Karen's Monsters

by Ann M. Martin

  “Couldn’t I just read my story to you?” asked Nancy. “Before the program? I could work really hard and finish it early. Or maybe I could read it to you and Hannie and Karen. That would be a group of people. And I think it would be a very good experience for me.”

  Ms. Colman smiled. “If you would like to practice in front of us, that would be fine. But then you must read your story during the program, along with everyone else.”

  Nancy sighed. “Okay,” she said.

  The Three Musketeers went outside again to finish up recess.

  “We really will help you, Nancy,” I said as we waited to play tetherball. “You can count on us.”

  “Right,” said Hannie.

  “Okay,” said Nancy again. She had not smiled once all morning.

  Charlie’s Monster

  After school that day, Hannie ran across the street to the big house. Then Mrs. Dawes drove Nancy to the big house. The Three Musketeers were going to work on Nancy’s public speaking.

  We sat in a row on the front steps.

  “Okay,” I said. “Why don’t you try saying a song or a poem or something? Just a short one.”

  “And just for us,” said Hannie.

  “What should I say?” asked Nancy.

  “Anything,” replied Hannie. “How about ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’? Just say it. You do not have to sing it.”

  “Um, okay. Twinkletwinklelittlestarhowiwon — ”

  “Wait, wait! Slow down, Nancy,” I said. “You are talking so fast I cannot understand you.”

  “Okay. Twinkle, twinkle, little …”

  “Now I cannot hear you,” said Hannie.

  “Yeah, talk louder. Use a big outdoor voice,” I said.

  Nancy sighed. “I cannot even do this in front of my best friends. How will I ever do it for a whole audience?”

  “You will be able to,” said Hannie. “I just know it.”

  “How do you know?” asked Nancy.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You have done things like this before,” I pointed out. “You have been in plays and things. You did not mind the audience then.”

  “Well, I do now,” said Nancy. “I have changed. I mind the audience. I mind it very much.”

  “Okay, pretend the audience is not there,” said Hannie.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Try ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ again and pretend Hannie and I are not here.”

  “Where are you?” asked Nancy.

  “I don’t know. We are just not here. Can you pretend that?”

  “Maybe,” said Nancy. “Okay. Twinkle, twinkle, little star … Well, this is stupid. How can I pretend you are not here when I am looking right at you?”

  I sighed. “Let’s stop for today,” I said. “I think we have practiced enough. Are you ready to stop, Nancy?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Yes,” added Hannie. She looked very relieved.

  We called Mrs. Dawes and told her Nancy was ready to go home. After Mrs. Dawes had picked her up, Hannie left, too. I kicked at the dry leaves in our front yard. I rustled through them. Then I heard noises coming from the garage. I heard hammering, and a scraping sound. I crept to the garage. The side door was partly open, so I peered inside. I found myself looking at … a monster. “Aughhhh!” I screamed. “A monster!”

  “Karen!” It was Charlie’s voice. “You scared me!”

  “I scared you?” I leaned further into the garage. Then I saw that the monster was not really a monster. At least, not yet. It was the monster Charlie was making for the parade. And it was only half finished. But it was already very scary. Charlie had made the monster’s body out of chicken wire. He had tried some clothes on it to see how they looked. On the floor around the monster were more clothes, a wig, an awful-looking mask, a hammer, some wires, and lots of tools.

  Charlie was gazing proudly at the monster. “You know what?” he said. “I think I will make the monster’s eyes out of blinking red lights. How does that sound?”

  “It sounds … scary,” I said.

  I shivered.

  Please Come

  The next morning, I got ready for school very carefully. I tried not to do anything that would upset Emily. At breakfast time I gave her a special chocolate candy I had been saving. Then I talked quietly to Emily and told her about our autumn program at school. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?” I asked her.

  “No!” Emily swept her hand across the tray of her high chair. Everything on the tray crashed to the floor.

  “I didn’t do it!” I cried. Then I ran upstairs to brush my teeth.

