Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Under the Bed

I woke to hear my wife groaning in pain. Her neck again. I got up to get the heating pad, stepping at least a foot from the bed frame. I've done that since I was five or so. If you step at least a foot from the edge of the bed, the thing under the bed can't grab you.

Don't laugh. Don't scoff. Don't sneer. Those things live under beds, and you know it. If you'll be honest with yourself, really honest with yourself, so honest that you're once again in touch with the child within, you'll admit that it's always in the back of your mind when you have to step out of bed during the middle of the night.

I got back in bed with my wife, and put the heating pad on her neck for a while. I started kneading her neck and upper back, but after a few minutes, I decided I needed a better position. I grabbed a chair and pulled it next to the bed. Preoccupied with my wife's discomfort, I stuck my feet under the box spring.

I'd been working on her neck for just a few minutes when I felt the dry tentacle wrap around my ankle. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't, especially when I felt a nibble on my big toe.

"Honey, has it been a week?"
"Yeah, I think he's due to surface tonight."

Sometimes we didn't see him for eight or nine days at a stretch, but usually he emerged at weekly intervals. Thoughts of getting back to sleep went down the drain. I wondered if he just wanted to visit, or engage in one of his epic wrestling matches.

They can only come out from under the bed once a week, at most. I guess it's some kind of rule. I pushed the chair back and leaned to the floor. "C'mon, Barney."

He slithered up to the crook of my elbow, and I could tell that he wasn't in the mood to wrestle. I cradled him in my arms and placed him next to my wife. "Hi, Barney," she said, petting the blob that passed for his head. Barney looks a bit like an octopus, but not as pretty.

He purred a bed monster purr, and as I returned to tending to my wife's pains, she purred too.



Prompted by Thom G's Three Word Wednesday. Today's words are drain, epic, and nibble.

13 comments:

  1. With all those tentacles Barney should have helped out with the neck rub...

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  2. I wonder if there's one of these under my bed as well. Do I dare look?

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  3. wonderfully surreal. And I loves me the surreal. Glad to have you back.

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  4. There are also things that live inside crystal doorknobs. Perhaps your home is too new to be haunted by their strange wide-eyed expression, ready for fangs to be unleashed and hands, grabbing to stuff you in the closet or... eegads. Maybe it is the crystal doorknobs that thrust the beast under the bed in the first place!

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  5. Enjoyed that. As Thom said, surreal indeed.

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  6. This was just too much fun!! I love the sense of realism turning so magical. In addition, the writing was eloquent, crisp and clear! Great gift to us on 3ww! Thank you!

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  7. I was thinking there was to be a twist...

    I almost peeked under my bed to see if any were there! surreal and a teeny bit scary

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  8. strange but interesting tale

    yes I think one time that or another I fear what's under the bed

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  9. Very creative and unexpected. Excellent piece.

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  10. This was epic!! I used to have one of those under the bed monsters until the dust bunnies ate him :)

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  11. happiness is a state of mind....

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  12. Glad to have you back, Hal. I'm wondering if Barney, with those dry tentacles of his, could have alleviated some of the wife's back pain...

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  13. Hal, I have to laugh, before I read any comments, or that this was a "Three Word," I thought - this is so Thom! :)

    Loved it!

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