His big brother always told him there were monsters. Monsters that hid in closets, under beds, in his ears. Billy was always, always frightened cos Sean was always, always right. Of course, Momma told him it was nonsense, that there were no such things as monsters, but Billy knew better.
One day Dadda took Billy out for a drive in the car. Cars always made Billy sleepy. In fact, 5 minutes in a car and Billy would go out like a light. One second awake, the next slumped in deep sleep, dreaming like crazy.
Dadda had some errands to run in different shops and was a bit naughty. Rather than wake Billy (who was actually a cranky chap when roused) Dadda left him to sleep in his car seat.
Five shops later, Billy was still fast asleep and Dadda had a great thought about how to end the day. They would go to the garage to get the car washed in the automatic machine. It wouldn’t cost much to have a lovely gleaming car. Dadda followed the washing man’s instructions about lining the wheels up carefully and switching the engine off.
With a whoosh, the machine started.
Of course it was at that point that Billy woke up from a not very nice dream. The monsters were chasing him. Imagine his shock and horror when he saw the monster slapping at the window.
“Dadda, Dadda, there’s a monster….” Billy screamed very, very loudly.
“Don’t be a silly Billy – it’s only a car washing machine” Dadda said
“No Dadda… I mean it… it’s a big monster with BIG slappy hands”
Silence.
The car inched forwards. Billy started screaming again.
He turned to look at his Dadda.
Who wasn’t there.
Marj's writing 