Category: Charlie’s Room

Looking back, it seemed obvious that the movie would be a mistake. Charlie had an active imagination and was already a little afraid of the dark.   But he had asked so many times to see that old, old vampire movie, and he’d never had any problems with the dinosaur movies.

It had been three days and Charlie was still having nightmares. Everyone in the house had dark circles under their eyes, and Isaac and Marianne had decided to take turns staying up with Charlie.

Charlie was suspicious of even the tiniest shadow.   But the abnormally bright nightlight Isaac bought yesterday hadn’t helped. Today, Marianne had bought a lovely dreamcatcher at a craft fair.

She showed it to Charlie and explained how it was going to trap his bad dreams so that he could sleep well. Charlie helped her hang it above his bed. “I hope it works on vampires,” he said.

“I think it works on everything,” Marianne said.

“Good,” Charlie said.

That night it was Isaac’s turn to sit up with Charlie.   Isaac read him a chapter from Minnow Cheese Sandwiches, and when Charlie asked, he read another. “One more chapter?” Charlie asked again. He yawned.

“I think it’s way past your bedtime,” Isaac said.

“Just one more. Please. Just one,” Charlie said.

Isaac looked around for his bookmark. “I already read you one more, Charlie.”

Charlie sat up and clasped his hands together. “I won’t ask again. Just one more, please?” He yawned again.

Isaac sighed. “All right. One more.   But only one more.” He read the next chapter.

“It can’t end there. That’s a terrible spot to end a chapter. You have to read the next one,” Charlie said.

“I have to, huh?” Isaac asked. “I thought you said you wouldn’t ask for another chapter?”

“That was before I knew the chapter was going to end like that. You can’t leave it like that.   Read the next chapter please, Dad?   I can’t sleep without knowing what happens next.” Charlie frowned and folded his arms together. He tried to hide a yawn.

Isaac laughed. He looked down and saw his bookmark and picked it up. “Charlie, you do have to try to sleep sometime.   This isn’t healthy. It’s getting late.” He put the bookmark in the book, closed it, and put it on the shelf.

“But Dad,” Charlie said. “I can’t sleep. I’m not tired.”

“Have you tried counting sheep?” Isaac asked.

“What?” Charlie looked confused. “Sheep?”

“Just lie back, close your eyes, and imagine sheep jumping over a fence. They can be any size or color. The important thing is that you need to count each one as it jumps,” Isaac said.

Charlie laughed. “Does that really work? It sounds weird.”

“Just try it and see,” Isaac said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here.”

Charlie stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes.   “One,” he said. He opened one eye.

“No peeking,” Isaac said.

“Fine.” Charlie folded his arms over his chest.   “Two, three, four five…six…seven…eight, nine, ten…eleven…” Charlie’s arms relaxed.

By twenty-five, he stopped counting. He was asleep. Isaac pulled the covers up a little higher. He turned his head when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. A tiny sheep with electric blue wool was caught in the dreamcatcher. Isaac laughed softly.

“You don’t look like a bad dream,” he said. “Did he fall asleep while you were mid-jump?   It looks like your wool got caught.”   Isaac pulled the strings a little wider. The tiny sheep leapt up and disappeared.

Isaac smoothed Charlie’s hair and turned to leave.   He turned off the light. The room was still brightly lit by the nightlight.   Isaac smiled. “Good night, Charlie,” he said softly. “Sleep well.”

“Let’s all go on a walk,” Isaac said one Saturday morning. “It’s not too cold, and it’s not raining.”

Charlie looked out the window, nose pressed to the glass. “It’s muddy,” he said.

Marianne laughed.   “Then wear your boots, Charlie. I think it’s a great idea.”   She handed Charlie his coat. “We can’t be out too long. We need to eat lunch before Charlie and I go to the library to read to a pet. Boxy would be sad if we didn’t show up.”

Charlie put his coat on with a huff and found his boots in the back of the closet.   “Okay. But last time it was muddy a car drove through a puddle, and it sprayed me with yucky muddy water. It was awful.”

Isaac patted his back. “It’s all right. I’ll walk between you and the road. As long as you don’t run ahead, you’ll be fine.”

It was a beautiful day. Rain from the night before was still in little beads on the clover and bushes. They glowed like tiny jewels. The air smelled fresh and clean, and the sun glowed brightly.

“This is nice,” Charlie said. He ran ahead again and paused by a sign stuck into the weeds at the base of a stop sign. “Look, a yard sale. Can we go?”

“I don’t have any money with me, Charlie,” Marianne said.

