PHILIP
Hey, Asher; let’s stop here.

ASHER
Here?

PHILIP
Yeah, this is where we’re gonna have our picnic!

ASHER
No way, man! Here!?

PHILIP
Yes, Ash; we’re going to be eating amongst the dead! Oooooh!

ASHER
Shut up!

PHILIP
Oooooh!

ASHER
I mean it!

PHILIP
Ha! Ha! Ha!

ASHER
What the hell, Philip!?

PHILIP
Chill out, Asher! I’m just kiddin’ around.

ASHER
Do you know whose grave this is?

PHILIP
Yeah, Benjamin Nabby’s.

ASHER
Exactly! THE Benjamin Nabby, the greediest man in all of New York. He died like, what-a hundred years ago or something?

PHILIP
Yeah, I know…

ASHER
So why are we here?

PHILIP
We’re gonna do a little experiment.

Asher
What? What kind of experiment? Seriously, Phil, I don’t like this place, it scares the crap out of me. It’s like the only grave here, and everything around it is dead: the trees, the flowers, and even the grass. Look at the grave, it looks like it
was freshly dug, even after one hundred years!

PHILIP
‘Here lies Benjamin Nammy, who in life was incredibly grabby. Stand not on his grave, lest he nab ye!’

ASHER
Stop it, man. Don’t scare me like that! Let’s get out of here! Please!

PHILIP
Come on, Ash! Where’s your sense of adventure? Think about it; us two kids, Philip and Asher Assaf; proving that the crap story about Benjamin Nabby rising out of his grave to grab people and drag them under is just that; crap! No different than any of
our video games. Maybe we can talk about this in a school project once we go back in September!

ASHER
Yeah, if we survive.

PHILIP
We will, Asher. I don’t get why people believe this crap, anyway. It’s like believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. It’s all bullshit.

ASHER
What about God?

PHILIP
There’s no god.

ASHER
I don’t know, Phil. Sometimes these stories can be good for us; as either entertainment or to make us good people.

PHILIP
But they’re just stories, Ash-though some of them are kind of cool-they’re just stories. People are always saying-for example-that God will punish you if you do something bad, but it doesn’t stop people from doing bad things to each other. Why
doesn’t God stop them if he doesn’t like it? Now about Mr. Nabby, why would he grab us and drag us under just because we stepped on his grave? ‘Respect the dead,’ people say! Screw that! What are the dead gonna do, kill us? It’s not like we’
re going to steal from them or anything!

ASHER
I know, but we should let them rest in peace.

PHILIP
And even if we ARE going to steal from them, what are they gonna do about it? It’s not like they’re gonna need it anymore.


ASHER
But Mr. Nabby was a greedy man, and he died greedy.

PHILIP
So freakin’ what? What’s he gonna do with all that money? It’s not like he can spend it in the afterlife or anything.

ASHER
Uh…

PHILIP
And how does anybody know that he’ll grab people that so much as touch his grave? Has anyone seen him do it? Has he told anyone that he’ll rise up and do it?

ASHER
I dunno.

PHILIP
Did he grab or kill anybody while they were digging his grave or putting up his tombstone? If not, why not, huh? Tell me that!

ASHER
I dunno…

PHILIP
What the hell do you mean, ‘you don’t know’? Have you ever read about anyone being dragged under by him?

ASHER
No…

PHILIP
See? There you go. And one more thing, if he was as greedy as you say, why does he stay in his grave? Why doesn’t he rise up and terrorize everyone in the big apple and steal from them or something?

ASHER
I’m going to say the first thing I said when you asked those questions, ‘I dunno!’

PHILIP
Well, those same questions I ask about Mr. Nabby, I ask about God himself. Has anyone ever seen God?

ASHER
Uh…

PHILIP
Hah! A different answer this time! Do YOU believe in God?

ASHER
I told you, Philip; I don’t know. Maybe he exists and maybe he doesn’t.


PHILIP
Here’s the part I don’t get; why do people believe in God but not zombies, fairies, or goblins?

ASHER
Who knows, Philip? And I don’t either. How should any of us know?

