Monster Nanny

by Tuutikki Tolonen

  “Everybody go home now to eat and look for your monster,” Koby ordered. “I’ll stay to guard the tents.”

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Halley asked with a yawn.

  “Of course I am, but you can bring me some food,” Koby answered irritably.

  “All right,” Halley said.

  “Also check that Mimi and Alice are at home. And come back soon,” he continued.

  Halley nodded. She had also been thinking of Mimi the night before.

  “And see if there’s any more fairy candy in the ceiling light for that fairy baby.”

  Halley nodded again. Good idea.

  “And bring me some more clothes,” Koby went on. “A jersey and woolly socks. And my green winter coat.”

  “Winter coat?” Halley repeated, puzzled.

  “Yes,” Koby said. “And—”

  “I can’t remember all that,” Halley interrupted. The winter coat was the limit, actually. What kind of a servant did he think she was? A winter coat in June! Hello?

  “Go get your own winter coat and woolly socks,” Halley retorted.

  “I’m on guard here,” Koby replied crossly. “I’m trying to stay awake. And I will. Not everybody stays awake even on their watch. Like you, for example.”

  Halley didn’t say a word but turned on her heel and left.

  Koby watched her go. Well done. Now he had upset both his sisters. Really great. But the most important question was where were the monsters? Why didn’t they come back? Koby could think of no sensible explanation. Did monsters go wild in a group? Maybe they were like guinea pigs, which couldn’t be housed too many to a cage. Maybe they had started fighting with one another and were now lying in the forest wounded or dead, the whole lot of them. Or would they have gone on a rampage among people? And what should be done with the angry fairy-frog baby?

  Frowning, Koby crawled back into the tent. Perhaps Runar would have an answer. Koby flopped down on his sleeping bag, opened the book, and began to read.

  CHAPTER 24

  Visible Dad

  HALLEY WALKED BRISKLY ACROSS the playing field. Stupid Koby! Stupid monsters!

  The soccer field was deserted, as were the yards of the buildings behind it. The whole town seemed deserted. Summer vacation! Everybody had gone to their summer cabins. Halley wished she had gone away too. What was the point in living by the sea, if you never got to go farther than the beach? If you didn’t even own a rowboat, no life jackets, not one thing that was nautical and summery and fun to do? What was the point? Drat the whole summer vacation. Drat Koby and Koby’s winter coat.

  On the sandy lane, Halley saw three people walking toward her: a grownup and two children with lots of different bags and baskets. There goes another family off on vacation, Halley thought, before she realized that one of the children was wearing a blue bathrobe. Mimi! And next to Mimi was Alice, of course, and next to Alice a man who could be no other than Invisible Voice! Halley squinted with surprise. Quite a turnout, one for the books! All of a sudden, Halley was no longer seething.

  Mimi waved her hand high over her head and hollered: “Halley! We’ve got food!”

  Dad waved too, maybe. Waving one’s hand is difficult if the arm is carrying a cooler and a picnic blanket. Halley waved back. Food was walking toward her. All the requested things were walking toward her. All except Koby’s stupid winter coat, which Halley decided to forget about. There you go, forgotten.

  The row of bushes alongside the sandy path rustled. Anybody else would have thought it was a gust of wind, but Halley knew right away: there was a monster in the bushes. The rustling progressed at the same speed as Dad, Mimi, and Alice. Would the monster come out when the bushes ended? Koby had said that monsters didn’t like to move around in daylight.

  Mimi, Alice, and Dad turned away from the bushes. The rustling stopped. Halley smiled to herself. The cowardly monster was staying in the bushes. Today she felt no particular sympathy toward monsters. They should have stayed where they had come from! Who needed them here? Especially if they didn’t bring breakfast.

  Dad stopped in front of Halley, smiling.

  “Hi! We brought some picnic food,” Dad said, raising the cooler.

