A shadow passed by the barn door, shortening as the monster slowly crept in through the doorway. It was on all fours, about the size of a pony, and sniffing. Its gaze fell upon John as he stood on the edge of hay loft holding a lantern at the ready, and he knew it was coming for him. It slinked into the barn, growling, looking around for any surprises, and stopped when it got to the spilled ‘shine. Moonshine isn’t neutral smelling; it has a distinctive odor. The creature looked around the barn and up at John and then back down at the floor again. It sensed something was wrong and started backing out the way it had come in.
John yelled, “Come on, you coward! You sent Donnie up here! You too yella to come up yourself?!” He launched a couple of the jars at it.
It dodged the jars easily enough, snarled and growled at John, and then leapt for the ladder before he had a chance to throw the lantern. The monster was too fast! And it had avoided the spill altogether. John knew he had to get it into the moonshine somehow. He reached down for another jar, and as the monster showed its head above the edge of the loft, he let the jar fly. Just like Donnie so long ago, he hit it square in the face. The jar shattered, covering the monster’s head and upper body in moonshine. It fell off of the ladder and into the spill.
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Tom Bont's Silver Key 