PHILIP
Well, today’s the day we’re gonna know. We’re gonna prove that this whole thing about Benjamin Nabby is bullshit!

ASHER
How are we gonna do that?

PHILIP
By stepping on his grave, that’s what!

ASHER
Are you freakin’ crazy?

PHILIP
Shut up and listen, Asher! I don’t mean really, ‘stepping on it.’ I mean by tapping it with just our toes. We’re both in bare feet, so it ain’t gonna be that much of a problem.

ASHER
Which one of us is gonna do it?

PHILIP
You.

ASHER
Me? No way, man!

PHILIP
Come on, Ash; show some guts for once in your life! Think of this-

ASHER
Screw you! I have guts!

PHILIP
Right…

ASHER
I do! Remember back in March? We ran out onto the balcony-you and me-carrying Mom’s dress!

PHILIP
Which was your idea. I remember, though. It was a bit chilly that day.

ASHER
And we were out in summer clothing and bare feet.


PHILIP
Remember when you threw the dress to me while you held the door shut? Mom and Dad threatened to whip your ass.

ASHER
Stepdad!

PHILIP
Right. You held the door shut and then you mooned them, pressing your butt against the screen.

ASHER
Ha! Ha! Yeah, I remember.

PHILIP
You waved your butt in their faces, and then stepdad took off his belt and hit the screen, barely missing you.

ASHER
Yeah, I know.

PHILIP
But you didn’t go back quick enough. You stuck your tongue out at them and called them poo poo faces! Stepdad opened the door and grabbed you, remember?

ASHER
Yeah, I kept yelling at him to let me go!

PHILIP
And then he dragged you inside.

ASHER
See? I showed courage.

PHILIP
Yeah, but it was stupid! But at the same time, funny.

ASHER
But you took part too.

PHILIP
I know, but looking back now, I don’t know why I did…

ASHER
I was standing up to them. It wasn’t fair, the way they were always picking on us; me especially.

PHILIP
I know, but it was still stupid. Anyway, while you were inside, Mom came out onto the balcony, trying to get me. I held her dress over the balcony, threatening to drop it if she came closer.



ASHER
Yeah, I know. Stepdad made me watch while Mom was after you. You and Mom were talking, but I wasn’t sure what either of you said.

PHILIP
I dropped the dress-though I don’t think it was on purpose.

ASHER
Yeah, and then she got pissed off, grabbed you, and dragged you inside with me. That was when stepdad said that we were going to be whipped; twelve lashes each-for both of us. Six stripes from Mom’s slipper and six stripes from Stepdad’s belt.

PHILIP
I remember. They were to whip you on your bare butt and me on my wrists.

ASHER
Yeah, and now that I think about it, I wish I didn’t mention this story. Even now, it makes me shudder; thinking about it. Oh, man, those things: Mom’s slipper and Stepdad’s belt. It was like being burned with a cigarette and stung by a dozen
hornets; all the same time! I still feel it sometimes, but just a little bit.

PHILIP
I know, right? That was when I offered to take your punishment, tell them that the whole thing was my idea. But no, they wanted to punish both of us, so threw dragged us to our room…

ASHER
And that was when it started.

PHILIP
Yeah, Stepdad threw you on the bed, and beat you with his belt, six times! While Mom made me watch. That time, you kept on saying, ‘ow’! You were crying too.

ASHER
And then Mom whipped me. You also forgot to mention that I kept trying to get away, but they kept pulling me back.

PHILIP
I know.

ASHER
I was just glad when it was over.

PHILIP
Remember about a moment or two ago when you said you had courage? Yeah, for only a short while.

ASHER
I know, don’t remind me. It happens with me;. one minute I’m brave, and a few minutes later…

PHILIP
Why does that happen?


ASHER
How should I know?

PHILIP
I remember when it came to be my turn. You just lied on the floor, rubbing your butt.

ASHER
Yeah, it was sore.

PHILIP
Your butt was all red-like scratches and shit.

ASHER
Yeah, don’t remind me.

