smiled at him. âI think thatâs the idea. It should only take you a minute, so when youâve finished come over here and see what Iâm doing. You never know, you might even learn something.â
Owen quickly tipped out the rest of his bag over the floor at the back of the counter and scuffed the dust around with his foot. It covered the front of his trainer like a light, newgrown beard. Then he walked over to Marty and stood at his shoulder watching him complete his various insertions into the beef. Marty made his final cut and then half turned and showed Owen the blade he was using. He moved the tip of the blade adjacent to the tip of Owenâs nose. âA blade has to be sharp. Thatâs the first rule of butchery. Rule two, your hands must be clean.â He moved the knife from side to side and Owenâs eyes followed its sharp edge. It was so close to his face that he could see his hot breath steaming up and evaporating on its steely surface. Marty said thickly, âThis blade could slice your nose in half in the time it takes you to sneeze. Aaah-tish-yooouh!â
Then he whipped the knife away and placed it carefully on the cutting surface next to a small pool of congealing blood. He said, âRule three, treat your tools with respect.â
Owen cleared his throat self-consciously. âWill I be allowed to cut up some meat myself today, or will I just be helping out around the shop?â Marty frowned. âIt takes a long time and a lot of skill to be able to prepare meat properly. Youâll have to learn everything from scratch. Thatâs what it means to be the new boy, the apprentice.â
Ralph came back into the shop and set Owen to work cleaning the insides of the windows and underneath the display trays. Old blood turned the water brown. Soon the first customers of the day started to straggle into the shop and he learned the art of pricing and weighing. The day moved on. At twelve he had half-an-hour for lunch.
After two oâclock the shop quietened down again and Owen was sent into the store-room to acquaint himself with the lay-out, refrigeration techniques and temperatures. As he looked around and smelt the heavy, heady smell of ripe meat, he overheard Ralph and Marty laughing at something in the shop. Ralph was saying, âLeave him be. Youâre wicked Mart.â Marty replied, âHe wonât mind. Go on, itâll be a laugh.â
A few seconds later Ralph called through to him. Owen walked into the shop from the cool darkness of the storeroom. The light made his eyes squint. The shop was empty apart from Ralph and Marty who were standing together in front of the large cutting board as though hiding something. Ralph said, âHave you ever seen flesh, dead flesh, return to life, Owen?â Owen shook his head. Marty smiled at him. âSome meat is possessed, you know. If a live animal is used as part of a satanic ritual at any point during its life, when it dies its flesh lives on to do the devilâs work. After all, the devilâs work is never done.â
As he finished speaking he stepped sideways to reveal a large chunk of fleshy meat on the chopping board. It was about the size of a cabbage. Everyone stared at it. They were all silent. Slowly, gradually, almost imperceptibly, the meat shuddered. Owen blinked to make sure that his eyes were clear and not deceiving him. After a couple of seconds it shuddered again, but this time more noticeably. It shivered as though it were too cold, and then slowly, painfully, began to crawl across the table. It moved like a heart that pumped under great duress, a struggling, battling, palpitating heart.
Owenâs face blanched. His throat tightened. Ralph and Marty watched his initial reactions and then returned their gazes to the flesh. By now it had moved approximately five or six inches across the cutting board. Its motions were those of a creature in agony, repulsive and yet full of an