Oh, You Better Watch Out…
The lights lay in the snow blinking crimson and ice. Beyond the glare of Christmas cheer, a shadow crouches under the porch. My heart pounds. I clench my hands around Kimberly's ankles.
"Santa?" She wraps her cold fingers around my neck, and nuzzles her nose in my hair.
"No, honey, that's not Santa…" I whisper, taking small steps backward toward the candy cane lined sidewalk. Oval green eyes blink. A flash of sharp white convinces me. "Definitely, not Santa…"
Kimberly breathes into my ear,"Then what is it, Mommy?" She lifts her finger and points.
You Better Not Cry….
The snow bites into my slippers making my toes ache. Slowly, slowly, I creep backwards. "It's…a…well, a…um…” I don't have a clue what it is.
Watching me like a prowling cat, it tilts its head sideways allowing me to take in the full profile of a creature face, triangular ears, and sharp blades of teeth. Before an "Oh my…" escapes my lips, my foot slips. I grab for a giant candy cane, but Kimberly is already tumbling from my shoulders. The candy cane falls to the ground, and so do we.
It springs from the shadows.
You Better Not Shout I’m Telling You Why….
I drape myself over her body, a protective blanket. It does nothing to block the shock of the green fuzzy blur that halts before us.Oscar from sesame street, flies through my mind, but much to my horror and yes, amusement, I see it for what it really is.
Its head pauses above mine. I hear the flare of its nostrils. Its breathes in my hair. The heat of its breath licks my skin. It growls low and harsh, "Naughty or nice…"
I reach behind me, feeling for the candy cane.
It lowers its head and sniffs crying Kimberly.
Finding and wrapping my fingers around the cane, I sling it over my head, a candy cane wielding Christmas Amazon, only to have it caught between the fingers of the Grinch himself.
"Nice…" he spits between clenched teeth. Disappointment consumes his brow. He snaps the cane in half, turns, and flees the icy sidewalk. A fine dust of snow covers his tracks.
I previously posted this as a series of three at Six Sentences last christmas. It's obviously been rewritten & more than six (or 18) sentences now. Thanks for reading.
