Once upon a time in a town far, far away, there was a little neighborhood full of monster houses with flags flying high up on flagpoles. This was Monster Town, and it was home to all sorts of monsters, big and small. Everybody loved to play together, no monster was ever too scared to play with other monsters - except for one.
My name is Milo and I am a monster, too, I’m just a little bit more on the silly side. I live on Monster Hill and my house is at the end of a long line of small monster houses. I had soooo wanted to try and make friends with my little monster neighbors but each time I introduced myself they would turn to their parents and shake their heads. So I decided I would visit the new family that had just moved to Monster Town. I picked some flowers from my garden, tied a pretty bow around the stems with string, and walked up their path, up the creaky steps, and then I rang their doorbell. Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!
A little monster girl about my age opened the door. She had bright blue hair and a flower tucked behind one ear. She wore a dress covered in polka-dots, and I noticed she had three noses on her face!
“Hello! My name is Milo,” I said. “I live on the hill, and I just wanted to welcome you and your family to Monster Town.”
“Hi, I’m Miranda,” she said. “Come in, come in! Have you met my mom—-oh there she is now!”
A lady monster with two heads and funny green hair came hurrying over with a big toothy smile.
“Do come in and enjoy some monster food, won’t you?” she said. “Yummy!”
I peeked my head inside to see a strange-looking food table. There were purple and orange plants along with a pan of something that looked like sauce but so much thinner. “What is that?” I asked, pointing at the green liquid.
“That’s sludge soup!” Miranda smiled. “Mom makes it all the time!”
“How do you eat slime soup?” I asked, thinking just tasting it would be enough to cover my silly face in nasty goo.
“We drink it with a straw and get every slimy drop! It’s our monster family tradition!” said Miranda’s mom and walked off to the pantry muttering to herself. “Now where did I put the hair casserole?”
I stepped back towards the door. “No, thanks,” I said, trembling. “No, thanks.”
“Oh come now! We would love to have you over for a meal. It’s the monster thing to do,” said Miranda, looking hopeful.
“Bye-bye Miranda! Thank you for the invitation!” and I was off, as quickly as I would run from the big, hairy, wild beast in the forest. I didn’t watch where I was going and accidentally bumped into a blue monster with twelve arms.
“Oh, sorry! Sorry!” I stammered. “I-wasn’t-watching-where-I-was-going!”
“Don’t worry about it! I was just admiring the flowers,” said the tall monster. “My name’s Max, by the way.” He was a big monster so I looked up at him.
“I-was-just-bump-bump-bumping-off-to-Miranda’s-that-is-Miranda-the-new-monster-girl-and-her-mom-and I-am-on-Monster-Hill-and-this-up-and-down-monster-is-bl-bl-blistering-my-bottom. But anyway, it’s very nice to meet you.”
“I live nearby, let’s walk together,” said Max, looking back toward his house. “Oh, and that’s my mom calling me now. She wants to take me for something to eat—but I won’t go.”
“Why won’t you go?” I asked.
“I only want to eat monster-giant blueberries from Monster Hill—that’s the best kind of food there is,” he said. “But hey, why don’t I come over to your house for a meal instead?”
Max and I made our way up Monster Hill, and when we got to my door he told me to stand outside as he went inside. “Close your eyes, okay?” he said. I did, and when I opened my eyes Max had Jazz and her family, Mrs. Futterbutter, Larry the Vampire, and all sorts of monsters bringing plates and plates of food to the front yard. And what food it was! Huge monster-burgers piled so high you couldn’t even see the monster behind them, and humongous stacks of cotton candy the size of themselves, and hot dogs as tall as monsters!
The blue monster did not have far to sleep that night, and we spent many days after that at each other’s houses when the sunny monster-moon poked out from behind the clouds-it was so thrilling to spend time with somebody other than my family. That’s how I got to know Miranda, the noodle-eating green monster Rina, and all sorts of other monsters in the neighborhood until they all knew me, or at least knew my name-some of them invited me over and some of them said, “Look, there’s Milo!” as I passed by their houses.
So no monster was ever too scared to play with another monster in the neighborhood of Monster Town in the end. And I lived happily ever after with my friends (there were soooo many I can’t even count them) and they were happy to know me, all because I’m a little silly!
And that dear children is a true story!