Reddit: r/nosleep

PART XI: I'm Having a Picnic

Lilian Madwhip

PART XI: I’m Having a Picnic

My name is Lily Madwhip and I’m having a picnic.

“Pass the potato chips, please, Lily.”

That’s my brother Roger. He’s six years older than me. We both like potato chips. Who doesn’t? Even my pet turtle Raphael likes them. Raphael is sitting on the tablecloth next to me. He’s so cute. I give him a potato chip and pass the bag to Roger. Raphael chomps on the potato chip.

“Thank you, Lily.” Roger smiles at me.

“You’re welcome!” I tell him and smile back, popping a potato chip in my mouth. It tastes like sawdust.

My mom and dad smile at both of us, because they’re so happy we’re their kids. Roger plays in a band with his friends Skeeter and Dustin. Roger plays the drums. He’s very good at it. My dad taught him how. Someday I hope he’ll teach me too.

We’re having a wonderful picnic here by the lake. I can hear birds chirping in the trees. They sound so pretty. Out in the lake, my cousin Susie is swimming around. She loves to swim. She leaves a trail of red behind her in the water. Maybe after we eat Roger and I can play in the lake with Susie!

“I love you guys,” I tell my family. “And you, Raphael.” I pet my turtle.

He turns and looks up at me and lets water pour out of his mouth. He’s so silly.

“And we love you too, Lily.” My mom pets my head. I like it when she pets my head.

Back in third grade, this lady used to come by our classroom and we were always told to get out our pencils when she came by. We’d set our pencils out on our desks and the lady would come to each of us and use our pencil to comb through our hair. I always loved it when the lady would comb through my hair with my pencil. I told my mom about the nice lady who would visit our classroom and gently comb our hair and she told me it was the school nurse and she was checking for lice.

Roger nudges me. He’s got on his favorite shirt with no sleeves, and his hair is brushed all neat and tidy. He grins at me. “Look what I found.” He hands me my foil Charizard.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Susie calls from down in the lake. She waves at us, but she’s got no hand. We all laugh and wave back.

Dad stands up and brushes himself off. He’s wearing a nice black suit and tie. It must be pretty hot for this sunny Summer day. “Roger,” he says, “let’s play some music for the ladies.”

“Sounds good!” Roger says. He hops to his feet. His belly sloshes because everything inside is mashed potatoes. There’s a drum set out on the grass under a big willow tree, and Roger sits down and pulls out his drum sticks. He pours out the snare drum and gives it a tap.

My dad pulls out a harmonica and polishes it on his sleeve.

“Pardon me, may I join you?”

Mom and I turn to see a dapper-looking man in a white shirt with a painted on tie. He’s got on black pants and a black vest. He looks very happy, and he bows to us both.