TV Monsters

by Dean Williams

Part III

  I woke up to a peaceful, cloudless sky

  And the merry, scolding cries of a blue jay.

  Had I really seen and heard all those things?

  It seemed very hard to believe in the day.

  The clearing lay lovely, green, and quiet.

  Could a spaceship have stood there last night?

  Then I looked more closely down at my feet,

  And once again I was filled with fright.

  For the grass all over had been tamped down

  As if something heavy had lain there for hours.

  These odd shapes I could see made it plain to me

  I really had witnessed alien powers.

  Then there was not a moment to lose!

  The authorities must be told, and soon.

  As I ran through the woods I told myself,

  “Remember this day, the 16th of June.”

  “That’s the day, the history books will say,

  A brave young country boy saved us all!!”

  The lake in sight, my fantasy soared:

  “Though small, in our hearts this hero stands tall!”

  There was my grandfather’s house, but wait—

  No singing or radio; all was silent.

  Had the aliens already invaded?

  What was their plan, what had their leader meant?

  I slowly crept up closer to the house.

  Where was my grandpa, that dear old man?

  If those monsters had done anything to him….

  To the window I desperately ran.

  But there he was, my beloved Pops,

  Before me in his favorite soft chair he sat.

  Why, he sat right there without moving.

  But just what was it he kept staring at?

  From my place outside I couldn't quite see,

  So I went to the front and into the house.

  I came and stood at the living room door.

  He was just sitting there, still as a mouse.

  Suddenly the room was filled with laughter.

  I jumped; where could it be coming from?

  Then I saw what grandpa was looking at:

  A box with moving pictures that hummed.

  It had an antenna and a power cord.

  Though not large, it filled the entire room,

  And as I gazed at its simple squat shape,

  I was somehow filled with a sense of doom.

  I realized grandpa hadn’t greeted me

  And what made me even more amazed

  Was the very odd look on his face:

  One could only describe it as… glazed.

  What! Had they already hypnotized him?

  While I slept, had they stolen his mind?

  Whole cities full of hapless daydreamers—

  I shuddered to think what I might find.

  Oh what a relief it was then to hear

  My grandpa’s warm, familiar voice:

  “You whippersnapper, where have you been?”

  The nightmare was over, and I rejoiced.

  Then he looked back at the talking box,

  And he got that strange expression again.

  It was as if the box were whispering,

  And he wished to take every word in.

  I peered more closely at the small square screen.

  Tiny cowboys were riding and shooting.

  What kind of new magic could this box have?

  Where could those black and white figures be hiding?

  “Pops, where are you sticking those small cowboys?”

  My grandfather exploded with laughter.

  “Son, this thing-a-ma-jig’s called a TV—

  Sit and watch some, and I’ll explain after.”