Rodriguez

This story is a rather fantastic one. I say that because I doubt you will believe it.

I don't remember the date exactly, but I do remember it being frigid outside. My breath fogged up my "two-for-five" sunglasses as I walked out of a Wall-Street office interview. I had landed the job and was so pleased with myself that I thought I might take a walk up through China Town to see what a fortune cookie might say about my new position in life. As I made my way North, I was engulfed by the rank smells and grimy streets getting closer to the open fish markets. Walking through China Town I couldn't help but notice the eels in Styrofoam containers poking their heads out over the top, watching with cold eel eyes as pedestrians walked by. I kept moving, daring not to look too closely at the reflections of city buildings in those fish eyes. At my feet, Blue Crabs crawled out of baskets, tripping innocent people on the sidewalks. I crossed over from Canal Street to Delancy, and from Delancy to Houston Street. As I moved further I came upon the various art galleries, remnant shops, and alternative clothing shops that give the Village its raunchy flavor. Houston divides The Village from Little Italy; Canal Street is the dividing line between Little Italy and China Town. Below China Town is Wall Street, where I landed a job.

Incidentally, my fortune cookie read, "Your good fortune will be shadowed by a dark cloud". I crumpled it up and tossed it into a street corner trashcan. I was now on Houston Street enjoying a canoli and a lattÈ I picked up from an Italian cafÈ. As I was waiting to cross the busy street, I was overcome by an awful stench, much worse than the open fish markets. I looked down through the subway bellowing warm steam at me, and saw a huge hairy creature scuttle from shadow to shadow. As it moved back into the light I caught a glimpse of this strange being, and this is what I saw: A curvy, squashed-diamond shaped head, with ears that resembled at first a pig's ear, then a horse's. On top of its head grew what looked like devil's horns with a bit of short hair between them. It had a huge eye in the center of its head with large grey pupils. Over to the right of the one eye, was a second, much smaller eye that glowed bright yellow. The creature had a large human-like nose, with fanged teeth and a rather large hairy mole on his left cheek. Its body was green and hairy, and it looked like it was flexing its arms across its stomach. Compared to the rest of its body, the legs were short. It had two toes on each foot.

I quickly took out my disposable camera and snapped a picture of it before it disappeared. Strangely enough, when I had the film developed, there was no image of the thing, just the name "Rodriguez" etched in electric blue on the film. Rodriguez, I later discovered, was a freak show attraction at the Houston Street Carnival that was held in the 1920's. He had apparently outlived all of his greedy, money-making handlers and, 83 years later, was hiding in the tunnels under the infamous carnival location.

Since our encounter a few weeks ago, 23 people have disappeared from the streets of Greenwhich Village, just south of SoHo and above China Town, only to be found dead and mutilated in dark alleys.

I haven't told the authorities anything regarding my meeting with Rodriguez, as they will undoubtedly think I am insane and lock me up again, on suspicion of being the "Houston Street Mangler".