“It has to let you take a shower—it’s your nanny, after all,” Halley insisted. Leo shrugged.
“It’s a little bit kind of . . . grumpy. It growls if I go anywhere near the bathroom.”
“Growls?” Jenna repeated, shocked. “Our monster never growls.”
“It doesn’t do anything if I don’t go too close,” Leo assured them. “In our building, we have a bathroom in the sauna, so I use that. I just need to take the elevator downstairs every time. It’s a bit of a pain.”
Jemima, a girl with long black braids, shook her head in sympathy. Oscar’s blond friend Aron told them: “Ours wants to be in the same room as me all the time. It doesn’t growl or make any noise; it just stares. I have to tell it to get into the closet after a while.”
Minnie tittered.
“It’s not funny,” the boy said.
“Ours just stares at the TV,” Luke said. “Any old program. It stayed behind to watch ballroom dancing. Every so often it drags itself into the kitchen and cooks us revolting potatoes with black spots. They get coated with that disgusting dust from its hands. And the minute the potatoes are done, it goes back to the TV.”
“You eat nothing but potatoes?” asked Minnie.
“Potatoes and ketchup, many times a day,” said Luke and Elijah.
“Yuck!” yelled Mimi. “Lucky our Grah knows how to make sandwiches and cocoa!”
“Did you give it a name?” Elijah asked.
“It already had a name,” Mimi said mysteriously. “But Grah doesn’t want anybody to know. Don’t tell anyone.”
“How did it tell you its name? Can it talk?” Luke asked.
“You can learn to understand it if you try a little,” Mimi said.
A loud shushing sound came from the forest and made the children jump. A sudden gust of wind stirred the treetops and then faded.
“Strange wind,” Halley said, peering into the forest.
“Monster wind,” Mimi whispered to Alice with a grin. “It comes from many monsters running really fast in the forest.” Alice wrapped herself tighter in her blanket.
“Aw, look at you, big baby,” Halley said.
“The monsters don’t want to harm us. They are our nannies, after all,” Koby said calmly, even though his heart was also thrashing wildly, and his eyes kept flicking toward the forest shadows. “Have you fed your monsters?”
“Should we feed it?” Luke asked. “We were told that it takes care of its own food.”
“Yes, it does,” Koby began. “But you must help it a little. It needs to be let out to look for food. It can’t find food inside, only in the forest.”
“But it won’t go outside!” the messy-haired boy sitting next to Oscar grumbled.
“Ours won’t either. It just stares at the TV,” Luke said.
“Or growls in the shower,” Leo added.
Mimi started to giggle. “You pea brains! You need to go with it, of course. That’s what we did. It can’t go out on its own!”
“How did you work that out?” Leo asked. “Our instructions said nothing like that.”
“We have additional information,” Koby said grandly, and held up Runar’s book. “Look at this: a scientific book of monsters. We read in this book that the monster must be taken outside to eat.”
“Really?” Elijah asked suspiciously.
“Where did you get it?” Alba wondered.
“The library,” Koby replied, and Halley nodded.
“So what else does it say, then?” asked the girl with the black braids.
“It has loads of information, and I’ve only had time to read a bit of it. But you can look things up in it. What would you like to know?”
“Are monsters dangerous?” Alba asked instantly.
Koby didn’t need to open the book to answer that question.
“They are not dangerous. But you must treat them well. You need to allow them to eat. And for that they must be taken to a forest.”
“Why can’t they go to eat on their own?” Alba asked.
“I don’t know. Perhaps they need our permission. Or maybe they’re not allowed to leave us alone,” Koby replied pensively.
“But we’re alone now,” Minnie said in a small voice.
“Are you quite sure?” Mimi asked ominously, and laughed happily at Minnie’s startled expression.
“We left home ourselves,” Koby reminded her. “The monsters didn’t leave us, we left them alone while they slept.”
“But monsters don’t sleep!” Mimi insisted. “They knew very well that we left!”
