bedroom. He ran to the room but no one was there but Otto sitting on his bureau. Weird as it seemed, Otto's grin seemed to almost be laughing at him.

He picked the puppet up to practice for a while, but its mouth closed on his finger pinching him, almost as if it had bit him.

After a few more hours of practice, George felt he was ready for an audience. He called a local children's hospital and set up a show. The kids loved his humor and the way he seemed to make the creepy puppet talk. The father of one of the children owned a small nightclub, and asked George to perform there that weekend. George went home happy as a clam, his life dream was starting to unfold, and it was all due to Otto.

When he got home, he placed Otto on his customary perch on the bureau. As he did, the puppets mouth closed on his finger. Otto had bit him again. However, this time whether it was a sharp edge he hadn't noticed before, or perhaps a splinter, he cut himself slightly. This time, Otto had drawn blood. He put his finger in his mouth and tasted his own blood, it was a small cut that was already clotting up and healing, but Otto's eyes seemed to be a bit brighter, almost happy.

Three weekends later, the team of Otto and Windsor were performing for sold out audiences; the crowds were fascinated with the creepy puppet.

One morning as he was shaving, George heard Otto calling him, but he knew that was impossible, because he was the voice of Otto. He walked out of the bathroom and into his parlor, and there was Otto, just where he left him. Except now, the puppet was sitting up in a chair with its legs crossed, whereas before George left the room, Otto was inside a small suitcase, which was now on the floor next to the chair.

"Your doing quite well since I came along," said Otto. "If you would like that to continue, you'll do as I say."

"What is this crap? Who's messing with me?" he picked up Otto to put him back into his case and the puppet bit him purposely and hard. George had to force the puppets mouth open to get his fingers out. "OW! What the hell!?"

"Put me down! From now on you don't touch me without permission," said the puppet standing on its feet. "If you serve me, I will bring you wealth and fame beyond your wildest dreams. If not, you will return to poverty and obscurity for the rest of your life."

George only had a fifth grade education, but he knew puppets don't stand or speak on their own. "Who or what are you? You're not a puppet."

"I am what your people call an extraterrestrial," said Otto folding his arms. "I am from a place many galaxies away. We come here as a form of energy, we must find humans or things like statues, dolls or anything that resembles a human body, to inhabit in order to survive. I chose this puppet."

"So your people are explorers? Are you an astronaut or an ambassador?" asked George.

"Sorry, no, I'm more of a convict," said Otto laughing at him. "My world's scientists and leaders have no interest in contacting or interacting with earth or humans. You're simply unworthy and unremarkable, it's only your human arrogance that makes you think a ship will land in a big city one day. We use this place as our prison; we simply dump our social refuse here and leave them to rot.

For instance, on my world I was what your people would call a serial killer. I have some thirty lives under my belt, for that, I was sentenced to life on earth. That was three of your centuries ago. When I tire of one host I move on to another."

"Why did you bite me? I saved you from the antique shop."

"Beings like me find human blood intoxicating," Otto explained, as he retook his seat. "I haven't had a decent taste of blood since the 1800's. Your people called me Jack the Ripper. I was in London at the time," the puppet went on, "and had just abandoned the body of a Hungarian count with an opium problem. I needed a new host so I took over a doctor with a drinking problem, once he went to blackout, I took over. Simple or addled minds are easy to control. The blood of those whores was delicious and intoxicating. It's a substance unknown on my world."

"I won't bring you blood," George told him. "What do you want with me?"

"I gave that stuff up long ago, it was fun, but it clouded my mind," said Otto as he lit up one of George's cigars.

"Today, my needs are much different; I just bit you to have a taste of blood. Today, I plan to return home," said the puppet as it drew deeply on the cigar. "I've been studying and researching for the last three centuries, and the practices and rituals you people call 'magic', is very similar to the science and physics of my world. With the proper talismans, symbols, and bio-energy, I can send myself home."

"What do you want with me?" George repeated.

"You're going to help me gather the things I need and dispose of the bodies," the puppet replied as it flicked its ashes in the ashtray.

"I've got a better idea," George said as he picked up the suite case and reached for Otto. Everything seemed to fade into blackness, and the next thing George knew as he came to consciousness, was, that he was at a rest stop on some godforsaken part of the interstate. He was dressed up like a woman and stranded at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.

After three hours of panhandling, he had enough change for a bus ride home. When he finely got home, he found Otto standing on a chair cooking at the stove.

"Take a seat," the puppet said, "I took the liberty of preparing you dinner. I imagine you might be a bit hungry after the day you're had. Like I said, I can take over or influence simple or addled minds. The problem is that I can only take over a human mind for limited periods, such as I did with you today.

