RHODA had no trouble telling light from dark in spite of the weakness of her eyes. She knew at once when she opened them that it was still what her Mommie and Daddie would have called the middle of the night. That is, it was an hour before the alarm clock would .go off and wake them up. And Rhoda had to go to the bathroom.
She swung her feet over the side of the bed, knocking to the floor, which was already carpeted with her playmates, another of her numerous dolls. Fortunately, it was a soft doll and it landed silently without the heavy thump that might have awakened Georgie. Georgie was only three, and once he got up Daddie and Mommie might as well get up, too, because Georgie didn't believe in letting people waste their lives sleeping. Georgie also didn't believe in bathrooms, Rhoda thought smugly.
At least he didn't believe in them much.
She padded silently toward the door without bothering to find her slippers. The hallway was very black, but she knew the way and didn't slow up until she reached the bathroom. There, at the door, she stopped.
Someone was up. The light wasn't on, but the water was running and she knew that Mommie and Daddie never left it running when they went to bed. One of them was in there.
She pushed open the door and called softly, "Mommie?"
The water stopped running. No one was there.
That's funny, she thought. I musta been 'magining things. I musta been dreaming—can you dream when you're awake? I'll have to ask Mommie.
She was still musing when she padded back to her own room, taking care not to trip over the dolls and fuzzy animals on the floor. As she was falling asleep, she thought she heard the water running again. 'Magination, she thought, drowsily. Mommie says I got a good 'magination.
WHEN the alarm clock went off, she felt too sleepy to get up. So did her Mommie and Daddie, but being big people, they got up anyway.
As it happened, the alarm clock had also awakened Georgie and Georgie was better than any mechanical invention when it came to making sure that nobody fell asleep again. He went whooping around the house, first as an Indian and then as a cowboy, and by the time he had shot his fifth rustler, nobody was sleepy any more. So Rhoda got up and brushed her teeth. She noticed that the walls around the washbowl were all wet, as if from a shower.
When she ran into the kitchen, Mommie was already cooking breakfast. Mommie was tired, and when she smiled at Rhoda, it was almost as if she didn't mean it. As if there was no reason to smile, and it was painful to do so. Rhoda wondered why she acted that way. It seemed to her that most Mommies and Daddies did silly things, but that lately her own Mommie had taken to doing even worse things than the rest.
She would start crying for no reason at all and even when all those wonderful presents started coming in—presents from people Rhoda didn't even know — she didn't get any happier. And when Rhoda had a birthday party and a Thanksgiving party and a Christmas party one right after the other, long before she had expected them, her Mommie didn't enjoy the parties at all. It was as if everything that she and everybody else did to make Rhoda happy only made her sad.
Rhoda found all this hard to understand and after awhile she stopped trying. Just as she stopped trying to understand why the world seemed to get just a little darker and a little fuzzier each day, and why all the lovely dolls and animals and games that she received didn't look quite as nice and colorful and pretty as they once did. And why she couldn't go to the movies any more, to sit screaming with joy as she watched the Westerns on Saturdays. She was only seven, and these were mysteries that one had to be grown up to understand. And big people wouldn't or couldn't explain to her. Not even the doctor, who was supposed to know everything and didn't know how to stop her Mommie from crying when he examined Rhoda.
Mommie said, "Did you sleep well, dear?"
"Oh, yes, I slept very well. Only I hadda get up to go to the bathroom. Mommie, can a person dream when she's awake, can she, Mommie?"
"Sometimes. Did you have a dream?"
"I don't know. I thought I was awake, but now I'm not sure."
"What did you dream, dear? Was it nice?"
"It wasn't much. I thought I heard the water runnin' in the bathroom. But when I went in, it wasn't."
DADDIE had come in and heard her. "You might have turned the water on yourself," he said. "Someone has been squirting it around."
"It might have been Georgie," said Mommie.
