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IMAGINARY FRIENDS!
13
Jeff walked around the house. Grandmother Tanner, Grandfather Tanner, and Davey all followed him in a mini-entourage. Jeff tried to avoid them as he combed through each room, looking behind drapes, inside closets, under beds.
“Jeffrey, you’re not well,” Grandmother Tanner said.
“So maybe some fresh air and a change of scenery will do me good.”
“But there’s nothing open on Christmas!”
“Something’s always open.”
“Nothing good.”
“I don’t need a five-course meal, mother.”
“Well, you can’t expect me to eat at a greasy little diner – ”
“Well don’t come then!”
“Why can’t we all just stay in?”
Jeff whirled around. His mini-entourage stopped in their tracks, afraid of getting too close.
“Because ANYTHING’S better than staying in and having you drive me CRAZY!”
Davey spoke up. “Bad news, Dad. You already dere.”
“Shush,” Jeff said, though without much conviction. He was looking at his mother, who seemed a bit hurt – and more than a little angry. “Mother…look, I just…I need to get out of the house for awhile. Just a little while. A change of scenery, some different food.”
“I hope it wasn’t anything he ate,” Grandfather Tanner whispered to Davey.
Jeff heard it, and his features softened. Occasionally he had to be reminded that, despite all his differences with his parents, despite the worlds apart they sometimes seemed to be, despite the fights and bitter words…they really did love him.
“I don’t want to start seeing things, too,” Grandfather Tanner finished.
Jeff scowled.
Davey beamed. “I do, I do!”
“Well, BAD NEWS – I was crazy before breakfast.”
“Jeffrey,” Grandmother Tanner began.
Jeff turned heel and ran away. His posse followed close behind.
What he didn’t want to tell them was that upon returning to the dining room that morning, he had expected to point out the knife and the creamer and the sugar dispenser and the flower centerpiece on the floor under the table. Inarguable proof. Everyone would see them, then exclaim, How did they get there? and suddenly realize that maybe, just maybe, Jeff wasn’t so crazy after all.
Except that when he walked in, the knife, the creamer, the sugar dispenser, and the flower centerpiece were all back on the table where they belonged.
After that, Jeff had searched the house for two hours non-stop and found no sign of the chubby little kid. And there was no sign that he had left, either: no open windows, no unlocked back doors, nothing.
All Jeff knew was that he really did not want to be in that house. What he really wanted was to spend the night in a hotel and called the exterminator (or would an exorcist be better?), but a move that extreme might prompt someone to start calling psychiatric hotlines. So dinner it would have to be.
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Copyright © 2008 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
