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D Is For Damien 2: The Night Of The Goat |
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TEHUTI'S PER ON THE WEB NOTE: What little I wrote of D Is For Damien 2, which later became known only by its subtitle, The Night Of The Goat--which, oddly enough, isn't given on the title page. In this story--which is actually the fifth novel in the series, I believe--Damien was to have a run-in with a mysterious person who would "brand" his hand with a pentagram. Afterwards Damien's personality would start getting all strange and he would wonder if he was going nuts. New characters Psyche Cooper and Ozzy Lewis were to be introduced in this story--and the mysterious "woman in black" was to first appear. (She's the one behind the helpful note of hints that Damien receives in the original D Is For Damien.)
This was written in the same five-subject notebook as "An Interview At LRU," Inspector Dobermann To The Core, The Trench Rats--On Leave, "The Night Of The Goat Excerpts" 1-4, Sidekicks (original draft), "D Is For Damien Excerpt," Sidekicks 2: The Return Of Luther, Lucifer (original draft), "The Return Of Luther Excerpt," and "The Return Of Luther Blurb." Take note of the mention of the "Sidekicks Detective Agency"--after the third novel in the series, Sidekicks, Damien was supposed to start a sort of investigative service, the idea of which has been discontinued in the rewrites. Also notice how utterly inane this story starts out. Similar to the "cockroach argument" which I retained in the newest version of D4D. As only one chapter was written, I'll combine all the story on one page. Likely 1991; the D4D timeline places it in this year, at least. There's a discrepancy as to the month the story takes place in, though--this story starts out saying "summer," whereas the timeline (written much later) places it in April. THE SKY WAS just beginning to grow cloudy. The sun dropping below the horizon gave everything a pinkish tinge. Though it was summer, some people were at the college. A small group, along with some kids, sat out on the grass in front of the large marble gryphon statue, talking. "Y'know," one, named Ritzie O'Brien, said, "I just found out we don't have adequate fire escape routes in the theater." "Really?" Cosmo Vallence put her two cents, or really one fourth cent, in. Damien rolled his eyes. "What, then?" "What what?" Ritzie asked. "What what what?" Damien said. "What what what what?" "What what what what what?" "What--" "What are you getting at?" Damien fumed. "Oh. What I mean is, we need a new plan." "Okay. Get a map." "Damien, what would you do if you were a trematode?" Harvey, a kid, asked. "A what?" "A trematode." "I'd drain out all of my earwax and give it to the homeless," Damien replied matter-of-factly, and turned back to talk to the others, leaving Harvey grimacing with disgust. "Hey Amy, what would you do if you were a trematode?" he asked. Amy thought a moment, then said, "I think I'd explode and come back as Peewee Herman." She giggled. So did Ritzie and Cosmo. "Ho! If you think that's funny, you should hear some things we get at the News to Us and Daily Zodiac," Damien said. "Once we asked if people liked snow. One person said, 'Yes, but daaa...what's snow? I'm immortal. My name is Shirley and I got hit by a semi on January 14, 1991.'" "Weird!" Amy laughed. "One person thought a puffin was a booger on a log," Katrina Witchita added. The others fell over, laughing. [Per Note: This entire odd "trematode" exchange, ending in the comment about puffins, is based on several things students said in my junior high school newspaper.] "Damien!" Damien turned around and saw someone on the path, waving. "Phone!" "See ya in a sec," Damien said, getting up and following the person. In the office, Damien picked up the phone. "Hi?" "Hello," a man's voice, unfamiliar, said. "Is this Mr. Damien?" Damien smiled at the name so many out-of-touchers gave him. "Damien if it matters. Why?" "Ah, good," the voice said. "You are from the Sidekicks Detective Agency, are you?" Damien frowned, puzzled. "Yeah?" The person sensed his uneasiness. "Oh, there's nothing seriously wrong, Damien. Only a little problem. Which, of course, I'm certain you can solve." The voice was pleasant. Too pleasant. "Well, yeah," Damien said, picking up the office phone notepad. "Where?" The person gave him a location on a certain street, and what time to be there. As Damien hung up, he felt a bit uneasy, though he didn't know why. The black car pulled up outside a big building and stopped. Damien and his uncle, Father Damien, got out. "I still don't see why you wouldn't let me take my car," Damien said. "You're a maniac driver, that's why," Father Damien replied. "Now, what're you supposed to do?" "I'm supposed to meet a contact," Damien said. "They're supposed to shake my hand. But the guy didn't tell me what they looked like." "What guy?" "The guy on the phone." Damien looked around, then threw his hands up. "Well! No one here. I guess we go." He turned around. Suddenly a person grasped his left hand tightly, then disappeared into the crowd. Damien yelped and grabbed his hand. "What is it? What's wrong?" Father Damien asked. "That person burned me!" Damien exclaimed, looking back. But the person was lost from sight. "Was it the contact?" "I guess so. But they didn't even stop long enough. And my hand!" He rubbed his sore hand. "Let me see," Father Damien said. He took Damien's hand and held his palm flat up. "Goodness!" he exclaimed. "It looks like you've been branded, Damien!" "Wha?" Damien looked at his hand. A circle with some crossing lines inside it seemed to be there, but he couldn't tell because it was so faint. "What a nut!" "We should get ice on this, Dami." "Nah, I'm okay. But I don't think that contact is!" Scorpio is back! With time swiftly running out, Damien has to find out who the evil contact is. Is it Psyche, the spirit-summoning psychic, Levie, the crazy who believes he is the 'One' sent to warn mankind, Martin, the seemingly polite, quiet honor student, Ferret, who's too sneaky for his own good, Reznik and Ondraka, the two strangers who appeared from nowhere, or the mysterious lady dressed in mourning black? Or, even worse, could it be Damien himself? Damien's involved in a dangerous game of hide and seek--only now it's for keeps. If you enjoyed this book, here are others: Lucifer D is for Damien Sidekicks Sidekicks 2: The Return of Luther Tall, Dark...and Lethal Road to Machu Picchu Out of Time D is for Damien 3 |