Boo waited on her bed for a minute. Then she jumped up and ran over to the closet. “Boo!” she cried, throwing the door open wide.
But there was nothing inside her closet but her clothes.
“Kitty?” Boo called out.
Back in the monster world, Sulley watched forlornly as two CDA agents put Boo’s door through the shredder. Wood chips spewed out the other end.
“None of this ever happened, gentlemen,” Roz said sternly as the shredder was wheeled away. “And I don’t want to see any paperwork on this.” Roz and the agents left.
Mike noticed a piece of Boo’s door on the floor. He picked it up and handed it to Sulley. Sulley stared at it a moment. Then he cradled it in his hand.
As they left the factory, Mike tried to cheer his buddy up. “I’m telling you, pal, when that wall went up, you should have seen the look on Waternoose’s face. I hope we get a copy of that tape!” Mike said. But Sulley just walked along with his head hanging down. “Come on, pal, cheer up. We did it! We got Boo home! Sure, we put the factory in the toilet, and…not to mention the angry mob that’ll come after us when there’s no more power. But hey, at least we had some laughs, right?”
As Mike continued to walk, Sulley slowed to a stop. “Laughs?” he said. He was getting an idea!
Moonlight streamed through the bedroom window. A little boy snuggled under the covers of his bed. Suddenly the door of his closet creaked open.
The boy gasped. Slowly a monster rose from beneath the bed. The boy was opening his mouth to scream…when he was interrupted by a tapping sound.
“Is this thing on?” said a voice. “Hello? Testing…”
The boy reached out and turned on his bedside lamp. A small, round, lime-green monster was sitting on a stool at the foot of his bed, tapping on a microphone.
“Hey, good evening! How are ya? It’s great to be back here in…your room,” Mike said. “You’re in kindergarten, right? I loved kindergarten—best three years of my life.”
Mike paused, waiting for the kid to laugh at his joke. The kid didn’t even crack a smile.
Mike tried again. “But I loved sports! Dodge ball was the best. I was the fastest one out there. Course, I was the ball. Heh-heh.”
The kid just stared at Mike. Mike sighed. Suddenly he threw the microphone into his mouth and swallowed it. After making some loud stomach noises, he burped the microphone back out of his mouth.
“Ha ha ha!” the boy laughed, cracking up.
Mike caught the microphone and headed toward the closet door.
“Thanks a lot,” Mike said. “I’ll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitresses.” Mike walked through the door…
…and onto the Scare Floor. Only it wasn’t the Scare Floor anymore. It was the Laugh Floor. Monsters, Inc. had made a few changes. Now all the power they collected came from kids’ laughter!
Sulley applauded as Mike came through the door. “Great job, Mikey. You filled your quota on the first kid of the day!”
“You know, only someone with perfect comedic timing could produce this much energy in one shot,” said Mike.
“Uh-huh,” Sulley said mischievously. He looked over at the new yellow canister attached to the door station. It was ten times bigger than the old scream canister. “And the fact that laughter is more powerful than scream had nothing to do with it!” he declared.
“Oh, Googly Bear,” a voice called to Mike. “Come here, you!”
“Schmoopsie-Poo!” Mike called back as he and Celia gave each other a big kiss. Celia’s snakes kissed Mike too. Celia scolded the snakes, then smiled at Mike. “Michael, you’re such a charmer,” she said.
Sulley left the happy couple and made his way down the Laugh Floor. Everywhere workers stopped to greet him.
“Hey, President Sullivan,” replied a cheerful George. All his fur had grown back.
“Now, don’t call me President. I’ll start thinking I’m important,” Sulley said modestly. But Sulley was important. He had come up with the idea of using laughter instead of screams to power the city.
On the Laugh Floor, Sulley looked around, smiling. Everywhere laughter rose from doors and workers moved full laugh canisters. Business at Monsters, Inc. was better than ever, thanks to Sulley.
But Sulley’s smile faded as he looked down at his clipboard and lifted up several reports. There was the drawing that Boo had made of them together. Sulley still missed his little human friend.
Just then Mike came up to Sulley. He was holding something behind his back.
“Oh, hey, Mike. I was just, um…” Sulley said, quickly covering the drawing.
“Listen, if you got a minute, there’s something I want to show you,” said Mike. “Okay, close your eyes. Follow me.”
He led Sulley to the simulator room. Sulley’s eyes were closed. “Keep coming, keep coming. Keep those eyes closed,” Mike instructed.
“Mike…” Sulley said, growing a little impatient. He took a few more steps.
“Okay!” Mike said. “Open ’em.” Sulley opened his eyes. There in front of him was Boo’s door! Mike had carefully glued the whole thing back together.
The green monster smiled and held up his hands—they were covered in bandages from the splinters. “Sorry it took so long, pal,” he said. “There was a lot of wood to go through.”
Sulley stared at the door—one piece of wood was missing. “It only works with every piece,” Mike told him. Sulley looked down at his clipboard, where he’d taped the piece of wood he’d saved from Boo’s door. Picking it up, Sulley fit it into the empty space.
The red light above the door blinked on. Nervously Sulley turned the handle…and peeked into Boo’s room.
“Boo?” Sulley called out softly.
“Kitty!”
Monsters, Inc. Junior Novel Page 6