"Oh, no, he was asleep when I got up," Rhoda stated firmly. "Georgie doesn't like to get up to go to the bathroom."
Daddie said thoughtfully, "You might have turned the water on yourself anyway. You know, Rhoda, sometimes people walk in their sleep and don't realize what they're doing. They think they're awake when they're just acting out their dreams."
"How can you tell when you're awake or dreaming?"
"That's a difficult question, Rhoda. There are times when you can't tell."
"I wish all this were a dream," said Mommie huskily. "I wish I could just wake up—" And then she saw the way Daddie was looking at her and she stopped.
Very silly, thought Rhoda. Why should anyone want to be in a dream? Dreams could be terrifying. Once, long ago, after listening to fairy tales, she had dreamed of giants and ogres and dragons, and she had been horribly frightened. But you didn't see giants and ogres and dragons when you were awake. Just their pictures in the story books and you knew they weren't real. Not really real.
Rhoda ate a good breakfast, and Georgie half-ate his and half-washed his face in it as usual. Daddie, also as usual, gobbled his toast in a hurry, plunked down his empty coffee cup and ran off to work, while Mommie, who had no appetite, just drank a cup of coffee—terrible-tasting stuff—without sugar or anything sweet, that Rhoda had once sipped and disliked very much. Rhoda wondered whether she would have to drink coffee when she grew up.
She asked her Mommie.
"You'll drink whatever you please when you grow up, dear."
"You know, Mommie, when I grow up I'm gonna be a cowgirl. Also a actress. Can I be both?"
"Yes, dear. You can be anything you want."
"And I'm gonna be a lady doctor and a nurse and a fire-engine driver and a spaceship pilot and . . ." She paused to think of all the other things she wanted to be.
"When you grow up," said Mommie dully and seemed to choke. She turned her face away.
That's silly, too, thought Rhoda. What's she crying about now?
FORTUNATELY, her Mommie had a lot of things to do around the house, and that kept her busy and gave her less time to cry. And Rhoda went back to her bedroom and began to straighten up her dolls and fuzzy animals.
One of her dolls, the very big one she had decided to call Lillian Marilyn, had a dirty face. Even Rhoda could see that there was a big smudge across her nose and cheeks. And as Lillian Marilyn had a washable skin, Rhoda decided that she might as well give her child a bath. She tucked the big doll daintily into her carriage and wheeled the carriage out into the hall toward the bathroom.
When she reached the bathroom door, she could hear the water running again.
She came to a stop. Not only was the water running—somebody was running, too. Rhoda could hear the sounds as if a cat were scampering all around, up the walls and over the shower fixtures and then up to the laundry dryer. With the water running.
She pushed open the door.
All she could see was the quick flash of a shadow. And then that disappeared and the bathroom was quiet again except for the water faucet, which gurgled calmly„
Water was splashed over every thing. There were puddles on the floor and streaks on the walls…
And on the sink lay an uncapped tube of toothpaste, half empty. The new green toothpaste with the pretty chlorophyll.
"My, my!" said Rhoda. "This is a mess!" She bent over the bathtub and turned on both the hot water and the cold. As the tub began to fill, she started to undress Lillian Marilyn. She left the cloth in the carriage and wrapped Lillian Marilyn in her own towel. The water in the tub was a little too cool, so she turned off the cold water faucet and let the hot run for a little, while longer. It wouldn't do for Lillian Marilyn to catch cold.
After the doll had been bathed and dried, Georgie came into the bedroom to watch her being dressed. He wanted her to wear a cowboy suit, but Rhoda thought Lillian Marilyn was too young for that. She dressed the doll in a nurse's uniform instead.
Georgie said, "I'm a hunner. Bang, bang!"
"What are you hunting, Georgie?"
"I'm hunnin' g'rillas. I saw a g'rilla inna bathroom before."
"How could a gorilla get in the bathroom?"
"Mommie put 'im there."
