TEA WITH THE MIDNIGHT MONSTERS

PUDGE'S LULLABY

Millie was still admiring Max when Red gave the creatures a moment to notice him. They all quieted, waiting to see what he'd say or do:

"Two people haven't been eating their turnips..." He meant, of course, Millie and Pim. They hadn't turned when the sun went down. "No Tag tonight! No one -- no one -- flies the coop!" Then Red turned and exited.

Across the void, Pim looked at Max. "What does he mean?"

The basilisk shrugged.

Roy then entered, fishing for his keys -- the keys on the ring clipped to his jeans. "Everyone's gettin' locked in tonight!" He rounded up the creatures, kicking at heels, driving them forward into the cages. "Hop to it! Time for bed! You!" He pointed to Millie.

"Me?" said Millie, "but I don't have a cage."

"Y'all gonna' share! And you and you!" He pointed to KK, Beatrice, Hope. "Gals with gals! Guys with guys!"

Eyes wide, Millie looked at Pim. "They're locking us up. We can't leave."

"No more games," Roy said. "No more Tag. Little Red's done. Says it's too risky. Things gettin' weird."

Max and Pim looked at each other, frustrated. The plan wouldn't work. They had to be able to leave the void. Pim pulled Hope's blanket from under his sweater. "Give this to Hope," he whispered to Millie. "Max? Ideas?"

Max shook his head. "We'll need some time to figure this out."

"You in here!" Roy called to Millie. "Step on it!" Millie hid the blanket behind her back, crossed the void, and sidestepped into Hope's cage. She passed the blanket to Hope and climbed out.

"Wait. Please," she whispered to Roy, as if she were telling him a deep dark a secret. "Whatever you do, don't put my brother in with the basilisk. Have mercy."

"Basilisk?" Roy said, and looked around. He wasn't sure what a basilisk was.

"The rooster snake." Millie turned and pointed toward Max. "My brother," she lied, raising her voice so Pim could hear, "he hates snakes. Like nothing else. And roosters. Especially roosters. Please don't put him in with that thing."

Pim caught onto Millie's act. If he could spend the night with Max, they could come up with a brand new plan; a way to get out of the cages at night.

"Yes, please, don't," Pim begged.

"It was an accident," Millie fibbed. "Our farm in England. When he was five. A flock of roosters, rabid and mad, tried to peck him to death. He ran and fell, and a snake bit his leg." Millie climbed into Hope's cage.

Roy turned to Pim and smiled sadistically. "Yer goin' in with the rooster snake!"

"No, please!" Pim said, and backed away.

Perfect, thought Millie. She'd miss her brother throughout the night, but he needed to be with Max. They had to devise a new plan. This would give them hours.

A hundred years ago, or maybe three hundred, nighttime was darker and quieter than now. Today, if you live in the country, you may hear the wind and the rain at night, or raccoons fighting near your garage. If you live in the city, there may be streetlamps that light up your room and you might hear sirens at one in the morning...

But the void was so far under the park that no sound or light could reach the children. Outside noises were buffered by bedrock.

On his way out, Roy closed the door and perfect darkness overtook them. The children, in fact, were rendered blind.