"The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" Part 2
That night it stormed again and Maryanne dreamed that she was lost in an abandoned theme park and that a giant, glowing, seaweed festooned goblin was chasing her. Jinsue’s screaming woke Maryanne.
“Mommy, it’s a seagoblin! It’s chasing me!”
Maryanne was staying in her bedroom from childhood. There was a very old fireplace in it and on three of the four walls, about eight feet up, a little more than half of the way up, wallpapered newer walls covered the original walls, which were stone. The pattern on the wallpaper matched the very heavy curtains over the glass door sliders which led out to Maryanne’s slate patio. Down the hall there were some rooms that would be perfect for Jinsue, Maryanne had thought. Maryanne’s elderly aunt had lived in them and they had reposed empty and silent since Viola had died, when Maryanne had been twelve or thirteen. For now however, Jinsue was also sleeping in Maryanne’s old bedroom, because Maryanne was concerned about overwhelming her daughter with too much change.
The enormous stone home, built by Maryanne’s ancestors, featured nearly identical slate patios adjacent to all of the bedrooms. All of the bedrooms opened unto the back of the home and thus, most had at least a partial view of the ocean. Although Maryanne had not visited in many years, there wasn’t any sense of neglect to be detected within her quarters. There were other parts of the house that did feel more their age: the screening rooms where Maryanne’s mother and Kineth had wined and dined their variegated guests; a brick handyman’s “closet” larger than an urban apartment; the consecrated chapel in the cavernous, sunlit cellar. Maryanne had suspensefully watched Jinsue as she had taken it all in when they had first arrived at the Damps.
When Maryanne awoke to Jinsue screaming she had fleetingly forgotten where they were. For a moment, more than a moment, for a few scary seconds, Maryanne thought they were both being chased by a seagoblin, through the abandoned haunted house at the beachside theme park next door.
Maryanne reflexively sprang out of bed. Her hand followed the texture of the old familiar wallpaper until she was switching on the big chandelier. She then hugged Jinsue, “It was only a dream, my love, everything is okay.”
With that, Maryanne put her and Jinsue’s slippers on, as well as the wooly robes she had packed for each. She cracked open the patio sliders, activating nearby exterior floodlights. They cast a warm glow on Maryanne’s patio on that cold night. Maryanne carried Jinsue out to the patio on her hip. She pointed: “Look at the beach. Can you see that, Jinsue? That’s real. The seagoblin was fake, just a dream.”
Maryanne and Jinsue listened to the soothing sound of the waves breaking on the nearby shore. Maryanne hugged Jinsue, now in her lap, as they sat on the tufted upholstery of the iron patio chair lounger. And then… there was a ghostly sound, an eerie seagoblin sound, distorted and distant, which startled Jinsue. She hugged her mommy even more tightly.
Maryanne had never, even for a moment, felt afraid at Rieb Damps. That sound was probably just something in the distance, distorted by the night wind, it was definitely not a seagoblin, and Maryanne didn’t want to teach Jinsue to be afraid, not at home in the city and definitely not at Rieb Damps. However, it was very cold; it was late December in Rhode Island, so Maryanne, still hugging her kind, sweet, obedient daughter, took her back inside to the warmth of her childhood bedroom, and soon they were both again deeply asleep. Throughout the entire episode, at the foot of the fireplace, the as of yet unnamed kitten had not stirred from its profound and breathy sleep.
“Did you hear the seagoblin last night?”
They were seated at breakfast and Jinsue, though she did not call him by any name, confidently addressed her grandfather. Kineth made an exaggerated quizzical gesture with his face, which he followed up with a smile, “I didn’t realize you were having guests last night, Jinsue! Christmas supper is at five tonight, the caterer is coming at three, and we aren’t otherwise expecting anyone. You can invite your seagoblin, we could still use a little help with the meal.”
[To be continued...]
🙀 "The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" is fiction. Part 1 October 28th 2025 🙀
🙀 "The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" is fiction. Part 2 November 28th 2025 🙀
🙀 "The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" is fiction. Part 3 December 28th 2025 🙀
