It was a dark and stormy night, and the power had just gone out, leaving me in darkness.  As I was about to commence searching for candles the phone rang, startling me.  The voice on the other side recommended that I make an appearance in a certain dark alley for a very important “appointment”.

Alone. 

            With fear and trepidation,  I made my way to the sinister, desolate location, fearing it may be my last hour on this Earth.  Once there, it was but a few panicky minutes before I felt a tap on my shoulder.  Swinging around, I saw only a dark featureless hooded figure.  I was informed that if I did not perform certain “services” my life would be in grave danger.  Dreading the nature of such tasks, I meekly managed to ask what was needed of me.

             I was only handed a card with the inscription “Darkside Studios” .   I immediately recognized the name of the hideous, unnatural corporation headed by a certain (as he is known around these parts) Mr. Daniels.   At that moment I knew my life would never be the same.  I turned the card over, and on the reverse side I found cryptic references to jesters, scarecrows, and pumpkins, along with arcane diagrams and instructions.  I slowly realized that I was being coerced into helping this fiend in his plan to bring forth abominations into the land.  I was actually expected to assist in creating creatures that had no earthly reason to exist, and that would be an affront to all human reason.

                 I was to drop off the resultant artistic creation at the same desolate location, so that they could be transported to the hidden Darkside dungeons, where certain vile processes were to be employed in the distribution of these unholy products to unsuspecting citizens of our land. 

                I must admit that I have, as of late, begun to take a certain grim satisfaction in my new role of assisting the birth of beasts.  So, I have taken to engraving my name into the flesh on the back of each of my offspring. Look for it, will you?  It is my only consolation.