It was a sunny Friday afternoon in Centerville, so the little monsters were out playing in the backyard. One, Two, Four, and Seven were playing a simplified version of volleyball without a net, since their backyard net had recently been damaged in a monster-related mishap. Instead, they were using Five's tongue as a marker between the two sides. Five was laying down on his belly and watching the action from below. Six was sitting on a blanket the ground and watching, as she did not want to get her new tutu dirty.
"My serve!" One called, holding up the volleyball.
"I don't think it's fair for you to be able to serve from all the way up there," said Four, fists on his hips. Four and Seven were on the other side of the tongue from One and Two.
One shrugged. "Well, how about I come down here," she lowered herself so her feet were level with Two's head, "and we'll just say it's a jump serve."
"Yeah," said Two, "that's about as high as I can jump."
"No, you can't," said Four. "Show me."
Two crouched down and jumped up as high as he could, but his head only made it up to One's knees. It was still enough to shake the whole block.
"See?" Four stuck his thumb down. "You need to come way lower, One. Don't you think so, Seven?"
"Well, that is..." Seven, who never did like confrontation, hunched his shoulders down as he trailed off and fidgeted with his fingers.
"See? Seven agrees with me."
"He did not!" One crossed her arms.
"Come on, One, just serve from down here," said Two. "It's not that big a deal."
"It's not fair that I always have to come down when we play games," One grumbled.
"Well, it's not fair that you can fly and we can't!" Four retorted.
"Fine, fine." One lowered herself down onto the ground. "Happy now?"
"Very." Four grinned smugly.
One folded her wings tightly against her back, then jumped as high as she could and slammed her fist hard into the ball, sending it way over the dividing tongue line. It soared far above both Four and Seven, and bounced hard against the window of the monster's bedroom. Fortunately, the glass was unharmed. A moment later, Three opened the window and stuck his head out. "Good monsters, please, do cease with all this din!" he called down. "I only have an hour or two to go.
The stage decides which actors to let in...And I must be a part of its next show!"
"Who are you supposed to be today, Three?" Four asked with some boredom in his voice.
"All the world's a stage," said Three, "and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts."
"Uh-huh," said Four. "And which part is it today?"
"Any part, really, it doesn't matter." Three reached down and picked up a packet of paper held together with three brass fasteners. "The point is, they're holding auditions today at the Centerville Community Theater and I'm going to be there!"
"Wow, a real audition?" Six smiled up at her brother. "That's great! What's the play?"
From behind Three, they heard Mama's voice: "Why is all this yelling? Three, if you are having something to say to your brothers and sisters, outside with them you should be doing it!"
"Sorry, Mom," said Three, pulling his head back inside, though he could still be heard clearly. "I was just telling them about the play..." Three closed the window. A minute later, he and Mama came out the back door to join the rest.
"Yes, I am proud being of my little müshka," said Mom. "So grown up to be getting on stage and acting."
"What's the play?" Six asked again. She had gotten off the blanket and come to join the two teams, now crowding around Three.
"It's a stage adaptation of 'A Dog of Flanders,'" said Three.
Five sat up and sucked his tongue mostly back in. "Doggy?" he asked excitedly.
"Not here," said Mama. "In the play being is a dog."
"So are you trying out for the dog?" asked Four with a smirk.
"No," said Three. "They've got a trained dog. But I'm good for any other part."
"What's the play about?"
"Is marvelous story," said Mama. "If you all sit down I will be telling you."
All the monsters except Three sat down in a half circle around Mama. Six, of course, fetched her blanket so she didn't get grass stains on her tutu. Three stood behind Mama, ready to act out all the best parts.
"A long time ago in faraway country of Belgium is being the region Flanders. There is living poor little boy named Nello with his grandfather and dog they are finding one day so hurt and tired from being mistreated. Dog they are naming Patrasche and Patrasche is helping them delivering the milk so they have barely enough money to buy a little food. They are too poor to be affording anything else, not even supplies for art even though Nello is fantastic artist. So beautiful his pictures are, even though he cannot even read."
"He can draw, but he can't read?" Two interrupted.
"He is not having school to go to. All day must he work, and only after work is done can he draw. He has friend in village name of Alois, who is the daughter of very rich man. Father of Alois does not want his daughter to be being sweethart of poor illiterate boy so he does his best to keeping them apart."
"Oh, how sad and romantic," said Six wistfully. "I do hope they end up together."
"Nello is loving art and going to the church in town where painting by very famous Flemish artist name of Peter Paul Rubens is hanging. But, so sad for Nello, you must pay a gold coin to see such paintings, and remember Nello is very poor. Never in his life is he even seeing a gold coin! But he is good artist, and he has loyal dog friend, and friend Alois, and his grandfather, so he is happy.
"Nello tries entering art contest where prize is much money and chance to study art in big city. But judges pick someone else. Then Nello's grandfather, who was very sick, is passing away leaving Nello all alone. And, so terrible a fire breaks out on windmill of Alois's father! The father is blaming Nello, because he is not trusting poor boy who wants to be his daughter's sweetheart, and no one is buying milk from Nello anymore. Now he cannot be with Alois or grandfather, but still he has Patrasche.
"So having no money Nello is losing his home, and it is a very cold Christmas Eve he and Patrasche are turned out into. While they are walking Patrasche finds bag of money belonging to Alois' father. He brings it to home so father can pay for repairing of damaged windmill, and leaves Patrasche for Alois to take care of since Nello cannot be feeding him. Then Nello leaves.
"Of course when father of Alois comes home he sees his missing money is found and not a penny gone! Nello is so honest being even though he has no money for food or shoes or a warm place to sleep, now father knows Nello is good for Alois. He is promising to take care of Nello from then on. One judge from the art contest comes by trying to find Nello saying he thinks judges were wrong and Nello should have won, so he wants Nello to come study art in city with him.
"Great," said One. "So it's a happy ending?"
"Story is not over yet, my müshkas. Nello is finding the church where his favorite Rubens paintings hang, and to his delight someone has left the curtains open! He is seeing them, and Patrasche is leaving the house and finding Nello there. They cuddle together under the beautiful paintings, and it is there they pass into Heaven together. They are found next morning, and buried together in church cemetery so they will be together forever."
It was silent among the monsters, as six of them slowly took in the ending of the story, and the remaining one was busy acting out the death scene at the end of the play. Three lay limply on his side, both arms out cuddling an imaginary dog.
Two took out a handkerchief and blew his enormous nose. "Gee... that's so sad!"
"So... he doesn't get anything? He could have had everything and he got nothing?" Four asked. "What even was the point of all that?"
"Point is reminding us that we should be taking care of people who are not having money and children who have no place to live, and not to be judging people's character because of how much money they have."
"Nello's poor, but he's good," said Three, lifting his head up slightly.
"Right," said Six. "And Alois's father is rich, but he seems so mean!"
Three sat up. "This script. Is. Dynamite! It'll bring the house down!"
"It is good being if my little Threeling is in it," said Mama.
"I have to go if I'm going to be on time for the audition," said Three. "It's just at the beginning of Main Street. I'm old enough to go by myself, right?"
"If that is what you are wanting, then yes. I trust you to be safe, stay out of roads, and come home before dark." Mama stood on her tiptoes and kissed Three on the cheek. "Are you sure you aren't needing Mama with you?"
"No, I don't want to ruin the surprise," said Three, getting up off the grass. "Thanks, Mother. See you all at dinner!" Clutching the script, Three took off running down the street. The ground shaking became less pronounced the further away he got.
"Now Mama is going inside to finish cleaning house," said Mama. "Play nice now, my müshkas."
"We will, Mom," the monsters said.
When she was gone, the monsters stayed sitting quietly for a while.