"I need freedom of movement and the time to plan my escape, time to plan my revenge on the rulers that sent me here. I need the freedom that this puppet brings. Otherwise, I'd have just stayed in control of you." The puppet told George as he handed him a steaming plate of food. "I suggest you do as I say from now on, or the next time you might wake up to find yourself at the center of a multiple stabbing murder, with lots of witnesses."

George sat down trying to come to grips with the fact his ventriloquists' puppet was speaking, cooking, and trying to enslave him. "Don't look so dismayed," said Otto as he took a seat on top of the table and started to eat. "Your life will soon change for the better; while you were out I arranged a booking for us at the Meadowbrook Theater. Otto and Windsor are booked for a month; you just need to sign the contracts. I can't for obvious reasons," the puppet said, laughing. "After supper, I'll give you a list of materials to buy; the bio-energy will be a bit more difficult to come by and will take time."

"Bio-energy?" George asked.

"Human lives, that is the power source," the puppet replied. "I plan to drain off the blood of five people to take with me. I say five because there are five points to the pentagram, and I need a human skull for each point. I must burn their hearts on an altar, one a day for five days, prior to the next solar eclipse.

"At the climax of the ritual, I must sacrifice an innocent in the center of the pentagram. This will open the portal I need to get home. The blood I drained, I will take with me, I can sell it when I get home." The puppet hopped off the table, walked across the room, and poured itself a glass of brandy.

"Once my people get a taste of human blood," Otto continued, "your people will become very valuable; human blood is addictive. With enough supporters, I can overthrow the rulers that sent me here. After that we will want to raise and farm your people for their blood." The puppet looked at him and smiled his evil grin.

George was dumbfounded; this puppet was crazy. It planned to conquer the human race. "Don't worry," Otto said. "You won't be harmed. I plan to use you as an overseer; your job will be to help with the herding of the humans and the blood collecting. You will have great power and authority over your people."

After supper was finished, Otto gave George a list of items to acquire and retired to the parlor to smoke George's cigars and make plans. George Windsor left to fill the mad puppets list.

As he walked to the local department store, he wondered how he could stop Otto. George had failed at almost everything he ever tried in his life. His last attempt on Otto resulted in being stranded at a highway rest stop. The list was a simple one, just candles and oils commonly available, and some herbs he could get at a Wiccan supply shop. The next solar eclipse was three months away. He had to figure some way to stop Otto.

Three weeks later George had more money than he had ever seen in his life from his performances with Otto. They had performed on late night talk shows, and were contracted to appear in a movie.

Otto's popularity grew as well; having Otto with him actually led to dates with popular movie and TV stars. Otto had made it clear though, when he and his dates were in the bedroom, he was to be placed on the bureau so he could watch.

Every night he had to listen to the mad puppets ravings and scheming, and the solar eclipse was drawing ever nearer. George hit upon an idea; he complied with all the puppets demands. So far, Otto hadn't killed anyone, but that was coming. Soon, he had the puppet's trust.

George convinced Otto to do a charity show for disadvantaged kids on a camping trip. He pointed out that Otto could select his innocent for the final death to open his portal.

Otto was used to traveling in his small suite case to hide who he was. When George got there, he spent the day playing baseball with the kids and doing nature walks, as Otto lay waiting in his suitcase for their performance.

That night George waited until the campfire started. As the flames grew, he picked up Otto's suitcase, and said to the kids, "Now its time to meet Otto!" Which was Otto's cue they were about to perform. George threw the suitcase into the fire before anyone could stop him.

Inside the suitcase, Otto wondered what the hell was going on when he suddenly felt the searing heat of the fire, and realized he'd been had. He was stuck in the suitcase and couldn't transfer out. Energy consumes energy, as the puppet burned, Otto died.

As the campers and counselors watched the suitcase burn, they were appalled at the shrieking sounds from inside, thinking George was doing them.

George reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of balloons. He quickly formed into balloon animals, which he used to put on a puppet show. The children were delighted with the talking balloons. When he finished, George passed out his animals to the kids as souvenirs.

He soon used the balloons in other performances. He used all manner of odd objects. He became even more famous as George Windsor, the ventriloquist without a puppet: the man who can make anything talk.

THE END

Bio: Ray Prew was originally from Rhode Island, but now lives in Florida.  He is a graduate of the New England Institute of Technology.  He has been a blue-collar worker all his life, and started writing as a hobby.  He spent nine enjoyable years as a phone psychic.  His work has been published in Spinetinglers magazine 6 times and one of the stories was used in a trivia quiz.  Another was used on a You Tube page: it is called "Some Monsters Are Real." Yet another was made into a short video on You Tube called "Let me Out by Ray Prew."  He has been published in The Cynic Online (3 times), Aphelion magazine (5 times) and several others.  He has an anthology book of published and unpublished stories available on Amazon called Delightful Nightmares.

E-mail: Ray Prew

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