The chapel at the college Thomas and I attended had a storage room in its attic. Thomas and I went there one afternoon. We weren’t supposed to, but that made it all the more intriguing. There was enough light coming through a dirty window to see desks, equipment and oddly beds piled haphazardly around the walls. This dusty place made Thomas think of a tale of demon possession. He told stories well with facial expressions that kept my attention. The last sentence of his story, spoken while he looked suspiciously at me, was, “The devil could possess anyone.”
I say that was the last sentence, because at that point in the story, assuming there was more, a beetle, big and ugly, started bouncing up and down on the ceiling high above us. We thought the bug had gone bonkers. Besides, the bouncing was loud enough to stop Thomas from continuing his story with further hints of my being possessed by something or other. We looked up at the bug. Thomas looked at me. He had an idea. While the bug bounced up and down, up and down, Thomas cautiously crossed his two index fingers and raised his arms to target the noisy bug through them. The moment his eyes, the finger cross and that bug lined up so he could get a good shot—right at that moment—the bug soundlessly dropped to the floor.
RUNNING FROM THAT ROOM’S
SPOOKY SPRINGTIME BOUNCING BUG
BEETLE’S TURN TO SMILE
Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Lillian is hosting. Haibun should have two paragraphs of prose about something that really happened. I can’t forget that bug. There should be a “kigo” on the second line of the haiku representing the season. Mine is “springtime”. The haiku should break in two parts at a “kiregi”. I think mine breaks between springtime and bouncing when attention shifts from us rushing out of that room to the smiling bug. By way of disclosure, neither of us went back to see if the bug was actually smiling. That’s just what I would do were I that bug and I assume only the prose part has to be factual.
Photos: “Upstairs Toward the Blue”, above, and “Climbing”, below.
I get so excited on Haibun Mondays as I get to read all about other people’s lives. I enjoyed this story from your youth, Frank! I’ve never heard of a bouncing bug and I’m not sure I’d like to come across one!
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I was spooky when it happened. I wish I knew why it was bouncing–and then stopped. Thank you, Kim!
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So fun to read this story you’ve shared! Yes—only the prose needs to be absolutely true. There’s a humor in your haiku—made me smile.
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Thank you, Lillian! I am glad you liked it.
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What a fascinating story from the attic… we seems to have wandered to similar places, but for me and my cousins the basement was far scarier.
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I noticed that as well. We were just a bit surprised by that bug. Thank you, Bjorn!
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I think you may well have set a new record for the college 100 yards!
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We left that attic very fast. 🙂 Thank you, Peter!
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Those were the days! Loved your story. Maybe the bug was possessed! Ha Ha!!
Dwight
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I still wonder about that bug. Thank you, Dwight!
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Great harrowing tale, Frank.
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Thank you, Dan! Looking back it is more funny. That bug might have been telling us we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
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I learned to tell jokes &/or spooky tales, at a young age. Demons, aliens, & mad men lurked in my shadows. I prefer attic adventures to basement ones.
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Either the attic or the basement can be spooky and we were worried that we might get caught. We’d didn’t expect a bug would catch us. Thank you, Glenn!
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Oh that’s made my skin crawl. I’m not a fan of bugs.
Fantastic memory though.
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This bug was also bigger than it needed to be or my memory has enlarged it over the years. Thank you, Carol!
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This is the best sentence in my humble opinion, ” We weren’t supposed to, but that made it all the more intriguing.”
Great writing!
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When one feels one is doing something wrong it doesn’t help one’s conscience when something like that bug happens. Thank you!
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Loved your ‘attic’ story!
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Thank you, Jo!
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You can’t make this stuff up. Freaky.
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It is too weird to make up. Thank you!
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A dark, forbidden attic sounds like the perfect place for scary stories. I don’t know, but I think I would have hit the trail after the bug started doing push ups on the ceiling. Ha, that was a great story! Thanks, Frank
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We almost did. It is not something bugs normally do that I’m aware of. Thank you, Mark!
