Move

As Mart was walking down the hall to his room, he heard the sound of Bobby kicking the wall.  He moved to the open bedroom door and saw Bobby tossing and turning in his sleep. Mart thought it looked a lot like when Reddy moved around because he was in doggy dreamland, running, chasing, and playing fetch.

Because Bobby had kicked off his blankets, Mart turned on the bedside lamp to straighten the covers and cover him up against the cold of the night.  But as he watched, he saw a look of terror move across Bobby’s face, as well as droplets of sweat appearing on his forehead.  Suddenly, Bobby cried out.


“Trixie!  Nooooooo!”

Mart reached out an arm to shake his younger brother awake.

“Bobby.  Hey Bobbster.  Wake up.  It is only a dream.”
Bobby scooted away from the arm and moved closer to the wall.  

Mart spoke again.

“Bobby, it’s me.  Mart.  Wake up buddy.  Everythings okay.  It’s just you and me here.  Mom and Dad are in their bedroom, and Trixie is up at Manor House spending the night with Honey and Diana.”


Bobby blinked open his eyes and stared into the light of the room.  “Mart? Is it really you?”

Mart finished straightening the covers.  “Sure, it’s really me.  Who did you think it was?”

Bobby breathed a deep sigh.  “I thought it was Mr. Lytell.  He was chasing me through the woods, because Larry and I saw him with his shirt off.“ 

Mart exploded with a big laugh. “Well, I admit that Old Man Lytell is strange, but the image of him with his shirt off takes the cake.  Hmm.  You know, you had a pretty big piece of cake while you watched that old science fiction movie tonight. Maybe both of those gave you nightmares.  But that was just a dream, and everything is fine.  You need to go back to sleep now.”

“No Mart, it is real.  Don’t you remember when you were late for curfew because of those strange green strawberry looking lights on the sky?  You said that Mr. Lytell came out of the woods and told people to go home because there wasn’t any spaceship?

“In my dream,  Mr. Lytell was talking to someone else, someone named Great Pubah and he was saying that if this Pubah guy  would just tell him why they had to get the strawberry pop to Trixie, then maybe he could come up with better ways to make the transfer.

“Mart! Then I saw Trixie talking to Daddy.  She said that he needed to talk to me because I realized that Mr. Lytell is an alien and that soon I would figure out that the Strawberry Pop is the Brides Price to marry her off to that Pubahtosis guy.”

“Bobby that does sound like a horrible dream, but it was only a dream.  You know that Trixe isn’t going to marry anybody for a long time, and when she does, it will be Jim and he will protect her from everything including space aliens.  Now settle down and go to sleep.  Morning will be here before you know it.”

Mart?   I thought you said that the other people watching the light on Glen Road that night were afraid it was some strange fire or explosion or something.

“So why did Mr. Lytell come out of the woods and say there wasn’t any spaceship?  And what is a Bride's Price?”

One Drink too many

“Mart!” Diana exclaimed in frustration.  “Just what did you and Joseph do this afternoon? He and Yorick are running around out there like they are both whirlwinds.”

“We went to that truck farm over in White-Plains.  We walked through the corn maze, and then  Joe and I were allowed to drive the tractor around the pasture until it was time to go on the hay ride.  After that, all the kids were invited to climb around the old barn and slide down the haymow.  Don’t worry,  everything was safe.  It only looked rickety to make it fun for the kids.  By that time, Joe and I were ready for lunch and after that we came home. Diana thought a minute as she looked out the kitchen window at the dog and boy.  “That sounds like a busy enough day that he should be tired out and ready for a nap.  Instead he looks like he is hopped up on…”  Diana stopped and gave her husband a long look. “Mart, what did you two have for lunch?”

Mart’s face took on a beatific expression.  “We had turkey salad sandwiches on some of Mom’s homemade bread, and homemade potato chips that we bought from the truck farm.  We finished off with some great chocolate cake and spiced apple cider.  Joe had two glasses, he liked it so much.” Diana let out a shocked whisper.  “Two?  Two glasses of apple cider?”  She raised her voice.   “Mart, don’t you think that is a lot of sugar for one 4 year old boy?  No wonder he is so hyper.  He had one drink too many!”