Read The Poison Eaters and Other Stories for Free Online Page B

what was more, she was pretty sure he knew a lot of people she'd be impressed by.
    He knocked on the door of the trailer around noon. Today, he wore a red double-breasted suit with a black shirt and tie. He carried a gnarled cane in a glossy brown, like polished walnut.
    Seeing her looking at it, he smiled. “Bull penis. Not too many of these."
    "You dress like a pimp,” Nikki said before she thought better of it.
    His smile just broadened.
    ” So are you a devil or the devil?” Nikki held the screen door open for him.
    "I'm a devil to some.” He winked as he walked past her. “But I'm the devil to you."
    She shuddered. Suddenly, the idea of him being supernatural seemed entirely too real. “My brother's in the back waiting for us."
    Nikki had set up on the picnic table in the common area of the trailer park. She walked onto the hot concrete and the devil followed her. Doug looked up from where he carefully counted out portions of sour gummy frogs onto paper plates. He looked like a giant, holding each tiny candy between two thick fingers.
    Nikki brushed an earwig and some sour-cherry splatter off a bench and sat down. “Doug's going to explain the rules."
    The devil sat down across from her and leaned his cane against the table. “Good. I'm starving."
    Doug stood up, wiping sweaty palms on his jeans. “This is what we're going to do. We have a bag of one hundred and sixty-six sour gummy frogs. That's all we could get. I divided them into sixteen plates of ten and two plates of three, so you each have a maximum of eighty-three frogs. If you both eat the same number of frogs, whoever finishes their frogs first wins. If you have a . . . er? . . . reversal of fortune, then you lose, period."
    "He means if you puke,” Nikki said.
    Doug gave her a stern look but didn't say anything.
    "We need not be limited by your supply,” said the devil. A huge tarnished silver platter appeared on the table. It scuttled over to Nikki on chicken feet and she saw that it was heaped with sugar-studded frogs.
    The candy on the paper plates looked dull in comparison with what glimmered on the table. Nikki picked up an orange-and-black-colored candy poison-dart frog and put it regretfully down. It just seemed dumb to let the devil supply food. “You have to use ours."
    The devil shrugged. With a wave of his hand, the dish of frogs disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a burnt-sugar smell. “Very well."
    Doug put a plastic pitcher of water and two glasses between them. “Okay,” he said, lifting up a stopwatch. “Go!"
    Nikki started eating. The salty sweet flavor flooded her mouth as she crammed in candy.
    Across the table, the devil lifted up his first paper plate, rolling it up and using the tube to pour frogs into a mouth that seemed to expand. His jaw unhinged like a snake. He picked up a second plate.
    Nikki swallowed frog after frog, sugar scraping her throat, racing to catch up.
    Doug slid a new pile in front of Nikki and she started eating. She was in the zone. One frog, then another, then a sip of water. The cloying sweetness scraped her throat raw, but she kept eating.
    The devil poured a third plate of candy down his throat, then a fourth. At the seventh plate, the devil paused with a groan. He untucked his shirt and undid the button on his dress pants to pat his engorged belly. He looked full.
    Nikki stuffed candy in her mouth, suddenly filled with hope.
    The devil chuckled and unsheathed a knife from the top of his cane.
    "What are you doing?” Doug shouted.
    "Just making room,” the devil said. Pressing the blade to his belly, he slit a line in his stomach. Dozens upon dozens of gooey half-chewed frogs tumbled into the dirt.
    Nikki stared at him, paralyzed with dread. Her fingers still held a frog, but she didn't bring it to her lips. She had no hope of winning.
    Doug looked away from the mess of partially digested candy. “That's cheating!"
    The devil tipped up the seventh plate into his widening mouth and swallowed