Rummaging about in one’s attic can be quite dangerous, as here, we place what we don’t want others to see. Our attics are filled with boxes, some full, many empty, of holiday decorations, heirlooms, and electronic devices, the latter kept forever on the off chance that a return may become necessary. We keep bags and bags of clothes that are unflattering today but may, after that latest New Year’s resolution, look fabulous tomorrow, and suitcases, lots of suitcases, for that trip to Paris we just cannot seem to take

Here, also, hidden behind the unused suitcases and the huge wall of empty device boxes, lie the monsters.

Imagine climbing the stairs into your home’s attic and, as Clark Griswald did in the movie Christmas Vacation, discovering old trunks and suitcases filled with clothes, hats, and lost family movies, pleasant memories of childhood, long-forgotten. Imagine also finding nearby a working projector, an extension cord, and a convenient 115v receptacle to plug it into…

Not to be curmudgeonly, but mice and rats would have long since eaten the clothes, hats, and movies. However, if, by some miracle, a piece of clothing did actually survive, it would only be because a Black Widow, Tarantula or an ill tempered Brown Recluse spider drove off the 10,000 other little creepy-crawly nightmares that also live in the attic, especially an old and undisturbed one.

In the real world, an attic can be a place of wonder, a house of horrors, or a mixture of both, depending upon who occupied the “house” and what they chose to fill it with. We all have attics. A few have an address, but most exist atop our shoulders. To wander willy-nilly through either can be a dangerous affair, for they all contain something someone chose to hide; empty boxes, luggage, ill-fitting clothing, or worse, darkened memories, baggage, debris, and 10,000 monsters fighting daily to survive.

“I don’t need to go here, not today,” I said as I retaped the old box and shoved it back onto the shelf.