9 Creepy and Sometimes Humorous
Tales for Children Nine-to-Ninety-Nine
by Maria Osborne Perry
Cover photograph by Elizabeth Osborne
Edited by Kim Burton
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His Dad�s voice was a distant drone as Kyle looked down. Inside Aunt Tanith�s urn, the ashes beneath the cigarette-stubbed burger were moving�jiggly little movements that lifted the burger up and toward the wide-mouth of the jar. From tiny craters all about the rising heap sifts of ash spewed upward. Kyle was speechless as the ash burst into the air from these craters, tickling his chin, and pelting his father�s shirt. With widening eyes, he saw the pile ascend the mouth of the urn, and the burger flip over the side and onto the table.
�Dad!� he gasped; but his Dad didn�t seem to hear him.
Kyle leaped back, and as his Dad talked on, he saw the ash roll away from whatever had made the heap. It was a gelatinous black blob, the size and shape of a tiny dog�s head. The blob stretched this way and that, like a hatching bee emerging from its cell. In only moments, two tiny limbs began to distend from the sides of the horrible head. Two small oval protrusions formed on the front surface, and as Kyle gasped and took a step backward, the protrusions blinked. The frothy, sickly gray eyes glared at Kyle, and then turned upon his Dad.
Kyle�s throat panged with the fierce beat of his heart. �Dad, shut up and move away!�
His Father was stunned enough to stop talking, but only for a second.
�Shut up and move away? Is that how you speak to your father, young man?�
The next instant the blob�s arms shot out toward the man. Its slimy hands stuck swiftly to his arm.
Kyle�s Dad screamed. �Oh my god!�
He jumped back, but the visceral little hands held fast. Kyle saw the gooey arms grow taut, and as they reeled back into the blob, Kyle�s Dad was forced forward on his resisting feet. Kyle saw the sinews of his Father�s arm strain in the effort to struggle against the tarry creature�s arms.
�It�s taking me with it!� he yelled. �Kyle, get it off�get it off!�
�2005 by Maria Osborne Perry