"That was a very sad story," said Seven.
"Doggy bye-bye," said Five sadly.
"Yeah," said Two. "I thought for sure Nello would get to stay with Alois."
"I think he shoulda just kept the money bag," said Four. "I mean, Alois' dad already hated him, didn't he?"
"It's still not honest," said One. She perked up. "I know! Let's make up our own ending to the story!"
"Our own ending?"
"Yeah, yeah!" One stood up excitedly. "We'll all play a part and make it end the way we want it to!"
"Oh, that sounds lovely!" Six clasped her hands together.
"Okay, Seven, since you're the youngest, you can be Nello."
"But I'm not a good artist," said Seven.
"You don't have to actually draw anything," said One. "Just pretend you can."
"Five doggy!" Five clapped his hands.
"Okay, Five, you can be Patrasche."
"Five be weo," said Five.
"He wants to be named Leo instead of Patrasche," Four explained.
"That should be okay. Patrasche is kind of a weird name," agreed One. "Four, you can be Alois's dad, since you're already mean."
"Hey!" Four paused. "Well, yeah, but still."
"Six, you can be Alois."
"Can Alois be a ballerina?" asked Six.
"Uh, I guess," said One. "Two, why don't you be the art show judge who wants Nello to study art with him?"
"Who will you be?" asked Two.
"I'll be... I'll be..." One tried to remember the story. "Uh... well, Alois has to have a mom. I guess I'll be her."
"Okay, where should we start?"
"Uh, we'll start with Patrasche- I mean, Leo- finding the money bag."
Five held up a pine cone. "Money!" He immediately put it in his mouth.
"Good heavens, don't eat it!" Seven reached out for the pine cone. "That belongs to Alois's father, and he will be ever so angry if anything happens to it."
"You're darn right I will be," Four snarled.
"Four, you aren't in this scene," said Six. "We're at home and they're out in the snow."
By the time supper was on the table, Nello had returned the money bag and gone out into the snow to see the Rubens, and Leo had led Alois's family and the art contest judge to the church where the paintings hung. Then Nello had gone to the city to study art, where he developed art-related superpowers which he used to defeat Alois's dad from taking over the world. Ballerina Alois used her power of dancing to rescue her mother, all while the art judge commemorated it in his medium of choice (crayon on construction paper.) By the time they came in for dinner, they were chatting excitedly about the ending they came up with.
"I think it was a thousand times better," said One.
"Yeah, except for the part where I was imprisoned in a giant painting," Four grumbled, taking his seat.
"Doggy okay!" said Five excitedly.
"Did my children have fun playing the story today?" asked Mama.
"Yes, Mom," they all said some variation of.
"I wonder where Three is," said Two. "He should have been home by now."
"Ah, he'll be fine," said Four. "He knows the way home in the dark. And I'm not saving him any kebabs."
Just then the front door opened and Three came dragging himself in. All six monsters looked up and saw Three standing in the doorway. His shoulders were sagging and his back was hunched. He had the biggest, saddest eyes they had ever seen on him.
"So..." Seven smiled encouragingly. "Did you get the part?"
"No," said Three in a very dejected voice. "I didn't get any part."
Mama walked right over to Three. Two was closest, and without being cued he lifted Mama up on his nose so she could give Three a big hug. "Oh, my little Threeling, what a disappointment you are having!"
"Ah," said Four waving his hand dismissively, "they don't know talent when they see it."
Three gave a weak smile to Four. "Heh. Thanks."
"Well, sit down to a nice, big dinner and forget about it," said Mama.
"Actually, I'm not really that hungry," said Three. "Do you mind if I just go to bed?"
"No, if you are sure you are not having hunger," said Mama, a bit cautiously. "Take bath first and I will tuck you in."
"Thanks." Three smiled, kissed Mama, and then left.
"Wow," said Two. "Poor Three. He really wanted to be in that play."
"We should do something nice for him," said Six. "You know, to make him feel better."
"Five still doggy," said Five, and began licking his food up into his mouth.
"Five, you are not doggy," said Mama. "Please eat like polite monster, thank you."
"Okay, Mom," said Five.
"So," said Two to Six, "what do you think we should do for Three?"
Six thought a minute. "Let's wait and see who he is tomorrow. Then we'll know what he'll want."
But tomorrow Three wasn't up when the rest of the monsters were. Mama came upstairs and shook him awake after the rest of his siblings were eating breakfast.
"Time for waking, Threeling," said Mama as she nudged him. She opened the nearest curtain to let sunlight in.
Three covered his head with his pillow. "Aw, come on, Ma, turn out the light, it's the middle of the night..."
"It is morning being," said Mama, "and time for you to be up. Since you were having no dinner Mama is making you big special breakfast."
Three's stomach growled at the sound of that. "Okay, yeah, that sounds good." He sat up and began feeling around for his burgundy shirt.
"No costume today?"
"Nah," said Three, turning around and unbuttoning his pajama shirt. "I'm not really feeling it right now. Maybe later."
"Okay. I go now and make rest of pancake batter. Come down soon please."
By the time Three got downstairs, Mama had finished cooking up his pancakes and his siblings had moved over to the TV to watch their favorite Saturday morning cartoons.
"Well?" Four hissed to Two as they heard Three go into the kitchen. "Who is he today?"
Two snuck a peek at Three without making it obvious. "Doesn't look like he's anybody this morning."
"Great," said One, "so what do we do to cheer him up?"
"Five still be doggy," said Five. "Doggy make Three happy." Five panted, held up his hands like paws, then rolled over on his back. "Rub doggy belly!"
"Nobody's going to rub your belly, Five," said Four.
Five made big, sad, puppy-dog eyes. "Pwease?"
Four rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay." He leaned over and rubbed his brother's belly. "Uh, good boy. Good Leo."
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Three was just beginning to eat his pancakes. He picked at them slowly. His mind seemed to be a million miles away.
"Eat up, my dükle," said Mama. "You are needing big breakfast for to growing big and strong."
Three dropped his fork with a clatter onto his plate.
"Whatever is the matter?" asked Mama.
"What? Oh! Nothing! Nothing. Sorry." Three picked up his fork and began to eat again. "Mmm. Good pancakes, Mom. Really. They're delicious, like always."
Mama gave him a suspicious look. "Are you sure there is nothing you want to talk about?"
"No, I'm fine," said Three. "Really." He took another big bite and pushed his plate aside. "Whew. I'm stuffed."
"Five more bites," said Mama. "Three is needing much breakfast for making up the dinner."
"Okay, Mom." Three cut a big piece of pancake and took a bite for Mama. He did that four more times, until there were only a few morsels of pancake left. These he finished for the sake of it, rinsed his plate in the sink, and went over to the sitting area where his siblings still were. Mama was satisfied.
"Hi, Three," said Seven. "Would you like to watch cartoons with us?"
"Sure, sounds great," said Three. He stretched out on the ground in front of the couch and fixed his eyes on the television set.
Eventually, the cartoons were over. Mama was still washing up in the kitchen when she heard her little müshkas turn off the TV. "Let's go outside," One said.
"Sounds great," said Two. "We never finished our volleyball game yesterday."
"I'll play if One stays grounded," said Four.
"Fine, fine," said One. "Five. Ready to be a line?"
"Doggy line," agreed Five.
The sound of the monsters migrated out the door, and soon all was quiet inside. After a moment, Mama realized she still heard the TV. She dried her hands on her apron as she went over to the TV, saying to herself, "My dükles are so forgetful being..."
She went to the TV and saw that they had not forgotten to turn it off after leaving it alone. Three was stretched out on the couch, watching an infomercial for a special kind of rag that could soak up all the water in an aquarium. It didn't seem to be getting through to him.
Mama stepped in front of the TV and Three sat up and snapped to attention. "Hello! Yes! What? Sorry, what did I miss?"
"Your brothers and sisters are outside being on such a nice day. You should join them. Fresh air will have you feeling better."
"Sounds great," said Three. He got up and turned the TV off. Mama shooed him outside and went back to washing the breakfast dishes.
Outside, the monsters were already split up into their game. Six was keeping score off to the side today.
Four was holding the volleyball to serve. "Hey, Three," he called in the friendliest voice he could manage, which sounded a little strange coming from him. "Did you figure out who you're supposed to be today?"
"Uh..." Three looked down at his burgundy sweater. "I guess... pirate? Pirate captain?" He covered his right eye with his hand. "Yarr?" he added in his normal voice.
"Gee, Three," said Two, "That's... uh..."
"It doesn't sound like your heart's in it," said One.
Three shrugged. "I'm gonna go dig up all the sand in the sandbox," said Three. "There's, uh, I dunno, some pirate treasure down there or something." He went and sat down in the sandbox, picked up the little plastic shovel and pail, and began digging.
"Wow," said One, "he's really out of it."
"If you ask me, the director is missing out on a star," said Six. "And I'm not talking about myself for a change."
"If it were me I'd go right down to the theater and give the director a piece of my mind," said Four, shaking his fist.
"Peese mind!" Five clapped.
"You know," said One, "that's not a bad idea. I mean, except for the fist shaking of course. But we should go down there and tell them they really should have picked him for the play."
"I don't know," said Seven, "that sounds..." Unfortunately for Seven, he didn't yet know the word 'confrontational,' and was at a loss to explain why he felt uncomfortable, him being naturally the non-confrontational type.
"It can't hurt to try," said Two. "As long as Four doesn't do the talking."
"Hey!"
"Two right," said Five.
"Who's side are you on?" Four said with a glower.
Five pointed at Two.
"Come on," said One. "The theater is just down the street. Mom says we can go that far if we're back by lunch. We'll surprise Three."
The other monsters agreed. Then they checked to see if Three was paying attention. He wasn't, so they left him in the sandbox down to the theater.
The theater was mostly empty when they got there. Since there wasn't a show going on, the front door wasn't locked and it opened into the lobby. Normally, whoever Three was pretending to be would be explaining to them all about how the lobby was the first of many special areas in a theater, one which held people as they waited to be let in. But he wasn't here, and he wasn't pretending, so they were left on their own. Nobody pointed out the ticket booth where it all began, no one drew attention to the posters for previous plays, and no one talked about how hard the theater worked to set the scene even before you got to your seat.
The doors to the actual theater were propped open, and no one pointed out how the audience was tilted so everybody could see the stage clearly (nor did anybody bring up how, in the olden days, the stage itself was tilted so the audience, which was flat, could see everything. This is, of course, why the back of the stage is called "upstage" and the front is called "downstage." That little tidbit would go unheard by the six little monsters at the theater. They certainly missed out on a lot when Three wasn't around.)
The curtains were closed and the stage was empty, except for two men who were standing onstage talking to each other. However, as soon as the monsters squeezed themselves into the theater, the talking ceased and the two men simply stared.
"Hello," said One, taking charge as the oldest. "We're looking for the director."
One of the men raised his hand. "I'm the director," he said. "This is the stage manager."
"How d'yeh do," said the other man.
"Nice to meet you," said One politely. "I'm One... these are my brothers Two, Four, Five, and Seven, and my sister Six. Three is our brother."
The director nodded. "I can see that."
"We came to talk to you about him."
The director glanced at the stage manager, who nodded in approval and then went behind the curtain. "What can I do for you?" asked the director.
"Why didn't our brother get a part?" asked Six.
"Yeah," said Two, "He's a great actor. He can play any part, he can memorize everything you give him, he knows the story like the back of his hand..."
