Dust Monsters

A little story I wrote for kids, and I envisioned it as a picture book as I wrote it.

"Mother,"  cried Timmy, "  something is under my bed."

 "Did you see it?" asked Mother.

 "No, Im too scared, and I had my eyes closed. I also had my hands over my ears."

 "Maybe it's your teddy bear. I don't see him on your bed, maybe he fell off,"  said mother.

 "No, teddy is right here with me under the covers," said Timmy as he pulled back the blankets and held up teddy. "I saw something out of the corner of my eye on the floor, and it moved quickly." Timmy's eyes were big as saucers as he slid back under his covers holding teddy tight.

 "We should investigate," said Mother.

 "What if it tries to hurt us?"

 "We'll defend ourselves," said Mother. She reached in the closet and pulled out a bat.
 Mother jabbed around under Timmy's bed with the bat. She felt something, and dragged it out with the bat. It was a pile of Timmy's dirty clothes. Then she noticed a dusty old stuffed dog, but the dog had lived under Timmy's bed for months, and Timmy hadn't complained about something scarey under his bed before now. It couldn't have been the toy dog that scared Timmy. Mother kept moving the bat around under Timmy's bed to see what else she could find.

 "A-ha! just as I thought," Mother sat back and pointed.

 Timmy was scared, and couldn't look. "What is it?" he asked.
 
 "A dust creature," said Mother. "Don't worry. This one appears to be tame."
 Timmy opened his eyes and peeked over his blanket. He could see a small gray ball shivering mother's hand.
 Timmy sat up straight in his bed and leaned over to get a closer look at the dust creature. It moved around slightly as though it was cold.

 "It looks cold and scared," said Timmy.

 "I'm sure it is scared," said Mother. "Half of him was stuck under the pile of dirty clothes you had under your bed."

 "I better put my dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket so he doesn't hurt himself," said Timmy as he jumped out of bed and put the clothes in the basket by his closet.

 "Good idea," said Mother.

 Timmy picked up the toys off his floor and put them away in his toy box, and picked up the books that were next to his bed.

 "All done," he told the dust creature. "Now you don't have to be scared."
 Mother put the dust creature on the floor and it skittered back and forth, then stopped. The dust creature seemed happier, but Timmy was still concerned about the creature.

 "He looks hungry," Timmy told Mother. "What do dust creatures eat?"

 Mother thought for a moment. "They like lint," she said. "But don't over feed him."

 Timmy smiled. He ran over to his dresser drawer and pulled out a sweater that mother had just washed. Timmy pulled a ball of lint from his sweater that had come from the dryer. Each morning Timmy fed the dust creature a bit of lint. The dust creature grew fatter and slightly bigger. Timmy felt sorry for the creature though, it appeared to be sad, and it would shake whenever Timmy would walk by it, or if he would pull his blankets up to make his bed.

 "Maybe the dust creature needs a friend that looks like him," said Timmy. "Dust creatures like to stay together in a group I think, maybe if I find it a friend, it will stop looking sad and stop shaking."
 Mother thought for a moment, then smiled at Timmy. "I think I know where I can find a dust creature a friend." 

 "Really?" Timmy smiled from ear to ear. "Where can we find it a friend?"

 "Follow me," Mother said as she walked into the livingroom with Timmy and the dust creature following right behind her.
 Mother slid the couch away from the wall. Timmy couldn't believe his eyes. He was so excited to see a whole bunch of dust creatures along the wall. They looked very happy, and they ran faster as mother placed Timmy's dust creature beside the other dust creatures. The dust creatures welcomed Timmy's dust creature into their group as they ran along the wall, smiling.
 Everyday Timmy would look under his bed to see if there was a dust creature, and once in a while he would see one and he'd put it together with the family of dust creatures behind the couch, because he knew that's what made them happy.

 

Written by Shelly Mercer