  I could hear Emily shrieking in the kitchen. I heard something else crash. By the time I went downstairs again, Emily was lying in the hallway by the front door. She was kicking her legs and pounding her fists into the rug.

  Kristy and Sam and Charlie and David Michael and Andrew and I stepped around her and over her. Then we hurried out the door and off to our schools. My noisy bus seemed peaceful compared to Emily. “Whew,” I said as Hannie and I found seats.

  In school that morning, Ms. Colman said, “Class, today we must begin planning our fall program.” (Goody, I thought.) “We need to do several things. We need to make invitations. We will do that today, so you can take them home with you. We also need to talk about the refreshments we will make, and about which of your classwork to display. Let’s start with the projects we have been working on. Which things should we show off to your families?”

  I shot my hand in the air. “Our autumn leaf pictures,” I said.

  Omar raised his hand. “How about the autumn spelling tests?”

  Ms. Colman smiled. “Oh! Good idea. The special tests.”

  The tests Omar and Ms. Colman were talking about really were special. They were special because my classmates and I had studied our autumn words very hard, and every single one of us had gotten 100%. Ms. Colman had put a smiling pumpkin sticker at the top of each paper.

  My friends and I talked some more. We decided to put our autumn leaf pictures and our spelling tests on the bulletin board. We decided to display our science projects on tables in the back of the room.

  “All right. Now what about refreshments?” asked Ms. Colman.

  “Cookies and punch!” called Pamela Harding.

  “That is fine,” replied Ms. Colman. “But maybe we can make refreshments that would remind us of autumn.”

  “Apple cider?” suggested Ian.

  “Great,” said Ms. Colman.

  “How about cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and leaves?” said Hannie.

  “Fantastic,” said Ms. Colman.

  When we had finished planning our refreshments, Ms. Colman turned to the chalkboard. “Boys and girls,” she said, “let’s think about our invitations now. What do we need to say on them?”

  “That we are going to have a program,” said Bobby.

  “And we want our families to come to it,” added Natalie.

  “Is that all?” asked Ms. Colman.

  “We better say when it is,” said Addie.

  “And where,” said Hank.

  Together we wrote our invitation. Ms. Colman put the words on the board. Then we copied them onto orange paper. The outside of each invitation said, “Please come …” Inside was the rest of the information. I could not wait to bring my invitation home to my big-house family.

  Frankenstone

  Guess what. Emily Monster Michelle had a huge, noisy temper tantrum every single morning that week. When I went to bed on Friday night, I said to David Michael, “Emily better not ruin our weekend.”

  “Yeah. I want to sleep late tomorrow,” he replied.

  But Emily surprised us. She did not have a temper tantrum. She let David Michael sleep. And at breakfast she ate her food quite nicely. She did not say no once.

  “Why is she being so good?” I whispered to Kristy.

  Kristy raised one eyebrow. “I am not sure,” she answered.

  We decided to enjoy it.

  �
��Who wants to see the monster?” Charlie asked then. “It is almost finished. I think I can finish it today.”

  “I do!” I cried.

  “Me, too!” said Andrew.

  “Me, me!” said Emily.

  In the end, all my brothers and sisters said they wanted to see the monster. We waited on the driveway while Charlie brought it out of the garage. He leaned it against a tree. It was huge.

  I took a good look at the monster. “Ooh, scary!” I said.

  The monster was wearing a black coat, black pants, and heavy black workboots. Its face was greenish. On its head sat a mop of black hair. I could see two little pins at the sides of its neck. Spookiest of all, the monster’s eyes did glow red, and they blinked on and off.

  “It is a boy monster,” said David Michael thoughtfully. “A he. And he really does look like Frankenstein.”

  “Thank you,” replied Charlie. “But guess what. I gave him a new name. See if you can guess it. Here is a clue: He lives in Stoneybrook. Any guesses?”

  “Big Scary Monster from Stoneybrook?” suggested Andrew.

  Charlie smiled. “Well, no.”

