Dust Bunny

The Brockton boys, 10-year-old Killian and 9-year-old Kieran were mean little spoiled snots. Their mother thought they could do no wrong and their father just didn't give a lick as long as they didn't interrupt his sitcoms. Both sets of grandparents competed on who could buy them the best, newest, hottest, trendiest, most expensive gifts they could find for the boys. Between these six adults, they created two of the biggest Holy Terrors to ever live in the little township of Billsville.

When the extended family got together for holidays, their cousins avoided them and the Aunts and Uncles whispered about misdeeds the boys had done in the past. Everyone would breathe a sigh of relief if the boys behaved themselves for a change. Normally, the extended family would leave in tears and anger.

Everywhere these two boys went, they caused some type of mayhem. More than one teacher had left the school district after teaching a grade with one of these boys. They'd take lunches and lunch money from other kids. Pulled little girls' braids. They glued the Principal to his desk chair. Switched the labels from the chili cans in the cafeteria and put them on dog food cans and almost got the school shut down when the Health Inspector showed up. If they weren't clogging toilets with paper towels, they were blowing them up with cherry bombs. Storekeepers begged the heavens above that they wouldn't receive a visit from the monsters. Church was the only place the two boys seemed to even attempt to hide their hateful, twisted nature, whether because their mother was there or the fact that they believed the Priest was the eyes and ears of God was unknown.

One hot and humid summer day, the Brockton boys were riding their bikes, helter-skelter through the town. At several intersections, they were almost hit, causing two wrecks. They ran right over Millie Vandego's new kitten and not two blocks later Mr Pittman's poor foot was their next victim. Several calls had been made to the police department.

Maverna Tittlehouse decided enough was enough when they skidded to a stop outside her store, Odds-N-Ends, sending a rock right through her picture window and spraying glass all over her display, and cutting Ol' Silas on the arm. She actually hoped they chose her store today. Opening up a bottom drawer behind the counter, she pulled what appeared to be a little ball of lint out. Then she waited.

She didn't have to wait long. Kieran came barreling in first, followed closely by Killian. They slammed the door open so hard that the bell fell off it, clanging their arrival as it hit the floor. They purposely walked around knocking items off their displays and smearing dirt wherever they tread. One of the boys even licked the huge mirror by the dressing room. A couple of other customers quickly left.

Maverna leaned down, gently rubbed the lint, and seemed to whisper inaudibly to it. She wasn't quite sure which boy, but she eventually caught one's attention. She moved a vase over a couple of inches, blocking his view of the lint. Turning she pretended to busy herself with some folding. She smiled when she heard him bump the vase. She quickly turned around and grabbed the vase before it fell. Staring at the child, she grabbed his arm and mumbled, "Beware, you've chosen your fate. There's no turning back now. From this moment on neither you nor your brother will know a moment's peace."

Kieran yanked his arm from Maverna's iron grasp and turned and fled the store. Jumping on his bike, he rode like a demon was after him. Killian watched his brother go, then turned towards Maverna and demanded, "What you do, old woman?"

The old shopkeeper turned towards the boy, "Mayhap you will see tonight. Mayhap you won't. Tonight, tomorrow, next week. Makes no more difference to me." Her cackling laugh followed Killian out the door. He could hear her as he hopped on his bike and rode quickly down the block and up the other street.

When Killian got home, he immediately went looking for Kieran. His brother was not in his favorite spot, the cupboard under the main stairs, nor was he in Killian's favorite spot, the tiny dormer room off the laundry room. He looked for Kieran, but never saw him until their mother called them for dinner.

Kieran was sitting at the dining room table when Killian got there.

The boys ate quickly once the meal was served. Kieran had no sooner asked to be excused when both boys bolted from the room. Kieran to check his treasure and Killian so as not to lose sight of his brother. They raced up the stairs with Kieran in the lead. Past their bedroom. Past the old nursery. Past the back stairs.  Up to the attic. Kieran tried to slam the old schoolroom door before his brother could get inside, but Killian was too fast for him, sliding across the old linoleum across the threshold.

By this time, Killian was mad at his brother for leaving him out of all the fun. He stood up and punched Kieran in the stomach. Getting in Kieran's face, he demanded, "What you do to that old hag? Why'd you leave like that? I wasn't done shopping!" (Let it be mentioned here that "shopping" for the boys was what they did in Maverna's shop.)

Gasping for breath, clutching his gut, Kieran didn't immediately respond to his brother. Catching his breath finally, he sullenly responded, "I didn't do nuthing. She's absolutely bonkers."

Killian glared at his brother until Kieran continued in a whiny voice, "She was the one talking and loving all over a piece of lint like it was some special breed of dog. She was the one who didn't want me to see it. What she expect me to do?"

"What. Did. You. Do. Kieran." Killian demanded again.

"I just swiped her little ball of lint. That's all. I swear!" Kieran was bawling by this point.

"What. Did. She. Say. To. You." Killian continued grilling.

"I'm not sure..." Kieran stopped when he saw Killian double up his fists. "I mean... She said something like...uh...um... I've chosen and couldn't turn around and from now I, we needed to beware because we can't have a piece of cake anymore. Yeah. Yeah. She said that."

Killian blew up, "That don't make no sense and you know it. We just ate cake tonight. Granted it was nasty banana cake, but it was still cake! Jeez, Kieran. Sometimes you are so dumb."

After several moments, Killian finally asked where this special piece of lint was. Kieran got excited and ran over to an ancient desk in the corner and lifted the lid. He removed an old snuff canister and took the metal lid off. Dumping the contents out onto his palm, he proudly showed his brother. "I think it's gotten bigger."

Killian looked at the lint, no bigger than a penny gumball. Before his brother could put it back in the canister, he reached out and snatched it. Holding it between his fingers, he shoved it in Kieran's face. "Really? This was worth you ruining my shopping trip? This! This! This! This miniature dust bunny? If you wanted lint, why not check your own pockets first? Jeez, Kieran, you are so dumb."

Suddenly, Killian yelped in pain and threw the little piece of lint. He had a speck of blood on the tip of his finger. "What did you put in it? A tack," he asked his brother, but Kieran was busy looking for the lint ball.

Kieran got up, looking as if he might cry. "I can't find it. You lost it, Killian."

"You're such a baby. Here, have my pocket lint." Killian reached into his pocket and tossed the lint he found inside at his little brother.

Suddenly, both boys heard a weird chittering sound. From under the bookshelf, Maverna's ball of lint came out, looking a little bigger. It scooted impossibly across the floor, stopping at the younger brother's feet. Seemingly it hovered over Killian's pocket lint, before chittering back under the shelf. Killian's lint was gone.

The boys looked at each other, screamed, and ran from the old attic room, slamming the doors shut on their way back to their room.

Nothing more happened that night. When morning arrived, the boys were well-rested and ready to begin their day. The day passed normally for both boys. They caused the customary amount of mischief. Dinner came and went, with Mother serving a chocolate caramel cake. Sleep came easily for them both.

At the stroke of midnight, both boys awoke to that old chittering sound. They sat straight up in their beds and stared at each other.

Chitter. Chit-it-ter. Chitter. Chi-chi-chitter.

Leaning over, Killian looked under his bed.  Breathing a sigh of relief, he started to say it was all clear when his brother screamed for him to look out. He barely got his head pulled back up before the lint ball leaped where it had been.

His screams added with his brother's, brought their parents running into the room to see what was wrong with their precious babies. Mother and father looked under the beds, commenting on the number of dust bunnies under the bed. They searched the whole room finding nothing. They tried to convince the boys that they'd been dreaming. Finally, they calmed the boys down enough to go back to sleep.

Killian woke up a couple of hours later needing to use the bathroom. He no sooner than stood up, touching his feet to the floor, when the biggest dust bunny he had ever seen attacked his feet. Kicking the lint ball (he just knew it was THE lint ball), he jumped to his brother's bed. The boys hollered for their parents, and Mother and Father both came in and searched the room all over, once again finding nothing.

Ever night this happened. Every night got worse. And worse. Until the Brockton boys were too scared to sleep. Their parents tried separating them, putting them in different rooms. Their parents hired the best child psychiatrists to treat the boys. They even had a Priest come out and anoint the whole house with Holy Water. Nothing stopped the boys' torment. Nothing eased their parents' worry.