PHILIP
But you showed them off at one point, remember? Anyway, let’s talk about that at another time. So, Stepdad took me and held me arms right in front of me. Then, I got the same thing as you; WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! From both of them.

ASHER
I know. I didn’t watch much, because I was too busy rubbing my sore butt. I know you said, ‘ow’, once or twice, but I don’t think you struggled much.

PHILIP
I was just standing while they punished me. I didn’t struggle because there was no point. Either Mom or Stepdad held me by the back of my shirt while the other punished me. I didn’t think there was a way to escape so I just had to take it as best as
I could.

ASHER
That was brave.

PHILIP
The only reason I held that dress over the balcony was because I agreed with you about Mom and Stepdad, but you did it in a stupid way. We should have just ran away, that’s it. I don’t know what made you do what you did that day, but it was both
funny and stupid at the same time. You see, Asher, being brave doesn’t mean taking stupid risks like you’ve done. It means taking risks because you have to. Like, look at the cops; they get into a shootout because that’s their job. They do it to
rescue someone. You did it to stand up to them, but in the end, it hurt you as well as me.

ASHER
Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry. I don’t know why I ran to the balcony. I should have just opened the front door, ran out into the hallway, down the stairs, and out of the building.

PHILIP
Yeah, well, too late now…

ASHER
Say, Phil. You mentioned that other story?


PHILIP
Which one?

ASHER
You know! The one about where I showed off my marks!

PHILIP
WE showed off our marks! Yeah, I remember; it was at the pool. And that was a like-what, a week after our punishment?

ASHER
Heh! Heh! Yeah, and that time we showed off our marks to some girls, saying we got tattoos.

PHILIP
Yeah, and everyone freaked out! But Asher, we got kicked out of the pool, remember?

ASHER
Oh, yeah! But still; good times.

PHILIP
Come on, Asher! None of this has anything to do with our project. So, let’s get to work.

ASHER
Okay, okay…

PHILIP
Did you bring the camera?

ASHER
Yeah, it’s in my backpack; on my bike.

PHILIP
I’ll get it.

ASHER
Hey, Philip!

PHILIP
What?

ASHER
After we prove this whole story is crap, can we eat?

PHILIP
Yes, of course.

ASHER
But then again, where’ll we park our bikes?


PHILIP
On the grass, dummy! Where do you think?

ASHER
Silly me!

PHILIP
Okay, I got the camera!

ASHER
Uh… Philip?

PHILIP
What the hell? What now?

ASHER
I’m still nervous about this. Can I like hold onto you or something… you know, in case something does happen?

PHILIP
Don’t worry, I’ll be right next to you.

ASHER
Okay…

PHILIP
Okay, let’s go over to the grave now.

ASHER
Just my toes, right?

PHILIP
Yeah. And that’s when I take the picture. Think about it-me and you-famous for disprove the Benjamin Nabby ghost story.

ASHER
HEH! HEH! Yeah, and we’re only twelve and thirteen years old.

PHILIP
Okay, ready, Ash?

ASHER
I guess so…

PHILIP
I got my camera ready. Go!

ASHER
Here goes nothing.

PHILIP
Yeah, that’s it, Asher. Hang your foot over the grave. Set it down slowly, come on.

ASHER
There. Just my toes. Hey, Philip! You’re right, nothing happened!

PHILIP
I told you…

ASHER
Did you take the picture?

PHILIP
Whoops! Oh, yeah. Hold on. Keep your toes on the grave.

ASHER
Gaaah! He’s got me!

PHILIP
Holy shit! The story is true; and he’s got your ankle!

ASHER
I know that! Help me!

PHILIP
Hey! The camera’s not working!

ASHER
Never mind the picture, asshole! Help me!

PHILIP
Okay, Ash; I got you!

ASHER
Let me go, Mr. Nabby!

PHILIP
Yeah, Mr. Nabby, you let my brother go!

ASHER
I’m sinking! Nooo! Mmphh!

PHILIP
Whoa!

PHILIP
Yaah! Now he’s got me! No, let go! Noooooo! Mmmph!

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