Peanut and Tommy

I was never the type of kid who would run to his parents screaming about a monster under his bed. I became aware that monsters existed at a very young age. I never feared them. Instead, I always wanted to meet one of them. One day, while pretending to sleep, I spotted the beast coming out of the closet to hide under my bed. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. It was 6 feet tall and had green, yellow, and orange stripes. It looked like what you would get if you mixed a zebra with an alligator. It had spikes on its back and huge sharp teeth and thick claws. I only had one eye open as I watched the monster. I tried my best not to make a sound, but I couldn’t help it. I gasped in amazement. With great speed, the beast ran back into the closet. I tried to pretend that I was only snoring, but the beast did not return. It was gone. I was left lying there amazed. I got out of the bed, went into the closet to look for him, but I didn’t see anyone. Now, I was more determined than ever to meet the monster. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to be his friend.

The next night, as I got ready for bed, I left sugar cookies and milk for the monster to eat. Mom didn’t realize that I took 2 extra. In the morning, I found the milk was gone but the cookies were left untouched. So, I tried again. This time I used chocolate chip cookies. They were also left untouched. I tried donuts, apple pie, potato chips, and cake. I tried one thing after another, and nothing seemed to work. I knew it was still there. He could hear it. Monsters make a lot of noise just by breathing. Last, I tried a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Some people think that sounds strange. I always say, “Don’t knock it till you try it.” Anyway, it worked like a dream. Both the sandwich and the milk were gone in the morning. I was also able to get his picture with a motion activated camera. Smart! I know!

The following night, I left the same thing. This time I added the picture of the monster with the caption, “I know you’re there. I’m not afraid.” So, when the monster emerged from the closet, it did not hide under my bed. It stood over me while I was sleeping. Quickly, I woke up and whispered, “I knew it.”

With a deep, raspy voice, the monster replied, “Hello Tommy. Yes, I know your name. I know everything about you. I am a Guardian of the Night. Although many children fear us, we mean you no harm.”

“I’m not afraid”, I said.

“I am here to protect you. But the grown-ups must not become aware that I exist. They tend to overreact.”

“I won’t tell them.”

If I were to tell my parents that there was a monster under my bed or in my closet, they would take away all the things I like. They would take my video games. They wouldn’t let me watch the movies with the dinosaurs I like so much. They would even take away my favorite thing in the whole wide world, snacks, before bedtime. I wasn’t telling them anything.

“What is your name”, I asked? “What do I call you?”

“My name can not be spoken with human tongues or heard by human ears. If I spoke it, It might shatter all of the glass in the house. But, since you are the one that discovered me, you can give me a name in the human world.”

I thought hard about a good name. “What about Alli-zebra. No. Zebra-gator. You were attracted to a peanut butter sandwich. What about peanut butter.”

“Peanut butter?”

“No, Peanut. Just Peanut.”

The monster smiled. “Peanut. I like that. You may call me Peanut.”

Peanut slowly walked back toward the closet. He stopped, turned around and looked at Me. “Follow me”, he said. “Let me show you my world.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful. But my parents come and check on me every night at midnight. They don’t realize that I know this, but they wake me up when they tuck me in.”

Midnight was only 10 minutes away. At any moment they may awaken and hear me talking. This could cause problems, especially if they come in and I wasn’t there.

“Don’t worry”, Peanut said. “Time slows down when you’re with me. It stops when you enter my world.”

I was excited about going into the monster world. When I expressed my excitement, he gave me this warning:

“When you are inside, don’t use that word. I understand it’s used often here but it’s an ugly word where I’m from. A monster is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. We are not imaginary. We are not ugly. We try our best not to be frightening. We prefer the word Guardians.”

I expected the monster, I mean Guardian, world to be a dark place, aways night. I was not expecting to be scared or anything like that. But I was not expecting to see a bright sunny day with rainbows and white clouds either. Creatures of all kinds, shapes, and sizes with big smiles were everywhere. They were friendly. A child in the Guardian world was a rare thing according to Peanut. And when new ones did make it there, they were treated like kings and queens.

When I arrived, a large group of guardians ran toward me. They placed a crown on my head and sat me on a thrown. It was amazing.

“We have a new king”, one of them exclaimed.

“How long are you here”, another asked?

“What is your name”, asked a third?

“My name is Tommy. I must be back by midnight.”

“Wonderful”, said the first, “That can last forever. LONG LIVE KING TOMMY!”

“Long Live King Tommy”, the crowd shouted.

They began to bring me strawberries and watermelons and cookies, and cake. They even brought me peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

“King Tommy”, called another one. He looked like a giant snake with legs and wings.

“My name is …” A sound came out of his mouth that sounded like a thousand birds of all different types chirping at the same time. It was so loud I had to cover my ears when he said it.

“I’m sorry”, he said. “My name in the human word is Hiss.”

I laughed. “His name is Hiss.”

They all look puzzled. But since I laughed, they all laughed.

“King Tommy”, said Hiss. “You have come just in time for the Guardian games. There are 5 Guardians with a human here. As one of them, you can be in the race.”

I climbed onto the back of Peanut. He spread wings and took off into the sky. I didn’t even know he could fly.

“You didn’t tell me you could fly”, I said.

“You never asked. All guardians can fly.”

We reached the starting point of the race. Next to me, riding on the back of Hiss, was a girl. Susan, my sister.

“Hey!”, I said. “What are you doing here?”

“Hiss wanted me to meet the new king. He said that I would be surprised. I am.”

The race began and Hiss took off with lightening speed.

“Come on Peanut”, I said. “We can catch up and be them.”

Racing my sister made me very happy. Beating her would make me that much happier.

We were gaining on her when that kid from around the block came up from behind. He was riding Trebor, kind of a dog mixed with a spider. He flew by shooting webs and swinging on them. I smiled. With just a look from me, Peanut smiled also. With just a swipe of his claws, Trebor’s web broke and down they went. They were not hurt. He quickly shot another web, but he was far behind.

With the finish line insight, Peanut increased speed and overtook Susan and Hiss at the last second.

“All hail the new King”, the crowd shouted. “King Tommy and Peanut wins.”

“Good race little brother”, Susan said.

After the race we enjoyed a whole lot of events. Susan won the pie eating contest, but I won at watermelon eating. We got to ride on some of the biggest and fastest rollercoasters I’d ever seen. We went swimming. We ran on the beach. We ate ice-cream. We rode on the go-carts. We played all day until I fell asleep.

Peanut brought me back to the human world and placed me in my bed. Moments after he escaped to the safety of the closet, Mom and Dad came into the room to check on me. I woke up but did not let them know. I did what I could not to move or make a sound. I did smile.

Mom asked me if I had good dreams. I told her that I didn’t remember. Susan walked up and said, “Good race, little brother.” All I could do was laugh. Dad was confused. “When did the two of you race?”

“Oh! It was a video game”, Susan said.

“I won”, I replied.

I didn’t like lying. Truthfully, mine was not a lie. I did win. But the rules remained the same. Our parents must never know. The rest of the children would one day discover this world for themselves. I’d look forward to joining them when they do. Until then, I will keep peanut butter and honey sandwiches out at least once a week.