“Eric, what’s the matter? That’s enough—you’ll wake everyone up,” a voice said very close, on the other side of the bush. Mimi’s heart missed a beat. It was Eric’s owner, Pattie Newhouse. Eric yapped and ranted; the whole summer night was filled with his barking.
“Eric! Enough!” the lady scolded. “What is it, anyway? A mole? Want to go and see?”
Mimi stopped breathing with sheer terror. What if Mrs. Newhouse let Eric off his leash? What do monsters do to yapping dogs? And yapping dogs to monsters?
Suddenly there was a sound of cracking and huffing from the forest. Halley! She had picked what she thought was a clever shortcut to the door.
Eric was confused and pricked up his ears. Judging by the sound, Halley was approaching fast. She was so enthralled by the race that she didn’t see Eric until she leapt out of the bushes right in front of him and fell over the dog.
“Good grief!” Mrs. Newhouse shrieked.
“Woof-woof-woof-woof-woof!” barked Eric, as startled as his owner.
“Ouch!” yelped Halley, grabbing her knee. The gravel on the yard path bit straight through the thin pajama bottoms into her skin.
“Halley, isn’t it? Halley Hellman?” the lady rambled. “What are you doing, running around in the middle of the night? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Halley rubbed her knee and thought feverishly. Mimi and Koby knew that right now, Halley, the fastest girl in the school and possibly the whole town, would have given anything to be able to borrow Koby’s or Mimi’s head for a moment. Halley didn’t know what she should say. She couldn’t say anything about the monster; the instructions said so. But she had to say something. Give some kind of explanation for why she was out alone in the middle of the night. Something believable but not too revealing.
“Halley?” Mrs. Newhouse repeated, concerned. Eric had calmed down and bent down to sniff Halley. “Halley? What is it? Are you all right? Where is your mother?”
Halley slowly lifted her head and looked around with exaggerated surprise. “What? Where am I?” she asked in a sleepy voice. “Mom?”
Mrs. Newhouse bent down to Halley and gently shook her by the shoulders.
“Halley, should I call an ambulance?” she asked. “Are you sick?”
Halley’s performance really was a little ghostly. Only Mimi on the other side of the bushes knew what was coming. This was not the first time Halley had pretended to be sleepwalking.
Last Christmas, Mom had hidden the Christmas chocolates in a big tin in a top cupboard in the kitchen. Halley had found the hiding place and sneaked in to steal some chocolate a couple of times before Christmas. On the third night, Halley had asked Mimi to go with her. Unfortunately, Mom had begun to suspect something. She had stayed in the kitchen to wait. Halley and Mimi had tiptoed to the kitchen door, Halley first. At the door Halley had spotted Mom. It was too late to back off, because Mom had already seen Halley. So Halley had done the same as now: pretended to be sleepwalking in such an amazingly strange way that to this day Mom didn’t know that it was all a sham. Halley hardly ever shammed. She was feisty and reliable. But even she had her weaknesses, one of them being chocolate.
“She’ll wake up soon. It’s really weird. Looks like some kind of an attack,” Mimi whispered to Koby and the monster.
“Wake up?” Koby repeated.
Halley began to jerk and twitch. Then she jumped to her feet, horrified, and yelled dramatically:
“Where am I? Where’s my bed?”
“What are you saying?” Mrs. Newhouse asked, surprised. Eric let out a baffled bark.
Halley’s eyes darted about as if she had never seen this very bush in her yard.
“Oh no, it’s happened again!” she wailed.
“What’s happened?” the lady asked, worried. Even Eric was quiet and watching Halley quizzically.
“I walked in my sleep again! This must end.” Halley almost sobbed. She was very believable. “I’m going to see the doctor tomorrow. Mom can take me.”
Koby shook his head in the bush. He was afraid that Halley’s performance was going too far.
“Don’t worry,” Mimi whispered. “She’s doing fine.”
“So you were sleepwalking,” Mrs. Newhouse said doubtfully. “You’re not hurt or anything? I think you were in the woods.”
