No one was talking?
No, there was no thin’. ’Cept the TV.
What was on it?
I already told ya.
I know, I know. Tell us again. For the record.
It was… like I said…just them letters. Great big letters.
What were they?
F… uh… F-E-E-D.
F-E-E-D?
Y-yeah. Big crooked—like letters.
You’d seen them before?
Yeah. I told ya. They was on our set all the time… Not all the time. Plenty though.
Your parents never wondered about it?
No. They said… they figured it was a sort of commercial. You know.
But the things you saw.
I don’t know. Ma said… it was for kids. Some, I mean.
What—did you see?
Sort of… mouths. Big ones. Wide. Open, all open. They wasn’t p-people.
What did it look like? I mean, couldn’t you tell what it was?
No. I mean… they was like… bugs, maybe, or maybe… w-worms. Big ones. All mouths. Wide open.
All right.
You, uh, said the letters flashed on, then off and you saw the… mouths, and then the letters again?
Yeah. Like that.
This happen every night?
Yeah.
Same time?
No. Different times.
Between programs?
No. Anytime.
Was it always on the same channel?
No. All different ones. No matter which one we had… we seen them.
And…
I wanna go. Can’t I… Ma! Where is she? I want her. I want her.
A few more questions, Leo, and that’s it. Now, you said your parents never had the set checked.
No, I told you. They thought it was—
All right.
You went in the living room. You said something about slipping, didn’t you?
Yeah. On that stuff.
What stuff?
I don’t know. Greasy stuff. Like hot grease. It stunk awful.
And then you… you found…
I found them. Ma. And Pa. And the Lenottis. They was… Ohhh, I wanna…
Leo! What about the set, Leo? What about it?
Huh, what?
The picture on the set. You said something about it.
I, yeah… I…
It was the letters, wasn’t it, Leo?
Yeah, yeah. Them letters. Them big crooked letters. They was up there. On the set. I seen them. And… and…
What?
One of the E’s. It kinda… faded. It went away. And… and…
What, Leo?
The other letters. They come together. So… so there was only three.
And it was a word.
Take him to his aunt, Sergeant.
And the tube went black…
All right, Leo. The sergeant’ll take you ho—to your aunt’s.
I turned on the lights.
All right, Leo.
I turned on the light! Ma! MAMA!
5 – WITCH WAR
Seven pretty little girls sitting in a row.
Outside, night, pouring rain—war weather. Inside, toasty warm. Seven overalled little girls chatting. Plaque on the wall saying: P.G. CENTER. Sky clearing its throat with thunder, picking and dropping lint lightning from immeasurable shoulders. Rain hushing the world, bowing the trees, pocking earth. Square building, low, with one wall plastic. Inside, the buzzing talk of seven pretty little girls. “So I say to him—‘Don’t give me that, Mr. High and Mighty.’ So he says, ‘Oh yeah?’ And I say, ‘Yeah!’”
“Honest, will I ever be glad when this thing’s over. I saw the cutest hat on my last furlough. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to wear it!”
“You too? Don’t I
Not in
