The Shelf of Small Things

Carl and Marge had been in the old farmhouse for five years now, fixing it up piece by piece. It was a sprawling place with a wrap-around porch and a detached barn that creaked like an old ship. Their grandchildren often came to stay, and on this particular weekend, it was six-year-old Lily and her older brother, Sam.

Lily was a quiet child with a vivid imagination. Carl often found her in the sunroom, which they’d turned into a playroom, talking to herself. One afternoon, while Sam was outside testing the tires on his bike, Carl heard Lily’s voice drifting from the playroom. She was laughing and chattering, as if in a lively conversation. Curious, he peeked in. Lily sat on the floor, surrounded by her toys, but she was looking up at the high shelf that ran along the wall, cluttered with old knick-knacks and forgotten trinkets.

‘Who are you talking to, Lily?’ Carl asked, his voice gentle.

Lily pointed to a small ceramic figurine on the shelf – a little green imp with a mischievous grin. ‘Him. That’s Mr. Grumbles. He says he lives in the barn, but he comes to visit when Sam’s not here.’

Carl chuckled, thinking it was just an imaginary friend. ‘Well, say hi for me.’ He went back to his chores, but a small part of him wondered why she’d singled out that dusty figure.

That night, after dinner, Carl and Marge tucked the kids into bed. Lily hugged her grandfather tightly and whispered, ‘Mr. Grumbles said goodnight to you.’ Carl smiled, but a chill ran down his spine. He dismissed it, chalking it up to a child’s fantasy.

Around midnight, Carl was asleep when he heard creaking on the stairs. He assumed it was Marge going to the bathroom. But the footsteps were too light, too quick, and they stopped outside the kids’ room. Then came a low, guttural whisper, not quite human, and a soft giggle from Lily. Carl’s heart thumped. He lay frozen, listening, and then the footsteps retreated down the hall, toward the barn.

He got up, carefully peeking into the kids’ room. Lily was sleeping peacefully, but on her nightstand, the little green imp from the shelf sat, its painted eyes seeming to glint in the moonlight. Carl’s blood ran cold. He hadn’t brought it down.

He retrieved the figurine and put it back on the shelf, but the next morning, it was on the kitchen table, and Lily was giggling, saying Mr. Grumbles had followed them. Carl tried to toss it into a drawer, but it kept reappearing in odd places: on the TV, on the porch, once in the car. He threw it in the trash can, but when he took out the garbage, it was sitting on the driveway, waiting.

Marge thought it was a prank. Sam thought it was creepy. But Lily seemed to have a conversation with it every day, and one night, Carl heard a raspy voice from the barn, calling, ‘Lily, come out to play.’ He went to investigate, but found only the imp, perched on a bale of hay, its grin seeming wider in the dim light.

Carl tried to destroy it. He smashed it with a hammer, but the pieces lay on the floor, and the next morning, the figurine sat on his dresser, whole and polished. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Marge, but he put it in a steel box and buried it deep in the yard.

That night, he dreamed of a thousand small hands scratching at the windows. When he woke, the box was on his pillow, the imp now holding a tiny, sticky note in its hand that read, ‘You cannot get rid of me. I am part of this land.’

Carl realized then that the imp had been here long before they bought the farm, and it had chosen Lily as its new playmate. He looked at the shelf of small things, and he swore he saw the imp wink. From that day on, he never slept soundly, and he never left Lily alone, always watching, waiting for the day the imp would call her home.

Years later, when they finally sold the house, Carl felt a weight lift. But as they drove away, he saw Lily in the rearview mirror, waving at the farmhouse, and in her other hand, she held the little green imp. He slammed on the brakes, but when he turned around, her hands were empty, and she was singing a song about a little green friend who lived in the barn and promised to visit her in her dreams.