by J. G. Kemp
At Grayville Elementary we weren’t even allowed to read what we wanted, we had to read what the teachers gave us. Mr. Stale had given us a boring book about a girl who went on summer vacation and played with her dog all day. At the end of the book her dog dies. I know because I already read the last page.
“Don’t you just love it?” Olive turned around and smiled at me and hugged the book. She sat right in front of me. The book was called: A Tale of a Girl and Her Dog. The picture of the girl on the front cover looked just like Olive.
“Not really,” I replied.
“Well, I like it, Brandon Black.” Olive hugged the book again and opened it and turned away.
It was then that I discovered what the quantum coloring book could do. During silent reading time I usually propped the book I was supposed to be reading up on my desk so that Mr. Stale couldn’t see me doodling or drawing pictures on scrap paper. That day, after I’d set up A Tale of a Girl and Her Dog like a shield, I reached into my desk and pulled out the quantum coloring book. I quietly opened it so that Mr. Stale didn’t hear anything, and turned to a random page.
In the book I drew a circle, two circles, three circles. I drew a little scene of stick figures with swords, and a tank, and an airplane, and a monster with big fangs. I erased the fangs and drew them even bigger, and made them stick out in different ways. “I wish we could read a book about that,” I thought, “not about some girl and her dog that dies.”
As I was drawing the fangs bigger, the tip of my pencil broke. I didn’t have another one, and I couldn’t get up to sharpen it during reading time, so I felt around in my desk for something else. I found some dull colored pencils in the corner and pulled them out without a sound. I had just colored one of the circles blue, and then two things happened at once.
“Achoo!” Olive sneezed, and I looked up at her. Some of the other kids in the class giggled because Olive had a sneeze that sounded like a mouse on helium behind a megaphone. “Achoo! Achoo!” she sneezed again. More giggles. Mr. Stale looked up from his book and cleared his throat.
“Quiet please,” he said, flatly. And at the same time I heard what sounded like a marble rolling off my desk and hitting the floor. It wasn’t very loud, but Spencer, who sat beside me, heard it too. We both watched the little blue marble roll away towards the side of the room. Spencer looked up at me with a questioning look in his eyes. I shrugged my shoulders, and he shrugged his, and then he looked back at his book, and I looked back at mine.
I had just finished coloring another one of the circles blue when Olive sneezed again. Mr. Stale started saying, “Olive, please—” but I didn’t hear him finish because I heard the same sound of something rolling off my desk and hitting the floor. When I looked down, I saw another blue marble rolling towards Spencer’s feet. He looked at me again, this time making a sort of “be quiet” face like my mom makes sometimes. He reached down and grabbed the marble off the floor and put it in his pocket.
Isaac Crumb, who sat behind me, kicked the back of my chair with his foot and then scowled at me and Spencer.
That’s Isaac. He’s bigger than me and not very nice. In fact, he’s not nice at all. He kicked the back of my chair at least ten times a day and he always glared at me. He called me Brandon Backpack, or Snack, or Clack, or Track, or Rack, or whatever word he could think of that rhymed with Black.
I looked at the clock. It was 1:50. Only ten more minutes of reading time and then finally it would be gym. I didn’t like gym that much, but it was the best thing at Grayville Elementary. I liked it more than reading time anyway. At least in gym Spencer and I could talk for a few minutes.
I looked back down at the coloring book and picked up a green pencil. I filled in the picture of the thing with fangs. “That thing looks really vicious,” I thought. “Those fangs could do some serious damage.” And that’s when it happened…
Chapter 6
the thing appears
This time Olive Mauve didn’t sneeze, Mr. Stale didn’t say anything, Isaac Crumb didn’t kick the back of my chair. I saw the whole thing happen.
I watched as the green beast just popped into the world. It didn’t emerge slowly, limb by limb, and crawl out of the book, or slowly form, like a ghost becoming real. It was just there. One second it was a drawing of a monster with fangs, and the next second it was real.
And then it lunged at the green pencil and wrenched it from my hands and bit it in half in one bite! It turned towards my hand, squinted its eyes, and pounced, like a cat! The vision of my fingers getting torn in half flashed in my mind and I moved my hand just in time.
The thing landed, head first on my desk, its large upper fangs stuck in the wood where my hand had been. It turned its face towards me and looked me right in the eyes and hissed. As it wriggled and writhed, its teeth still stuck in the desk, it made a terrible screeching sound.
“Screeeeee Deee Leeee!! Screeeee!”
It sounded almost like Olive Mauve’s sneeze, only more ravenous. Everybody heard it, everybody turned towards me. Everyone was staring!
I glanced around at their shocked faces and then looked at Mr. Stale. He was glaring at me. I looked back at my desk and the thing was gone! I glanced all around, scanning the floor. It was nowhere! Some kids started to laugh and Isaac Crumb kicked the back of my chair again.
“Brandon, would you come here please?” Mr. Stale said.
Everyone was still looking at me. I slipped out of my desk and walked slowly to the front of the room, looking all around for the green monster that had just tried to bite my finger in half.
Everyone was still looking at me.
“Brandon, this is quiet reading time,” Mr. Stale said in a whisper. “You do know what ‘quiet’ means, don’t you?”
“Um… yes, Mr. Stale,” I said.
“Please return to your desk, Brandon. One more sound from you and you will be taking a trip to Dr. Snort’s office.”
Dr. Snort was the principal. Yes, that was his real name.
I stared at Mr. Stale’s desk. My mind was racing. Did that really just happen? Did that thing really just come out of the book?
“Do you understand, Brandon?” Mr. Stale said.
“Um… yes, Mr. Stale,” I said and turned around and hurried back to my desk. Everyone was still staring at me.
“We have five more minutes of silent reading,” Mr. Stale announced. Everyone looked back at their books.
Before I slipped into my desk I glanced at Spencer. His eyes were wide open. I could tell right away that he had seen it too. I looked back at Mr. Stale—he was watching me. I couldn’t talk to Spencer yet, but in 5 minutes it would be gym class. I sat down and stared at my desk. On it were two big holes where the thing with fangs had been!
Chapter 7
gym class chaos
When silent reading time was over, Mr. Stale walked us to gym class. We all lined up in a row by the door and walked, single file, through the hallways to the gym. We had to be completely quiet. No one ever said anything in the halls, we were all too afraid.
There was a rumor that a 4th grader had whispered in the halls once, and he was sent to the principal, and never came back. No one ever heard from him again. It was the biggest, most important rule at the school. SILENCE IN THE HALLS. There were big signs with red letters above every door to remind us.
When we got to the gym we were allowed to run in circles for two minutes, as a warm-up before class started. Then, the gym teacher, Mrs. Lackluster, made us stretch and fill out worksheets about stretching and the importance of stretching and how to stretch correctly. At the end of class we had two more minutes to run in circles before Mr. Stale walked us back to his classroom. Then we were allowed to wait silently until the end of school.
So, Spencer and I had two minutes to talk before gym worksheets and two minutes to talk after, while we ran in circles.
“Brandon, what was that?” Spencer whispered urgently as soon as we could t
alk.
“I don’t know. It came out of the book. It tried to eat my finger. Did you see where it went?”
Spencer shook his head. “No. What do you mean it came out of the book? What book?”
“That book I found yesterday, the one with the strange cover, the blank coloring book. I—” But I didn’t finish because Isaac Crumb had started running next to us, trying to listen to our conversation.
“Hey, Brandon Tack!” he said. “Get it? Tack, like a tack. It rhymes with Black. Ha ha.”
“Yeah I get it,” I said, and whispered to Spencer, “I’ll tell you later.”
After running-in-circles time, we all sat down in a big circle—Mrs. Lackluster liked circles—and that’s when it happened. The most exciting thing that had ever happened at Grayville Elementary.
The thing with fangs arrived!
Olive Mauve was saying that something smelled funny and then she sneezed and out of her hair flew the green beast! It had been hiding there the whole time! It flew through the air and landed on Mrs. Lackluster’s pile of stretching worksheets. It scattered the worksheets everywhere and then started shredding them up with its huge fangs. Little bits of paper were flying like confetti. The thing let out a growl and made the same screeching sound that it had made back in Mr. Stale’s class.
“Screeeeee Deee Leeee!! Screeeee!”
Olive screamed. Mrs. Lackluster screamed. Half of the class screamed. Spencer and I looked at each other, our jaws dropped open.
After the thing had shredded all of the paper, it turned and faced Isaac Crumb and froze. It stood totally still. The whole class stopped screaming and watched. The thing looked like a statue. It was staring Isaac Crumb in the eyes. Isaac Crumb was staring back, a terrified look on his face.
Mrs. Lackluster slowly moved towards the thing, and then it pounced. It jumped right onto Isaac Crumb’s shirt and started eating it. Isaac stood up and started shouting, “Get it off me! Get it off me!” in a high pitched squeaky voice.
In less than a minute his shirt was shredded to pieces and barely hanging on. Then the thing with fangs jumped off and snarled and lunged at Spencer.
“Screeeeee Deee Leeee!! Screeeee!”
It landed with its teeth right in Spencer’s left arm! Spencer grabbed it with his right hand and threw it as far as he could. The thing flew across the entire gym and hit the sign above the door that read: SILENCE IN THE HALLS, and then it fell to the ground, screeched, and ran out the door into the hallway.
Chapter 8
school wide mayhem
As the thing with fangs bounded out of the gym, the whole class ran after it. Mrs. Lackluster shouted, “Wait! Stop! Children!” But no one listened.
We followed the thing through the hall and watched it tear strips out of the carpet, and rip posters off the wall, and snarl and screech. As it passed each classroom, students poured out and joined the crowd of kids running after the thing. Principal Snort had even come out of his office and was shouting, “Students! Return to your classrooms!” But no one listened.
