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The Hall Chimp
From the Miles Franklin longlisted author of Flames , is a short story that will have you on the edge of your seat, screaming 'wake up'.
___________________
The mum and the dad are in bed but the boy is standing in the hallway. He's been sleepwalking again.
The boy wakes up in the middle of the night to find a man in his hallway. But this is no regular man. No, he's a hall chimp. The man jumps around like a chimp, scratched his armpits like a chimp, rolls around on the floor like a chimp. The boy wants to play too...
___________________
The mum and the dad are in bed but the boy is standing in the hallway. He's been sleepwalking again.
The boy wakes up in the middle of the night to find a man in his hallway. But this is no regular man. No, he's a hall chimp. The man jumps around like a chimp, scratched his armpits like a chimp, rolls around on the floor like a chimp. The boy wants to play too...
- GenresShort Stories
52 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 11, 2019
2 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Robbie Arnott
11 books677 followersRobbie Arnott was born in Launceston in 1989. His writing has appeared in Island, the Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and the 2017 anthology Seven Stories. He won the 2015 Tasmanian Young Writers’ Fellowship and the 2014 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. Robbie lives in Hobart and is an advertising copywriter.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 21, 2023
The Hall Chimp is a short story by award-winning Australian author, Robbie Arnott, published under the Atlantic Shorts banner. An excerpt of his debut novel, Flames is included. Young Nathan often walks in his sleep. Sometimes he wakes up in his mum and dad’s bedroom; sometimes, the bathroom; tonight, it’s in the hall at the bottom of the stairs, just as the front door opens. A man comes in with a large container. The boy’s fear is instant, instinctive, white hot. But the man pulls faces, grunts, hoots, scratches his armpits, rolls on the floor: he’s a chimpanzee. Nathan is giggling. They play a silly game. It's fun. But the boy was right to be afraid.
Ten pages that really pack a punch.
Ten pages that really pack a punch.
July 2, 2024
2.5~3★
“But this is the first time he has woken up in the hallway.”
A little boy who sleepwalks, usually wakes up in talking to his mum and dad at the foot of their bed. Tonight, he’s stumbled into the hallway, and confused himself.
“…and it’s dark, and he’s disorientated, and half-dreaming, and someone is opening the front door.”
This doesn’t look good. A man lumbers into the house carrying something big, and he stops when he sees the boy. The boy begins to panic (of course!) and is getting ready to call out when the man starts making funny faces, like a clown.
“This new face turns boy’s pause into a giggle. Then the man crouches down and impersonates a chimpanzee: scratching his armpit, rolling on the ground, blowing a raspberry and making chimp sounds. Now the boy is chuckling — who is this man? He’s so funny! He’s just like a chimp!”
The boy is young and impressionable enough to copy him, and they start to play a sort of game. The man asks for a tour of the downstairs of the house.
I will leave you there. I have no idea what this story was meant to be. It doesn’t end well (no child abuse), but it seems to just hang there as if perhaps it’s a prologue – but to what? It’s only about 2600 words or so, almost not long enough for a nightmare, although maybe it is one.
The writing, the setting, and the mood were good, so I’ll round up to 3 stars, but . . . what is it?
I absolutely loved Arnott’s Limberlost, so I will read more of his work.
“But this is the first time he has woken up in the hallway.”
A little boy who sleepwalks, usually wakes up in talking to his mum and dad at the foot of their bed. Tonight, he’s stumbled into the hallway, and confused himself.
“…and it’s dark, and he’s disorientated, and half-dreaming, and someone is opening the front door.”
This doesn’t look good. A man lumbers into the house carrying something big, and he stops when he sees the boy. The boy begins to panic (of course!) and is getting ready to call out when the man starts making funny faces, like a clown.
“This new face turns boy’s pause into a giggle. Then the man crouches down and impersonates a chimpanzee: scratching his armpit, rolling on the ground, blowing a raspberry and making chimp sounds. Now the boy is chuckling — who is this man? He’s so funny! He’s just like a chimp!”
The boy is young and impressionable enough to copy him, and they start to play a sort of game. The man asks for a tour of the downstairs of the house.
I will leave you there. I have no idea what this story was meant to be. It doesn’t end well (no child abuse), but it seems to just hang there as if perhaps it’s a prologue – but to what? It’s only about 2600 words or so, almost not long enough for a nightmare, although maybe it is one.
The writing, the setting, and the mood were good, so I’ll round up to 3 stars, but . . . what is it?
I absolutely loved Arnott’s Limberlost, so I will read more of his work.
July 18, 2025
Friends, this was a littleeee bit crazy. Gave anxiety for a bit lol
Usualmente estas historias cortas me dejan queriendo más, pero en esta pensé que no sería así. Cuando terminé dije okay, ahí quedó, pero no… empecé a pensar y pensar y cada teoría me daba tantas variables que wow, mejor dejémoslo así.
Usualmente estas historias cortas me dejan queriendo más, pero en esta pensé que no sería así. Cuando terminé dije okay, ahí quedó, pero no… empecé a pensar y pensar y cada teoría me daba tantas variables que wow, mejor dejémoslo así.
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May 19, 2025This is a 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 short story (14 pages) and unlike anything I've read by Robbie Arnott. Despite the name, this is not a children's story. I'm not even sure why it was written or who it was written for.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews