The Little People(pg. 2)

     Time cruised by on pilot and I became a man. Dad's epileptic seizures became more profound and his drinking became a much bigger problem, more than we could handle, once he drank so much he went into a coma, we went and gave him his last rites and all, but like a miracle, he came out of it and was okay for about a year, then the drinking started again followed up by sessions upon sessions of prescribed medications: Dilantin, Valium, and Thorazine. He tried to kill himself on Easter Sunday once with a .22 rifle and missed his heart by half a centimeter. Thank God the rest of the family was at my grandmother's for dinner. My poor mother endured so much, and how she kept it together is a mystery. Several other occasions dad tried to take his own life but somehow managed to stay alive, now the shrinks intervened but they only prescribed more medications, he was growing tired of this life. I was fearful he would die soon and the family knew as well. But, what took place one time disturbed me so much it still bothers me today.
     I got home from school, and we just moved into our new home, our other house was burnt to the ground by thieves, yes, we endured more than most. We now had a full basement, and that was for us the boys to stay in and dad when he was on his drinking binges. My sisters were dating and were rarely home because they all worked various jobs, but work was impossible for me to find, oh I found several farm jobs, but it never paid well, but I saved every penny. But, I came home from school and dad was in this particular eerie mood, something wasn't quite right with him. 
     "Hey dad, you doing okay?" I said with a withdrawn voice.
     Dad then became frightened and to the point scared, he was almost crying. I never saw him act like this, this brought instant anxiety over me. He was terrified over something, but what?
     "Please, Tim, take those arrows from them, they're trying to kill me!" He said in a vexed way.
     "Dad, I don't see anyone." 
     "Oh, they're everywhere, they're trying to kill me." 
     "Dad, look I'm searching over here," I walked all over the place to offer some reassurance that no one is going to hurt him. 
     "Please, get those bow and arrows from them," he hollered with an abomination.
     "Dad, if I could see them I swear I would," by now this terrified me more than him it seemed. 
     By now I picked up that he was hallucinating, and this was pure Hell for both of us because no one was home but me and dad. I stumbled in consternation trying to find a quick remedy but was too shaken by this to think straight.  
  
                                                                        2