Shirley was very concerned. Keith hadn’t come home for hours. It was a Friday night and Danny said the last time he saw him, he was making a bee-line for the soda fountain. Yet now it’s seven o’ clock, two hours after dinner was on the table. Keith Partridge is not home. Reuben tries to reassure Shirley that Keith is probably at one of his girlfriend’s house watching “Love, American Style” and he’ll probably be home any minute.
Shirley shakes her head and says, “Okay, kids. Let’s get in the bus. We’re going to look for him.”
Everyone piles in the psychedelic bus and they’re soon driving up and down the streets yet no Keith is found. Danny folds his arms and says, “I told you. Keith’s a flake. When you need him he’s always looking out for himself.”
Laurie turns and gives Danny a strange look. Shirley pulls the bus back into the driveway and sadly walks back into the house. Saturday comes and Keith hasn’t shown up. Reuben has made a personal call to Adam-12. They sit on the couch by the phone waiting.
Shirley drinks a warm glass of milk as she goes to bed Saturday night deeply worried that something bad has happened to Keith. That night Laurie takes on three different biker gangs in the garage trying to divulge information but she gets nothing except for the satisfaction of doing a job well done.
Shirley hears a weird noise in the kitchen at four in the morning. She creeps down the stairs and sees Danny with his Cub Scout back pack and filling his thermos with Tang. Shirley watches Danny leave the house and then has Tracy and Christopher follow him. Tracy keeps rubbing her eyes saying, “Mommy, I’m sleepy.”
Christopher walks into the door frame and says “Ow, tired.”
Shirley hugs him and says, “Go forth and tell me what I need to know.”
As soon as she says that, Tracy and Christopher’s eyes glow and eagerly they take to the streets, running on all fours sniffing the ground. Shirley sits in the kitchen drinking a Carnation Instant Breakfast drink. When she hears Chris and Tracy screaming, she takes off her clothes and is out the back door running at full speed naked. She comes over a hill and sees Christopher and Tracy lying strangled and dead before an old garage on the edge of the forest.
A weird twisted sound fills the air and as her perfect foot softly steps on the wet, dewy grass Danny’s red freakish face pops up, his mouth red with gore from eating Christopher and Tracy. Shirley quickly walks up to Danny and grabs him by the ear and says, “I’ve already lost two kids. I’m not going to lose a third. Where’s your brother Keith?”
Danny cries, “I don’t know!”
Shirley whispers in his ear, “Do you want me to pick off all of your freckles because you know if I do you’ll have never existed.”
Danny starts to cry and points to the garage behind them. She opens the door and finds Keith lying there as if asleep but she knows that it’s much worse. She makes a whistle whisper and soon Laurie is there. She goes into the garage and then comes back out. “Mother,” she asks. “Will you comb my long, brown hair?”
Shirley smiles and pulls out a golden brush with silver bristles and starts to comb out her long, beautiful hair. All of a sudden the most beautiful smell fills the air and everything around them turns a strange, molten, golden hue. Shirley and Laurie turn and the garage has melted away. Standing before them is their beloved Keith Partridge and all is Golden. 1970-1974
The Origin of Easter & Other Fairytales by Shaun Partridge
Book Jacket by Whale Song Partridge