Halley looked at the forest, horrified. “Alone in the forest? I want to go home to my mommy now. To my sister and brother! And that smelly mo . . . mo . . .”
Halley stopped, startled. How could she be so stupid? In the bush, Koby and Mimi were holding their breath and thinking the same. But Halley was not stupid. Her brain kept ticking away, and she thought of a rescue route.
“Mollycuddle!” she spat out, and sighed with relief.
“Mollycuddle?” the lady repeated, puzzled.
“Yes. My teddy bear,” Halley explained, agitated. “I’ll go now. Thank you for waking me. I’ll put the safety chain on tomorrow night.”
“You should always have the safety chain on,” the lady advised her, but Halley was already rushing toward the door.
For a moment it looked like Halley was going to run straight inside, but just before the front door she stopped and let her eyes scan all the shadowy bushes. Then, slowly and deliberately, she raised her foot and touched the bottom of the door with it. If you happened to have a monster’s ears, you clearly would have heard her whisper triumphantly: “First at the door. I win.”
Then Halley slipped inside. Mrs. Newhouse watched her go.
“Shall we go in too, Eric?” she chatted to the dog, and tugged his leash. “Come along, doggy-bobs.”
But the monster, Koby, and Mimi waited behind the bush for a long time yet. The monster would not move an inch. Maybe it had gotten too frightened. Or maybe it was just listening to the night, all the crackles and trees sighing, night birds twittering, Koby and Mimi awkwardly sneezing in its arms. Maybe it liked night and didn’t want to go inside yet.
Only when the lights went out in the first-floor windows, Eric’s home, did the monster move. It murred quietly and took a cautious step. It knew how to move quite noiselessly, lightly, like a moth. In the shadows, they sneaked to the main door. They slipped into the building, over to the elevator, and up to the fifth floor, and just as noiselessly into their home.
Halley sat waiting for them on the hall rug, wrapped up in her duvet. Not because she was cold, but because she was scared. When Halley was scared, she always wanted to wrap up in her duvet.
“Where did you get to?” Halley asked weepily.
Koby and Mimi crouched down next to Halley on the mud mat and hugged her. The monster took a few hesitant, dust-shedding and dirt-clump-dropping steps toward the children, bent over clumsily, and hugged all three of them very gently and tenderly.
CHAPTER 7
Mimi Talks to the Monster
THE SUN WAS SHINING high in the summer sky straight through the window at Mimi’s nose. Mimi sneezed.
It was a sun sneeze, not a monster sneeze, but Mimi woke up at once. She looked around her.
She was lying on a mattress on the living room floor. They had carried everybody’s mattresses into the living room, because they had wanted to sleep near each other. Not that they were scared. If you’ve run with a monster in the forest after midnight, you are not scared of monsters anymore. But it was strange to be at home without Mom. It felt best for them all to sleep next to one another. Indeed: all of them. Because on Mimi’s right-hand side lolled the monster. It lay on its back on the floor, looking at the ceiling, its great dark chest rising and falling.
“Hey, monster,” Mimi whispered.
The monster turned its yellow eyes to Mimi and grunted.
“Good morning,” Mimi said, smiling. “Have you noticed, I’m not sneezing anymore. I’ve gotten used to you.”
The monster said nothing, just watched.
“Do you ever sleep at all?” Mimi asked. The monster didn’t answer. In the hopeful, happy rays of the morning sun, the mo
nster looked like a giant teddy bear that had been dropped in a muddy puddle.
“Listen, where did you come from?” Mimi asked. The monster turned its gaze to the ceiling, but Mimi wouldn’t give up.
“Have you got a mom or dad? How old are you? Where did you live before you came here?”
The monster stared at the ceiling.
“Strange that you don’t have a name,” Mimi went on. “Can I give you a name? I’ve given names to at least fifty stuffed animals. Really! Megan would suit you, perhaps. Or Richard, if you’re a boy. No, I know: Firefast. You are so fast.”
The monster shifted restlessly. It turned toward Mimi and grunted: “Grah.”
