Once upon a time there was a little boy by the name of Billy. Now Billy was your ordinary sort of little boy who did all those ordinary little boy things... like running and playing, eating and yelling, busting shit up and grudgingly going to school. As a matter of fact, it was one day when Billy got down to the bus stop to meet the bus to go to school, that he found all of his friends huddled around in a little group. They were talking animatedly about the Toeknock Spirit. Being a bright little boy, Billy was curious as hell.
   "Hey! What's this Toeknock Spirit?" Billy piped up.
   "You don't know what the Toeknock Spirit is?" the children asked in disbelief. "You just stay the fuck away from us."
   While they waited for the bus, no one would play with nor go near Billy, nor even talk to him. They just stood some distance away, pointing and staring at him. Then the bus came. Billy, confused and discouraged, boarded the bus along with the rest of the children.
   "Hey, Mister Bus Driver!" one of the children said as they passed him. "Billy there wants to know what the Toeknock Spirit is!"
   The bus driver turned an intent glare on Billy.
   "You don't know what the Toeknock Spirit is?" he asked Billy pointedly.
   "No, sir," admitted Billy shyly.
   "Little bastard!" spit the bus driver and he ordered Billy to sit in the very back of the bus, all by himself.
   When the bus got to school, Billy waited until all the other kids got off, then he debarked by the back door in silence. He couldn't help but notice all the children in the schoolyard pointing at him and scowling or laughing. But nobody talked to him or came near him until the bell rang for class. He had become The Boy Who Didn't Know About the Toeknock Spirit.
   In silence they all lined up for class, with Billy's classmates avoiding touching him or even looking in his direction as they filed in.
   Class, at least went on as usual. After the Pledge of Allegiance, they worked on their multiplication tables for a while. Then they were asked to take out their History text books. Billy did as requested but his mind soon began to wander. That is, until he heard the teacher mention something about the Toeknock Spirit.
   Billy's hand shot up and the teacher called on him.
   "Miss, what's the Toeknock Spirit?" asked Billy hopefully.
   "What's the Toeknock Spirit? What kind of smart-ass question is that?" screamed the teacher. "You get yourself down to the principal's office right now, young man. No, I don't want to hear any more! March!"
   So Billy left the classroom dejectedly, closed the door and headed down the long dark hollow-sounding hallway to the principal's office. He'd never been sent there before but had heard enough horror stories about what happened there from all the "bad" kids on the playground to make him fear the worst. Every step he took resounded heavily in his frightened little soul. He was sure he was going to meet his doom. He wondered if The Strap" was really metal studded and six feet long as he'd been told.
   He got to the principals office after what was both the longest and strangely shortest period of time in his whole young life. He slowly opened the large, heavy door and timidly entered the office, cringing inwardly at the mixed smells of methanol duplicator fluid, cheap aftershave and pre-teen fear. Behind a battlescarred and imposing desk, sat the principal.
   Mr. Torvald, the principal, was a large man, not flabby, but hulking and muscular, his sinews toughened by years of military service in the Marines and, later, dealing with problem students in a very physically imposing way. He fixed his one good eye (the other had been gouged out in a bar fight in Manilla years before and the empty socket now hid behind a leather patch because the principal eschewed cosmetic prosthetics as effeminate and unworthy of him) on Billy as if he was still a drill sergeant dealing with a new recruit. He spoke in a deep gravelly voice.
   "Billy," he asked slowly and disarmingly quietly. "What are you doing here?"
   "Mr. Torvald, I just don't know what's going on today," blurted Billy, near tears. "Everyone's been acting so weird and mean to me today, and, like, they're all treating me really badly. Even my teacher... she sent me to you just for asking a question in class just now."
   "Now, Billy. That sounds serious," rumbled Mr. Torvald, leaning forward.
   Billy involuntarily leaned back.
   "There must be something behind it all," reasoned the principal. "What was this question you asked, anyway?"
   "I... I... wanted to know..." stammered Billy in trepidation, "...what the Toeknock Spirit is."
   "What?!" roared Mr. Torvald, snatching off his leather eyepatch to expose Billy to the horror of his raw gaping eyesocket. "You don't know what the Toeknock Spirit is? That's it! I'm calling your mother! You can consider yourself suspended!"
   The principal stood up, came around his desk, grabbed Billy none too gently by his thin shoulders and thrust Billy out of his office. He ordered Billy to go home immediately, saying he would stop by Billy's house later to have words with his parents.
   In confused tears, Billy, made the long walk home, realizing how far it actually was without the bus ride. When he finally got homee, his mother was standing in the doorway waiting for him.
   "Billy!" she cried, coming down the walk to meet him, "I've been so worried about you! What happened?"
   "Mom..." Billy got out between sobs, "Everyone... was being so mean to me today... I had to sit... in the back of the bus all by myself... and nobody would talk to me... and... and the teacher sent me to the principal's office... and the principal suspended me..."
   "Oh, my poor baby," consoled his mother. "But why?"
   "It's all because..."began Billy, wiping his tears off his snotty nose, "...because I asked about the Toeknock Spirit."