"He's ever so disappointed," added Seven. "He so very much wanted a part in your play."
"Everyone does," said the director. "But there are only so many parts in the play. Not everybody can get one. And besides..."
The stage manager pulled aside the curtain. "Hey, we've got a problem with one of the props."
"Which one?"
"I'll give you a hint: the only one we've been having problems with this whole time."
"Again?!" The director threw up his hands. "At this point it would be cheaper just to build a new one!" He ran his fingers through his hair. "All right, all right. Give me a minute. Let me finish up with these kids." He turned around. "Now, where was I?"
"Not everybody can get a part, and besides," said Seven.
"Oh, right. And besides. He's kind of... well, you know."
"No," said Seven. "What?"
The director, who was standing on the stage to talk to them face to face, sat down so he had to crane his neck upwards to see them. "It's his size. He's just too big to play a little boy, or even a grandfather. He's tall enough to change the stage lights without even a stepladder. In theater, you have to look like the part you're going to play, and, well, he doesn't look like anybody in 19th century Belgium."
"Oh..." The monster all looked sad.
"I guess... then there's really nothing we can do," said Two.
"Well..." the director glanced over his shoulder. "Come to think of it, there is one part he could play..."
The monsters arrived home just in time for Mama to call them all in for lunch. Three was still in the sandbox, but he perked up when he saw his siblings coming into the yard. "Hey!" he said, smiling. "Where'd you all go?"
"Well, uh..." said Seven.
"We, er..." Six tried to take over, but then trailed off.
"Yeah, what Six means is..." Four didn't get very far, either.
"Lunch is getting cold," Mama called. "Inside please!"
"Tell me at the table," said Three. He got up and dashed to the house.
The other monsters lingered.
"So..." Seven looked at the others. "Do we tell him?"
"No way!" said Four. "We can not let him know! We'll just tell the director he... uh... had other obligations!"
"What are obligations?" asked Seven.
"That means stuff to do," said Two.
"Oh. Then we should tell him that," said Seven.
The monsters shuffled in quietly around the table. Mama was funneling stew from the hose into seven bowls. Three was again picking at his food, but when Mama glanced at him he began eating quickly. The other monsters exchanged nervous look.
"So quiet my little wonka-lonkas are being," said Mama. "And where are you disappearing to so mysteriously?"
"Uh, we just went..." Two looked around at his siblings.
"For a walk!" Six supplied.
"Yeah!" said Four. "Just a walk."
"Without me?" Three asked.
"Uh, you looked like you were having so much fun in the sandbox..." One laughed nervously.
Three furrowed his brow at One, but said nothing. He then gave the stew his undivided attention.
"Mama is now going to fix broken bathroom floor," said Mama, heading to the ladder. "Put dishes in sink after you are finished and then you may go back outside and play." She climbed up and closed the trapdoor, leaving the monsters alone.
"So," said Three, putting his elbows on the table and propping up his chin with a sly grin. "What aren't you going to tell me?"
One's wings drooped. "Oh. You heard that, huh?"
"M-hm."
"Well..." One looked at the other monsters. They were all looking in different directions and pretending not to be involved. Since she was the one who engaged, she was the one who had to put up with it. She sighed, tugged her wing, and continued: "We, uh, we went to the theater to talk to the director. And we, uh, we found out why you didn't get a part."
Three's face fell. Then his eyes narrowed. "You probably shouldn't have done that. I'd have told you, eventually."
"It's nothing to feel bad about," said Seven.
"Yeah," said Four, "and there are a lot of parts you can play someday! Like, move to Japan and you can be in one of their giant monster movies. You could fight Godzilla!"
"Rawwwr," added Five.
"I thought you were still a dog," said Four.
"Doggie go rawr," Five replied sternly.
"I looked into that," said Three. "Godzilla is actually much smaller than I am." He pinched his fingers together to demonstrate.
"What?" Four was indignant. "But he's taller than all the buildings in that city he always destroys! How do you explain that?"
