All children, at some point in their lives, have the Devil in them. He gets in there just to test them out. He can’t do them any harm. He daren’t, because all children belong to God, all children are born good, but very, very occasionally one slips through His fingers and it’s this one that the Devil is looking for.
A whisper or two in their ears while they sleep, a gentle touch of fear in their dreams … and if the child wakes, smiling … the Devil knows, he also knows that God is watching, but God already knows, and He sees. The child will not be released without a fight, a fight that could last for years, but the Devil is patient, he can wait. He won’t forget that child … and the child won’t forget him either.
***
Four darling children are playing in the garden, Mom’s hanging the washing on the line and the last of the sunflowers are soaking up the September rays.
‘Hmmm,’ Mom breathes a happy smile. Today, everything is right in the world. Everything is perfect. Everything is how Mom would want it to be. However, are those clouds on the horizon? What games are the children playing? And who snapped that sunflower, never to tower above its roots and bloom into life; only to die without knowing what a splendour it would’ve become?
‘Mommy?’ Cyril sings.
‘Yes darling?’
‘Could we stay up late tonight?’
‘Yes, but remember, Nana will be here soon and if you’re not nice to Nana this time there’ll be no more late nights, understood?’
‘Oh yes Mommy we understand.’ He turns to Edna, George and Ron, who in turn nod in agreement like a triplet of mischievous nodding dogs.
‘Hmm, we’ll see.’ She knows those smiles. She can almost see the halos rocking.
Nana arrives with the clouds, the sunflowers dip their heads and the children smile.
‘Oh my little angels.’ Nana stands in the doorway puckering, arms outstretched.
Mom stands behind the children smiling as she herds them to their fate. ‘Come on, give Nana a kiss and a cuddle.’
Edna steps forward first and rushes into Nana’s arms.
‘Oh my angel,’ Nana says.
George follows.
‘Oh my angel,’ Nana repeats.
Cyril and Ron look at each other.
‘Go on,’ whispers Cyril.
‘No, you first this time.’
Too late, Nana advances, and in an act of military precision she outflanks the pair with her bangles rattling.
Cyril looks up and sees a huge pair of slobbering lips heading his way; there is nothing he can do. It’s over in a minute but lasts hours. Cyril opens his eyes and sees Nana pounce upon Ron and devour him, it is in this instance that an idea forges in his head. The twinkle in his eye shines bright, he looks at Edna and George, they know that twinkle, all three smile and turn their heads to Nana.
‘All my beautiful angels. Who wants sweeties?’
The chorus is deafening.
***
‘Come on kids, time for bed now,’ Mom says with a worn out sigh.
‘Auw five more minutes, please?’ Edna asks flashing her eyes, making please sound five feet long. She’s always the one to do the softening up.
Mom looks into her eyes.
Edna cocks her head, an eternity passes in an instant, she blinks, once.
Mom sighs, ‘Alright, five more minutes then that’s it, you’ve had your late night. George, finish your biscuit.”
‘Yes M-Mmm … Mom.’
***
‘They’re such sweet children, did they have to be in bed so early?’ Nana asks.
‘Sweet? So people tell me.’ Mom ignores the remark about going to bed so early as Nana never allowed her to stay up later than eight o’clock and it’s now nine thirty.
Nana stretches, ‘In fact, I think I’ll turn in myself, it has been a long day. Is everything ready for me dear? You know I’ve got my own pillow and I like a bottle of water by the side and …’
‘Yes Mother everything’s ready for you, your water, your pillow, your flowers and that picture.’
‘You forgot to mention my biscuits, you know I like a couple of biscuits just in case I wake up peckish.’
‘Don’t worry Mother, I’ll bring those up later.’
‘Make sure you do and try not to wake me, there’s a dear.’
Mom sighs but smiles as she ushers her mother up the stairs. ‘It’d take a bomb to wake you Mother,’ she says under her breath.
