The Orange Tree

While peeling the fresh oranges, Martin seemed a bit low so he decided to talk to his newbie guest who was waiting for him in the perfectly decorated couch beside the mantelpiece. It was inspector Josh who was waiting for Martin with his face as pale as paper and stoned eye. He sat on the couch with his pen and notebook wide open in his hands when Martin entered. Martin came in with mouth full of his favourite oranges and sat in front of the inspector . "I think I should tell you the whole story before you put me behind bars" exclaimed Martin with the mysterious spark in his eyes.

It all started when Martin's wife Daisy died he was left with no one except his loneliness nor he had children who would look after him in his old age. He was all alone in an ancient crumbling house along with an overgrown and neglected garden with only one tree bearing fruits which was planted by Daisy. Slowly he became isolated and rarely ventured out of his house. He just stared outside his window and gazed at the beautiful tree flushed with juicy and delicious oranges. He hated when an outsider looked at his tree or tried to steal the fruits. "I do, the young people never seem to want to spend any time with me. I enjoy just sitting and talking." said Martin as the inspector stared at him impassively.

"Mr grey was the very first, I remember it like it was yesterday" he said smirking. "He came to my door asking if he could pluck some oranges from my tree. I invited him in and offered him with a cup of tea I went to the kitchen fetched my axe and before he suspected it I crept behind him and chopped his head."said Martin as he pushed another slice of orange inside his mouth. "the next one was a paperboy Tom, he was a happy and very jovial kind of guy who always talked about my orange tree and gazed at it like a hungry creature. I called him in to clear some stuff inside my house, he accepted joyfully. I provided him with some cookies ,children love cookies. When he was munching on them I began chopping with my axe and his head also came off and as far as I recall the third one was a hungry beggar." I stuffed all the heads and placed them on the mantelpiece .I talked to them ,day and night, it helps with my loneliness the only problem was the disposal of the bodys. I couldn't pile all of them so I kept one body and used it for all of the heads. When I get tired of talking to one of them I would take off the head and put it back on the mantelpiece and put another head on the body. Don't you think it's great?"

The the inspector didn't answer.

"Well I think that I have answered all your questions regarding the bodies you found buried in my garden. Damn that foul smell spoiled my plan!! And now I am getting bored with our conversation", he said with a sigh. He stood up took of the inspectors head and placed it back on the mantelpiece and took down the paperboy's head from the mantelpiece and placed it on the body. "Oh hey Tom! How are you feeling today?" said Martin as he laughed....

The End