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After several long moments of frustration, I pulled the screen and dared to open their front door.  I called out to Mamma Sophie, but there was no reply.  Instead, I was assaulted by a putrid stench that threatened to make me puke right there. I set the Tupperware down on the entry table and put my hand over my nose and mouth.  I had to bat at the flies with the other because they were everywhere.  I grabbed the remote off the back of the couch and turned the television off.  An icy chill ran down my spine and I willed my body to move deeper into the small house.  The small kitchen seemed in order with the exception of the water running in the sink.  I pushed the lever down and turned to survey the space, calling out their names again.  The sickly sweet stench of something rotting threatened my gag reflex and I pulled my t-shirt up to cover my nose.  Everything in me screamed run, but my curiosity wouldn’t let me.
    I inched down the hallway and immediately stepped on something.  Looking down, I realized it was teeth.  My gut knotted as I recognized them as Vince’s dentures.  He used to chase us kids, clicking them in and out of his mouth, so I knew they were his.  Warning bells went off in my head, and yet I couldn’t stop myself.  I passed the bathroom and jumped as I caught my own reflection in the mirrored shower doors.  The guest bedroom was just across the hall, and I could see that the bed was made.  A small clock on the dresser ticked loudly, and I noticed two suitcases were at the foot of the bed.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but it struck me as odd that the suitcases seemed untouched.  I backed out and noticed the door to the master bedroom was closed.  Out of respect, I knocked and called out their names softly.  After a few moments with no reply, I turned the knob.  A hoard of flies assaulted me as soon as the door was open and the scream that escaped me didn’t stop. 
    That sweet old couple…their bodies bent and contorted in ways that will never make sense in my mind.  Mamma Sophie’s nightgown was pulled over her abdomen and her left leg was bent up over her shoulder, and Vince was sprawled out on his back sideways across the bed.  His mouth was wide open, but it was clear his jaw had been broken because it was open way too wide.  Then I remembered the teeth on the floor, and that’s when I ran.  I banged pictures off the walls and tripped on a ripple in the frayed carpet.  It was like running in a dream…I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.  It wasn’t until I hit the sidewalk that I realized I wasn’t the only one screaming.  My neighbors were running in scattered directions, and I fought to make sense of the scene.
    My brain struggled to process the pair of strangers kicking one of my father’s friends in his driveway.  Tony was a big man, and seeing him on the ground like that was terrifying.  His head was a bloody mess, and he was obviously unconscious or dead because he wasn’t fighting back.  He looked like a giant rag-doll, and they just kept kicking, taking turns in a calm fashion.  His poor wife stood on the porch screaming and begging them to stop, until one of them walked over to her and casually twisted her neck.  She dropped like a sack of potatoes, and then I saw my father run out with a baseball bat.  He spotted me and waved his arms for me to get out of there.  I contemplated running to help him, but I had no weapon and I was conditioned to do what my father said.  He was the head of the house and had always been a firm disciplinarian. 
    Instinctively, I ducked behind a row of bushes between the houses and tried to calm my erratic breathing.  It was registering that the simps were attacking us, and that they were winning.  I watched in horror as a simp police officer snatched the bat from my father’s hand.  My father was a big man, with massive shoulders and biceps that matched those of men half his age. That simp picked him up as if