Scribblers Ring

When the doorbell rang

March 2008 by Mark Hoffmann

When the doorbell rang ...

I was sitting, reading 
'Black Dog of Fate'
I read to the end of the paragraph
then opened the door.

They showed me their teeth
     Olympic grade, synchronised smiling
then asked me
had I heard the good news?
I hadn't.

The younger one
     hair as dry and black as burnt toast
     fierce lips and a tongue bulging with truth
told me some stuff.
For some reason
I thought about Danish pastry
     the type with half an apricot and custard cream.
The older one was calm.
She asked me

did I have faith?
Yes I did
I had faith that the universe was created
by Seven Evil Dwarfs.

Apparently
that was the wrong answer:
they hoped their pamphlets would help me.

I thanked them
went back to my book about the Armenian Genocide.