“I have a few dollars,” Isaac said. “Let’s go.”

“Yay!” Charlie said, and he held out his hand.

Isaac opened his wallet and pulled out two dollars. “That’s it. You know, you don’t have to spend it now. You could save it and buy something later.”

Charlie laughed.   “Nah. Come on!” He raced ahead, and Marianne and Isaac hurried to follow him.

They had to remind him several times to wait. At one point, he ran back and hid behind Isaac when they went past a big puddle and several cars were coming. Isaac’s shoes and socks got all wet.

At the yard sale, Charlie began bustling around, digging through boxes and checking prices.   Finally he decided on a worn, lopsided top hat. “Look, it’s like the ones magicians use,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Marianne asked. “I think it smells funny.”

“It’s exactly two dollars,” Charlie said. “It’s perfect.”

“You could save your money,” Isaac said. “I think someone sat on that hat.”

“Nope,” Charlie said. He bought the hat.

They went home and ate tuna fish sandwiches, and then Marianne and Charlie went to the library to read to Boxy. It was a pretty great day. The next day, Marianne found a half-eaten apple on the kitchen floor.

“Charlie,” she said. “If you can’t finish your apple, put it in the compost bucket. It doesn’t belong on the floor.”

“It wasn’t me,” Charlie said. “Maybe it was Dad?”

“Not me,” Isaac said.

Marianne rolled her eyes and picked up the apple. “It was obviously somebody,” she said.

A few days later, there was a hole in the bread wrapper and a hole looked like it had been carved into the loaf. “Do you think it was mice?” Marianne asked in a hushed voice.

“I haven’t seen any signs of them,” Isaac said. “Let’s keep the food put away just in case. We’ll see if there are any more problems.”

“Let’s feed the rest of this loaf to the ducks,” Marianne said.

The next Saturday morning, Marianne was watering the red geranium that used to be her grandmother’s. She set the watering can down with a thump. “Isaac!” she yelled.

Isaac came running.   “What’s wrong?”

Marianne pointed a shaking finger at the plant. “Something has been nibbling on my grandmother’s geranium. That is the last straw. I’m taking Charlie to the bug museum and you are going to find the mice or locusts or groundhogs or whatever it is that is doing this.” She turned and grabbed his sleeves. “Please Isaac. Make it stop.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Isaac said. He gave her a hug. Then he helped her pack Charlie off to the museum.

Isaac got two slices of bread out of the cupboard and set them in the middle of the floor.   Then he sat on the counter and waited quietly. He was mentally going over his to-do list for work on Monday, when he heard a soft, thumpy, shuffly sort of noise in the hall.

A tiny white bunny with black spots hopped to the middle of the kitchen and started nibbling on the slices of bread. He let it eat for several minutes. When it started slowing down, he hopped off the counter.

The bunny jumped and then bolted out the kitchen door. Isaac chased it down the hall to Charlie’s room. It jumped into the top hat sitting on the floor, leaning against the desk. Isaac picked up the old top hat and looked inside. No bunny, of course.

Isaac took the hat with him to the bedroom and took his wallet off the dresser. He flipped through the cards and found a business card near the back. It had a phone number under the words Wendell, Wizard Extraordinaire. Isaac called the number.

Wendell appeared at the front door minutes later and was quite happy to take the top hat.   “This is a classic,” he said. “I can’t wait to see how they did it.   Thank you!”

Isaac called Marianne and told her it was safe to come home. “What was it?” Marianne asked.

“Something living in Charlie’s top hat,” Isaac said. “I’m afraid I had to get rid of the hat.”

“Ew. I don’t want to know. And he put that on his head? I’ll have to check his hair. Ew.   No more yard sales,” Marianne said.   “We’ll be home soon. Thank you for taking care of it for me.”

“No problem,” Isaac said. “I’ll see you soon.”

Isaac finished reading the latest chapter of The Mystery of the Overcooked Eggplant. Charlie blinked sleepily over at him “Is that it then, Dad?” he asked. “I thought he’d at least figure out who left those fingerprints on the window by the end of the chapter.”

“ I think he would have if he hadn’t been distracted by the missing left shoe,” Isaac said. “Maybe he’ll figure it out next chapter.”

“All right,” Charlie said. “’Night, Dad.”

“You’ve brushed your teeth and said your prayers?” Isaac asked. He slipped the book into its spot on the shelf.   Then he paused and looked at the shelf again.

“Yep. With Mom,” Charlie said.   He turned on his side and snuggled into his pillow.

Isaac pulled a bright blue book off the shelf. “Charlie, where did this come from?” he asked.

Charlie rolled over and opened one eye. “Dunno. I haven’t seen it before.”   He rolled back.

“Okay. Good night Charlie.”   Isaac took the book with him. He turned out the light. “I love you.” Isaac slipped through the door.

“Love you too, Dad,” Charlie said softly. Isaac pulled the door mostly shut. He turned out the hall light and the night-light turned on, dimly lighting his path.

Marianne was throwing an assortment of things on the bed. She smiled at him as he came in. “Hi. I’m going to take a very long bath. Do you need anything before I go?”

“Just a hug,” Isaac said. He hummed as he hugged her. She laughed.

“What book is that?” she asked when he let go.

Isaac looked down. The book had swirly silver writing on the front that said The Waiting Book. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was on Charlie’s bookshelf. I’ve never seen it before.”

“Is it from the library?” Marianne asked.

“I don’t think so,” Isaac said. “It doesn’t have any library markings.”

“How strange. We’ll have to ask Charlie about it in the morning,” Marianne said. “Well, I’m off. I’ll see you in a few hours or so. Let’s see. Candles, matches, book, chocolate, bathrobe…” Marianne continued to mutter to herself as she gathered her things and headed for the bathroom. The door clicked closed behind her.

Isaac sat down on the bed and opened the book. Everything swirled around him and suddenly he was somewhere else.   He got a quick look at a room with white walls and a few chairs and bookshelves. A few seconds later, someone grabbed his wrist and everything swirled around him again.

They landed in a dark, musty room. There were candles and books and jars filled with strange things. Isaac could smell something burning. There was a puff of smoke and Isaac looked down.   The book was at his feet. It looked a little charred.

He bent to pick it up. “Don’t touch that,” someone said, grabbing his wrist. Isaac stood back up and the man let go. He looked tired, and a little scruffy and very angry. He cupped his hands around his mouth and started yelling. “Come out here now, you crazy wizard. I found your stupid book.”

A young man came around the corner of a bookshelf, pulling a robe over his tee shirt and jeans. “Nicolas, I expected you back yesterday. What happened?”

Nicolas huffed and folded his arms. “Your great waiting room idea? Someone has to open the book to let the last person out. And the book hops to a random location every time it’s opened. It didn’t work.”

The young man looked over at Isaac. “And who is this?”

“The person who opened the book after me. I brought him with me so he didn’t get trapped too. I think it broke your book.” Nicolas pointed to the slightly burnt blue book. Everyone looked at it for a moment.

“Yes, I think it does need some fine tuning,” the young man said.   Nicolas rolled his eyes. The young man laughed and patted his shoulder.   Then he held out a hand to Isaac.   “Hello, I’m Wendell, wizard extraordinaire.”

Isaac shook his hand. “I’m Isaac,” he said. “Innocent bystander.”

Wendell laughed again. “Thank you for rescuing my uncle. My grandmother would be terribly upset if I lost him.”

“I rescued him,” Nicolas said.

“Well, in any case,” Wendell said, “let me give you my card in case you ever need a wizard.” He handed Isaac a small business card with Wendell, Wizard Extraordinaire, written above a phone number. “Now I’ll send you home.”

Wendell waved his hands in loops and swirls and suddenly everything was swirling. Isaac was back on his bed, holding a business card.   He could hear the water running in the bathroom, so he hadn’t been gone long. He looked at the card again, and then picked up his wallet. He put the card inside and put it back on the dresser.

The storm grew as the day went on. It was dark out now, and the office lights didn’t seem quite strong enough to fully chase away the gloom. Rain clattered at the windows. Suddenly, the power went out.

The emergency lights were on at the exit, but the office was dark. The wind rattled the windows. Everyone waited. “Oh, just go home early,” the office manager said.

Someone cheered, but in the dark no one could tell who it was. There were rustling, creaking, thumping sounds.   Little lights blinked on, pushing back the darkness, illuminating hands and desks and chairs.

Isaac packed up his things using his phone for light, and followed everyone down the stairs. The streetlights were on, but the buildings were dark. The streets were crowded as people tried to all leave at once.

It was a little hard to see through the rain, and even with his umbrella, Isaac was soaked walking from his office to the car. He sat in the dark in his car and watched the ordered chaos. He waited for a few minutes more. Traffic thinned out. He drove home.

The house was quiet. He turned on the lights and listened to the rain hit the roof and windows. It was a nice, cozy sound when he was inside. He took off his wet coat and shoes. He left his shoes by the door. He didn’t want to put his wet coat in the closet to drip on everything else. He hung it on the doorknob instead.

