Previews Restless Echoes by Mai Griffin | Page 28

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