It was a nice night for a walk, until…

It all stated when Dad deceided that Vera needed to take a walk. “She’s been working down in the Library all day. She needs to get some fresh air.”
“But Dad,” I said, “She was built to work in the Library all day. Besides, she doesn’t even breath!”
It didn’t do any good. When Dad gets an idea in his head it’s best just to go along. I have to admit, it was a nice night for a walk. The breeze from the Gulf had cooled things off and blown away the cloud cover, allowing the full moon and stars to shine brightly down for the first time in weeks. Things were just fine until we got jumped by the three demons.
Ok, we didn’t know that they were demons at first. We thought that they were just three muggers that had deceided that this part of Hainesport would be better pickings. They were about to learn why this was not a good idea.
Dad zapped one with his patened “Hit You Over The Head With A Dictionary.” spell. The mugger fell to his knees, bleeding from both ears and babbling about words beginning with the letter “A”. Vera slammed one up against the side of the nearest building while shouting “Be quiet. This is a library !” (She gets a lot of mileage out of that phrase. It’s the only thing she can say.) I didn’t even have to use any of my gadgets. I just dodged and rabbit punched the guy who was comming at me. That’s when we found out they were demons.
Have you ever run into a demon? I don’t mean the kind with horns, scales, and an infernal address. I mean the real thing, Souls of the departed that have not
“crossed over” for some reason or another. Dad and I have managed to avoid them for the most part. (Except for the Black Donnellys- remind me to tell you about them sometime.) Tonight our luck had changed for the worse.
I knew that something was wrong when the guy that Vera slammed bounced back and grabbed her by the throat. It didn’t hurt her- she doesn’t need to breath remember- but the fact that he could get up after her attack was impressive. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dad shaking like Charlie comming off of a coffee binge. I didn’t have much time to appreciate the sight. My assailant had produced a baceball bat from somewhere and was trying to hit a homerun on my head.
I dodged his attack and pulled out my collapsible staff. I admit I stole the idea from Babylon 5. I’m not as good as Marcus, but when four inches of metal suddenly expands to a little over six feet, and hits your opponent right on the button, it usually puts him down for the count. My mugger was no exception abd he fell to the pavement.
Then things really got weird. Suddenly I had not one but two voices in my head. ( I later figured that in addition to my assailant, the demon that had assulted Vera had found out that he couldn’t possess her and had jumped over to me.) They were yelling at me and at each other and were trying to slip some slimy mental tentacles into my most private thoughts. If they had of cooperated with each other, they could have smashed my soul like a ripe watermellon. As it was, their bickering gave me the edge I needed to throw both of them out. I seemed to hear their mental wailing as they went back to wherever it was they came from.
As my vision cleared, I saw two of the bodies of the demon’s host lying unconsciouson the sidewalk. I ordered Vera to grab each one by the wrist. Better than handcuffs. This left the babbling man free, but I told Vera to hold him down with her foot. No problem. She is a lot heaver that she looks.
Dad was sitting on the sidewalk with his head in his hands. As I walked over to him, he looked up.
“I’m all right Trey,” he said. “I managed to fight them off.”
“How do I it’s you in there and not some demon?” I
replied. “Who won the playoffs, the Eagles of the Bucks?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea. You knoe I don’t follow baceball.”
Yeah, it was Dad all right.