The Thabberwucky

by Manny Xavier

were going to accomplish one thing tonight-they were going to kill the Thabberwucky. Billy’s face was all smiles.

  Billy was so excited that Max found himself beginning to hope too. After all, Dr. Porter had proven his word already. He had convinced Max’s parents about the sleep over with ease. Maybe, just maybe he could capture the Thabberwucky as well.

  Dr. Porter and the boys entered Billy’s home with a sense of urgency. Dr. Porter explained that he had to get some equipment from his car, but asked Max and Billy to go to Billy’s room and make sure that all the lights were on before Dr. Porter returned. In a short while Dr. Porter returned with what seemed an endless amount of electronics.

  To say that Dr. Porter came prepared would be an understatement. He had microphones, lights, funny looking umbrellas with mirrors inside them and a whole hosts of machines that had all kinds of blinking lights on them. It took over an hour for Dr. Porter to get all the equipment set up, and that was only after they had emptied Billy’s room of everything – his bed, dressers, desks, all of which had to be taken out to make sure that there was enough room for all of Dr. Porter’s equipment.

  Dr. Porter had a camera covering every part of the room. And he had a light that shined on every part of the room as well. He even had lights shining on lights so that no shadows appeared even when the three of them moved around the room. Dr. Porter had special placed an X on the floor to show where each of them were to stand during the capture of the Thabberwucky and gave special instructions that unless they were told to do so by Dr. Porter, that once placed on the X neither of the boys were to move-no matter what.

  All of this intrigued Max as much as it terrified him. For now the room was so well lit that a Thabberwucky would not dare come near the place. Max had a feeling that this would not last for long, however, as Billy had said the Thabberwucky would have to be lured in and Max remembered the worst part of what Billy had said. “We will use live bait, Max.” The thought made him shiver.

  “OK, boys” said Dr. Porter. “I think we have everything ready. Now, here is how this will work. As you see on this diagram I have here, we will cut off lights 2 and 4 creating a corridor of shadow through the center of the room. It will be dark enough for the creature to move to the center. This box here will create the final zone of shadow. It being in the center of the room, of course. That is where the subject will be seated.”

  “Subject?” asked Max regrettably.

  “Ah! Yes, young Maxwell” answered Dr. Porter. “I have no doubt that Billy has shared with you some details of this nights expected events. You being such close friends. The plan is to have one of you in the box. Once the creature makes his lunge for whoever the volunteer is we activate lights 2 and 4. The volunteer bails out of the box and into the safety of the light. The creature is trapped on all sides-no escape. And once we open the top of the box-the light should destroy him.”

  “Should destroy him?” asked Billy. “Dr. Porter you mean WILL destroy him, right? Like you did when you faced your own Thabberwucky?”

  Dr. Porter paused for a moment. It seemed he was trying to remember what he had told young Billy Littleton in their previous sessions. This made Max very nervous.

  He remembered this response from other adults. Like when his father was trying to remember a fib he had told about why they had not gone fishing, or he had not been able to make it to a baseball game. It was the response a parent had when they were trying to remember a lie.

  “Dr. Porter?” Max added with haste, “You did capture and kill your own Thabberwucky as a kid, didn’t you?”

  “Yes! Yes of course I did young Maxwell!” Dr. Porter replied trying to convey confidence. “I was merely distracted by young Billy’s question and my own deep thoughts on the best way to conduct the process, that’s all.”

  Billy sighed with relief, but Max looked upon Dr. Porter with a weary eye. Something was amiss here. He was beginning to believe that Dr. Porter had made up the story about capturing his own Thabberwucky as a child completely. Even worse, Max began to wonder if Dr. Porter believed in the Thabberwucky at all.

  The conversation that they were unable to hear with Gran-gran became ever more worrisome now than it ever had before. Nevertheless, they were now in this for the long haul. Whether Dr. Porter believed in the Thabberwucky, or not, they were going to be dealing with one. All Max could do was hope that Dr. Porter’s theory about light being able to destroy the Thabberwucky was correct.

  Dr. Porter put it to Max and Billy that they would draw straws to see who sat in the box first. It was decided that whoever drew the short straw would take the first hour, the longest the second, and rotate every hour thereafter. Dr. Porter did not believe it would take long to draw out the Thabberwucky. he theorized an hour or two at most.

  Max thought this observation was very strange. Max never knew the Thabberwucky to keep to any kind of schedule at all. This is something Dr. Porter should have known as he stated that he had dealt with his own Thabberwucky as a child.

  Billy drew the short straw and sat for the first full hour. He was shaking he was so nervous. The lights created a perfect corridor of shadow, leaving one corner of the room almost pitch black. This led a dark shadow that was about 3 feet wide and led right into the box. The box had two open sides and two closed ones. The back was the bail out side, allowing Billy to dive into open bright light. If Dr. Porter was correct and the creature lunged just so, it would be trapped in the box with light all around. A perfect capture indeed.

  The Thabberwucky did not appear at all. At one point Billy screamed out that he thoughts he saw eyes. It turned out to be the glare from Dr. Porter’s watch face casting a glimmer in the corner. Dr. Porter removed the watch, placing it on a monitor nearby, and they continued their observation with no changes.

  The second hour was Max’s turn. Dr. Porter insisted that they take a break-with Gran-gran bringing in brownies and warm milk right on cue. The lights to 2 and 4 were turned on again just to make sure that no “sneak attacks” could occur. All of this was suggested with a laugh from Dr. Porter. Something that made Max more worried than ever. If Dr. Porter really had faced a Thabberwucky before, there seemed no way that he could be so jovial and light-hearted in the face of danger so great.

  The snacks ended, Gran-gran said goodnight to all of them. Billy and Dr. Porter had discussed her use of hearing aids. At night she removed them and practically couldn't hear a thing. Billy and Dr. Porter had counted on this fact in their planning. Just in case the capture became a noisy event, they had a contingency plan to make sure they were not disturbed in the process. This fact was the one of the primary reasons that Dr. Porter had chosen Gran-gran's to conduct the experiment.

  Another strange thing about this whole process was that Dr. Porter kept asking if either of the boys saw anything yet. Why? If Dr. Porter believed in the Thabberwucky and seen one before, how could he ever mistake it when it arrived? Again, Max gave a stare to Billy, but he did not seem to read what Max was trying to convey to him.

  A half-hour after Max had been in the box, he noticed an awful smell. It was like opening a carton of mil left in the hot sun. Sometimes, when the Thabberwucky was close, but did not want to show himself, he would emit an awful odor.

  Only those who believed in the Thabberwucky could smell it. The odor made Max and Billy cover their noses. Both Max and Billy began to gag. This made Max the most nervous as Dr. Porter did not seem to be affected at all.

  Noticing the boys reactions, Dr. Porter asked, “What is it fellas? Do you see something?”

  Max now knew that his worst fears were realized. Dr. Porter did not believe in the Thabberwucky at all. Whatever he had told Billy was a lie. One look at Billy’s face and Max knew that Billy realized this fact too.

  “Don’t you smell it Dr. Porter?” Billy asked pleadingly.

  “Smell it, William?” asked Dr, Porter confused. “Smell what, son?”

&
nbsp; “Nothing” Billy replied his face growing dim. “Nothing at all!”

  The room grew eerily quiet as Dr. Porter realized that both Max and Billy were onto his little fairy tale. He seemed to be running through how to respond in his head. He began to perspire and fidget as he now knew his little ruse was now fully exposed.

  “Now boys, let me explain,” begged Dr. Porter. “ I know that I told you that I had fought one of these creatures as a boy. Obviously, that is not exactly true. But, please understand that I am hear to help you. I believe that you have both managed to believe in something imaginary to the point of making it real. So real that you can actually destroy the phobia. That is a fancy word for fear. I think this can be done with light as both of you have described the light as being something it cannot survive in. I know that this seems like a cruel deception, but curing this phobia required someone that believed in you. That is all I was trying to do. Give you both someone who could share the battle with you. Someone you could trust.”

  “The Thabberwucky is REAL!” yelled Billy. “No matter whether you believe in it or not. That will not change!”

  “William, I mean Billy, please try to understand” Dr. Porter pleaded. “I am only trying to help.”

  “Do you even know if this