Robert Walker:
CLASS OF 1969
Union High SchoolClass of 1969
Union, SC
University of South CarolinaClass of 1973
Columbia, SC
Main Street Junior High SchoolClass of 1964
Union, SC
Robert's Story
Monkey Gone To Heaven
From a series of short stories called "Detective Sherlock Walker Always Knows"
© 2012 James Robert Walker
Justin cries out to his wife Clara, "I know that I have hurt you as badly as any man can hurt the one he loves, and yet I wish you were here. I wish you were here." In Justin’s mind is the angelic image of Clara as well as an unspeakable sense of guilt. That guilt overpowers even Justin’s fear of mortality.
So it is that the condemned man Justin sits weeping in his jail cell in the city of Deathopolis, in the shadow of Mount Deathopolis, from whose summit volcanic ash and smoke is at this moment erupting.
It is no accident that Deathopolis lay next to a volcano with the same name as the city. After all, the location was chosen for that very reason. The location was chosen to heighten the sense of drama for the spectators, and to heighten the sense of dread for the condemned. After "The City of the Condemned" was named "Deathopolis" during construction, the volcano was renamed "Deathopolis" as well.
Condemned prisoners are routinely led, surrounded by dozens of guards, to the electric chair platform amid cruel, taunting songs and the dread presence of the volcano’s rumbling and shaking.
During these final hours, time seems endless. Finally, guards come to take Justin on the walk of death. It is a seemingly interminable walk of five kilometers from the jail cell to the platform.
Along the way, spectators taunt Justin with happy sounding songs about the demise of the condemned.
"We don’t care if society has been unfair to you
All we want is for society to get rid of you
There’s no hope for you
(No hope! ) (shouted with fists in the air)
You’re gonna die in the electric chair
There’s no hope for you
You’re gonna die
There’s plenty of reason for you to despair
You’re gonna die in the electric chair
That jolt will hit you right over your eye
And your head will snap back and you will die"
Further along, Justin hears a new happy sounding song called "Soon We’ll Be Living In A World Without You".
All along the way, the volcano rumbles and roars. Above it all is the rising smoke and ash.
Finally Justin, amid the leering guards, sees the electric chair platform and sees it growing larger and larger as he gets closer and closer. He silently prays to his departed wife one last time. "Clara, please forgive me. I love you. I wish you were here."
Justin is about to be led up the stairs to the platform. He never makes it. Nature intervenes. The volcano explodes. The city of Deathopolis ceases to exist.
Justin perceives the world suddenly going dark. Then Justin sees a brightly lighted portal. Justin walks towards the portal. Justin hears to voice of Clara, from the portal, crying out, "Justin, come here. I forgive you. Come here please. Justin." Justin panics and runs away.
While running away from Clara, Justin suddenly loses his balance and falls. What follows is a confusing jumble of sounds, sensations, emotions, and images, after which Justin finds himself in a strange looking room. Justin is not sure, but thinks this may be an auditorium of some sort.
Within t...Expand for more
he "auditorium" is an assemblage of grotesque looking people. Their eyes have a disgusting red appearance and they all have these strange buck teeth like rabbits or chipmunks. Their clawed hands and feet, to Justin, look grotesque.
One of them stands in front of the others and begins to speak.
"We know that this is already a controversial conclusion, but we are more certain than ever that about twenty million years ago there arose a civilization of intelligent, civilized, and technological monkeys that built great cities all over the Earth. Now we have even more startling conjectures. One member of our team, Harkson, has been attempting to translate their writings and communications. I, like you, am skeptical, but Harkson believes that these noble, wise, and intelligent monkeys may even have somehow walked upon the moon."
A sigh of disbelief goes through the auditorium.
"We have been attempting to ascertain what became of these noble, intelligent, and wise pioneers of civilization. It seems that nature was unkind to them. The climate inexplicably grew very warm and may be what caused them all to perish, although there is also evidence of tremendous explosions."
"Though they are long gone, we hope to learn much from the vast wisdom of these incredibly noble monkeys."
Someone speaks up from the audience: "How can this be possible? Monkeys are such stupid creatures! They are little more than vermin!"
The one speaking in the front answered, "That is surely not true of these monkeys. These monkeys possessed vast wisdom. Today we have a very special discovery indeed. We believe we have found one of their great leaders!"
Justin is suddenly disoriented as he feels himself rising. The one in the front of the auditorium is in fact holding up Justin’s skull so that the others can see it.
"We believe the noble monkey whose skull I am now holding up was one of their wise and powerful leaders. We found him in the middle of what appears to be a procession of honor."
The others all rise to get a better look at Justin, the noble leader of the noble monkeys.
"We also have another special discovery. We have discovered what we believe is one of their vehicles of transportation. There are remnants of what we believe was the paint. We believe that it had a bluish gray color. In the front, there were what must have been lights which were raised and lowered by small motors. In various places inside and outside this object, there is what we believe was a religious symbol. That symbol is a rounded quadrangle wider at the top than at the bottom. There are three bars within the quadrangle, two nearly upright ones and a shorter one connecting the two upright ones."
Suddenly Justin is gripped with a deep sense of sadness, almost as deep as the one he felt while awaiting his execution.
Justin runs away. Then Justin once again sees a brightly lighted portal. Justin walks toward the portal. Justin again hears to voice of Clara, from the portal, crying out, "Justin, come here. I forgive you. Come here please. Justin." This time Justin continues to walk towards the portal.
Justin disappears into the portal.
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