  “I give up,” David Michael and I said at the same time.

  “Okay,” said Charlie. “His name is Frankenstone.”

  “Frank for short,” added Sam.

  Kristy giggled. “Pretty funny!” she said. “I like that.”

  So did everyone else. Charlie looked very pleased with Frankenstone.

  “What do you have to do to finish him?” asked Sam.

  “Give him hands,” replied Charlie. “And maybe fangs. And — I don’t know — maybe see if I can figure out some way to make him move. Or some way to sound as if he’s talking.”

  “Or groaning,” I suggested.

  “Oh, that’s good,” said Charlie. “Groaning. I like that.”

  Charlie spent hours working on the monster that day. By late in the afternoon, he decided Frank was finished. My brothers and sisters and I gathered to look at him again.

  “Watch this,” said Charlie. He stood behind Frankenstone. He fiddled with something on the monster’s back.

  Frankenstone’s eyes lit up. Then he raised his arm. “Moooooahhhh-ha-ha!” he groaned. He lowered his arm. Then his head turned from side to side.

  “Yikes,” whispered Kristy. “That is really spooky.”

  “In a big way,” I agreed.

  Charlie grinned. “I am glad you like him.”

  Charlie and Sam lugged Frank into the garage.

  I stared after them. All the little hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end.

  The Big Scare

  That night, Hannie and Nancy came to my house for a sleepover. They brought their sleeping bags. Daddy and Elizabeth let us eat supper in my bedroom. We had hamburgers and French fries and apple juice. For dessert we ate Popsicles.

  “Yum,” said Hannie when we had finished.

  “Yum, yum,” said Nancy. “What should we do now?”

  “Talk about our Halloween costumes,” I suggested.

  “Halloween?” said Nancy. “Boy, I have not thought about my costume.”

  “I have,” said Hannie. “I want to be a shepherd.”

  “A shepherd?” I repeated. “Really?”

  “Well, maybe not.”

  “Good-bye, girls!” called Daddy then. “Elizabeth and I are leaving now.”

  “Okay!” I called back.

  Nannie was going out that night, too. In fact, she had already left. So had Kristy. Charlie and Sam were in charge.

  My friends and I talked about our costumes some more. We heard Sam put Emily Michelle to bed. We heard him go downstairs again. Then we heard the TV come on. Sam, Charlie, David Michael, and Andrew had planned to watch some movie together.

  “Now what?” I asked my friends when we ran out of costume ideas.

  “Let’s turn out the lights and tell scary stories,” said Hannie.

  So we did. The only light we left on was a flashlight. We passed it around to whoever was telling a story. After awhile, Nancy nudged me.

  “Did you hear something?” she whispered.

  The Three Musketeers stopped talking and listened.

  “Karen!” a voice called.

  “It is only David Michael,” I said. I stood up and opened my door. I leaned into the hallway. “What?” I yelled.

  “Can you guys come down here for a sec?” he asked.

  “Okay!” I turned back to my friends. “Come on. I think he wants to show us something.”

  Hannie and Nancy and I ran downstairs.

  Guess what. Downstairs was all dark.

  “What happened to the lights?” whispered Nancy.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “And where is David Michael? Where are the boys?” We were standing in the front hallway. I fumbled around for the light switch. I could not find it. “David Michael?” I called.

  No answer.

  “Um, Karen, what is that?” asked Hannie in a shaky voice.

  I turned and saw … two red lights. They were blinking in the dining room. “Aughhh!” I screamed. “It is the monster! Frankenstone has come to life!”

  The lights were moving toward us. Slowly, very slowly. I could see Frank’s head. I could see his arm going up and down.

  “Moooooahhhh-ha-ha!” groaned Frank.

  “Eeeeee! Yikes!” shrieked Hannie and Nancy. They grabbed my hands.

  “Charlie!” I called. “Charlie! Where are you? You made a better monster than you thought! He is alive!”

  “Run up the stairs!” yelled Hannie.