Soon, every student in Grayville Elementary was chasing the thing with fangs, watching it tear and bite and stab and chew on things. We followed it all the way to the cafeteria.
It got into the trashcan and flung slimy green peas all over the walls and floor, it hurled sticky white rice onto the ceiling. It ran into the kitchen and found the leftover pot of runny red jello and started splashing in it, covering the kitchen in sticky red goop. It snarled happily while it did this. It seemed to really like the red jello.

Mrs. Goop frantically swung at the beast with a pot, trying to swat it like a fly. Splash! Splash! She missed it every time and just splashed even more jello on herself and all over the kitchen.
Principal Snort continued to shout, “Students! Return to your classrooms at once!” But no one listened. His face was as red as the jello.
After a few minutes of watching Mrs. Goop destroy the kitchen with her terrible swinging, the fire alarm went off. Principal Snort had pulled it. We all funneled out of the cafeteria doors and walked like a herd of sheep to the soccer field, like we always did when there was a fire drill.
When I reached the soccer field, Spencer ran up to me. “Oh, there you are,” he said. “How’d you get out here so quick? I thought I just saw you in the gym.”
“No, what were you doing in the gym?” I asked. “Didn’t you see the thing in the jello?”
“Uh.” Spencer looked confused. “I swear… I… humm… well, that’s weird.”
“What?”
“You sure you weren’t in the gym just a few minutes ago?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” I answered. “Are you okay?”
Spencer rubbed his eyes. “Maybe I’m seeing things.” He shook his head. “A little green monster just ran through the school, right?”
I laughed. “Yes. Yes it did.”
Spencer laughed too. He looked down at his arm. There were two small holes in his shirt where the things fangs had landed. “That was awesome,” he said.
I nodded. And as we stood there with the whole school, waiting for the firemen to come, I saw something I’d never seen before. I thought I saw Mr. Stale smiling. And Ms. Bleak and Mr. Dull almost looked like they were laughing. And Mrs. Sullen was standing up straighter. And Mr. Bland and Mrs. Lackluster looked excited to be alive. Everyone looked happy. The whole school looked happy.
The only ones that didn’t look happy were Mrs. Goop who was covered in runny red jello, Isaac Crumb whose shirt was in shreds, and Mr. Snort whose face was still red—the large vein in his forehead looked like it was about to explode.
By the time the firetrucks finally came, and the firemen checked out the school and saw that there was no fire, it was the end of the school day. Principal Snort told us all to go back inside and get our backpacks before we could go home. They never found the thing with fangs.
Back in Mr. Stale’s room, I hurried to my desk. The quantum coloring book was still there, and the words on the cover were definitely glowing.
Chapter 9
almost unlimited candy
After school that day Spencer and I hurried to my fort to talk about the coloring book. We didn’t dare say anything as we walked home because Hazel and Spencer’s sister, Aubrey, were with us. Although a strange thing happened as we turned into the alley behind our house, Hazel stopped and said, “Brandon, you’re in such a good mood today. I like it.” And I actually smiled, I wasn’t annoyed at all.
As soon as Spencer and I were safe inside my fort I pulled the book out of my backpack.
“I just drew this picture, and then colored it in, and that thing appeared, right in front of me.” I flipped to the page where I had drawn the thing with fangs. The drawing wasn’t there! There was only a hole in the book where the drawing had been, and two holes where the blue circles were that had turned into marbles.
Spencer reached into his pocket and pulled out the blue marble that he had picked up in Mr. Stale’s room. He placed it over the hole in the coloring book and the marble disappeared! A blue circle reappeared in the book!
“Whoa!” Spencer said. “What just happened?”
“Let’s try that again!” I took a pencil out of my backpack and quickly drew another circle and filled it in. Spencer and I watched in wonder as a gray marble appeared directly over the circle. A hole was left behind in the coloring book.
The marble rolled onto my lap. It was shiny and gray just like pencil lead. I placed it back on the coloring book, right over the hole where it had come from, and it disappeared. There was the drawing again. The hole was gone! “That is awesome,” I whispered.
“So, where is that thing with fangs now?” asked Spencer. “Where do you think it went?”
I shrugged. “I dunno.” I looked back at the book. “What else should we draw? We could make anything.”
Spencer thought for a moment. “I know. Draw a chocolat
e bar. My sister ate the last one yesterday and I’ve been wanting one ever since.”
“Okay. I’ll try.” I drew what I thought looked like a bar of chocolate.

I reached into my backpack and found a brown colored pencil and colored the drawing as fast as I could. “This is gonna be the most delicious chocolate bar ever,” I said as I finished.
And there it was. A complete bar of chocolate. I looked at Spencer and he looked back at me. “You don’t think it would be poisonous do you?” I asked.
“I guess we can taste it,” said Spencer, “and if it tastes like poison, we can spit it out.”
“Okay,” I said and broke the chocolate bar in half and handed one piece to Spencer. We held them next to our mouths for a moment, neither of us wanting to take the first bite.