Shallow Water
Many years ago I read a short story called a "Nightmare in Blue". I believe it was written by Frederic Brown in an anthology called "Nightmares and Geezenstacks". It was one of those stories which haunted me for years. Then Roger Turner told me a question which his grandson had asked him. "If you drown, what happens to your ghost? Does it just float around?" I thought about it and then remembered "Nightmare in Blue".
When Johnny was three his mamma said to him
Don't go down to the water's brim
If you fall in then you might drown
And your ghost will float around
Johnny got older - he couldn't forget
Those crazy words that his ma had said
Year by year his fear grew more
He never ever ventured near the shore
Chorus
Don't go down to the water side
If you do then you might die
If you fall in then you might drown
And your ghost will float around
At twenty he married and at twenty two
They had this little baby with the eyes of blue
Five years later man and son
Were playing football as they'd often done
Johnny kicked the ball so very high
It hung suspended in the sky
But when he saw where the ball had gone
He shouted wildly at his son
chorus
The ball rolled down the river bank
The boy fell in and down he sank
Johnny stood there with his head all in a spin
He was cursing his mother that he couldn't swim
The water looked so very chill and cold
That shivers ran right through his soul
And as the ripples slowly died
He heard a distant ghostly cry
chorus
He ran back home to get his wife
He was shouting at her "You've got to save his life"
She ran to the river and she jumped right in
Picked up their son and she cuddled him
The water was only up to her waist
Johnny looked on - he had an ashen face
Not a word between the two was said
As they gazed at their son who was cold and dead
chorus