"That's silly, Georgie. Mommie wouldn't do that. You got a 'magination that's even worse'n mine."
"I ain't got a 'magination. He was there."
"Don't lie, Georgie. Not in front of Lillian Marilyn. I don't want her to catch any bad habits."
JUST then Mommie came in and asked, "Rhoda, did you give Lillian Marilyn a bath?"
"Yes, Mommie, she was filthy. She always plays on the floor, so I had to get the dirt offa her. And I washed her hair with shampoo."
"Well, next time, dear, please try not to splash water all over the bathroom floor."
"I didn't splash water, Mommie. It was wet. The shadow splashed it."
"The shadow?"
"He was lettin' the water run. And usin' the green toothpaste."
"It was a g'rilla," put in Georgie. "A great big g'rilla, this big." And he stretched his hands about two feet apart.
"Gorillas are bigger'n that," said Rhoda. "Maybe it was a monkey."
"It was a g'rilla," maintained Georgie stubbornly. "I saw 'im. He was splashin' water an' eatin' too'-paste."
"Whatever it was," said Mommie, and for the first time in weeks she seemed to be smiling without trying too hard, "tell him to be neat. I don't want any gorillas making a mess of my bathroom."
"I'll tell 'im, Mommie," said Georgie.
But of course, thought Rhoda, Georgie wouldn't tell him. Georgie always forgot Mommie's instructions. It was up to Rhoda to tell him.
She had her chance the next morning, again about an hour before the alarm clock went off. Rhoda awoke as she had done the day before, got out of bed and padded on bare feet toward the bathroom.
She could hear the water running again. Was she asleep and dreaming or was she really awake? It was a little hard to tell, she thought doubtfully. But if the water stopped running before she came in, she guessed she was prob'ly asleep. Things sometimes happened awfully fast when you dreamed. When you were awake, they sort of took their time more.
The water didn't stop running. She pushed open the door and there was a sudden whoosh as a shadow swept right past her face. And then the shadow was scampering around the bathroom, up and down and side to side, from laundry hamper to dryer to shower fixtures and back again, so fast that her blurred eyes couldn't keep up with it.
It was not a gorilla, she thought triumphantly. It was too small to be a gorilla. 'Course it was moving too fast for her to see what it was, but when it stopped . . .
It stopped in the opposite upper corner of the bathroom. There was nothing there to hold onto that Rhoda knew about, but the thing was holding on anyway, seemingly in no danger of falling. Bright flashes of light came from its eyes.
Rhoda thought, It's lookin' at me just like I'm lookin' at it. Only I can't see so good any more and I can't tell just what it's like. I'll bet it's a monkey. I don't know how a monkey could have got in here, 'cause the bathroom window is closed. But it ain't a gorilla so it must be a monkey.
I wonder what it's doin' up there in the corner. Gotta ask Mommie and Daddie. Maybe they know.
SHE slipped out of the bathroom and down the hall to Mommie's and Daddie's bedroom. The room was quiet. All she could hear was the sound of her Daddie's rhythmic breathing.
She put her hand to his shoulder. "Daddie," she whispered in the clear and piercing whisper of child.
He spoke into his pillow without opening his eyes. "What'sa matter?"
"It ain't a gorilla. I think it's a monkey. Please come and see."
"Go away, Rhoda. Let me sleep."
"All right, Daddie. But he's makin' a mess outta the bathroom again."
"Tell him cut it out."
He turned away from her and Rhoda thought with exasperation that grownups were always so sleepy and made such a big fuss about being awakened. Not like children, who didn't like to waste their time sleeping. Take Georgie, now—once you got him up he'd never go back to sleep. There was so much to do.
Her face brightened. Why not take Georgie? He could see better than she could and tell her what the monkey was doing.
She hurried back to her own room and whispered, "Georgie!"
Georgie just turned away from her in his sleep and tried to dig his face into the wall.
She began to shake him. "Georgie, wake up! You wanna see the gorilla?"
