The Magnificent Kornblatt

by Todd Schindler

read parts  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6

7.

Early the next morning, with Hannah still asleep beside him, Daniel awoke dazed, filled with lingering images of a strange dream. He had been standing in a dark room when his brother-in-law materialized in front of him, dressed in the garments of a Catholic priest. Kornblatt held a butcher's knife in his right hand. Unbuttoning his black shirt, he plunged the blade deep into his own stomach, slashing it wide. He grabbed hold of his intestines with his left hand and yanked them out. With the point of his knife, he ripped the intestines open. Brown fecal matter covered the knife and Kornblatt wiped it clean with a white towel. He did this several times. Daniel examined the towel. Looking to Kornblatt, he said, "There is no blood," to which Kornblatt replied, "There is no blood now. But there will be. There will be." Then he dissolved just as he had appeared.

Daniel shook off his drowsiness and tip-toed to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He dressed quietly so as not to wake his wife and stepped into the backyard. He smelled the cold dew on the grass. A lone crow was coughing on a telephone wire. In the sky, pink slowly ran into blue as the last dim outlines of the moon faded into the ether. Daniel made his way to the guest house and pushed open the door without knocking. It was empty, as he suspected. He stood for a moment in the center of the room. There was no trace of Kornblatt. The clothes, the bedding, the chair, the wooden spoons: all of it was gone. Not even a scent remained. Daniel closed the door gently and walked around the back of the cottage. There, leaning against the wall was a large piece of plywood, both sides smooth.

Yawing and stretching his arms skyward, Daniel walked back toward the house. It was Saturday and Hannah would be waking up soon.

Todd Schindler, a former child star in Mexico, is a filmmaker and writer. He currently lives in New York City.