Horror Short Story Review: "Itching for Action" by Charles Garofalo

Tweet

Joe Borden can’t sleep because he’s too busy scratching mosquito bites. He’s keeping his wife up. He must have gotten bitten good the last couple of trips to the woods. Arlene tells him calm down. She’s the one who has to go to work early. He can sleep in a bit. He finally gets up and she sees what’s been bothering him. Not mosquitoes—there are none in the room—but fleas. She tells him to go take a bath and put on some calamine lotion. For some reason, the fleas don’t bother her. She doesn’t have a single bite. But they’re merciless to her husband. They don’t own pets. He goes to work in long sleeves so the spots on his arms where he’s drawn blood with his scratching don’t show. Before too long, they start losing their patience with him at work. They don’t want a guy around who has fleas and can’t seem to get rid of them. The Bordens' neighbor stops by one day while Joe is outside to ask if he’s seen his family’s cat. Nobody’s seen her for a couple of days now. Joe hasn’t and is sure if she’s come to harm, it wasn’t on his property… This is a creepy little story, well-crafted and entertaining. The end is not predictable, but makes perfect sense just the same. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the text online. It appears to be available in print anthologies only. _____ Title: “Itching for Action” first published 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories 1994 Author: Charles Garofalo