"Don' wanna see nuthin'."
"It's the gorilla in the bathroom. Only it ain't a gorilla, it's a monkey. You wanna play with 'im?"
That did it. Georgie sat up, rubbed his knuckles into his eyes and was awake. There was no danger that he'd go back to sleep again.
She led him into the bathroom. The shadow wasn't in the corner any longer. It was in the clothes dryer. And it was making noises. Funny noises.
Georgie's eyes brightened up. "G'rilla," he said.
"Silly, it ain't big enough for a gorilla. What's it doin' up there?"
"Eatin' too'paste," said Georgie. "An' talkin'. He got his face all messed up."
"Oh, dear," said Rhoda. She could see now, as the daylight filtering through the window grew stronger, that there were green streaks around the bowl. "He messed up the sink, too." She faced the shadow. "You cut that out, do you hear? You stop messin' this place up."
"He eats wif bofe moufs," said Georgie. "An' talks wif bofe."
"Both mouths? You mean he's got two of them? Oh, no!"
"He is so," insisted Georgie stubbornly. "First he puts it in one mouf an' talks wif udder mouf. Then he puts it in udder mouf an' talks wif first."
"But a monkey has only one mouth."
"This a g'rilla. Got two moufs."
"And what else has he got, Georgie?"
"Lots an' lotsa feet. Zillionsa feet."
"You don't even know what a zillion is. You can't count over five."
"I can so. He's holdin' dryer wif free feet an' eatin' too'paste wif free more. An' he gotta lotta feet up in air. He got zillionsa feet."
THE shadow seemed to grow tired of the dryer and suddenly began to flash around the bathroom again. A squeezed-out tube of toothpaste fell to the floor. Rhoda, guided by the sound, picked it up. She noticed as she did so that there were puddles of water on the floor again.
She put the tube back on the sink and watched the shadow. It was still making funny noises. It made a sudden leap from the shower curtain right into the middle of the room and then ...
Rhoda blinked. There were no more funny noises. And the shadow was gone. It had leaped right into the air and disappeared.
"I wan"im back!" said Georgie loudly.
"But where did he go?"
"He wen' away. I wan' 'im back, I wan' 'im back!"
And then, quite suddenly, as was Georgie's way, he began to bawl and scream. "I wan' my g'rilla!"
The bathroom door opened. Daddie stood there, looking mad. "What's the reason for making an unholy racket at this hour in the morning?"
"Oh, Daddie, Georgie's bein' silly. He says he wants his gorilla back, but it ain't a gorilla. It's only a monkey. And it ain't his. I don't know who it belongs to."
"I wan' 'im back!" screamed Georgie.
"Stop that, Georgie," said Rhoda, "before Daddie gets really angry."
"You're a little too late for that, my fine-frenzied son. But you'd better stop that screaming anyway." He looked around, the bathroom. "What have you been doing in this place—making rain? The floor looks as if a flood had hit it."
"It wasn't us, Daddie. It was the monkey. He was splashin' water and eatin' toothpaste. At least Georgie says he was."
"Wif bofe moufs," added Georgie. "An' talkin' wif bofe."
Daddie looked angrier and angrier. "I don't know what kind of game you children have been playing. But I don't want you messing up the bathroom—or making a racket this early in the morning."
"I told the monkey not to mess the place up, Daddie, only I don't think he understood me. He talked funny."
"Never mind this imaginary monkey. Just you two behave. Now I'm going back to bed to catch a few more winks—"
The alarm rang. Loud and clear.
"My mistake. All right, I'll have to stay up now. But in the future—no monkey business before the alarm clock goes off."
During the day, Georgie was an awful nuisance. Rhoda offered him her teddy bear and her big panda and her middle-sized panda and her rabbit and her giraffe—but Georgie rejected them all. They weren't alive and he wanted an animal that was—his g'rilla. And nothing that Rhoda could say succeeded in convincing him that the g'rilla wasn't really his. A remarkably stubborn child, Georgie, as Mommie had once said in Rhoda's hearing.
