CONNOR LEAVES HIS POST

By Ben Greenman

from forthcoming collection, as yet untitled

Lively scenes were witnessed on Hickory Street last night, when some two dozen frightful apparitions besieged the bedroom of Timothy Pine. Pine, nine, had a sense that they would be arriving, and arranged for his older brother, Connor, to be in readiness, dragging a spare mattress in so that Connor could sleep on the floor until  he was no longer needed. Connor spent two nights standing guard without complaint, but late on Monday, he was called away by a friend, Alden, who wanted to walk into town and sneak into the theater to rewatch the last fifteen minutes of a movie, the final scenes of which had confused the boys, Connor believing that the hero had been a double agent all along, Alden insisting that he had merely pretended to be a double agent to survive an interrogation. The phantoms took advantage of Connor’s temporary absence to make a surprise attack. They seeped from below the closet door and from under the bed, a few even emerging from the clothing draped over the desk chair, and did considerable damage to Timothy’s peace of mind. He talked to himself rapidly at first, seeking comfort if not calm, and turned to more aggressive measures, pelting with balled-up socks the spots in the room where he believed the specters to be. When he could abide the situation no longer, he called out for his parents, who came down the hall at a pace too leisurely for his taste and turned on the lights, banishing all  wraiths and spirits. They escorted him to a place of safety and hot chocolate. Connor, arriving home a half-hour later, apologized before noting that now he understood the movie in full.