"It's something called 'forced perspective,'" Three explained. "That's a technique to make people think that the things they're looking at are bigger, smaller, closer, or further away than they actually are. In this case, they put a regular guy in a Godzilla costume and build a miniature city for him to smash. Or even smaller- they build a tiny clay model and take pictures of it really, really close up so it looks gigantic."
"So? You'd win that fight easy!" Four gloated.
"It would be a curb-stomp," agreed Three. "Nobody's going to pay to see that. They wouldn't hire me." He slumped back in his seat. "Nobody would hire me."
Five stood up in his seat. "Play hire Three!"
Two and Six grabbed him and pulled him back down "Shh!" they both hissed.
"But play hire Three," said Five again, louder.
"What's he saying?"
"Nothing!" said Four, grabbing Five's tongue in a futile attempt to silence him. "He's just, uh, you know how Five is. He's still pretending he's a dog, for goodness sakes. Who knows what he's saying?"
"You do, usually," said Three.
Five leaned forward urgently, with his hands on the table. "Fi' go theatew an' man say Thwee can be in pway!"
Three blinked a few times. "Uh... what? Really?"
"Uh-huh!" Five nodded eagerly.
"Oh, boy..." Four put his face in his hands. The other monsters were trying their hardest to stay out of it but it was getting harder, and more uncomfortable.
"Well? Is this true?"
"Uh... yes," said Two.
Three broke out into a huge grin. "That's great! Why in the world were you keeping this from me? Wait- what part did I get?"
"He, uh..." Two cleared his throat, rubbed his nose for luck, and looked up at the ceiling so he wasn't making eye contact with Three. "He wants you to be the windmill."
Everything was still for a minute. A long, awkward minute.
"See, uh, the prop has this machine to keep the blades turning, but it keeps breaking. So they want you to put on a windmill costume and turn the blades.
Three's eyes were wide as he slowly looked from one sibling to another for confirmation. He didn't say anything.
The other monsters looked at each other uncomfortably. "Uh... Three? Are you... all right?" Seven asked with some trepidation.
"Are you kidding?" Three jumped up. "I'm in a play! A real, live play! And I've got one of the most important parts in the story! Think of it! Without the windmill, Nello doesn't hit his lowest point! And without the dramatic death of the windmill, Alois' father has no need to carry so much money that he can lose, which Nello finds proving to Baas Cogez once and for all that Nello is a fine, upstanding boy! This will be my greatest character yet! Gosh. A windmill! How does one prepare for such a role... I'd better start reading up on it!" Three turned and scrambled up the ladder to the bedroom.
A moment later, he came right back down. "Forget something?" asked Seven.
"Mom says I need to finish lunch," said Three.
Three wasted no more time in getting ready for the play. Mama took him to the library, where he got every single book they had on windmills, several books on Belgium, a book of Dutch paintings of windmills, and three different film versions of "A Dog of Flanders." Unfortunately, only one of the movies actually featured a windmill, and two of them had changed the story around a great deal, one of them so much it was essentially in name only, and both featured a happy ending (which the other monsters found much more palatable.)
Then, of course, was the script. Three insisted on memorizing the entire thing, despite the fact that he didn't have a single line, and showing up to rehearsals where he practiced being a windmill for hours on end. His patience was amazing; he would stand there and slowly turn blades, not moving anything but his hands hidden in the prop, staring straight ahead. He had channeled his inner windmill, had become the essence of windmill, and was, essentially, now a windmill.
Finally, the play debuted. Mama dressed up six of her little monsterlings in their best outfits and brought them all down to the Centerville Community Theater. Three had already been there all day, as well as every night that week; it was something Three referred to as "madness week" for the cast and crew, and which Mama had asked him not to tell the rest the real name of.
"Boy, I'll be glad when this is over," Four grumbled as the monsters walked to the theater with Mama. "I can't take one more day of listening to Three talk about windmills."