IN the afternoon, Mommie took Rhoda to the doctor again and he gave her the usual examination shining lights in her eyes, and staring deep into them. When he was through, Mommie said something to him in a half whisper that Rhoda couldn't hear.
He shook his head. "No, it isn't affected. Not that way. Only the nerves leading from the retina."
"But she imagines the most peculiar things, Doctor. She said something about seeing a monkey in the bathroom. She even convinced her little brother, Georgie."
"Georgie thinks it's a gorilla," Rhoda explained. "And he says it has two mouths and a zillion feet. Georgie is a baby. He don't know what he sees."
"You know, don't you, Rhoda?" said the doctor.
"I know when I see it good. But I couldn't see this as good as Georgie can. It was kinda shadowy."
"Really?"
"And it jumped in the air an' banished."
"Vanished, dear."
"Vanished, Mommie. Only it didn't have any zillion feet. Georgie is a liar."
"No, I wouldn't say that. He just has a lively imagination—as most young children do," said the doctor. "It's nothing to worry about."
Nothing to worry about, thought Rhoda. He wouldn't have said so if he had to put up with Georgie the rest of that day. Georgie didn't forget his g'rilla for a moment and finally Rhoda had to shut him in a closet behind a row of dresses. There he screamed even louder than ever, but in a muffled way, until Mommie found out what was going on and released him.
At night, before he fell asleep, he again demanded the g'rilla. And the next morning, when Rhoda went to the bathroom and heard the water running, as she had expected, she was annoyed to find that Georgie had awakened, too, and was tagging along.
But he didn't make any racket this time. Because the shadow was there, racing around the bathroom as before and making its funny noises, and Georgie was too pleased to scream. At first, anyway.
The shadow came to rest on the side of the wall.
"I wanna pet 'im," said Georgie. "I wanna make nice. Tell 'im to come 'ere."
"He won't do what I tell him. But I got a idea, Georgie. You saw him eatin' that toothpaste?"
"Wif bofe moufs."
"He must like it an awful lot. I know where Mommie put some extra toothpaste she bought. Maybe if I give it to him, he'll come down to us."
SHE had to climb up on a chair to get the toothpaste from the shelf, where Mommie had put it, but she found it at last and brought it into the bathroom—two tubes of it.
"Here, Georgie, you give it to him."
Georgie held out his hand with the toothpaste. The shadow scampered over the ceiling, then swooped down, grabbed the tube, and was up on the clothes dryer the next moment, twisting the cap off.
The cap fell to the floor. Five seconds later, the tube itself landed with a slight crash.
"He don't want it," said Rhoda in amazement. She picked up the tube. "Oh, it ain't the green kind. Here, Georgie, give him the other tube. Maybe he'll like that."
The other tube was snatched up, the cap removed.
"He's eatin' it," said Georgie. "He likes this kin'."
"He better not eat it all. We ain't got too much toothpaste left."
"He didn't lemme pet 'im. Tell 'im to lemme, Rhoda."
"He can't understand us, silly. He's only an animal. He talks animal talk."
"G'rilla," said Georgie.
"Maybe if I give him another animal . . ."
Rhoda slipped quietly back to her room and selected a small rabbit. A pretty fuzzy rabbit that was one of Georgie's favorites.
She hurried back into the bathroom, banging her arm against the wall in her eagerness. The shadow was still up near the ceiling, but when she held out the fuzzy rabbit, it descended a trifle as if to examine her offer.
"I wanna give it!" cried Georgie. She let him take the rabbit and hold it out in his chubby little hand. The shadow descended a few inches more.
"He's afraid," said Georgie. "Here, g'rilla. Here, g'rilla . . ."
The shadow swooped and snatched. The rabbit seemed to leap up into the air.