  But just then the lights came on. I saw Frankenstone up close. Right behind him were Charlie, Sam, David Michael, and Andrew.

  “Gotcha!” cried David Michael.

  The boys had played a big joke on us.

  Hannie and Nancy and I started to laugh then. But I had to admit something to myself.

  I was a little afraid of Frankenstone.

  I Pledge Allegiance

  Nancy and Hannie and I had trouble falling asleep that night. We lay awake thinking about monsters and Dracula and Frankenstein and Frankenstone. But finally we did fall asleep. And the next thing I knew it was morning.

  “Karen?” asked Nancy when we had eaten breakfast. “Hannie? Would you help me practice my public speaking again, please?”

  “Sure,” said Hannie.

  “And I know just how to help you,” I added. “You need to practice in front of a real audience — just a small one. But not Hannie and me. You know you can mess up in front of us. So I think you do not try very hard. But you might try harder in front of a real audience.”

  “What real audience?” asked Nancy.

  “Daddy, Elizabeth, Nannie, Kristy, Sam, Andrew, Emily, David Michael, and Charlie,” I replied. I counted on my fingers. “Nine people. Plus Hannie and me. You can say something in front of them,” I went on. “It will be easy. You know them. You like them.”

  “We-ell …” said Nancy.

  “Come on,” said Hannie. “You have to do it sometime. Besides, you were the one who said you wanted to practice.”

  “I know. But I did not mean in front of so many people.”

  “For heaven’s sake! At our autumn program, you will have to speak in front of lots more — ” I began to say. But Hannie kicked me.

  “Let’s just try it,” she said loudly.

  So I ran around and talked to everyone in my big-house family. They all said they would be glad to be an audience. Then Hannie and I helped Nancy choose something to say.

  “It should be something you know really, really well,” I said.

  “How about the Pledge of Allegiance?” suggested Hannie.

  “Okay,” said Nancy. “Let me practice it in front of you guys first.”

  “But you have memorized the pledge,” I said.

  “I better practice it anyway,” replied Nancy. “Are you ready? Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic …”
>
  Of course, Nancy knows the pledge perfectly. She did not say one word wrong. Plus, she spoke loudly and not too fast.

  “Great!” I cried. “Okay. Now try it in front of your audience.”

  My big-house family had gathered in the living room. Hannie sat down with them. Nancy and I stood in front of them.

  “And now,” I began, “I am pleased to present Nancy Dawes!”

  Nancy stepped forward. I ran off to the side and sat next to Hannie. I smiled at Nancy. I wanted her to feel comfortable.

  “I — I pledge,” said Nancy. She was looking at her audience with big, frightened eyes. “I pledge,” she said again. And then she burst into tears. She ran out of the living room.

  Hannie and I ran after her. “Um, the show is over,” I called to the audience. “Sorry.”

  Nancy was in my bedroom. She was crying. “See? I could not do it,” she said. She sniffled loudly.

  “Well — ” I began to say.

  “And if I could not say the Pledge of Allegiance in front of your family,” Nancy rushed on, “how will I ever read my story to all the people at the program on Friday?”

  “You will be able to do it,” I said. “I know it. We will just have to keep working.”

  Frank Disappears

  Emily had not had any tantrums on Saturday. She did not have any on Sunday. But on Monday morning …

  “No! No! NO!” Clunk. Slam. Crash.

  Emily had a huge tantrum. I escaped out the door and ran to the school bus. In the afternoon, I was in no hurry to go back inside my house. So after I hopped off the bus and called good-bye to Hannie, I stopped by our garage. I thought maybe I would take a peek at Frankenstone.

  I pushed the door open. I peered inside. I stared at Frank’s corner. It looked empty. I stepped a bit closer. The corner was empty.

  Frankenstone was gone.

  I told myself not to panic. Maybe Charlie had put him in some other part of the garage after the big scare on Saturday night. I looked in every inch of the garage. No Frank.

  That shiver ran down my spine again. Frank had escaped. He really had come to life!