Trolls and Goblins and Ghouls

Raw wasn’t exactly it. More like raw and frozen. Like hamburger in the freezer. That was Tyler Keddy’s line of thinking as he forced himself along the rocky path above the sea. It had been so much warmer in the village. And Delilah hadn’t said anything about him needing to dress more warmly.

He glanced back at her and her son Noah behind him. They seemed comfortable enough. Both were smiling. Why would they be smiling if they were feeling like frozen burgers too?

He made sure his own smile was in place as he suggested they interrupt their march to take a breather on a bench beside the path.

“Huffing and puffing already?” said Delilah.

“Oh no,” he said, struggling to regulate his breath while not appearing to do so. “I’m just thinking of you and the boy, sweetheart.”

“Hm,” said Delilah. “I can’t tell if you’re being polite or political.”

“Besides,” he said, taking out his phone and tapping the camera function, “I want to get a picture of us all together. For the family album.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, mister,” said Delilah. “Just because I grace your arm on the campaign trail.”

“Noah,” said Tyler, trying to regain control of the narrative, “Isn’t this beautiful? Thank you for suggesting this.”

“I like the rock formations,” Noah said.

“They’re great, aren’t they? I see millions of years. I see Earth in the process of making itself.”

“I see trolls,” said Noah. “Trolls and goblins and ghouls.”

“Really? How do you reckon they got there?”

“Oh, I don’t mean they’re really there. I’m seeing what happens in people’s minds when they don’t tell the truth.”

The booming of the waves against the rocks below took the place of any further conversation at that point. Tyler forgot about the picture of the family he hoped to win, and finally Delilah, seeing him shivering and speechless, suggested they cut the walk short and go home for hot chocolate, which they did, after Noah borrowed the phone of his mother’s latest boyfriend and got a snapshot of the trolls and the goblins and ghouls.

21 April 2024
Texas Jim
Shad Bay, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca