there were soft knocks at the
front door
shortly after 7
her roommates she thought
her roommates were ghosts who
showed themselves in the hallway outside her bedroom door or stood beside her
bed watching her she woke feeling their presence but didnt open her eyes
sometimes they spoke her name
they knocked her lingerie down off
the cottonline she strung in the laundry high above where the cat was unable to
get at them
not all the pieces
odd no rhyme or reason
never hanging side by side
they played with her kitchen
utensils clattering them in the night then leaving them on the tile counters
when they had awakened her and she came down the hall into the kitchen to see where
the noise she was hearing emanated
Knock it off she chided Some of us need our rest
they pulled magnets off the
refrigerator and scattered them on the print-linoleum floor
she thought they might spell
something
the magnets were Scrabble alphabet
tiles
they hadnt
she preferred not to think them
illiterate
perhaps someday
on the 3rd morning hearing the
soft thuds she came to the door placed her ear to it
breathless she leaned
against it listening
they paused
then began again tap
tap tap tap tap tap
always six times
breathless
tap
tap tap tap tap tap
she steeled herself
placed her hand atop the doorknob
it trembled lifelike in her palm
turning
ever-so-slightly beneath her fingers
the moment before she went to
open it sheremembered when she was a little girl living in the city one night
there was a patient knocking at their door
knocking knocking and as she went to open her aged
grandmother gasped NoLeave
it Come away from there my little bird Come away Leave
it alone
as she
backed away the knocking continued anxious urgent
Let it alone birdie her grandmother said again firmly
suddenly there were angry raps
and banging her grandmother rushedforward put her hands at her shoulders and
cried Youre unwanted
Go away Go away and leave us be
as
suddenly it ceased
her grandmothers hands at her never felt so sure or firm
that evening at her bedtime her
grandmother put her bed her mother or
father usually did
her grandmother pulled the
blankets up under her chin smoothed her bangs away from her eyes with gentle
fingers
Such a brave girl tonight It is good you listened Good you left the
door alone
Why Granmama
My sweet birdie
Death was at our door
Had
you opened it one of us would have had to leave with Him or he would have taken us
all
You
kept us safe
You
alone kept us safe
she leaned back away from the
door
tap
tap tap tap tap tap
the tapping continued as she
walked back up the hallway to her bedroom
it was the weekend she didnt have
to answer to anyone
morning, Twosday,
9 2. 16
2202, Twosday,
9 2. 16
Robot Koch Feel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhuAxg9Z_b8
