Shivers: A Ghastly Shade of Green

Chapter 6

"Tannin, stay away from that slime!" I shouted.

He was barking, snarling, sniffing the goo, and acting angry that it had invaded the cabin.

I had called Mom when I first spotted the green slime, yelling to her from the bedroom and waking up Timmy. When she ran to me, Tannin followed.

Now the small bedroom was in chaos.

Mom was trying to examine the gunk, but she had to hold back Tannin and answer Timmy's questions at the same time.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Timmy asked, looking nervously at the slime. "What is that, Mommy?"

"I don't know yet, honey," Mom said. "I'm trying to find out. Tannin, be quiet!" She struggled to hold onto the dog's collar.

"Mom, that's the grossest stuff I've ever seen," I said. "What was in here last night?"

"If Tannin would just cooperate a little, maybe I could tell you," Mom groaned "Tannin, stop barking! Jason, will you help me, please?"

I took Tannin by the collar and pulled him to the living room. I left him there and ran back into the bedroom, closing the door behind me. I could still hear Tannin growling and scratching at the door.

"Mom, what kind of thing could leave a trail of green goo like that?" I asked. "It's so weird!"

"Mommy, what that?" Timmy babbled.

Our mother bent over the dressed and inspected the slime carefully. She even smelled it two or three times. Then she reached out and touched it!

"Oh, grosssss!" I said. "Mom, don't touch it! You don't know what it might be."

Timmy made a twisted face, too.

"Icky!" he said.

"I'm not sure what it is. Not positive anyway," Mom said thoughtfully. She sounded more like a curious scientist now than a mother. "But I'm quite certain it's not dangerous. It's organic. And it didn't come from any animal.

"Didn't come from an animal? How do you know that?" I wondered.

"I can tell from the composition, Jason. It's from some kind of plant. Very interesting, really," Mom responded, examining the goo closely again. "I've never seen anything quite like it. I'll take some samples and bring them back to the lab with me for analysis. In the meantime, I wouldn't worry about it.

"Mom, I've been slimed!" I protested. "How can you say not to worry about it? Something came in our bedroom last night through the window, left a bunch of green gunk, and stole my lucky stone!"

"My best theory about what happened, boys, is that a small animal like a raccoon came inside looking for food," Mom explained. "It was probably carrying some kind of plant in its mouth. Or maybe the animal had rolled around in this green substance somewhere outside among all the vegetation. Then the animal brought the substance inside and, for some strange reason, made off with your lucky stone. That part puzzles me a little, I admit."

"Mom, even I know raccoons don't eat stones! And if it was carrying a plant in its mouth when it came in the cabin, how did it carry the stone out without leaving the plant behind?" I replied.

"Good point, Jason. That's very strong, logical thinking. I admit, my theory has some holes," Mom said. "It's hard to explain it better without more information. There might have been two raccoons for example. Or maybe it wasn't a raccoon. It would have been another type of animal that was attracted to your stone, for some reason. But I do know it's nothing to be concerned about."