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Return to Scribblers and Ink Spillers Home Page by Lisa Rusczyk "Ahem. It was a bright and sunny day." "No, no. You’re doing it wrong, grandma." "What am I doing wrong?" "It’s supposed to be a scary story." "I’m not going to tell you a scary bedtime story. That’s foolish. You’ll never fall asleep." "Dad always tells me a scary story. It starts, ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’" "Your dad is also foolish. Your mother never should have married him." "Then I wouldn’t be here. You wish I weren’t here?" "Don’t be foolish yourself. Now, lay back and listen. It was a bright and sunny day, and -" "No, no, no! You’re doing it wrong! I said! You gotta have ghosts or zombies or something and they are only around when it’s a dark and stormy night!" "Hush, miss, you’ll take what I give you and I’ll give you a spanking if you say one more word. You think I forgot how you stole those brownies today? Grandma counts, yes, she does. Now hush. It was a bright and sunny day, and… Don’t give me that look, young miss. You are so like your father. Here, take a sip of your tea. Okay. Settle down. It was a bright and sunny day…" "Grandma?" "What now? I thought I told you to hush." "Can you tell me a story about a ghost that only comes out during bright and sunny days?" "There is no such thing as ghosts." "But I saw grandpa’s ghost once." "You saw no such thing. Your grandfather is in heaven and even if there were ghosts, your grandfather would never come back here. He doesn’t like sassy little girls." "He always told me I was his favorite." "He said that to all the grandchildren." "Yeah, but I really was." "Hush, hush, hush! What would he say to your behavior today, miss? Stealing brownies, drinking the last of the lemonade without asking, leaving your toys all over the place." "When I saw his ghost, he told me he left me a present." "Miss, there is no such thing as ghosts! Your father has filled your head with foolishness." "I’d rather be foolish if that means there are ghosts in the world." "Your state of mind has nothing to do with the reality that there are no ghosts in the world. Now close your eyes and listen. It was a bright and sunny day and a little girl was walking through a beautiful field full of roses." "I don’t like roses. They have thorns and are too hard to pick." "Be quiet. Stop fussing. I’ll never get through this story if you keep fussing." "I really did see his ghost. He said the present was under your bed. He said it was in a shoe box. It’s a rabbit foot, he said, from a rabbit he hunted." "Your grandfather had a million rabbit feet. I’m sure there is a rabbit foot under the bed in a shoe box and you found it and now you’re telling tall tales. I’ll add that to your list of misbehavior that I plan on telling your mother about." "He said it was a purple rabbit and it granted him three wishes." "A purple rabbit! Well they say women pick men like their fathers. Full of foolishness. Close your eyes. It was a bright and sunny day…" "He said his first wish was that he’d have a perfect, beautiful, smart granddaughter and that came true." "He certainly wasn’t talking about you. What am I saying? I can’t believe you have me talking like you really saw a ghost." "But I did! And his second wish was that I’d always have good dreams, and that came true, so it’s okay if you tell me a scary story like dad would. I never have nightmares and a scary story always puts me to sleep." "Enough! Hush your mouth or I’m turning off the light right now and you don’t get a story." "Okay, grandma." "It was a bright and sunny day and a little girl was walking though a field of red roses." "My favorite color is yellow." "Too bad. The roses were red." "Red like blood?" "Red like roses." "Know what his third wish was?" "I’m turning off the light." "Good. At least with the light off I can pretend it’s a scary story." "It was a bright and sunny day and a little girl walked through a field of red roses. She settled down, quiet as a mouse, in the middle of the field and leaned back. She watched the sun creep across the sky, so tired. She eventually fell asleep." "Grandma?" "What?" "His third wish was that you’d tell me a scary bed time story every time I spent the night here. He said you tell the best scary stories, that you used to be the best English teacher in town." "Foolish girl. It was a bright and sunny day, and a little girl walked across a field of red roses. She fell asleep under the sun’s hot rays and dreamed. She dreamed that… that… That her grandfather was a ghost, and his eyes were covered with quarters to pay the toll to cross the river. He wore a necklace of purple rabbit feet, still bleeding from their nubs. His teeth were garish and pointy, and he used them to eat little girls in their dreams. He dragged his feet when he walked and was followed everywhere by a black cat that liked to suck the brains out of his victims through their ears. And… dear? Dear, are you asleep? Finally... Now I can read my Lovecraft." END Copyright 2010 Lisa Rusczyk This website and all its contents are Copyright 2009-10 Scribblers and Ink Spillers, LLC. No copying in whole or in part is allowed. You may link to this page. |