  Halley cast a critical eye on Dad, who looked at the same time familiar and like he had been away on a trip too long. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that was wrinkly from the suitcase and some shorts that were too new. He looked like a car salesman. His hair was combed back and his arms were pasty white. Clearly the arms of an indoor person. Dad was not a backpacker or a camper, but evidently he did know how to make picnic food.

  “Not hungry?” Dad asked.

  “Absolutely starving. I was just coming to get some food,” Halley said.

  “You don’t need to now,” Mimi declared happily. She didn’t seem to be cross anymore either. “I’ve got a brilliant surprise for you. Where’s Koby? And all the others? I’ll tell everybody at the same time.”

  “Koby is at the camp, and the others went to their homes for breakfast. The monsters didn’t bring any food this morning,” Halley said, her eyes fixed sternly on Mimi. “Where were you all night?”

  “At home investigating things,” Mimi answered.

  “I helped,” Alice added.

  “Yes, you did,” Mimi confirmed.

  “Let’s get going now,” Dad interjected good-naturedly. “You can tell us while we eat. Koby must be hungry too.”

  Halley smiled at Dad stiffly. The smile was a bit rusty, because she was still getting used to visible Dad. It was already clear that visible Dad was unpredictable. He might speak at any time and interrupt whenever he wanted. Who knew, he might even start giving the children good advice or tell them off.

  “Koby!” Halley called. “Where are you? Come out!”

  “That was quick,” a voice said from a tent. Koby’s head poked out of a tent doorway. “I was reading. Mimi and Alice, where on earth have you been? Oh, hi.”

  Koby’s gaze stopped at Dad.

  “You have a real proper camp here,” Dad said. “Looks great. Quite a lot of tents.”

  “Let’s put the food here,” Halley said, spreading the blanket on the ground by the tent.

  “Anyone else for breakfast?” Dad asked while putting the food bags on the blanket.

  “No,” Koby said. “They all went home to eat.”

  “Are you planning on camping much longer?” Dad asked.

  “We might,” Koby said.

  Halley was unpacking the cooler. Hard-boiled eggs! Homemade cheese sandwiches! Soda in a can. Cookies and strawberries. Oranges! A perfect breakfast. Halley smiled.

  Mimi looked at Koby from behind Halley.

  “I forgive you,” she said nobly.

  “Thank you,” said Koby.

  “I realized that you can’t help being a little bit of a chicken,” Mimi went on kindly. “Maybe you’ll become braver when you’re older.”

  Halley rolled her eyes. Mimi really was one of a kind.

  “Come and eat,” Halley said to Koby, who nodded.

  Dad watched the children. They looked different from last fall’s school photos. It must have been the natural light. Children always look more alive and bigger in natural light than in photos. And they seemed to like their breakfast.

  Yet Dad felt strange. It looked like time didn’t move forward only where you happened to be yourself. Time passed equally quickly everywhere. Dad closed his eyes and shook his head, as if to shake out this thought that was too strange. Then he opened his eyes and changed the subject.

  “By the way, you picked a great spot for the camp. Whose idea was it?”

  As Koby’s and Halley’s mouths were full of food, Mimi got to answer first.

  “I told them to! The bathrobe said that we must move out to the yard. Then we found the spike fairy that Koby has in the jar—Koby can show you. Halley caught it in a net. Why does everybody always think that I’m making up stories? I lie the least of all! I even wanted to tell Mom that you were in a
blizzard and not at home!”

  “You mean you didn’t tell Mom?” Dad asked, worried.

  Mimi sighed and rolled her eyes. “I told you that, can’t you remember?”

  “What about the spike creature? May I see it?” Dad asked.

  “It escaped last night,” Koby said. “It had babies that came out of eggs. Then they all escaped except one. We’ve got it in a jar.”

  “Babies?” Dad repeated, disbelieving.

  “Really?” Mimi yelled. “I want to see the baby!”

  “It’s very fierce,” Koby warned.

  Dad looked around. “And where are all the monsters? How many are there?”

  “Thirteen,” Koby said. “But I think they’ve run away too.”

  “Is that so?” Dad said.

