FOLKLORE-L Archives

Archiver > FOLKLORE > 2001-04 > 0986118677


From: "Kath" <>
Subject: [FOLKLORE FAMILY] Eric and the Girl Next Door
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 01:51:17 -0800


Eric and the Girl Next Door

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


We moved to a rental house in a quiet San Antonio neighborhood when our son
Eric was 3. Our neighbors had a son, also 3, and a daughter who was 7. She
became one of my son's favorite playmates. She had mastered the art of
bicycle riding; something Eric was a little slow in picking up. To Eric, she
was a superhero! After a few months, the family went on a vacation to New
Mexico and expected to be gone only a couple of weeks. The days dragged by
for Eric. He really missed having those kids around.

One night our family was sitting in front of the TV when both my wife and I
noticed a shadow dart across the wall adjacent to the TV. Several times
during the next couple of days, in fact, the shadow was glimpsed by a few of
our visiting friends. The shadow was always just barely noticeable at the
edge of vision. Each time we saw the shadow, my son would suddenly get quite
excitable. He would run off to his room and squeal with delight. He carried
on animated discussions with a new-found imaginary friend for hours. It got
to where he rarely came out his room. He was always busy talking to someone
we couldn't see. Cute.

After the neighbors had been gone a month, I saw somebody caring for their
lawn. The caretaker was the neighbor kids' uncle. I was upset to hear the
family had been in a serious auto accident early in their trip and had lost
their daughter. After much thought, we decided to tell Eric, as gently as we
could, that the little girl next door would not be coming back with the rest
of the family. That's when he floored us by telling us (in 3-year-old lingo)
that she already had come back and he played with her all the time! We were
spooked. We immediately tried to curtail his play time with his new friend,
but the friend just kept coming back.

We were getting pretty worried about this invisible friend when the family
returned from New Mexico. They looked bad. I didn't have the heart to
mention Eric's new friend and the circumstances surrounding its appearance.
They wouldn't have believed us anyway. That day, Eric's friend didn't show
up. Or the next. Eric became agitated about it. He even began to act
somewhat depressed. Within a few days, however, he began to play with the
neighbors' son. They became best buddies. They would ride bikes (training
wheels and all), then go to his room and play.

And every once in while, you could swear there were more than two voices
coming from his room.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

This page was last updated on December 30, 1997.
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 Tim Stevens. All Rights Reserved.

This thread: