Once again, Blondie snared my attention and grabbing her hand, I said, "My name is LUTSCHENKOPF...that translates to SUCKERHEAD; surely there's some significance..."

I crossed my fingers behind my back, squatted as if taking a dump, closed my eyes and began with the monkey-like grunt, "ooh -ooh ooh - ooh uh ooh..."

Papa waved away my remark and said, "Shush, boy, you're distracting me from the bad news I have to tell you!"

Excellent writing, yur1! You did a fantastic job of building tension..releasing it when he realized the rustling noise was his jacket...and then brought that tension back with the cliff hanger ending! Really well done.

I admit the "push the boat out" threw me a little bit, too...lol

Ruf, ruf..BARK, YIP YIP, BARKBARKBARK!!!

I think you were a lot successful, cj. Through your words I was clearly able to visualize the remnants and how they operate. I especially liked the reference to children being able to see them before their parents "taught" them not to.
Everyone "feels" strangely at times...paranoid, scared or simply that "something" is in the room with them. You played on that very well. Another occurence that I've often had...and I imagine many others...is a movement, a flicker of something,caught from the corner of the eye that vanishes when you turn your attention to it; a glimpse into another world, perhaps?

Papa sniffed, looked down at my soaked pants and said, "Looks like I failed in your education, son; that ain't the way water sports is played."

Damn! Scratch this one. I started writing it, got interrupted...danged colleagues...came back and hit "save" without realizing that RG had posted!

I yelled, "PAPA" and lunged forward, grabbing him in a bear hug while his big, strong hands grabbed hold of my **** and pulled me...bone to bone, so to speak.

The crash, as the old man threw Blondie off, attracted my attention and I turned to see him staring at me, licking his lips with an unbelievably long tongue and vigorously rubbing his crotch.