~ by Patrick W Kavanagh

On Halloween night, when the old folk take fright and the children are snug in their beds.
The Faerie and Goblins all take to the streets, and the people with hats but no heads.
Only the fools and the drunkards would stray when the clock on the church has struck twelve.
There are many lost drunks who have slept in a ditch and awoke to the legions of Hell!
That creak on the stairway, the scratch at the door, – maybe just a mouse or a rat.
That touch on you head as you lay there in bed… And what is it bugging the cat?
She stands on the bed and she stares at your head, or possibly just to one side.
Your neck starts to tingle, you feel like a child. You slip under the blankets to hide.
That breathing, you’re hearing may just be the dog, but wasn’t he was sleeping downstairs?
You mutter your mantra, “There’s nobody there”. But something is tugging your hair.
Now under the quilt, – there’s a really bad smell. Like sulphur or something from hell.
You are frozen in fear and no helpers are near, and you just cannot manage a yell.
A rumble approaches in your darkened bedroom with soft steady thuds on the floor.
You wonder if maybe you’d make it outside. But it’s in between you and the door.
The covers are moving. You hardly can breathe. You feel its cold touch on your leg.
You recoil in revulsion and grab for the lamp. You’re damned if you’re going to beg!
You stand in defiance, like heroes of old, but the lamp is restrained by the plug.
Determined to fight to the last for your soul, – you give that damned cable a tug!
It gives with a flash as you fall from the bed and the curtains are pulled from their rail.
By the light from the street, you see two glowing eyes and your courage is starting to fail.
Entangled by curtains, but too brave to cry – you shut your eyes tight and are waiting to die.
Your cold limbs are trembling, your throat is gone dry. Your life flashes rapidly in your mind’s eye.
Then you hear a new sound that brings joy to your heart. If only you’d noticed that sound from the start.
As the creature leaps over the bed with a bark, you remember the sound of your Labradors fart!

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