The Babysitter

Birdie McCoy, a weak-eyed spinster, lived in a weathered farmhouse just two hundred yards down an isolated rural road from the polished new residence of a young couple with a baby. Being an antisocial type, Birdie had never taken the time to introduce herself to her new neighbors.

However, on her way to town one day, she spied a young woman sunbathing topless on the front lawn. Startled by what she saw, she turned around and drove back to take a second look. Sure enough, the girl had a bathing suit bottom on but otherwise was showing off oversized breasts.

How dare she lay out topless, Birdie thought to herself.

When she drove past later in the day, she saw that the girl was in the same position.

How sinful, Birdie steamed.

The following day as she drove past the Burtons', she slowed way down, and then let the car idle. There was the semi-nude girl, as usual.

Must be the teen babysitter, Birdie imagined. What other person would reveal herself like that?

As she gunned her old Ford's engine, she noted the babysitter didn't stir.

Must be sleeping, Birdie thought. And so lazy! What about the baby?

On her way back from town, she noticed that the babysitter was in the same position.

What an abomination! Birdie thought.

Home later, she decided that the next day she'd make an excuse for meeting the babysitter. She'd stop out front of the Burtons', walk up into the yard and say that her house phone was dead and her cellphone on the blink. She'd say she needed to call out for service. She'd do all that as pretext for letting the babysitter know just what she thought.

Birdie did exactly what she'd planned to do. She stopped her car, got out and walked right across the yard toward the babysitter, who didn't move a muscle.

"Excuse me. Hello," Birdie blurted.

The babysitter didn't get up. In fact, she didn't move a limb.

That's when the smell hit Birdie, when she caught a whiff of something evil, the stench of something putrefying. And the maggots.

In the newspaper days later, Birdie read all the details of the double homicide: Mr. & Mrs. Burton had been shot with single bullets where they slept, Mr. Burton in the head and Mrs. Burton between the breasts. The wife had then been drug out into the front lawn.

The real babysitter, now missing along with the Burton baby, was presumed to be the Burtons' killer.

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