09/05/2022
https://www.facebook.com/syedalibooks/posts/130607223048425
Moongazer Story
Excerpt from my upcoming “untitled” book.
“Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra was playing on the jukebook in Bilar’s rum shop, where Jango and Shaun were drinking. Shaun noted, “It’s a full moon tonight boy!”
Jango retorted, “So what?”
“You know what they say about a full moon and the Moongazer?” Shaun declared.
“What Moongazer?” Jango asked.
“The Moongazer only comes out during a full moon. The spirit is of a very tall man who gazes at the full moon. You can’t see him, only a shadow can be seen by the light of the full moon. The Moongazer terrorizes villages by standing with his long legs at either side of a road and hands on hips while he stares at the moon. Anyone who tries to pass will be crushed to death as he quickly closes his legs.”
Jango shouted, “Awh, that’s rubbish! I am not afraid of anything, especially some Nancy story Moonazer.”
Everyone in the bar was now listening to the two men. Shaun said, “Alright! Let’s have a bet. If you are not afraid, then go to the cemetery at midnight.”
“That’s no problem. I’ll do it tonight.” Jango replied.
One of the onlookers asked, how will we know whether he went to the cemetery or not.
Shaun had an idea. “To prove you are at the cemetery, drive this wooden stake in the middle of the ground.”
Jango stumbled out the bar with the wooden stake and staggered to the burial ground, which was about a ten minute walk away.
In the middle of the ground, he drove the wooden stake with a rock. That was it, he was done. He looked around and noticed a shadow in the shape of a man, a giant man covering the ground. The very spot he was on. He saw the shadow had two legs, a torso and what looked like an outstretched arm cast over his right foot.
He froze. "It must be the Moongazer", he taught.
After gaining some of his senses, he tried to run away, but couldn’t. Something held onto his right leg. He tugged and tugged but couldn’t get loose.
The next day his friend Shaun was worried because he didn’t see Jango at the rum shop. In fact, he didn’t see him during the day. Shaun asked around in the bar if anyone saw Jango. Nothing. He even checked at Jango's house, whose wife said Jango didn’t come home last night.
The bar people worried as well and word spread about the missing man.
They went to the cemetery. At the center, they saw Jango's lifeless body on the ground and a wooden stake driven in his right leg pants.
Later the coroner determined that Jango suffered a heart attack. Fear killed him.
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