PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Due to a clerical error in the utility company's

records, the power was restored at about

noon, eastern time, to the house at the very

end of the street at the far, and much less

attractive, edge of town.  The homeowner

was a slovenly, corpulent, unambitious man

who, at the moment, was sprawled across the

broken, faux leather couch, where he had

collapsed into drunken unconsciousness.

Around the tripod and post of what was once an

artificial Christmas tree---before the plastic

limbs had been removed and strewn about in a

besotted rage; the delicate ornaments (many of

them antiques, inherited from ancestors who had

brought them here from several old countries)

smashed to nearly unrecognizable shards---lay a

circular, three-railed track on which an aging

locomotive and three passenger cars waited as if

ready to depart from some imaginary depot.  When the

electricity resumed, the train began to move---not

quickly, and not without sudden but brief pauses.  At

each of these random stops, caused by failing

mechanical conditions, the coaches were boarded by

appropriately small beings, completely unnoticed by the

snoring, twitching hulk across the floor.  These small

travelers on this O-guage, circular railroad were, in fact,

intruders.  In form and shape, they were bipedal and

vaguely humanoid.  Their bulbous heads featured

multiple eyes, both fore and aft, and proportionately

enlarged mouths which contained several rows of

extremely---exceptionally---sharp teeth, like razors

really, and well adapted to efficiently tear and

devour human flesh of any thickness.  When the

utility company's clerical error had been discovered and

corrected, and the power was once again interrupted---

causing the train's final stop on the side of the curved

track nearest the homeowner, the passengers began to

disembark with a collective enthusiasm that always

distinguishes their species and sometimes gives a

little warning just prior to---and always too late to

avoid or elude---an attack.  By the time the assault had

been completed, only a skeleton remained of their

victim:  they never had, and never would develop a

taste for bone, although it can be debated whether

they were actually aware of the existence of marrow.

They have returned to their lair near the three-railed

track---as they wait patiently for the dead man to be

discovered, confident with enormous anticipation

that the discoverer will be typically unaware of their

presence, at least while they retain the element and

advantage of surprise.