  “Yes. Even though they’re supposed to take care of us. They’re not supposed to leave us alone. But they’re nowhere to be seen. They probably got confused when they found each other.”

  “What do you mean, ‘confused’?” Dad asked, concerned.

  “That they forgot they should be looking after us.”

  “And now nobody is looking after you, or at least the other children,” Dad said. “I’m looking after the three of you now.”

  “And me,” Alice remarked.

  Dad looked a tiny bit worried.

  “You can look after all of us at the same time,” Mimi suggested. “And the monsters are still here quite close. You just can’t see them all the time.”

  “Do you mean that hiding dust?” Koby asked.

  Mimi smiled secretively. “I have some new information,” she said.

  “Have you been talking to that bathrobe of yours again?” asked Halley.

  Mimi nodded solemnly. “Last night, just before Dad came home.”

  Halley chuckled and asked Dad: “Did you get to see it?”

  Dad shook his head, concerned. Because there were times when difficult things had to be done, Koby took a deep breath and said quickly: “I have seen it move. Many times, actually. Though I’ve never heard it speak.”

  Mimi gave Koby a delighted look and exclaimed: “Koby, you’re not a scaredy-cat after all!”

  “You’re both nuts!” Halley said, laughing.

  Dad cleared his throat. “We need to talk about this bathrobe thing soon,” he said to Mimi. “When Mom comes home. Has she taken you to the child development clinic?”

  Mimi gave Dad a puzzled look. Clinic? “I can’t wait for any clinic. I’m going to tell you all right now,” she said.

  “Let’s hear it,” Koby said, and reached out to snatch a cookie. Halley took another bite of her delicious sandwich and kept shaking her head. Everything was quite crazy, but never mind. At least she wasn’t hungry anymore.

  “I did a few tests with Grah this morning,” Mimi began. “It really can turn invisible whenever it wants. It can walk about completely invisible. Watch!”

  Mimi squinted her eyes into tight slits and looked around. She jumped to her feet, took a few quick steps to the side, and blew into the air. Koby whispered to Dad: “Mimi is a little bit odd, but there’s no need to worry about it,” he said. “Mom says it’s her age. She’ll grow out of it.”

  Dad turned to Koby and smiled. “I know. You were a lot like her when you were younger.”

  Koby gave Dad a startled glance.

  “Look!” Mimi yelled. “Look NOW!”

  “Oh wow!” exclaimed Halley.

  “What are you yelling at?” Koby asked, and turned to see. His mouth fell open. “What is that?”

  In the air floated a monster’s arm and a bit of its side. Really: floating in the air.

  Mimi giggled and clapped her hands. “It can do that whenever it wants,” she explained with glee.

  “I told you so!” Halley said.

  Koby screwed up his eyes. So, right in front of him, in the middle of an ordinary summer day, there was a monster. It was standing kind of hidden behind air, in its own invisibility dust.

  “Very strange,” Dad said, shaking his head. “I don’t quite know what to think of these monsters.”

  Koby walked toward Mimi to get a better look at the partially visible monster.

  “What if there’s a strong wind?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Haven’t had one yet,” Mimi said. “Must find out.”

  “Incredible,” said Koby, and looked around quickly.

  “Are all the other monsters somewhere around here? Can we see them by squinting?”

  Mimi giggled. “No, nitwit! They’ll come out when they want to.”

  “Do you know where they are?” Koby asked.

  “The bathrobe did say something,” Mimi replied mysteriously. “Want to hear?”

  “I do.” Koby nodded.

  “First, the monsters have a home somewhere, and they want to go back there. They are really terribly homesick,” she began. “But they can only get back home in some kind of a chain or line. I didn’t quite understand that bit. Well, anyway. That’s why they’re running around the forest now. They’re looking for all the monsters for the chain. One of them is missing.”

  Koby listened thoughtfully.

  “Runar didn’t write anything about chains or lines.”

  “Of course not,” said Halley. “One monster can’t form a line. Runar only knew one.”

  “But we have many monsters,” Mimi said.

  “They could be studied,” Koby said. “If only they came back.”