‘I’ll just say goodnight to my little angels,’ Nana opens Edna’s door first and peeps in, all is quiet and still. ‘Ah look at that, I remember when you used to do that dear.’
In the middle of the bed is a small lump.
Nana looks round, ‘You said if you stayed under the blankets the night people wouldn’t see you and take you away. Next day you’d come downstairs wet with sweat, it’s no wonder you’re so thin nowadays.’
‘Oh Mother don’t exaggerate.’
‘I’m not … what was it you’d say …‘t, ooh I know, you’d burst in the kitchen and shout, “Here I am Mom I’m back, they let me go again, just in time for breakfast, can I have some pop?”, and you’d stand there shivering in your bare feet.’
‘Whatever you say Mother, I’m going back down now, hurry up and say your goodnights and try not to wake the boys they’ve had a long day. Goodnight Mom.’
‘Goodnight dear and don’t forget my biscuits will you?’
‘No Mother,’ she calls shaking her head.
Since her husband had up and left, her mother insisted she’d stay once in a while which was fine until once in a while became once a fortnight then every weekend and now she’s bringing her own pillows, Mom was not happy but, what could she do?
Nana closes Edna’s door and creeps into the boys’ room, all is quiet and still, a little lump lies silent in the middle of each bed, whispers turned to muffled rhythmical breathing.
What seems like an eternity for the children, Nana finally says her goodnights, ‘Ah, goodnight my little angels.’ She blows them all a goodnight kiss and closes the door. She goes to the toilet, to the bathroom, to the toilet again and seems to stay in there for hours until finally a noise, which soon has the boys giggling, a flush, another quick visit to the bathroom and finally to bed, within minutes all that can be heard is Nana snoring away with an occasional ‘… mmnghhh…myyangelsss …’ thrown in.
The children wait another ten minutes or so.
Cyril is the first to whisper, ‘Have you got them George?’
George pops his head out from under the blanket, holds up the bag containing the dog hairs, which he had neatly cut that morning and giggles, which Cyril takes as a yes.
‘Have you given Ron the glue?’
Ron climbs out of bed and proudly holds the tube aloft; he looks at it and smiles nodding his head.
‘Edna. Edna? She’s not fallen asleep again has she?’
‘… No I haven’t, I was just thinking quietly.’ She crawls out from under George’s bed rubbing her eyes.
‘Edna, you know what to do.’ Edna didn’t mind being the diversion; she never got into trouble that way if the boys got found out. She went downstairs practising her nightmare tears.
Cyril the brains, George the supplier and Ron the nerve, he is the one to actually do the deed, always the coolest, no fear. Tonight had been planned with meticulous attention to detail. Tonight is going to be one of the most daring pranks they have ever played on Nana, but it won’t be a patch on the one they played against Uncle Joseph two years ago, Cyril excelled himself and Edna was a dream …
George opens their bedroom door and listens, the TV, just loud enough to cover any of his giggles, and Edna sobbing with gusto. ‘All c-cclear. Edna’s g-ggoing for an Oscar tonight.’
Three shadows creep into Nana’s room. Nana as always asleep on her back with her wig on the manikin, a makeup mask covering her eyes and her false teeth in the jar, fizzing; if only they could talk.
‘George show me what you’ve got again … hahha very good George, oh this is going to be good, Ron you ready?’
He unscrews the cap. ‘Yup’.
‘OK. I’ve got the torch, you’re going to have to be very quick and very gentle, ready, steady … Shh! What’s that?’
‘W-wwhat’s what?’
‘There’s someone coming up the stairs, quick! Erm … hide!’
‘What?’
‘W-wwhere?’
‘Anywhere! Mom’s coming.’
‘Goodnight Mom. Sweet dreams.’ After placing the biscuits next to the teeth Mom turns to go but movement in the curtains catches her eye. ‘I knew it!’
George nearly wets himself.
‘I knew you’d open the window.’ She reaches in.
‘Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.’ Tears well up. He tries not to move but the cold from the glass exaggerates his trembles.
She reaches in.
He holds his breath and scrunches his eyes tight shut.
She reaches in and shuts the window. ‘I don’t put the heating on so you can waste it … hfff.’ She sits on the bed, squashing Ron. ‘You and your biscuits your water your pillows and … oh Mom. Why? Can’t you just let me get on with my life for a change, I don’t need babysitting every damn week. I’m not your little girl anymore, I’m …’
‘Mom?’ A sobbing voice calls from the stairs. ‘I’m scared on my own Mommy.’
‘What? Oh Edna, sorry darling I’m coming now.’
‘HooPhew, that was close. Thank goodness for Edna,’ Cyril says.
‘Never mind Edna, you forgot about the biscuits. Nana always has biscuits.’ Ron says crawling from under the bed.
‘Th-ththat’s r-rright C-ccyril,’ his stutter ten time worse.
‘OK. OK. So I forgot the biscuits. Let’s get this done and make it a good one. Do it for Mom, you all heard her.’
‘Yes!’ Ron and George agree, ‘Let’s get on with it.’
The deed is done in less than three minutes, the previous scare gone from their minds and all the time George was giggling, so was Cyril but Ron completed every second as if it were a military manoeuvre.
‘There, isn’t that just dandy, job done time for bed,’ Ron says very adult like. Before closing Nana’s door he turns round to blow her a kiss and says. ‘Hear you in the morning Nana, goodnight.’
You couldn’t imagine a scream like it, I think if you were to cross a cockerel with a cat on heat and mix them together with a whistling kettle you might get close to that terrifying sound.
Mom spills Nana’s tea, the dog howls and hides behind the sofa and the tortoise pops back in its shell.
Cyril, George, Ron and Edna are already awake waiting, they are all giggling and blushing except Ron, he just smiles and gently nods his head.
‘Not again Boys! What have you done this time?’ Mom is upstairs in a flash and heads straight for the boys’ room, but inside all is quiet and still with three little lumps gently shaking. ‘Ooooh you’ll be the death of me yet.’
Edna, in her room, sits up and smiles. ‘Mommy what was that noise, it frightened me?’
‘It’s OK darling,’ she calls. ‘You try and get some more sleep there’s a good girl’
‘OK, Mommy.’
Nana is sitting in front of her mirror, crying.
Mom rushes in. ‘Mother what’s up? What’s happened?’
Nana turns round with hands on her chin, tears running down her face, her hands shaking and an unnatural pallor to her skin, a tear drips off her nose onto her leg. She removes her hands and looks up at her daughter with a mixture of embarrassment and confusion.
Her daughter looks at her. At first she doesn’t see and looks puzzled but then her face becomes embarrassed and angry.
‘What am I going to do? I can’t get them off. What am I going to do?’ She sits there crying. ‘Tell me it’s not my little angels, they wouldn’t do this to me? It’s not them, not my angels.’
‘Cyril! George! Ron! Get in here this minute!’
Three little monkeys creep into Nana’s bedroom, heads bowed.
‘What? Why? … Why did you have to? Ahh you’ll have no pocket money for a month, no sweets, no puddings no … oooh just get out!’
Nana can see them trembling ‘Oh don’t be so hard on the little darlings, they’ll come off soon enough, I’m sure the boys are feeling sorry.’
They look up. George is the first to crack followed by Cyril and finally Ron. It’s a kind of hysterical laughter that spreads uncontrollably, Mom glares at them but it reaches inside her and grabs. Her shoulders twitch, her eyes water, her lips grimace until she can’t hold it in any longer … and she roars great vomits of laughter.
‘Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!’ Nana screams. ‘You, you stop now, stop laughing now … please, stop laughing at me!’ She sits shivering and sobbing like a lost child.
Her daughter sees this and begins to quell her laughter.
‘I, I want to go home, I want to go home. Now!’
Edna pokes her head round the door. She isn’t laughing and she isn’t crying. She is watching, with a satisfied smile on her lips and the Devil in her eyes.
April 30, 2012
Martin Shone