"I didn't think there were that many windmill facts," said One.
Two, imitating Three, said, "A windmill is a special structure that turns the wind into energy. The concept can be found as far back as the first century, though-"
"Don't you start!" Four warned.
"Sorry," said Two. "But you have to admit, Three knows a lot about windmills."
"Three knows a lot about a lot," said One.
"You know, I never really took him for an actor," said Two. "I mean, yeah, he does like to pretend to be a lot of different people, but I never thought he wanted to do it professionally."
"Well, whatever he wants to do, he's our brother and we need to support him," said One.
Five, who had finally stopped pretending to be a dog, nodded. "Three good brother," he said.
When they got to the theater, the entire back row of seats had been roped off especially for the monsters. That way, they wouldn't block anyone's view. They all filed in in order. with Mama sitting on the aisle. Soon, the play started.
As soon as the curtains parted, they saw the windmill. It was a large prop at the very back of the stage, in front of a screen painted to look like rolling hills under a clear blue sky. The blades were turning slowly and evenly. No one could see that there was someone inside it. Out on stage two small actors playing Nello and Alois were sitting on a blanket. Nello was drawing Alois, and a large Flemish hound was lying nearby watching.
The story played out just like Mama had told it to them. The windmill wasn't in every scene, and when there was a transition to a scene without it, the lights went down and they could see the silhouette of the prop get up and tiptoe offstage. Partway through the second act, the fire occurred between scenes and the windmill was gone entirely. By the end of the play, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The whole cast came out to take their bows, except for Three. He was nowhere to be seen.
After the play ended, the rest of the audience filed out. However, the monsters and Mama stayed until everyone else was gone. Then Three came out from backstage.
"Okay!" he called behind him, waving. "See you tomorrow morning! I'm going to work on my timing before I go to bed tonight, I really think I can get it tighter..."
"Threeling!" Mama cried.
"Mom!" Three jumped off the stage and picked up Mama in a hug.
"Oh, so talented my little Three is being!"
"Aw, thanks, Mom," said Three.
"You were great, Three," said One.
"Such a beautiful windmill," added Six.
"You were barely in the play at all," said Four.
"Doggy!" said Five.
"Thank you," said Three. "Thank you. It doesn't matter, I had fun. And yes, there was a doggy."
"Five see doggy?"
"He wants to meet the dog," said Four.
"If you come after tomorrow's matinee, I'll ask Beth if you can meet Roscoe," said Three.
"Wosco?" Five looked confused.
"Roscoe's the name of the dog who plays Patrasche," said Three. "Beth is his owner."
"What's a matinee?" asked Seven.
"A matinee is what you call a performance that takes place in the afternoon," said Three.
"You mean you're going to do this again?"
"Of course," said Seven. "The play is running all month. There are shows every night from Tuesday to Sunday, with afternoon performances over the weekend. That means I'll do thirty-one more shows."
"Wow," said Two. "That's a lot of shows."
"And we might get extended," said Three.
"All right, my dükles," said Mama. "Time to go home for dinner. And Three must be getting good night's sleep for tomorrow's two shows."
"Wait,' said Three. "I keep forgetting..." He glanced over his shoulder at the stage, then smiled. "I didn't thank you properly for getting me this part. Really. I wouldn't have this if you didn't go and talk to the director for me. So, thank you." He reached his arms out and scooped as many of his siblings as possible into a hug. The rest of them joined in on their own, including Four, until there was just one big pile of monster hug. "It means a lot to me that you would do that to make me happy."
"Of course we would," said Two.
"You're our brother," added One. "There isn't really anything I can think of that I wouldn't do for you."
"Same for me," said Three, letting go. "Okay. Well. Let's go home."
They were together, just as Nello and Patrasche had been even in death, though this story has a much happier ending. Arm in arm, the seven little monsters and their mother went home for dinner and bed, one happy, loving family that did their best for each other.