“Firefast is good, don’t you think?” Mimi said, pleased. The monster rolled its eyes.
“Grah,” it growled emphatically. “Grah.”
“Grah,” Mimi repeated. “What does it mean? Do you have your own language? Can you talk? Can I learn that language?”
The monster eyed Mimi and echoed, “Grah.”
“Grah,” Mimi said.
The monster slowly raised its big hand and touched its chest. “Grah.”
“Is that your name? Grah?” Mimi asked, surprised.
The monster nodded.
Mimi quickly sat up and tugged the covers off Koby and Halley.
“Wake up—our monster has a name!” Mimi said hurriedly. “Did you hear? It’s called Grah.”
The monster grabbed Mimi’s arm.
“Let’s wake them up! They’ll be so pleased, I’m sure,” Mimi gabbled happily. “Grah suits you really well. By the way, are you a boy or a girl?”
The monster shook its head and hissed.
“What?” Mimi asked, confused.
The monster put its thick finger in front of its mouth and hissed again.
“You’re not allowed to tell?” Mimi asked. The monster shook its head.
“Why not? It’s a really good name.”
The monster clambered up with difficulty and disappeared into the hall. It returned holding the crumpled instruction sheet, which it handed to Mimi.
“I can’t read,” Mimi said. “This is that note of yours. Why did you bring it to me?”
Grah stirred restlessly. It raised its finger to its mouth again and hissed. The gesture did not look natural, but the monster clearly knew what it meant. Mimi frowned.
Halley raised her head, annoyed.
“What’s all the racket?” she grumbled. “Turn off the lights. I want to sleep.”
“It’s the sun; it can’t be turned off,” Mimi answered. “Halley, please wake up.”
“No,” mumbled Halley, and pulled her duvet over her head.
“Koby?” Mimi said cautiously.
The monster’s finger went up to its mouth again.
“Don’t worry, Grah. We’re friends. We’ll help you, really we will,” Mimi tried to reassure it. “We won’t tell anyone.”
The monster glanced at Koby and rolled its eyes.
“We have to tell Koby,” Mimi whispered. “Koby can read in that monster book . . .”
Mimi fell silent and watched the monster. Maybe it wasn’t happy about the children having a book on monsters? Grah stared at Mimi with its glowing eyes.
“We’ve got a book that tells all about monsters. Would you like to see it?” Mimi asked.
Grah made no reply.
Mimi jumped up off the mattress and ran into their bedroom. She knew where Koby had hidden the book: in the toy box under the bed. She ran back into the living room, book under her arm.
“Here, look. It’s about a monster. But I can’t read. We’ll have to wake Koby so he can read it to you.”
The monster took the book carefully. How small and fragile it looked in the monster’s gigantic hairy hands! Those fingers were unlikely to turn the pages without tearing them to shreds. And that would make Koby cross.
“Let me help,” Mimi said quickly, and took the book from the monster’s lap.
Mimi leafed through the book and finally found Runar’s pencil drawings. They were not particularly good drawings but were recognizable as monsters anyway.
“Look, here are some pictures of that monster. It looks like you, but one of its ears is a bit ragged. Maybe it’s been in some sort of an accident. I think it looks a lot older than you. It’s quite pale gray.”
Grah made a strange noise and snatched the book from Mimi’s hand.
“Careful,” Mimi whispered apprehensively, and glanced at the sleeping Koby. “It’s a library book. It’s really, really important to Koby.”
The monster gently brought the book right up to its face. It studied Runar’s drawings, humming quietly.
“That’s the monster the book’s writer found in a forest. I don’t know what its name was. It must have gone back to its home,” Mimi chattered. Grah sat perfectly still, its eyes glued to the book.
Monsters have a strange habit of becoming motionless, Mimi thought. The monster could be as still as a sofa or kitchen table. Then it became almost impossible to see. It blended with its background, regardless of where it was.
“Grah,” Mimi whispered, and stroked the monster’s furry arm. A dust cloud puffed up in the air. In the sunshine it looked like a swarm of jellyfish floating in the ocean.
