Mai Griffin
mouthfuls of beer. “I’d have had trouble believing what
happened to him next if it hadn’t happened to me too.”
His account of what occurred had them all agog.
The growling was not imagined – a huge dog was
crouched, teeth bared, ready to spring. Snarling, it began
to creep forward, out of the darkness, until Pete,
terrified, started to back away. It was between him and
the door to Andy’s room and, at the time, thinking it was
real, he decided to step back slowly, hoping it would
follow until he could tempt it out of the house, or shout
to tell Peggy to ring someone for help.
The creature started to follow but suddenly sprang
at him. Had he not been clutching the banister he would
have fallen down the stairs... When he recovered his
balance, he was alone. He had felt nothing, although the
dog could not have avoided landing on his chest,
knocking him over.
Polly, who had fallen happily into the role of chief
interrogator, asked if he had told his wife. He said he
had, of course. She’d never seen or heard anything
amiss and insisted on continuing to check on the
children personally. Knowing it was a ghost, unable to
harm her, was important. She said she would like to
assume that it was guarding the children, so he must do
the same. The idea of moving to another home was
unthinkable and unaffordable, so she was determined to
stay. She believed that haunted houses could be
exorcised and refused even to discuss selling.
They concluded, after careful probing, that the
children were unaware of the dog. The fact that it never
appeared to Peg, but had made its presence felt to Pete,
27