Little Terrors

Synopsis: A couple expecting their first baby is delivered a package of unknown origin. Little do they know the horror it contains inside.

‘Why are you buying something without even knowing what’s inside ?

That’s like buying a pig in a poke ! You don’t know what you’re getting.’--my dad’s wisdom

Chapter 1—Lou’s Discovery

Lou was a man who didn’t believe in anything unless he could see, touch, quantify or empiricism it in some way, shape or form. His mind was entirely analytical, so it had been the ultimate irony that he had married his long-time childhood sweetheart, Tabitha. Tabitha was the polar opposite of her husband. She was more lyrical and free spirited when it came to life and the two were a rather interesting study in how differences can attract rather than repel.

Tabitha was heavily pregnant and not certain on what the gender of her baby would be. Lou was the ordinary, beside-himself dad, overly anticipatory and frantic. He wanted to make certain little baby Gemma or Gerald would come into a loving world full of wonder. However, he and Tabby had found themselves on hard times. Tabby had been a victim of ageism and sexism and had to look for a new job once her pregnancy leave was through. Fortunately, Lou had paternity leave so he could help at home but things at home had become hectic.

It was a warmish April afternoon when the mail arrived. Lou checked his mailbox and porch. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, save for a rectangular package that had what seemed to be holes drilled in it. It wasn’t big enough for puppies or kittens but seeing that his inquisitive nature overtook him, Lou naturally took the box inside as well as all of the mail he had received for the day.

Upon placing the holey box upon his table, immediately, cute little people popped out of it. They were akin to gnomes. They evoked Disney imagery with their rosy cheeks and dimpled smiles. They were all wearing overalls in bright, vivid colors and sported adorable cobbler hats, slooped to the left or right. Lou was itching to name each of them but Tabitha discouraged him.

‘Huh, right straight to work then, right ?’, she said, looking at the fixers begin tidying up. The couple had always wanted a maid but now they had a baker’s dozen of little cleaners, doing mundane busy work.

Chapter 2—The Cobblers Go Crazy

It had been pleasant having the ‘cobblers’ around for insignificant chores that the expectant parents hadn’t had time to do themselves. They always thanked them for their dutifulness and attention to detail. One time, the two of them came home from work and found their baby’s room decorated, neat as a pin and glistening. The smell of citrus lingered in the air but not to the point of overpowering them. The cobblers communicated in grunts and exclamations that sounded guttural. It was a language all their own that neither one of them could speak, but it was inherent that the 13 gnomes understood what was happening.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the Boggs family until late at night when they heard the sounds of rattling, clanging and banging. Tabitha was a heavy sleeper, so she remained unperturbed on her side of the bed, snoring slightly. Lou, who was roused by the clamor, went to go investigate, even though his heart was hammering in his chest.

Bravely, the young father-to-be grasped a metal bat in his hand and slowly crept into his kitchen where he had heard the ruckus emerging from.

‘I don’t know how you got in, but I have a bat ! I’m not afraid to use it !’, Lou said. At the time, those were big words coming from a man who felt so afraid, he might urinate himself at any moment.

The cobblers had transformed from adorable, sweet, gentle creatures to something terrifying. It was quite possible that they were boggarts or brownies. According to myth, these beings were sweet one moment and then reversed their demeanors into malicious instantly.

‘What is going on here ?!’, he demanded, trying to keep his voice down. Everything in the kitchen looked as if an E4 class tornado had ransacked it. All the food that he had meticulously prepared, especially that for his ailing neighbor, Alice, was completely gone or strewn across the floor. Another smell, putrid and acrid, pierced his nostrils. It was one of the cobblers. All their eyes were expressionless, blank and inky. Their mouths were riddled with teeth and each of them wheezed in a very uncomfortable way. Instead of communicating in grunts, they were groaning, moaning and shrieking out in pain.

‘I don’t know what I can do to help...’, he murmured. The cobblers began to join together and slowly approach him, mindlessly. Freaked out, he woke Tabitha up, not explaining anything. He simply told her that they needed to run as quickly as they could.

Chapter 3—What Shall We Do ?

Tabitha had no idea what was going on until she and Lou had come to a park where they could figure out what to do next.

‘What’s going on ? You just simply drag me out here without so much as an explanation...’, she started.

‘There was chaos in the kitchen. Our sweet cobblers have turned feral. I don’t know why or how but they’re coming after us.’, Lou said. He was the only one who had a weapon to defend himself but there had to be something else they could use as a weapon.

‘We should’ve looked on the box for some sort of address or inside it for instructions...’, Tabitha lamented.

‘There were none !’, Lou said, almost exasperated. Tabby hugged her husband from the side to calm him. He certainly wasn’t taking the whole ‘interior decorating debacle’ well, which was entirely understandable. Then he realized he had a weapon of sorts in his pocket.

‘We’re not entirely without defenses...’, he said pulling out the contents of a wholesome, large, triple chocolate chunk cookie he had gotten from the deli not long ago.

‘How do you mean ?’, Tabby asked as the vicious snarls encroached upon them. Terrified, she grasped on to her husband’s arm, tightly enough to leave divits there from how hard her fingernails pressed into his flesh. Lou winced slightly. It was affection, he told himself and the momentary pain was very small when compared with say, getting knocked in the nads by a football errantly thrown by the reprobate neighbor boy.

‘I know that they’re brownies. Brownies like sweets ! The sooner I give them all a piece of this delectable treat, they’ll be back to themselves.’, Lou said.

‘What are we going to do with them afterwards ?’, Tabby asked, as the unearthly grumbles approached closer and closer. Lou shrugged. He had no earthly idea what he would do with the brownies. He was thinking that maybe once they did whatever they needed to do, they would depart, but beyond reverting their nasty temperaments, there was little he knew of the belligerent creatures.

Chapter 4—For the Remainder

One by one the zombie midgets came and Lou threw cookie crumbs. One by one the little terrors began to change to their normal, adorable, gentle selves. They still had no semblance of human language but continued to use their own. It suited them well enough for their purpose and they returned to their adoptive home, helping in whatever way they could.

For the time being, the brownies assisted whenever they were called. They made good nannies up until the Boggs family baby boy came into being. He was named Gerald after Lou’s dad, who was still alive to witness the heralding of his grandson into the world. Gerald immediately adored his namesake, and his grandmother became boastful overnight. Normally she didn’t have a hubristic bone in her body, but having a grandson made her a bit showy. It wasn’t done with malintent but it was obvious that grandma Jeanie loved her newborn grandson and whenever she could, she spoiled him rotten.

Epilogue

Gerald Oliver Boggs never had much of an opportunity to ask about the ‘little terrors’ that had come and gone. Once he started crawling, they had returned to wherever they had come from. They never made a repeat visit and Lou always was suspect of boxes on the front porch. There was never a reiteration of what had happened that fateful day but he made certain that he wouldn’t be taken by surprise by anything of unknown origin. From that time on, the couple grew closer together and their love multiplied. They soon welcomed a girl into the world. Her name was Gemma Emily, after a grandmother, a matron of the family, who had long since departed the world. She would be told the story of her brother’s brownies one day, and most likely laugh about it. She would know that the world was much wilder and fantastical than she could’ve ever imagined. Presently, though, she loved to be taken care of by her brother and fawned on him. Following him like a lost puppy, she aped every thing that he did and was quite the tomboy. She was a little adventurer and a handful at times, but the Boggs couldn’t have been any happier with the blessings they had received.

The End