Assignment 2: Post here!

[Tamur]

Offline Participant:

Strange events transpire at the full moon. Some are simply frightening, like the stories of men changing to wolves as the full moon rises, or vampires rising out of caskets for a night’s hideous feast. But there are other more subtle events that happen when the moon rises, heavy and full of light.

We descend, as an example, from just such a bright sky into a small town north of Detroit, on the shores of a large lake. The light of the full moon shimmers from the waters, bounces from tree-limbs bare of their fall foliage, and paints strong shadows on every piece of ground. It is late. The streets, parks, shops, even the gas stations are quiet. The moonlight falls without competition onto streets and lawns, bounces onto walls of buildings and houses, and into the window of a small bedroom where two boys lie sleeping.

This moonlight is patient. It has traveled over thousands of miles to come to rest in this room and paint a large oddly-shaped rectangle across the wall, just above a dresser. There on the dresser sits a teddy bear, atop a small pile of clothes.

This teddy bear is not the tiny, round, cute type of teddy bear. Rather, it is as tall as a toddler, with arms nearly flat from constant use, a nose of simple thread stitched dark and thick, a mouth of the same time, and two round button eyes. It sits with its face forward, arms outstretched, as if it is waiting for something.

That something, tonight at least, is the moonlight. As the light crawls down the wall, it hits the bear. The bear’s eyes begin to shine, bright pinpoints on the darkness of its face and arms. It is perhaps this change which wakes one of the sleeping boys.

These boys are brothers. The younger, a toddler still in diapers, is sleeping quietly in the lower of two small bunk beds. The older boy, perhaps four years old if that, lies on the upper bed. It is this boy who starts awake, aware that something has changed.

He rolls over, sits up, and first notices the bright patch of moonlight on the wall. He looks outside, expecting to see a flashlight or searchlight or something, but there is nothing. He follows a line from the window to the wall, and on his way between them he notices that the bear is staring at him.

For a moment he freezes: hair stands up on the back of his neck and prickles on his scalp. He has always suspected that the bear was alive and woke up at night to do secret bear things. But now he has proof. Being right, however, does not make the hair go back down.

The bear continues to examine the boy, from the top of his white-haired head down to his little boy toes buried under blankets. The boy, for his part, does not like this examination at all. In fact, he worries about it rather a lot. The bear continues to stare at him: he continues to stare at the bear. This goes on for what seems an eternity, during which time every possible reason for the bear being awake has crossed the boy’s mind. The bear is hungry and is looking for something edible. The bear is planning to take over the house during the night, and wants the boy to go back to sleep so he can continue with his diabolical plan. The bear is trying to go to sleep but just can’t quite get to sleep. The bear has decided to go out the window and join the other bears who are, no doubt, congregating just beneath the bedroom window. He decides it is the last one and, though he is frightened, he feels he has to investigate.

The air outside the covers is cold. He tries to hurry along: out of the covers, down the bunk bed ladder, tiptoe across the floor to the dresser. First he must make sure that his own teddy bear up there on the dresser is not planning anything bad. He stands looking slighly upward at it, constantly aware of those bright pinpoints of light in its eyes. The bear does not blink, or lunge at him. He hesitantly puts out a finger and slowly moves it toward the bear’s arm. The sudden shock of actually touching it makes the boy immediately give up, thinking that no house is worth saving with terrors like this to face!

But nothing happens, so he once again feels free to reach out. He begins to grab the bear’s paw. It is then that bear begins to move.

Shocked, the boy runs around the room, eyes wide and mouth open but soundless. All that comes out is a sort of whimpering breathing through his nostrils as he dances about, sure the bear will get him.

But then he slows down. He notices that the bear is still on top of the dresser. It has just tipped over, and that is all that happened.

[Timsup2nothin]

The boy walked into the store next to his sister. They exchanged a few words and went their separate ways. She was mean, he was bratty; another day for a teen-aged girl stuck with the task of watching her little brother. He stalked away to look at toys, but as soon as he was out of sight a wistful look came to his face. She wasn't much, but in many ways she was all the family he had. Their parents were at work, and their daughter was their designated alternate. Two thousand miles away there was an entire clan of aunts, uncles, cousins. His mother was the only one of five children to move far from home.

Next door lived a family with four kids, all older than his sister. Some of them had moved out, but not far, and had kids of their own. The neighbors watched their grandkids frequently, and fondly. Sometimes his sister babysat for the grandkids. Her care for them was different than it was for him, with a sweetness; perhaps because they were younger, perhaps because they were girls, perhaps because they didn't go out of their way to torment her. Most likely it was because the adults involved treated her with appreciation and an open wallet, while her own parents expected her to answer the most egregious orders with a 'yes, sir' and unswerving compliance.

The boy clutched five dollars in his fist. The desert heat and the walk conspired to make his hand sweaty, and the sweat soaked paper took a set of creases. He carefully smoothed the bill and tucked it into his pocket. He did not walk far before taking it out again. He looked at the wrinkles and blinked back tears, and remembered the bill when it was flat, crisp, and new. The crease through Lincoln's face split the bill precisely in half. He had made that crease the first time he put the bill in his pocket. He had agonized over it for what seemed like hours while his sister waited. He had ignored her impatience. She was the one who insisted he bring the money with him to the store. That had been months before, right after Christmas. There had been many trips since.

It had come in a card; red, with Santa in his reindeer drawn sleigh flying across the length of it. The front lifted up to reveal a pocket in the back of the card, with an oval showing the green tinted face, and 'Merry Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa' in black ink, inscribed on the right side of the cutout. The boy wasn't very good at reading flowing script, being more conversant in his own blocky printing, but he could make out those five words. The card waited in a place of honor on the small table next to his bed.

His sister found him in the toy section. He put up token resistance, but really he was ready to leave. After carefully considering all the things he could buy nothing had challenged his attachment to the gift from his distant grandparents. He slid the bill back into his pocket and followed her to the register. Racks of tempting candy and chips guarded the check out line, but he passed them with barely a glance. No momentary thrill of flavor would claim his prize.

He carried a bag of groceries in both hands; across the vacant parcel, where the desert slipped in between the store and their neighborhood; four or five blocks to their street; five houses to pass, then up their driveway. He broiled in the sun. There was no relief, as his sister carried two sacks. He distracted himself with anticipation; smoothing out his precious gift and placing it back in the card. Abandoning the bag to a dining room chair he raced to his room.

The remorseless wind of the desert gives no meaning to the scraps that it tumbles along.

The boy frantically turned out his pockets, then burst into tears.