“Mimi, please don’t keep on saying that!” Halley snapped irritably.
“Should we go get them? They can’t eat if they’re at home,” Leo said.
“I’m pretty sure they’ll come of their own accord,” Koby said. “All we need to do is wait, and they’ll find us. It’s their job. And as soon as they’re here, we’ll take them to eat.”
The children fell quiet and looked around. The forest behind the tents was all dark duskiness and night shadows. The thought of monsters who were probably looking for them right now was . . . well.
“Look,” Halley whispered tremulously, pointing in the direction of the marina. “They already found us.”
In the shadow of the great weeping willows on the other side of the playing field stood a dark, motionless group of monsters. They would have blended in with the gloom under the trees, but their eyes glowed like yellow Christmas lights. They stared at the children across the field. They might have been there for some time, watching the children holding their monster meeting.
“See, they knew where we were all the time,” Mimi said to Halley. “They just decided to join us now.”
Halley gulped with fright. Oscar hid behind Halley’s back. Mimi took Alice’s hand—Alice was trembling with either fear or the evening coolness—and slipped her other hand in her bathrobe pocket. Koby closed the book and stood up, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Remember. There’s no need to be afraid of them,” Koby repeated, as much to himself as the others.
“Of course not!” Mimi piped up. “At least Grah is really nice.”
“My monster is not nice,” Leo said in a low voice.
“But surely it won’t attack anybody?” Halley said sharply. “We’re not in your shower stall now.”
Halley was always a little argumentative when scared.
“They’re coming this way,” Oscar whispered.
He was right. The monster pack was on the move. They approached the camp slowly, almost as if they were floating above the field. How did such huge creatures manage to move so silently?
“Their intention is to take care of us,” Koby assured everyone calmly, even though his heart was banging in his chest and his palms were sweating so much he could barely keep hold of Runar’s book.
“What do we do now?” Oscar asked, alarmed.
Koby forced his voice to keep steady when he answered: “We’ll go into the forest with them. We’ll take them to eat. Just like we planned. You’ll soon see how monsters live when they’re not stuffed into closets.”
“How could we possibly take them anywhere? I don’t think they would obey us,” Elijah said, worried.
“Perhaps not obey, but they will follow,” Koby said. “We’ll just walk into the forest and they’ll follow us. Come on.”
Koby turned and started to walk toward the woods behind the tents. The others stared at his back, aghast. How did he dare turn his back on the approaching monsters?
Koby stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“Well, are you coming or not?” he said.
The monster front was already gliding halfway across the field. Every moment brought them closer.
“Let’s go,” Leo said quickly. “Come on.”
In three seconds, they were on their feet. First the children disappeared into the forest and then the monsters.
A couple of hours later, a rambunctious gang of kids, all talking and laughing
at the same time, emerged from the forest. They had left the monsters happily in the forest, the monsters having eaten their fill of all kinds of half-rotted and disgusting things.
“They were like tanks, with trees crashing around them!” Aron said, laughing.
“Did you see the one lying in that muddy ditch?” Minnie giggled. “I hope it was Leo’s monster—he can wash it in the shower.”
“It wasn’t mine,” Leo said. “My monster sat in that rock hollow—did you see? It was stuffing itself with both hands on dead twigs and rotten mushrooms.”
“Can we take them to eat every night?” Alba asked hopefully. “And can we move out here too? If we bring our own tent?”
“Sure,” Koby answered.
“We don’t have a tent,” Jemima said.
“There’s room for you and Anna in our tent,” Alba said.
“Leo, you can come with us in our tent, if you want,” Elijah said.
“Thanks! And we can all use our bathroom and shower. I live very near here,” Leo added.
“Can we leave the monsters out there in the forest?” Alba asked Koby, and yawned. It was almost midnight.
“They know how to follow us,” Koby replied. “Like they did here.”
“How long do they sleep after eating?” Jemima asked.
Koby thought for a minute.
“Grah always wakes up when it hears our voices,” he said. “Perhaps you should set off on your bikes and talk in loud voices while pedaling. Monsters have very sharp hearing.”
Anna and Jemima yawned.
“We’ll try it. We can leave the door open so it can get in. See you tomorrow!” Anna said.
The girls had gotten halfway across the playing field on their bikes, when a dark creature rushed out of the shadows of the forest. It caught up with the bikes in a few seconds and started jogging behind them. The girls noticed nothing.
“Wild,” Halley said.
“They’ll notice when they get home,” Koby said, yawning.
“Let’s go to bed,” Oscar suggested.
“Let’s,” Koby said, and waved his hand to the children who weren’t sleeping in a tent and were wandering off in different directions on their bikes and scooters, all heading for their homes. Nobody was scared anymore, the dusky night no longer ominous. Sudden rustlings were heard here and there in the forest as the monsters awoke and set off jogging after the children in their care.
CHAPTER 19
Camping Life
THE SUN WAS ALREADY shining high in the sky when Halley was awakened by the bleep of a text message arriving. She sat up and fumbled for her phone. The message was from Mom.
Hi, darlings! Sun shining here. Awful lot of mosquitoes. How are you doing? Remember to play outdoors. Love to Dad. Love from Mom, who misses you terribly
Halley decided to answer right away. She couldn’t be bothered to consult Koby about what to say.
All good. We’ve been outside a lot. On a picnic right now and having lunch soon. Bye-bye! Halley
The message went on its way, and Halley slipped out of her sleeping bag. She unzipped the tent door flap and crawled outside. The sun blinded her, and the tent village around her was teeming with life.
“Oh wow,” Halley muttered, surprised.
Two new tents had appeared in the row, and a couple of Oscar’s friends were just putting up a third. Kids were all over the place.
“Good morning,” Koby greeted her in front of his tent, where he sat with Leo. “You woke up just at the right time!”
“What do you mean?” Halley asked, squinting.
“Someone has to go home to answer the phone when Invisible Voice calls at two. I thought it could be you.”
“Two? What time is it?” Halley asked.
Koby glanced at his watch. “Almost one.”
“Did I sleep until one?” Halley was aghast.
“Looks like it,” Leo said.
“Do we have anything to eat?” Halley asked.
“We do,” Koby said, pointing at an old cooler.
“What are you grinning at?” Halley asked, suspicious.
“Nothing,” Leo said. “Get something to eat.”
Halley sauntered over to the cooler and lifted the lid.
“What the heck?” slipped out of her mouth. The box was stacked full of sandwiches. No ordinary sandwiches, but sandwiches the size of a whole loaf, with twenty layers. Tottering, overfilled sandwiches, oozing with lettuce leaves and cheese slices, strawberry jam and salami, and—just a minute—was that a doughnut?
“There are some mugs of cocoa left in that basket, if you want some,” Koby said. “Although they’ve been out for many hours now, might not be worth drinking.”
Halley’s eyes turned to the basket next to the cooler. On the bottom, in a large pool of cocoa, sat half a dozen mugs full of familiar-looking, almost solid cocoa.
“Grah has made breakfast,” Halley said.
“Not just Grah,” Koby said. “Have a look in the saucepan next to it.”
Halley lifted the lid off the saucepan that was sitting in the grass.
“Revolting,” Halley groaned. The pan was full of unpeeled potatoes with black spots and copious amounts of ketchup squirted on top.
Koby grinned.
“The pan appeared soon after Luke and Elijah put their tent up.”
“What do you mean, ‘appeared’? Where are the monsters?” Halley asked.
“Probably someplace not far away,” Koby said, looking around. “Maybe they don’t like daylight. I’m sure they’ll turn up again in the evening.”
“Some nannies we’ve got there.” Halley smiled and carefully helped herself to the top layer of a tottering bread skyscraper. Egg and strawberry jam, not a bad combination. But the mustard might have been better left out.
“What shall I tell Invisible Voice?” Halley asked, munching on her sandwich.
“The most important thing is to find out when he intends to become visible,” Koby said.
Leo threw a questioning look at Koby.
“In other words, come home,” Halley explained, taking a bite of her sandwich. Mmm, was there some anchovy paste in it too?
Leo nodded slowly.
When Halley returned to the camp a few hours later, there were two more tents. Someone had spread blankets on the grass; someone else had brought a couple of patio chairs from home. A few kids were playing soccer. Koby stood on the edge of the playing field, clutching Runar’s book to his chest.
Halley stopped next to Koby.
“What’s wrong?” she asked her brother.
“I was just thinking whether setting up camp just anywhere is allowed.”
Halley frowned.
“This isn’t anybody’s yard. The tents don’t bother anyone here.”
“Maybe not,” Koby said, eyeing the row of tents. “But there are special camping sites. They wouldn’t exist if everybody were allowed to go camping wherever they liked.”
“Bah,” Halley said dismissively. “These are special circumstances. In special circumstances, anything is allowed.”
Koby did not look convinced.
“What did Invisible Voice say?” he asked.
“Nothing. Because he never called at all,” Halley replied.
“Are you sure the phone was plugged in?”
“Of course it was, stupid,” Halley grumbled.
“Just asking,” Koby said. “That could mean that he really is on his way and he’ll be here soon.”
“Or else the phone lines have frozen and snapped. Or the phone exploded in the blizzard. Something like that.” Halley grinned.
Koby was not laughing. He looked even more worried.
Little by little, the sun wandered westward, the light turned more orange, and the air began to have a scent of evening. The first camping day had been brilliant: The picnic food had lasted all day. The monsters had kept well out of sight. But the closer evening came, the more the children began to expect the monsters. When would they come, a
nd from which direction this time?
Koby got a blanket and spread it on the ground in front of his tent. Halley and Leo sat down next to him. Jenna and Alba were lying half inside their tent, half out, listening to music on one earbud each.
“Tea for everybody who wants some, bring your own mugs,” Elijah announced from his camping stove.
Leo turned to Koby and asked: “So why did you decide to start living in tents?”
Halley and Koby exchanged a glance.
“It’s easier to take the monsters out,” Halley began.
“And to be honest, we received a hint that it was best to leave,” Koby continued.
“What do you mean, ‘best’?” Leo asked.
“Safest and easiest,” Halley explained, giving Koby a warning look. They didn’t need to share any of Mimi’s bathrobe stories right now.
“We received a hint that there may be other beings at large, apart from monsters,” Koby went on uncertainly, eyeing Halley back.
“Like what other beings?” Jenna asked, sitting up. She looked concerned.
“Was it in that old book?” Leo asked.
“Well, not exactly,” Koby began, but got no further, as Mimi stuck her head out of her tent and interrupted Koby, proudly declaring:
“My bathrobe told us. This one here!”
Mimi patted her blue bathrobe. Halley shut her eyes. The game was lost. All the kids would know that her muddle-headed little sister imagined that she talked to a bathrobe.
Next to Mimi, Alice was nodding emphatically.
“It’s alive. I saw it.”
“A bathrobe that’s alive?” Leo repeated, giving Koby a puzzled look. His voice had laughter in it. Koby looked very embarrassed.
“The bathrobe is kind of . . . Mimi’s imaginary friend,” Koby said, throwing Mimi a warning glance. He knew he wasn’t telling the truth, but it was time for Mimi to learn that she could not talk about the bathrobe just anywhere. Mimi’s bathrobe was a family secret. You didn’t tell everybody about it.
“What are you rabbiting on about!” Mimi yelled, insulted. “Don’t lie! Numskull! You’ve seen it yourself many times!”
Monster Nanny Page 11