[ WP ] Make me terrified of an inanimate object

My son ran up as my brother set down his bags. `` Good to see you, little rapscallion! How've you been?'' 
 
 Tyler held up a plastic nerf pistol. `` I got a new gun! I've been shooting bad guys with it! Pechewboosh!'' He pulled the trigger at a lamp but with his darts all still locked up after he had managed to land one in a pan I was cooking in last week. 
 
 `` That's great! I know how much you like to play with this kind of stuff so I brought along a present for you to try out.'' He unzipped one of the duffel bags and dug around a little. 
 
 I sighed, `` Oh James, not *another* nerf gun... He already has five, he does n't need one more.'' 
 
 He straighten up a little pulling out what looked like a small microphone kit from back when we were kids. `` No, not another gun. This one's a lot cooler, and a lot more expensive so be careful with it, okay?'' 
 
 Tyler nodded like a bobble head to his uncle. He's promise off deserts for a week if it meant he could get a present from his uncle, the man spoiled him with presents and always had better stories than me or her husband ever managed to think up. 
 
 `` Alright. We use big versions of these at my work to look for hidden bombs that bad guys might have. You hold it here like this and hold the wand next to what you want to check.'' James flipped the On switch and a tiny light on the device lit up. `` Now go check around the house for bombs in case one of the bad guys is after me, alright?'' 
 
 `` I'll get'em!'' Tyler said and bounded off with the device. 
 
 I shook my head. `` Great, now I'll have him checking under the bed for bad guys all week,'' I gave my brother a hug. `` How has work been keeping you?'' 
 
 `` Oh you know, the same fuuu...'' He caught himself. `` The same mess ups as usual. I wonder how the port even functions some days.'' 
 
 `` Anymore shipments of contraband monkeys this time?'' I asked playfully. 
 
 `` Hey, that one really happened and thankfully no. It's all technology integration issues mostly, the people who use fax machines not talking to the ones who use e-mail. That sort of thing.'' 
 
 I nodded. `` Sounds like Roland's work then.'' I gave few light coughs at that. 
 
 `` You alright?'' James asked with a little concern. `` I'd hate to have shown up while you were sick.'' 
 
 `` It's nothing,'' I waved him off. `` Just a little cough the past week or two that has n't quite given up. I'm thinking maybe it's the neighbor's new dog.'' 
 
 James rolled his eyes, `` Yes I saw. Ferocious beast. Must weigh 3? 4 pounds? Sheds so much hair they keep that little jacket on it.'' He gave his little giggle and changed the subject before I could retaliate. `` Where is Roland anyway, normally he's in on Sundays?'' He picked up his bags and started for the guest bedroom. 
 
 `` Yeah, it was some unexpected shift change. He jokes that it's all the international workers holding secret union meetings.'' A clatter of metal came from the kitchen. `` I'd better see what Tyler is up to now.'' 
 
 James gave me a nod and started to unpack as I headed out to the kitchen. Tyler was waving the little wand around the countertops. `` Mom! Listen to this!'' He held the wand away from them and pointed to the dial. `` Nothing see? But then if I hold it near the table, the little hand twitches!'' He suddenly frowned at me. `` Have you been cooking up bad guy bombs in here?'' He asked. 
 
 `` Hmm...'' I gave him a look, `` You know what, maybe I have... When really, I should have been cooking up little boy bombs!'' I gave him a predatory grin and chased him out of the kitchen. Doubling back around the other side of the kitchen, I snatched him up as he ran into me looking backwards. He squealed and kicked as I nummed at him, tossing him about carefully. 
 
 The activity brought on another little fit of coughs, but Tyler just responded by yelling, `` Smoke bomb!'' and using the chance to escape and hide. 
 
 A few minutes later, following the sounds of roughhousing, James found the two of us in the kitchen, me holding Tyler and trying to convince him he would fit in a pie so I could serve him to bad guys and he could pop out and shoot them all. For some reason, he kept asserting I was just going to bake him up and eat him. Preposterous. James took this time to chime in, `` Look, she's my older sister. If she was going to bake anyone into a pie it would have been me.'' 
 
 `` Yeah, but you would n't fit in the oven!'' Tyler retorted. 
 
 `` That I would n't. But neither would you,'' he pointed out. `` So you'd never cook up right since half of you would be hanging out the whole time.'' 
 
 That seemed to placate Tyler for a moment and I took that time to pass the boy over to his uncle. Halfway through though, James stopped. `` Now Tyler, I told you to be careful. Look you've gone and broken it already?'' He indicated the handheld device quivering at max and set the boy down between the two of us. The device's readout plummeted and James screwed up his face in confusion. `` Huh? Let me check something, for just a moment. Okay Tyler?'' Tyler presented his uncle with the device and James picked it up and began waving the wand around. 
 
 I could n't see what the dial read as he looked at it, but he kept waving the wand around and his arm kept finding its way back to me like a compass. James's face grew stony `` Is there something wrong?'' I asked. 
 
 `` Hush, let me check something.'' He came in close and started to run the little wand over me like an airport screener. He paused at my chest. `` Do you have any necklaces or anything on?'' He asked me in a voice that was beginning to have be worried. 
 
 `` Y-yes, I, umm... I've got the anniversary necklace Roland got me last month. I've been wearing it ever since.'' I unclasped the silver chain from my neck and pulled out the blue stone pendant that hung at the end. 
 
 `` Set it on the counter, I want to see something.'' Curious and worried now, I complied. He ran the wand over my chest and head again and grimaced. `` Here I want you to see something.'' He pulled me over and showed me the dial on the wand. `` This...'' He pointed at the dial and held the wand pointed at our feet, `` Is a high but base-line reading. Everything in this red area here is considered unsafe.'' He then ran the wand over the necklace, and I watched as the the needle spiked into the red and wobbled there steadily. James flicked off the device and looked at me with a sort of contained horrified terror. `` We need to get you to a hospital *NOW*.''