Soon the brothers were covered in scratches and bites. They couldn't sleep day or night. They became too listless and tired to do anything, let alone go out and cause any of their normal mayhem. They complained constantly of a chittering noise that only they seemed to hear.

Meanwhile, the townspeople were happier than they had been in a long time. The weather was gorgeous. Shopping was more pleasant. The teachers were more relaxed and lenient. The other children were more playful. Even the animals around Billsville were less skittish. Not one person failed to notice how wonderfully different life was without the Terrible Two.

Maverna, of course, told no one what she knew to be happening to the two boys. Besides the fact that no one would believe that a ball of lint could be a magical tool, telling anyone what she'd done would let out her family's most protected secret. For she came from a long line of witches who had settled in this town during The Great Time of Tribulation, the Dark Days of the Witch Trials. She didn't feel guilty about what she had done to the boys. The spell cast wasn't black magic after all, since she only meant to teach a lesson. All her spells of this nature always came with a loophole. The boys were smart and would be able to figure it out on their own, of this she was sure.

One day, a month or so later, found the boys so completely exhausted from absolutely no sleep, that they didn't even once attempt a misdeed. As a matter of fact, it bears to note, that it was quite possibly the first time in their young lives that they used please and thank you with true sincerity. They even used Ma'am and Sir in their proper context. Kieran and Killian even petted the family dog, instead of tying a bottle rocket to its tail. Unfortunately, the dog thought that this was some new form of punishment and urinated all over the hall floor. Most surprisingly they even cleaned this up properly instead of leaving it for the next person to slip in.

That night, the dust bunny allowed the boys an uninterrupted two hours of sleep. Granted that doesn't seem like much, but to anyone who has only slept for thirty minutes at a time, it's bordering on miraculous.

The next morning, the boys felt a little better. Kieran felt good enough that he hid the psychiatrist's purse when she came by to check on the boys. Then he sat back and watched as the adults looked for it. The purse was finally found in the cat food bin. The poor psychiatrist had cats following her the rest of the day before she could get home and clean out her purse.

The Brockton boys had a good laugh about that before bed that night. Unfortunately, no sooner had they fallen asleep, than the Dust Bunny started its terrorizing them again.

Chitter. Chitter. Chi-chitter. Its presence was announced with that weird chittering. Chitter. Chi-chi-chitter. Chit-chitter.

With no sleep that night, the boys were once again too tired to cause problems. Naps were out of the question unless they could get their mother to sit in the room. That wasn't going to work though, because like all mothers, theirs was busy cooking and cleaning, not including the errands she had to run. No matter how much she wanted to, she just couldn't, and so the Dust Bunny interrupted any naps they may have tried to take.

This went on this way for another month. Boys would be good and get a couple of nights of decent sleep. Then they'd be bad and mean and have their sleep interrupted for a few nights. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, let alone 9 and 10-year-old boys.

One evening after the boys had been sleeping better for a couple of days, Killian looked at his younger brother and said, "Kieran, have you noticed when we are both good, that rotten piece of lint lets us sleep better at night?"

Kieran sat and thought about it before he answered his older brother. "You know, Killian, you may just have a point. So maybe if we are good all the time, that cursed pocket trash may leave us be."

"I don't know. But it's worth a try, don't you think?" Killian was quick to reply. After all, he'd been pondering this issue for a while now.

I wished I could say how easy it was for the boys to be good, and that they suffered no more attacks from the piece of lint. I can say that they tried their best and got to where they rarely saw it anymore. Oh, it still made an appearance, if for nothing else but to remind them of the torture it could inflict on them with its needle sharp-teeth and chi-chi-chittering.

The Brockton Boys never married. They were too scared to inflict any children they might have had with the horror from under the bed. They've been gone a many a year now, but The Dust Bunny still appears around the town now and again. It will appear under any horrible, unruly child's bed as a lesson to them that kindness is so much nicer and goes such a long way in making life easier.

So, before you go to bed tonight, be sure to check underneath. If for some reason, you have an unnaturally large amount of dust bunny build-up under there, you just may have been bad enough to catch that little piece of lint's attention. Then again, maybe your bed hasn't been cleaned under for a while.....