The Beautiful Eyes of Mulligan Hunch

"Why are you afraid of the night?"
The old man asked, his gray mustache twitching with what I thought was the beginning of a smile.
"I don't know, it seems so, wild I guess."
It had been a smile pulling at his lips for as the words left my mouth it broke out of the gray curtain and shone dazzling into my eyes.
"My darling idiot, do not always be afraid of the wild things, for they do not always mean you harm."
With that he vanished into the fog, as if he'd never been there at all.