  “You’ll have to write a sequel to that book of Runar’s,” Dad said.

  Koby nodded to Dad. It was possible that he understood more about things than it seemed.

  “I don’t understand any of this,” Halley said. “What’s the point of it?”

  “There’s probably no sense or point to it at all,” Koby mused aloud.

  “But guess what was the strangest thing of all?” Mimi began to chuckle. “The bathrobe said that we must look for the solution under Koby’s arm! Just think, his armpit! Ha-ha!”

  Alice giggled too. Dad scratched his head, confused.

  Koby looked at his armpit. He was holding Runar’s book there, as always.

  “There’s a book under my arm,” Koby said, looking at Halley.

  Mimi stopped laughing.

  “Runar’s monster book,” Halley affirmed. “Koby’s always carrying it around.”

  “And the book has several hundred pages,” Koby went on. “Which one will hold the solution?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to look,” said Halley.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Mimi.

  Dad smoothed Mimi’s tousled hair and said: “We’re saying that the solution is probably in that book.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Visitors in the Camp

  THREE LADIES APPEARED ON the edge of the playing field so suddenly that one might have thought they had dropped from the sky. The ladies were small and vaguely old, with pointed noses and very dark hair. They were dressed in similar long dresses: one red, one green, and the third gray. Their hair was twisted into a high bun on the top of their heads, and around their necks hung metal chains.

  The women stood just watching for a long time. Their translucent, blank eyes studied the camp, the tents in various colors, children, one adult.

  Then the ladies made a move. They approached very silently, with light steps like the wind, and not one twig or dry leaf crackled under their slippers. Nobody noticed their arrival in the camp until they were already standing in front of Dad. He had been lounging in a camping chair, reading the newspaper. A radio played music, the newspaper rustled, and Dad was humming.

  “Good afternoon,” said the lady in the red dress.

  Startled, Dad jumped out of his chair and turned the radio down.

  “Good afternoon,” he said.

  The ladies inclined their heads in a little bow.

  “We have a camp here,” Dad explained, gesturing with his hand.

  “We can see that,” the woman in red said.
She spoke with a strange accent.

  “We knew this. We came to meet you,” the lady in the green dress continued.

  “To meet us?” Dad repeated. “So your children are here, are they?”

  “No. We are looking for the half-humans, the nanny monsters,” the lady in gray replied.

  “Oh, the monsters,” Dad began. “Are they yours? I do have a few questions—”

  “We do not see them here,” gray dress interrupted coolly. “Where are they?”

  Koby sat up on his blanket in front of the tent. He had been reading Runar’s book when the ladies came but quickly covered it up. For some reason, he didn’t want these visitors to see his book.

  “They’ve run away,” Koby answered.

  “Run away,” the woman in the green dress repeated. “Could you tell us when and how?”

  “Yesterday morning they made us breakfast, but we haven’t seen them since,” Koby said. “I think they’ve run away. They do run very fast.”

  “But there is one still here,” Dad said to Koby. “That one of ours, the one with a name. Where is it?”

  Koby, Halley, and Mimi kept their eyes on the ground. Apparently, Dad could still be perfectly stupid. Anybody with any sense could see that there was no way they’d give Grah up to these women.

  “Please, go get the half-human. We’ll take it with us,” said the woman in the gray.

  “Mimi, where is it?” Dad asked helpfully.

  “Sorry, but it ran off too,” Mimi replied sadly. She gave a warning look to Alice, who kept looking in the direction where Grah had been painting with watercolors a moment ago. The spot was empty, the paints and brushes lying on the ground.

  “Oh, really?” Dad said, giving Mimi a puzzled look. The three peculiar women also turned their translucent eyes to Mimi. Mimi’s skin went goose pimply. Their gazes went right through to her bones. Mimi returned the look calmly. Dad frowned and eyed the women.

  “Excuse me, but who are you, exactly?” Dad asked. “Are you the monsters’ owners? Did you send them?”

  The women turned toward Dad, and Mimi sighed with relief.