Bed Bugs Don't Bite?

Part 3 of Julia Maclean's delightful Little Life series of claymation shorts has The Boy Who Picks His Nose preparing for bed.

Mum's voice soothes him into a false sense of security, ending with the innocuous, "Night night, don't let the bed bugs bite."

The light is switched out; the cat curls up on the floor; The Boy clutches his soft toy friend thing tightly; every sound intimates terror, or worse.

Are there bugs? Do they bite? Do they eat children alive? He dreams in pale animation; a green hand snakes from beneath the bed to get him.

Night is filled with secret creatures that are permanently hungry. The Boy dares not sleep, but as he fights to stay awake, worms slither silently from their birth pit under his bed.

Maclean tells her story through The Boy's expressive face. She understands the truth of the child world. It is very real and very scary and has none of the certainties that protect the grown world.

Night time is fright time. The cat is too animal to notice and mum would never believe it.

Julia believes it. And so will you.