   The slap that his mother gave him across his cheek rocked Billy back a couple of steps. He looked up at her glaring face in disbelief. She looked apoplectic and Billy could see she was just barely holding her temper in.
   "I can't talk to you right now and I don't want to see you right now." his mother said slowly and dangerously. She was biting back a shriek of righteous outrage. "Get up to your room immediately!" she ordered. "Get! Just wait until your father gets home!"
   His cheek burning with pain and his heart feeling ten times worse, Billy marched up the stairs and into his room. He collapsed on his bed, letting full vent to his tears. They soon soaked his pillow.
   After some amount of time, he heard his father's car pull in and the car door shutting. He also heard another car pull up and Mr. Torvald's unmistakeable voice calling his father's name. A few seconds later he heard the downstairs door open and his father and the principal come into the house talking animatedly. His mother's voice soon joined the conversation. Though it was obviously quite heated, couldn't hear what they were saying. Then he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and his door opened.
   "Billy," his father began in that growling tone he saved for when his son had misbehaved, "Your mother and your principal tell me you've been acting badly lately. But I would like to hear from your own lips what you've done?"
   "Dad, I haven't done anything!" Billy protested through his tears. "I just don't know what the Toeknock Spirit is!"
   His father clsed his eyes tightly and clenched and unclenched his fists several times, breathing deeply. It was several seconds before he could answer.
   "I see..." said his father in an even more dangerous tone. "Well, in that case, you can just stay in this room all night, mister. And you can forget about dinner!"
   Billy's father slammed the door and stomped off. Billy stared unbelieving at the door for almost a minute before collapsing on his bed again in tears. He was exhausted from all the emotional stress and the long walk home. He cried himself to sleep and his parents never came up to his room that night. They didn't trust themselves not to lose their temper with him.
   Billy woke in the dark of the night, cold and damp and dejected, his dried tears leaving salty tracks on his cheeks. He didn't know what had woken him but he thought he had heard a voice through his dreams.
   Then, from nowhere in the darkness of his room, he heard a voice.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy..."
   Billy sat up with a jolt. He scanned around the room, peering in the near-pitch dark, trying to find the source of that breathy, but somehow kindly sounding voice. But he wasn't sure where it came from.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit. Come find me, Billy."
   Now he knew! The voice was coming from outside his window.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit. Let me help you..."
   The voice was strangely calming and Billy uncannily felt more at ease that he had the whole terrible day. He got up[ and went to the window and looked out. It was dark, with no moon, but the stars were out.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit... Come with me, Billy... You will see..."
   Billy HAD to know, now. So Billy went back to his bed, pulled his shoes and jacket on and went back to the window. He climbed out the window and onto the roof.
   "Billy.... Come on, my boy... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy... I can help you..."
   Billy still couldn't see where the voice was coming from but he could sense it was near. He followed.
   "I am the Toeknock Spirit..."
   Following the kindly voice as it moved away from him, Billy jumped down off the roof and headed toward the sidewalk.
   "Follow, Billy.... Follow... Follow the Toeknock Spirit, Billy..."
   Still feeling safe and curious, Billy followed the voice down the road until he got to the edge of the nearby Park Woods. He'd played there many times in the daytime with his friends before this past awful day had happened. He wasn't afraid of the woods and the voice was leading him there anyway.
   "Come on, Billy.... it's me... the Toeknock Spirit, Billy... follow if you want to know..."
   Billy followed into the Park Woods. It was very dark there. He could hardly see anything now, and he kept falling down and walking into things, though he knew these paths very well. But, he wasn't scared. That kindly voice was just ahead of him, drawing him on.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy..."
   Billy folllowed and he now was pretty sure where he was headed.
   "Billy.... That's right... Follow, Billy..."
   Suddenly, Billy was out of the Woods and could see much more now. He was on the shore of little Taylor's Lake on the edge of town. He'd been here many times before as well, though never at night.
   "Billy... out here, Billy .... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy... You're very close now..."
   It was coming from just off shore. Billy still couldn't see much, but he thought he saw a lightly glowing form just above the water. He went to the water's edge and bumped his knee against something dark and hard.
   "Billy...."
   It was a rowboat. Billy knew it was there. He'd been out in it with some of the older kids, but never by himself, even in daylight.
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit... Hurry Billy... you'll soon see..."
   Billy decided. He'd come this far. He'd see it through and finally know. He climbed in the boat and pushed off shore.
   "Billy.... Good... Come to me... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy... Let me help you..."   
   With some difficulty, Billy fitted the heavy oars in the oarlocks and began to row. It was slow going, but Billy was determined now. He slowly got closer to the voice.
   "Billy.... You are almost here... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy..."   
   Billy doubled his effort, and the boat began to move a little faster. Finally When he was about half way across the small lake, he heard the voice more clearly than ever:
   "Billy.... I am the Toeknock Spirit, Billy... I'm up here, Billy. Look up!"
   It was coming from directly above him. Billy stopped rowing and stood up to peer into the moonless night above him to finally see what this elusive Toeknock Spirit. He suddenly lost his balance and the boat tipped over, dumping him in the lake. Billy drowned.
   "Oh, Billy... When boating, you should always wear a personal flotation device..."