MONKEYSAYS

THE NIGHTMARE AFTER CHRISTMAS

I heard a clunk in the night. Then footsteps in the hall. Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"I'm worried," I heard a voice say as if from far away.

"It'll be OK," I said. "I think I figured out a way to pay the holiday bills and buy a little food."

"Daddy, I said I'm worried."

It was T2.

"Sorry, I said. "I thought you were Mommy."

"Daddy, I'm worried that a big black bug, or a big spider, is going to come and take away striped kitty and unicorn."

"Were you dreaming that?" I asked.

Her eyes widened. "Yes!" she said. "Yes I was!"

"It'll be OK," I said. "You were just dreaming that because of the scary movie we watched before bed. It was just a bad dream, not real."

"Take that movie back," T2 said.

"OK," I said. "In the morning."

I walked T2 back to bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.

I was almost back to sleep myself when I remembered that we needed oil. I hadn't figured that into the bills. $300 short. I tried to put it out of mind, but I couldn't. I tossed, turned, and finally sat bolt upright as my own, less gruesome, but just as compelling, nightmare vision unfolded.