BLOCH, ROBERT – THE WEIRD TAILOR in THE SKULL OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE collection - 1965 Pyramid Books.
A down on his luck tailor has a
racked, crumbling shoddy dummy as part of his window display. His debts are
increasing, and his customer list is decreasing. People can buy their clothes
off the peg cheaply. No one wants made to measure especially lovingly prepared
suits any more. The business is seemingly doomed. The Tailor gets angry and
frustrated, and beats his wife up
frequently. She cries to the
dummy, which reminds her of a former lover, and the life she now wishes she had
instead of the one she is stuck with.
Just as all hope seems to vanish, a man walks into the shop with a
request for a special suit. The man seems wealthy. He has a diamond ring on his
hand. The Tailor listens to his very odd request. The customer wants a suit
making from a special cloth, which he himself provides. The tailor has never
seen material like it. It seems to be every colour at once, and unusual to
touch. The customer wants a suit that looks very odd in measurements (which he
provides) and he wants the work on the suit to take place at certain strange
hours, mostly after dark. The tailor
agrees to do the work, and naturally he tries to work on the suit when he wants
as well as at the specified times. However, the suit won’t cut or let him sew
it outside of the specified times. The
Tailor now realizes that something evil and supernatural is going on, but he is
keen on the money such work offers. He works on, and finishes the suit. He
takes it to the house of the customer, and he is shocked to find that the man
is not rich, but poor. His house is a hovel. His diamond a fake. The man can’t
actually pay for the suit yet. He has spent
all of his money on books, and on a large freezer, which is in the middle of
the living room of his flat. The Tailor opens the freezer and sees a dead boy
in it. The man has his son in there. He has hoped that the suit will bring him
back to life. The Tailor panics, and a fight ensue. The tailor kills his
customer and runs away, taking the suit with him. He goes to the shop and begs
his wife to burn he suit, which is now evidence of his crime. The wife
unfortunately doesn’t burn it. She puts it on the dummy in the window. The
tailor has also stolen some of the occult books his customer had in the flat.
One gives instructions for making a special suit, which will give life to
anyone or anything in human shape. As he finishes reading this, the dummy comes
to life and kills him. A great and creepy story, which often keeps you guessing
as to where it will end up. http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/bloch.html
© Copyright. Arthur Chappell
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