A New Start
It smelled kind of weird. That was the first thing Dave
said when his cousin George gave him his housewarming present. Although he had
to admit that within a couple of weeks of moving in the house smelled pretty
weird all over. After-parties, mould filled teacups in the sink and a bin piled
so high with rubbish its apex now stood over five feet tall (they’d proudly
measured it) had made sure of that. A great start to the second year of
university.
“It looks pretty weird as well actually mate. Uh…what is
it then?” Dave peered at the dry and musty object cousin George had pressed
into his hand moments earlier.
“It’s a monkey’s paw.” Cousin George had to shout his
reply over the sound of loud disco music. They’d gone out to a student night.
It was pound a pint. “I got it on my last tour, in Afghanistan. The man who
gave it to me said that it grants three wishes to three different people.
That’s why it’s only got three fingers.” He glanced down at the thing. So did
Dave. It did only have three fingers. “He warned me about it as well though,
the guy, he was some sort of hermit or something, he hadn’t seen another person
for years before we found him…” George broke off his narrative and peered over
to where a young man was grinding up against the backside of a girl in a very
short baby-pink skirt. “Um, doesn’t Shaun have a girlfriend?” He drawled.
“Yeah,” replied Dave, “he does, but she lives back at
home, in Ireland. He’s usually got a couple of other girls on the go here as
well.”
Cousin George whistled, then turned to Dave and looked
him straight in the eyes. “Listen, for God’s sake if you’re going to make a
wish with that thing, then wish for something sensible.” With that he downed a
shot of Sambucca, strawpedoed his bottle of tropical Reef in one go and with a
hint of a goosestep made his way over to join the sweaty throng on the dance
floor. Sean Paul was playing.
In the morning cousin George was gone. Dave wasn’t too
surprised - he’d mentioned that he was due to leave on another tour the next
day. He sent him a text message saying what a great night they’d had and thanks
for the present and forgot about it. Until a couple of days later, when he and
Shaun and Simon, his housemates, were getting ready to go out.
“Lads look at this. Cousin George gave it to me when he
was here. It’s from Afghanistan, and it’s magical. Gives you three wishes. Like
the genie from Alladin.”
Shaun grabbed it and brandished it at the other two. “I
wish for more babes than I know what to do with,” he grinned. “Claudia won’t be
too happy but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” He winked at Simon.
They went out to a pub that night, and sure enough, Shaun
managed to get several girls numbers, and went home talking about his magical
powers.
But the next morning he arrived at Dave’s door holding
his mobile phone like it was a bomb about to go off. His eyes were sunken.
“Alright mate?”
“Uh, no, that was Claudia. She’s…” he paused and
swallowed hard, “she’s pregnant David. She’s been for the scan and everything. They…they
think it might be twins. And you know her family are very strict Catholic.” He
stopped and his eyes seemed to roll around the room without fixing on anything.
“That’s not all either. Do you remember that girl I pulled at the end of last
year? Well, she called as well. You’re not going to believe this but…” His
phone rang again and his mouth fell open as he looked at the glowing screen.
“Oh fucking hell no way.” Then he ran out of the room.
Dave frowned and got up to follow him, on the way out glancing
at the monkey’s paw and noticing that one of the three fingers had drawn itself
in, as if beginning to make a fist, leaving two sticking out straight.
***
“So, do you really
think this is what did it?” Simon held the paw in his hand and looked at Dave
expectantly. Shaun had left that morning. Simon looked thoughtful. "I'm not going to be
greedy or anything, all I wish for is some money, say a million. That should be
enough. Pounds of course." He added with a satisfied grin. Then he
carefully placed the paw back on the table and looked over at Dave. "Fancy
a toke?"
Dave raised his eyebrows. "Yes mate."
They powered up the Playstation and spent the rest of the evening smoking
weed and playing Fifa. Minutes turned to hours and hours turned to lots of
hours until both ended slumped asleep in armchairs, wrapped in a blanket of
torpid green smoke.
Dave woke up in his bed. The clock on the bedside table read 10:50.Ten
minutes to get to his lecture. He was going to be late. And when you were late
you had to sign in, and make a fuss going into the hall. It was better to be
absent than late - then you could just say you were ill. He closed his eyes
again and dropped off. The last thing he saw was the monkey's paw sitting on
his dresser- It now had only one finger sticking out straight, the other two
closed into two thirds of a fist.
Much later - by this time day had turned to dusk, sunshine to twilight -
he rolled over and stared fuzzily at his blinking phone, caller ID telling him
who to expect on the other end before he answered.
"Alright dickface."
"Dave," Simon's voice sounded different, quieter than usual,
"there's been an...accident, something's happened." He paused.
"My parents' house...there was a fire there, last night, I had to leave
early this morning, I couldn't wake you." Dave, getting an uncomfortable
feeling in the pit of his stomach, did not speak. “My father got out, but he
went back in for my mother and sister…” he tailed off, then abruptly said, “they're
all dead.” He paused again, and still Dave did not say a thing. “Do you know
what the weird thing is though? I think…I think that my wish had something to
do with it.” Here his voice cracked and wavered. “An insurance man came, late
today, to the house. He was very polite, just checking things were all in
order, was what he said. I imagine he had his own reasons for checking though. There
was insurance on the house, and life insurance policies you see. Even Jim, the
dog had one.” At the mention of the beloved family pet Simon began weeping, and
though his tears made his last statement. “All of it, everything added
together, if it all pays out, comes to exactly one million pounds. Dave,
you’ve got to get things back to how they were, start again. Use your wish. Do
something.”
“Ok, ok.” He walked over to the desk, leaving Simon on
the line and picked up the paw. He looked at it, desiccated and worn, and
remembered George’s warning. Then he closed his eyes and said “I wish for a new
start. For all of us.” He opened his eyes and put the phone back to his ear.
“Anything different?”
“No, nothing’s changed.”
“Wait,” said Dave, “there something pulling up outside.
It’s an ITV news van. Someone’s getting out. I think….it’s Natasha Kaplinsky...”
He could hear Simon still talking on the other end of the line but wasn’t
listening to him anymore. He was staring fascinated at the monkey’s paw in his
hand as it drew its third and last finger slowly and inexorably into a tight
fist.
