Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

betw een those walls festooned w ith cow boy-style par apher nalia. ?Come on in,? said
Wullie. ?Me and my fr iends ar e having a w ee Hogmanay get-together. Yous can join
us."
Fr iends? That wasn?t a concept nor mally associated w ith Wullie MacNeill.
He led them ar ound the cor ner into the r est of the L-shaped r oom. They enter ed a
longer , w ider space w her e the lighting had been tur ned dow n to a soft, fir elight-like
glow. The fur nitur e included a sofa and an old tur ntable-ster eo, fr om w hich a male
Amer ican voice cr ooned something about r iding a hor se acr oss desolate plains.
Tw o figur es w er e per ched at either end of the sofa and a thir d stood by the ster eo.
Like Wullie, they w er e clad in Stetsons and fr inged jackets, but unlike him they had
long legs, slender waists and thick, shoulder -length hair. They w er en?t cow boys, but
cow -gals.
Wulllie star ted to exhibit basic social skills. ?Lor etta, Patsy and Emmylou,? he
said, ?these ar e James and Lachlan. Local lads w ho?r e living in the city, though
they?ve come back home for the festive season.? This didn?t mean Wullie knew
anything about them other than their names. Almost ever y young per son in the
ar ea, bor ed out of their w its and shor t of cash, gave in to temptation sooner or later
and migr ated to Glasgow , Edinbur gh, Aber deen or Dundee. ?James and Lachlan, let
me intr oduce you to Lor etta, Patsy and Emmylou.?
As Lachie?s eyes adjusted to the low lighting, he saw that the thr ee figur es w er e
plastic dummies that?d begun their lives, or non-lives, modelling gar ments in a
depar tment-stor e w indow.
Wher eas Wullie had suddenly acquir ed them, Lachie and Jimmy?s social skills
seemed to dr ain away. They stood as mute and unmoving as, w ell, dummies.
Oblivious to their discomfor t, Wullie gestur ed to the vacant section of sofa betw een
Lor etta and Patsy. ?Take a seat, lads. I?ll fetch glasses!?
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