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Oh your attic tale made me grin hugely Frank. I loved the bouncing bug!
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It’s like a bouncing baby, except it was a bug. Thank you, Toni!
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What a great tale to tell time and time again. No embellishments, I’m sure.
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That was how it happened. I wish I could remember why we wanted to go up there in the first place. Perhaps because we realized it was there. Thank you, V. J.!
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I am spooked by everything. I would have run! Demon possession and bouncing bugs stopping short at crossed fingers? In fact, I don’t even go into dark attics. Great story Frank!
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I normally don’t either, but if you have someone with you it is easier to do a lot of things. Thank you, Mary!
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I can just imagine that this would give two small boys rather a shock. Good tale.
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We got out of there very fast. Thank you, Robbie!
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Very surreal.
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It was. Thank you, Sabio!
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I enjolyed your write about the little adventure, funny the things we remember….
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It is amazing what comes to mind. Without the prompt I might not have thought of it. Thank you, Annell!
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Ohhh! I love spooky stories! And this one is it! I was raised in a house, a pre-Revolutionary War house in central NJ. In the upper hall, there was a plank door, with an iron latch. It was the door to the spooky attic. There was carved on the door, in the upper middle, a Rooster! Funny, because Kohut means Rooster in Czech and Hungarian. It was there from eons ago before we bought the house. That attic had panels in the walls that moved. And we used to play in them, until we found a rat skeleton. That bug reminds me of the garden spiders….black a yellow. If you are brave enough, as my young son was, you can stroke it’s furry back and it bounces up and down in warning. After a while, the spider got used to him. LOL. Good story, Frank. Attics are a constant mystery, regardless the house.
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That’s amazing about the spider especially how it gets used to being touched. I’ve heard some plants that are sensitive and curl up on being touched but once they get used to the touch they no longer curl up. Thank you, Jane!
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Delightful and eerie as well!
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It did feel eerie when it happened. Thank you, Linda!
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Yikes. That bug sounds seriously spooky.
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It was. We didn’t stick around to ask questions. Thank you, Merril!
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🙂
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Sounds like a maniacal June bug to me…something you can laugh about now!
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It was strange. We thought it was maniacal. Thank you, Lynn!
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Fascinating story, Frank!
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Thank you, Abigail!
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Spooky story. I’d like to get the bug’s version.
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I’ve wondered what that bug was trying to do. I’d like its version as well. Thank you, Sara!
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😊
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He had suffered Long enough
Years of Pain and Numb were too
Much A Metal Chain in a Bicycle
Basket A Forest Road A Tree Picked
out for if only he could
Find a Far enough
Tree and A
Place for
Vultures to eat
him his life would
mean something for
it would be consumed for
something good then he went
home and his wife awoke the Next
Day and said oh my that was Strange
And this was the Middle of the Summer
by the way as His Wife said that She and
Her Grandmother Were Hanging Christmas
Tree Ornaments on that Very Road that she had
never Spoken of Before and after that He decided
no matter what
he would
Live and
after I told
this True Story
to the Nice Dental
Hygienist in Her Chair
Yesterday then She said
She Felt Chills Running
Up and Down Her Spine
Same as i did when my Wife
told me of her Dream and yes
two Years Before that Time Suddenly
Slowed Down in my Perception when Walking
Around the Block my First and Last Perception of
that since it sped up suddenly as Perception about
Two Years before that and this instance Katrina said
that was weird it feels like Time Slowed Down right at
the Moment i experienced that Perception with not a word to her..
It’s True
Katrina
is a Guardian of Angels..:)
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I trust my dreams. Sometimes I misinterpret them, but they seem always there for a reason, a kind of communication. Even if we don’t understand the message right away. Thank you, Fred!
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True Dreams
Like Poetry
As
Dreams
Are Poetry
As we Choose
The
Meaning..:)
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And we’re left smiling along with the bug, now you’ve told its tale. Love the image you paint of all things lining up at the end.
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It is amusing thinking back on it. Thank you, Sarah!
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