The road with lamps
DIMITRIS LADIKOS
EVERY NIGHT THERE WAS PLENTY OF WHITE AND COLD LIGHT in the neighborhood. Every time, when the fluorescent lamps lit up, everyone had disappeared; a deep silence spread over the road. The lamps were spaced out in a row. Equidistantly; like toy soldiers. Only one of them was flickering and creating shadows on the walls. Civil workers rushed to fix the defective lamp. Without being able to repair it, one of the workers took his hammer and broke the lamp. Then, they replaced it. A few days later, they were being called for the same damage at the same spot. They replaced the lamp again, after they broke it first. For many weeks this lamp remained hopeless unbowed. Haunted! There is only one explanation. Haunted! No one approached it anymore. Not even close to that spot. The houses near the lamp were abandoned and railings were erected around the haunted lamp. A demon had possessed it. The shadows that it created were the most horrible monsters. Without mercy, they wigwagged in the neighborhood. There was fear of them spreading throughout the area. When the sun set, the doors were locked; the windows were chocked. Screams of suffering were heard all night. Steps were coming closer from the road. It’s not a shadow; it’s an old man with a pick staff. He is blind. But… Why doesn’t he hear the screams? He is also deaf. He is standing to rest beside the haunted lamp. Suddenly he murmurs: “The time that people manufactured durable wires had passed. Today, wires are not even for poles.”
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