His trouser legs were all wet. So was his hair. He looked forward to changing into something dry and warm. Maybe he’d take a warm shower first. That would be nice. He turned on the hall light and walked quickly down the hall.

He paused by Charlie’s room. Something didn’t sound quite right. The wind was wrong. He could hear a car drive by and it was too loud. The rain was too soft.

He pushed the door open. The curtains were waving like banners. The window was open. Water was dripping down the bookcase below it. The carpet was dark with rainwater in a large, roundish patch, spreading out from below the window.

In the middle of the wet carpet, there was a small gray bird. It looked like a little blue heron, but its bill was shorter and its tail was longer. It looked at him and crooned a short, questioning note.

Isaac whistled back. He’d always been rather good at whistling. The bird ruffled its feathers and warbled a few more notes.   Isaac whistled the opening of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite number one. The bird perked up and chirped along here and there.

He switched to whistling his favorite parts of Dvorak’s symphony From the New World. The bird began to flap its wings and chirp louder. Isaac stopped whistling and the bird began to sing a song that Isaac hadn’t ever heard, but it was beautiful.

He hummed along here and there. Wind rushed in through the window and blew around the room, rustling the clothes in Charlie’s closet and the papers on his desk. It was cold and pelted Isaac with rain. He shivered.

The wind died down a little and it rained harder. Rain blew in the window like ribbons. The bird sang louder. It began to glow. The room felt warm. The bird sang louder and the room grew warmer. There was a flash of light and a rainbow shot out the window. The bird seemed golden instead of gray.

The room felt much too warm. Isaac took a step back. The bird flapped its wings and stopped singing. The glow and rainbow stopped.  The bird launched itself out the window.

Isaac hurried over to tug the window closed. He could faintly hear the bird singing again. He watched it soar into the clouds and take the rainbow with it.

He looked around to check the water damage. Everything was dry. Even his trousers. He looked out the window.   There was a tiny glow of light still flying up higher into the clouds. Rain tapped against the glass. Isaac smiled.

Isaac came in to check Charlie’s homework. “You did really well, Charlie,” he said. “I think you just need to look at this one again and you’ll be done.”

“Thanks Dad,” Charlie said. He took the paper back. “Which one?   Oh. Right. I knew that.” He fixed the problem.

“Great job.” Isaac smiled. “Now go put it in your bag, and then please help your mom set the table.”

Charlie started stacking up his papers. A marble rolled to the center of the desk. It was pretty, clear on the outside and blue and white and green in the middle. “Where did that come from?” Isaac asked.

“The marble? I found it on my way home,” Charlie said.

Isaac picked it up. “It’s a nice one. Have you ever played marbles?”

“No.” Charlie put the papers in his backpack. “Do you want it? I don’t need it.”

“Thank you, Charlie.” Isaac smiled. He’d raised such a nice boy.   It was probably mostly Marianne’s influence. But maybe he’d helped a bit too.   He hoped so.

“After I set the table can I play a game on the computer?” Charlie asked.

“Of course you can,” Isaac said.

Charlie rushed out of the room. Isaac looked at his new marble. “Hello?” said a soft, high-pitched voice. Was it coming from the marble?

“Are you a who?” Isaac asked. He looked at the marble closely, trying to see their tiny civilization. Was there a speck? How would it cling to the side of a marble? Maybe it was inside the marble. But how would he hear it?

“A what? Stop turning me around.   I’m starting to feel sick,” the voice said.

“Oh sorry,” Isaac said. “How many of you are there?”

“I don’t feel comfortable telling you that, tall person,” the voice said.   “But I do need your help.”

“How can I help?” Isaac asked.

“I’ve been separated from my family. We weren’t planning on staying long on your planet, and I’m not sure how much longer this environmental suit will last.”

Isaac looked at the marble. It was an environmental suit? Was the white and blue and green center an alien? “You need me to get you back to your ship,” Isaac said.

“That’s right. We landed in a hole next to a rock,” the voice said. “It was by an area with tall grass.”

“How big was the hole? How big was the rock?”

“Bigger than me,” the voice said.

This was going to be difficult. He needed more information. He went into the kitchen. The table was already set. Marianne was stirring something on the stove. “Is that lentil soup?” He leaned in. “Smells great!”

Marianne smiled. “Thanks.   It’ll be ready soon.”

Isaac gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and left to find Charlie.   Charlie was in the living room on the computer. It looked like he was playing that game where everything was built out of blocks.   “Look out for that spider,” he said.   The spiders in the game were big and a little scary.