The monster behind the dust seemed to have come to life. It grunted once; then it grunted again. The third grunt became a roar that rattled the windows. Halley and Koby sprang up with fright.
“What’s happening!” Halley shrieked.
The monster grunted for a fourth time, now very quietly. The book fell from its grip as it put its hands to its face and started croaking and groaning.
“Is it crying?” Halley asked. “What’s the matter with it? Why did it roar?”
“Why did it have the monster book?” Koby asked Mimi. “Did you give it the monster book, dummy?”
“You’re the dummy!” Mimi yelled, alarmed. “You wouldn’t wake up, even though I tried to wake you! And why shouldn’t I show it that book? Of course I can! You read books about people, you know!”
“It’s a monster—that’s the difference,” Koby mumbled. “Probably can’t even read. Its fingers are so big, it could tear the book to bits quite by accident.”
“No, it couldn’t! And anyway, its name is not monster; it’s Grah. It told me itself,” Mimi declared.
The monster croaked and spluttered, hands over its eyes. Its matted shoulders shook.
“Stop yelling,” Halley said. “Look, it’s crying.”
Enormous, mud-water gray tears were oozing from between the monster’s fingers, running down its arms, and vanishing somewhere inside its coat.
Mimi and Koby went quiet.
“Why are you crying, Grah?” Mimi asked.
“Who?” Halley said.
“Apparently that’s its name,” Koby said.
“How do you know?” Halley asked.
“It told me itself,” Mimi snapped. “Maybe it would tell you, too, if you occasionally bothered to listen. And just look, the whole floor is soaking!”
Halley and Koby looked at the floor. The puddle was growing as they watched. The tears were now running in small under-fur rivulets straight onto the floor.
“Get some towels, quickly!” Mimi commanded.
Halley and Koby ran to the linen closet.
One towel wasn’t enough. The monster wept, grunted, and shook. More and more tears came.
“Why are you crying?” Mimi asked, stroking the monster’s arm. The monster didn’t answer.
“How did it tell you its name? What is it, again?” Halley inquired as she spread a towel on the floor.
“Whatever gave you the idea to show it the book?” Koby demanded, drying the puddle at the monster’s feet. (Very dirty feet indeed, he noted.) “I hope the pages aren’t ripped. I bet the whole book is gray with dust.”
Koby put the sopping wet towel into a bucket, which they had carried into the living room.
Mimi did not reply. She looked at
Grah and asked gently: “Why are you crying, Grah?”
Grah lifted its watery eyes, gray from the tears, to Mimi. The monster moaned quietly and then pointed at the book lying on the floor, at a safe distance.
“Do you want that book?” Mimi asked.
“No!” Koby called out.
Grah nodded, and Mimi glanced at Koby.
“How about if I just hold it?” she suggested. Koby sighed.
Mimi opened the book to the drawings and lifted it close to the monster’s eyes. Halley and Koby stopped drying the floor and watched the monster. It was not crying anymore, just moaning quietly and staring at the drawings.
“Is it someone you know?” Mimi asked. Her arms were starting to ache from the weight of the book. It was a very heavy book.
Grah moaned quietly, eyes fixed on the pictures.
“Mimi, sometimes you are really sharp,” Koby said admiringly.
Mimi turned to Koby, surprised.
“Well, I suppose I am quite clever. The bathrobe wouldn’t talk to me if I weren’t,” she replied kindly.
“Aww! Don’t keep going on about that stupid bathrobe!” Halley spat out.
Mimi paid no attention to Halley. She was well used to her and her anti-bathrobe attitude. She would rather focus on the monster.
“Is it one of your friends?” Mimi asked.
The monster shook its head and wailed.
“Is it your mother or father?” Mimi went on.
The monster shook its head sadly.
“Your . . . cousin? Or neighbor? Or classmate?” Mimi continued, but the monster just shook its head. Mimi appealed to Halley and Koby with a look. Who else could it be in the pictures?
“Your pen pal?” Mimi asked. “Or soccer teammate?”
“Soccer teammate,” Koby repeated. “Really, Mimi.”
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