"He didn't lemme pet 'im," said Georgie, his face puckering. "I wanna—"
Rhoda put her hand over his mouth just in time. "Don't you remember what Daddie said? You mustn't wake him."
Georgie was trying to get a squawk out, but nothing got past Rhoda's palm except a muffled, "Mmmmmm." So he tried to bite her hand.
Rhoda promptly kicked him.
At that moment the alarm clock went off and Rhoda took her hand away.
"Now you kin scream, Georgie," she told him. "Scream all you wanna."
Georgie at once availed himself of the privilege and loosed a poignant ear-shattering yell that drowned out the still-ringing alarm clock. The shadow leaped past Rhoda as if startled and disappeared from view. And the rabbit disappeared with it.
Through half-closed eyes, in the midst of his tantrum, the screaming boy realized that he was now also bereft of his rabbit. Rage pumped additional power into the already piercing shriek.
THE door was torn open and Daddie said, "What the hell!"
Rhoda was shocked. "Oh, Daddie, what you said!"
"Never mind what I said. What's going on here?"
"Da g'rilla stole my fuzzy wabbit!" yelled Georgie. "He stole my wabbit an' 'e didn't lemme pet 'im!"
"It wasn't a gorilla, silly. It was a monkey."
"What kind of nonsense is this? Are you kids still pretending there's a monkey around here?"
Mommie came hurrying up. Georgie yelled, "Mommie, da g'rilla stole my wabbit!"
"I thought they were through pretending about a gorilla or a monkey or whatever it is. What's behind all this, anyway?"
"I suppose, dear, they have to have some excuse for messing up the bathroom," Mommie said.
"It wasn't us, it was the monkey," said Rhoda.
"I know, darling."
"He took my wabbit."
"Now, look here . . ."
"Oh, never mind, George. What difference does it make? How much longer do you suppose ... How much—longer?"
Rhoda noticed to her surprise that Mommie seemed on the point of tears again. This was absolutely absurd. It was all right for Georgie to cry over a stolen rabbit, but a grownup like Mommie?
And Daddie, too, seemed to be upset. His voice got husky. "I suppose we ought to be thankful that she's interested—and imaginative—and happy—"
"I want my wabbit back!" insisted Georgie.
"Your rabbit must be lost somewhere among all those animals people sent Rhoda. I'll look for it after breakfast, Georgie."
"It ain't los'. Da g'rilla took it."
Georgie, as the entire family had noted by this time, was a remarkably stubborn child. He kept accusing the g'rilla all through the day. Daddie went to work early and missed some of his complaining, but Mommie and Rhoda had to stay at home and listen and after a time they got tired of it and Mommie told Georgie to keep quiet. But he wouldn't.
Finally Rhoda said, "You'll get your rabbit back tomorrow morning, Georgie. The monkey will bring it."
"That's right, dear," agreed Mommie. "And when he comes, I'll .ask him for it myself. Maybe he'll even come tonight, when you and Georgie are asleep, and pay you another visit."
"Oh, no, Mommie, he never comes at night. Just in the morning. And I think he can't go very far outa the bathroom or he disappears like he was magic."
"We'll see," said Mommie, ending the conversation.
THAT evening after supper, Rhoda heard her talking about the monkey to Daddie. "She's created a set of rules for her imaginary monkey. About when it can appear and where."
"Well, when you create a world of your own, I suppose you have to create rules for it," said Daddie thoughtfully. "Primitive peoples did the same thing, and in many ways children are like their primitive ancestors. They find certain magic moments when unusual things can happen—high noon, midnight, sunset, dawn. With Rhoda, it's dawn. They have special magic places where their wonders occur. With Rhoda, it's the bathroom. They also prepare gifts and sacrifices to win the favor of their visitors from other worlds."
"A tube of toothpaste," laughed Mommie.
"Green toothpaste only. Chlorophyll, somehow symbolizing the plant world."
"Oh, George, the child has no idea of that!"
"Maybe she has an idea without without knowing she has it. I'll bet she has heard all those ads about the magic of chlorophyll and believes them. And she has unconsciously used them in constructing this imaginary world of hers."
"Well, she has certainly sold Georgie on it. He's a believer, too."
"It isn't hard to convince somebody who is even more primitive than you are," he said. "Now take the very appearance of that 'monkey'—"
"Ugh! You take it? It sounds horrible."
"It's supposed to have a lot of legs and two mouths. I suppose we'll never get a chance to check the description—" they both laughed—"but the very idea is absurd. Two mouths—and it eats with one while it talks with the other. Who ever heard of such a thing? It would take a child to think of it. And Georgie is just the child for the job. After all, he isn't too sure where his own mouth is. He has been known to try to put a spoonful of food in his ear or his eye."
Rhoda interrupted, "I saw two mouths, too. When he got real close to us."
Daddie smiled. "Honest, Rhoda? But why does the monkey need both of them?"
Rhoda paused. "I know," she said suddenly. "Because sometime he feels like laughin' and cryin at the same time and it's hard to do with one mouth."
"That's a good reason," agreed Daddie, "but I won't believe it until he tells me himself. Meanwhile, Rhoda, suppose we quiet Georgie by letting him play wit one of your own fuzzy animals.
"It isn't fair to Rhoda!" Mommie protested.
"I don't mind, Mommie."
"Thank you, dear. You're a very generous child."
"A swell kid," said Daddie, "A wonderful kid. When I think . . ."
He stopped. Rhoda waited for him to say something more, but he didn't. He just put his arms around her and kissed her.
RHODA wondered what he had been going to say. She wished she were a grownup so she'd be able to read his mind, the way Mommie sometimes did, and was evidently doing now. Only reading people's minds didn't seem to make you happy. You seemed to read them best when they had sad thoughts and then you began to feel all sad and weepy yourself, the way Mommie was feeling.
Rhoda knew of nothing to be sad about. She couldn't see as well as she once did and sometimes she felt weak or had headaches, but so did everybody. From time to time she heard Mommie's neighbors complain of all sorts of terrible aches and pains and she pitied them.
But she had no reason to pity herself. None at all. Everybody was nice to her, people she didn't know sent her presents and Mommie and Daddie gave her parties long before everybody else had them. You might have thought they were trying to cram as much happiness as possible into her existence. And she had the monkey in the bathroom, which nobody else seemed to have. True, she couldn't go to the movies. But despite that she led, she thought, a very interesting life.
That night, after Georgie was asleep and before she herself went to bed, it became even more interesting. She had neglected Lillian Marilyn during the day, and as she went to the carriage to kiss the doll good night, she saw ...
She tiptoed out to tell Mommie and Daddie about it. Daddie laughed. "Imagination working overtime, Rhoda? Well, I'll take a look at your doll carriage."
He followed Rhoda into the bedroom, with Mommie close behind him. "Ah, there's the carriage. Now to see if the monkey really has two mouths."
He pulled back the top of the carriage and looked down. Then he choked. Rhoda heard him strangling and she caught a faint, "My God!"
He stepped back and stared at Mommie, who was also staring into the carriage as if she had turned to stone.
"What's the matter, Daddie?" asked Rhoda anxiously. "Don't he have two mouths?"
"Get back, Rhoda! Don't come close to it!"
"Why, Daddie? Does he got a disease?"
Daddie grabbed her and held her too tight. "You take Georgie," he directed Mommie. "We'll get out of here and lock the door. We can't take any chances."
Sounds came from the doll carriage—sounds like those from a nursery in turmoil.
"Do you hear, Daddie?" cried Rhoda. "It's just like I told you. He's laughin' and cryin' at the same time! Guess he's excited," she added thoughtfully. "Guess the way big people look scared him."