“They don’t do anything in the daytime,” Charlie said. That sounded a little ominous.

“Where did you find the marble, Charlie?” Isaac asked.

“It was in the gutter two houses away. On this side of the street,” Charlie said.

“Thank you,” Isaac said.

He went outside and started walking towards Charlie’s school. Two houses away, he held out the marble. “Does this look familiar?” he asked. “Which direction did you travel?”

“It doesn’t look the same from this high up,” the voice said. “Could you take me closer to the tall grass?”

Isaac crouched next to the lawn. The marble directed him right, left, left, right, right, left, forward. Eventually they found a small pebble next to a fist-sized hole. “That’s it!” the voice said.

Just then, the neighbor drove up. He got out of his car. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Isaac dropped the marble down the hole. “I dropped something,” he said.

“What did you drop? Do you need any help?” the man asked.

“No, I’ve got it,” Isaac said. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” the man said. He went inside. Isaac sat back. A few minutes later, a little metal disk the size of a tuna can floated out of the hole and hovered a few inches above the grass. Then it shot into the air, up up up.

“Safe travels,” Isaac said softly. Then he went home.

Isaac looked at himself in the mirror. He smiled and smoothed down the front of his new coat. It was a little silly to buy a new coat in the middle of winter, just as the weather was starting to warm up a little.  Especially since he already had a perfectly good coat. But he liked this coat, and it had been such a good deal.

He’d gone to the store for milk, but there was a display of marked down clothing near the register. As he hurried by, he saw the arm of his new coat sticking out from between a baby blue hoodie and a neon pink vest, as if calling out for help. He’d chuckled and taken it off the rack, planning on moving it to another spot where it fit in better.

Removed from the rack he could see the coat better, and it was soft and gray and soothing. It was his size. He tried it on and it was like wearing a hug. Somehow, he took it with him as he rushed away to find the milk.

It had tags, but no price sticker. They couldn’t find it in their computer. The employee, new to her job, gave up and called the manager. The manager tried to find the coat in the computer. It just wasn’t there.

Isaac almost told them that he didn’t really need a new coat anyways.   Then he looked down and it was reaching out an arm towards him, as if pleading for him to be patient. He waited. In the end, the manager pulled the hoodie off the clearance rack and rang that up instead.

Everyone at work complimented his new coat. Isaac was in a great mood by the time he got home. As he reached to take his coat off, he found an inside pocket that he hadn’t noticed before. How had he missed that?

It was the perfect size for his car keys. This way he wouldn’t forget where he put them. He slipped the keys inside the pocket and hung up the new coat. He gave it a fond pat as he turned to leave the room. Maybe Charlie would want to play a round of Scrabble?

That evening, they decided to go to see the latest dinosaur and space ships movie.   Isaac pulled on his new coat and checked the pocket. The keys weren’t there. He checked the other pockets. He checked the floor. The dresser. The hallway. The car.

Charlie and Marianne were already waiting by the door when he came back inside.   “I seem to have misplaced my keys.   Have you seen them?”

“Sure,” Charlie said. “They were on my desk. I’ll go get them.”

How strange. Had he taken them with him when he asked Charlie for a Scrabble game? He couldn’t quite remember. Charlie came back with the keys. The movie was excellent. The dinosaurs saved the earth from the alien invaders. Again.

When they returned home, Isaac almost put the keys back in his coat pocket.   He paused. He put them on the dresser instead. The next morning he forgot all about losing his keys.

As Isaac was leaving work the next day, a coworker was handing out candy to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Isaac smiled and congratulated him and tucked the candy in his inside coat pocket to give to Charlie later. Then he cooed over the pictures of the new baby and remembered when Charlie was that little.

Charlie met him at the door with a hug. “Thanks for the candy, Dad,” he said. “It was a nice surprise. You’re the best.” He grinned. “Maybe we can play Scrabble again when I get my homework done.”

Confused, Isaac reached into his inside coat pocket. The candy was gone. He checked the outside pockets. His keys and gloves were still there. This called for an experiment.

Carefully, he put his keys in the inside pocket. He patted the coat. The keys were still there. He waited a minute and patted the coat. Still there. Another minute. They were gone.

Walking past the kitchen, he could hear Marianne and Charlie talking. He continued down the hall and looked into Charlie’s room. His keys were sitting in the middle of Charlie’s desk. Well, that answered that question. His new coat was amazing.

The next day, before leaving work, he wrote a note. “Dear Charlie, I love you. I’ll see you soon. Do you want to play Scrabble again? Love, Dad.” Then he folded it up and slipped it into his inside coat pocket.