As the month comes to a close, I turned to the last story for my blog, a Sebastian and Jimmy tale. As the months pass and I’ve added new chapters to their ongoing antics, writing comedies has become a joyful experience. It’s also a nice palette cleanser after writing more emotionally heavy entries such as Frozen Storm and Reflected Sanctuary. But enough of other tales; let’s talk about the spark that ignited this one. Despite knowing I wanted to craft a comedy, I didn’t know what shape it would take, so I turned to an old standby. Or rather, I intended to, but finding my story cubes was a little tricky. So instead of hunting those dice, I grabbed a digital set through ChatGPT and was rewarded with the following trio of items: a Snake 🐍, the Full Moon 🌕, and a Candle 🕯️.
As always, the cubes sat idle until inspiration struck. I’m not sure what reminded me of the very first Abbott & Costello movie I ever saw, but Hold that Ghost filled my mind, specifically this line by Costello’s character Ferdie.
“Look, from now on, keep one eye on that candle, another eye on that one, and with the other eye watch me!”
So I let myself remember the whole movie, sadly I didn’t get a chance to re-watch it before penning this tale, but I still set out to create an homage to that movie. Of course I needed to replicate the energy between those leading men and my comedic duo, but I also wanted to create my own moment with a candle.
There’s a certain kind of evening when the world seems to hold its breath. In those moments, the moon stands high, full but muted, and even the wind forgets how to whisper. On such a night, two friends find themselves knee-deep in an empty field, the grass shimmering silver beneath the moon’s deceptive glow. One carries a candle for light and comfort, the other, a more practical fellow, a flashlight. Between them, they believed they had enough light for their search, or so they thought.
Strike a match and steady your nerves. Prepare yourselves to follow the flicker, where the night is long, the laughter reluctant, and nothing lurking in the dark is ever quite what it seems.
The candlelight washed the grass in a soft glow as Jimmy waded through the cold moonlight. He tugged at his collar and turned as a shimmer of white flashed out of sight. Jimmy backpedaled, eyes darting through the field. “Sebastian, there’s something in this field!”
“You said that about the bakery, the alley, and the soup kitchen.” Sebastian groaned and spun his friend about. “What’d you see this time?”
Jimmy turned away from Sebastian, his candle trembling in pale fingers. “I saw something white dashing off into the grass.”
“Are you sure?”
Jimmy edged closer, licking his lips as wax slid down the candle. When the melted wax collided with his skin, he yelped, jumped in the air, rebounded off Sebastian, and fell to the ground. He scrambled up, brushing dirt from his pants and thrusting the candle toward his friend. “Something burned my hand!”
“You’re overreacting to a little hot wax.”
“Are you sure? It’s normally not all that hot.”
Sebastian sighed as he grabbed his friend’s wrist, dragging it in front of Jimmy’s face. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing, though this thing’s melting faster than my patience.” Jimmy pulled his hand out of Sebastian’s grasp. His gaze shifted from the shrinking candle to the full moon. “Why are we wandering through a field in the middle of the night? Don’t horror stories start like this?”
“No, stop worrying about everything.”
“Easy for you to say.” Jimmy inched forward, his eyes studying the darkest shadows. “I’ve seen several of those movies, and I’m the first one targeted.”
“Nonsense. And if you’re that worried about it burning so fast, you shouldn’t have lit both ends.” Sebastian groaned and forced the candle horizontal. He licked his fingers and then extinguished the wick jutting out from the heel of Jimmy’s hand. “Don’t forget what we are doing. We’re here to burn the midnight oil, not ourselves.”
“You keep telling me, but with every step, the fear pushes it from my mind.” Jimmy stepped forward, squinting as he thrust a finger over Sebastian’s shoulder. “There’s the ghost!”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Sebastian said, turning around and finding the empty field. He turned back to his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he pointed his light where Jimmy indicated. “If they do exist, they’ll need therapy after meeting you.”
“If that’s true, we’ll find a group session later in order to save some money.” Jimmy patted his pockets and shook his head. “Do you have another candle?”
“We’re lucky I don’t. If I did, you’d probably end up igniting the wet grass.” Sebastian clapped Jimmy’s back as he brandished the heavy flashlight, its beam cutting through the shadows.
Jimmy grabbed Sebastian’s jacket and pulled his friend close. “That’d be quite the accomplishment! I’d be the first man to start a controlled burn when dew covers the grass.”
Sebastian shook his head as he tapped the butt of his flashlight against Jimmy’s shoulder. “I suggested you bring one of these. You burn yourself whenever there’s any heat involved. Today, we were fortunate it was the wax instead of the match.”
As Jimmy’s gaze whipped about like a furtive rabbit, his fingers clenched his candle. “Do you have a spare one I can borrow?”
Sebastian’s head rolled as he sighed and drew a small light from his back pocket. He flipped on the small flashlight before sliding it into Jimmy’s pocket. “You’re lucky I’m prepared for this and other potential issues.”
Nodding, Jimmy withdrew the proffered light, flipping it on. He lifted his candle as if it were a shield he could leverage in his fight against ethereal threats while he fought the encroaching darkness with the beam of illumination spilling out from his borrowed flashlight. Jimmy spun, flashlight cleaving the moonlit shadows as more danced in its wake. “I saw ghosts! That means we need more light to fight them!”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
Jimmy pulled up short as he thrust his candle forward. “Then what do you call that?”
Sebastian groaned and followed Jimmy’s gesture, sweeping his beam across the white figure gliding through the grass. His head tilted as he stepped forward. “I’m not sure, yet I intend to find out.”
“Why do you always insist on hunting the ghosts?”
“Come on, let’s go see what’s scaring you,” Sebastian said as he flashed his friend a smile. “I’ll agree it’s odd, but it’s not—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s no such thing as ghosts.” Jimmy rushed forward as he tugged his friend’s arm. He jerked his head toward the white figure circling about the grassland. “If that’s true, then explain the intruder.”
“We can’t do that without checking it out.” Sebastian patted his friend’s cheek before turning around and rushing toward the erratic figure.
As Jimmy crept closer to the whipping white shape, soft hisses filled the air. When he neared the flapping whiteness, his candle’s flame licked his hand. He dropped the flashlight and quickly snuffed the flame with his fingers. As the shadows intensified, Jimmy shoved the stub of wax into his jacket pocket as he reclaimed the light.
When he pulled the flashlight up, a loud hiss erupted from beside him. He jumped back, sweeping the light over the grass just as the white shape darted past. “There goes the ghost!”
“It’s not a ghost,” Sebastian said, rushing past his friend.
Jimmy swallowed hard and hurried a step behind his friend. Another hiss filled the field as the figure doubled back, racing toward Jimmy. He dove aside, but his foot tangled with the white figure.
Laughter filled the field, overpowering the fleeing hiss as Sebastian lifted the culprit high. “You were terrified by a garter snake caught in a dirty sheet.”
Jimmy shook his head, brushing dirt and embarrassment from his pants. “Well, you were right this time… it wasn’t a ghost. But it was hauntingly rude.”
“That’s only true if the snake bursts into our home,” Sebastian said, resuming his search.