Leonard the Goblin: A Halloween Tale
LEONARD THE GOBLIN was confused. And he was tired. This was his 145th Halloween. Oh sure, in the early years the scares had come rather easily. All Leonard the Goblin needed to do in those old timey days was jump out from behind a stage coach and make a ghoulish face at an Amish family and blurt out something infantile, like booga booga!
But times have changed — Netflix, the Internet, and unlimited streaming horror movies right at all of humanity’s fingertips. Even so, Leonard the Goblin was a physically hideous creature who could still slap the fear of God into even the most war-torn veterans. Or could he?
Halloween night was nearly at an end, and Leonard the Goblin had not managed to frighten a single solitary soul. This had truly been the most awful and disappointing of all nights for Leonard the Goblin. Children, grown-ups, and elderly folks scooting along with their walkers had all gotten a good long look at old, pathetic Leonard the Goblin this evening. Instead of crumbling to the floor in heart-stopping horror, they had all just pointed and laughed the laugh of wicked hyenas.
Deflated and spent, Leonard the Goblin wandered off to an empty field to collect his thoughts. He had to seriously up his game, that was for sure. As Leonard the Goblin stood beneath a burnt up and long dead oak tree, a cool breeze blew in from the west. Leonard the Goblin felt a tingly chill at his groin. When he looked down, Leonard the Goblin’s eyes were greeted by his bare, masticated, green and withered crotch and legs.
Next Halloween, Leonard the Goblin would make sure to remember his trousers before leaving his cave.
J.S. Lender’s new novella + short story collection for young readers, Emma and the Starry Night, is on sale now!
J.S. Lender © 2022