THE shadow catapulted itself out of the carriage and began to scamper around the room. It leaped past Daddie, hopped on to Georgie's stomach—Mommie gave a cry of alarm at that—then began to race around the walls below the ceiling.
Georgie sat up. "Da g'rilla!" he cried. "I want my wabbit!"
"Hush, Georgie! Don't scare 'im like Daddie and Mommie did!"
The shadow reached the door and was through it in a flash. For a fraction of a second, they heard its excited shrieking and then—silence.
Daddie peered cautiously into the bathroom. "Not here," he said hoarsely. "It's gone."
"But suppose it comes back!" exclaimed Mommie.
"He won't come back," said Rhoda sadly. "You scared him. Poor monkey!"
Daddie and Mommie looked at each other. Mommie said tremulously and with a trace of acid, "I guess Rhoda does have a very powerful imagination."
"Now don't go overboard about what we saw," said Daddie. "We were excited at the idea of a strange animal in the children's bedroom. But actually—"
"It did have two mouths," said Mommie stubbornly. "I saw them. It was laughing out of one and crying out of the other. And it had a great many legs. And parts of it were dark and parts were shining like little jewels. Don't tell me I imagined all that! Don't tell me you didn't see it, too!"
Daddie started to say something and stopped. And at that moment Georgie uttered a great cry of triumph. "My wabbit! Da g'rilla bwought back my wabbit!"
"He didn't take it away in the first place, you little silly," said Rhoda. "In the morning, when we weren't lookin', he must've run in here. And then he got tired and went to sleep in the doll carriage with Lillian Marilyn. I bet he was here all day." She said reproachfully, "You shouldn'ta scared him, Daddie."
"I'm sorry, Rhoda." Daddie managed a smile. "But I'm just as glad to be finished with him."
Rhoda had a feeling that they weren't finished with him at all.
In the morning, when she awoke early as usual, the first thing she did was go to the doll carriage to see if possibly he had returned. But there was no sign of him. Lillian Marilyn lay alone, her eyes closed, her pink cheeks shining in the morning light. A little twisted, as if she had had a restless night, but otherwise quite normal.
Rhoda tried to straighten her out, but Lillian Marilyn wouldn't straighten. Putting her hand under the doll, Rhoda learned why.
Something yellow lay there in the carriage. The monkey must have left it behind him, forgotten in his excitement. It was yellow and shiny and strangely warm, and it felt as if in some curious way it were alive. As if it were really part of the monkey himself.
As she held it, it seemed to move under her hands—and then burst into dazzling brilliance.
When Rhoda could see again, it was as if through a veil—a yellow veil that spread between her and the room and made everything hazier than ever. A veil through which she could hardly be sure what she saw.
That wasn't a man in front of her. Even through the veil, she could see that he didn't quite look like a man. He was too big and he was colored a greenish-yellow and, like the monkey, he had two mouths. And he didn't seem to have any eyes at all. But he certainly seemed to see what he was doing. He was looking at her—no, not at her, through her—and for a minute she was afraid of him.
He said something with one of his mouths, and Rhoda shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Monkey's Daddie, I can't understand you. But we didn't want to scare your little boy and make him forget part of himself. Honest."
One of his mouths laughed and he picked her up. And somehow at the touch of his hands, without knowing why, she wasn't afraid any more.
He was talking to her again. Not with his mouths at all this time, but with the way he felt. And she could understand him. She could understand him perfectly. He felt like hugging her, which he did, and he felt like crying at the same time. He was glad he had her now and sorry he couldn't have her longer. He felt the way her Mommie and Daddie did sometimes when they looked at her and saw how happy she was about the presents people gave her and the gentle way the doctor spoke to her. As if it were something to cry about when everybody was so nice to her.
The man who wasn't a man said something very softly with the mouth that was supposed to cry. It was like the doctor saying, "This won't hurt now."
And it didn't. There was a blinding flash of light and for a minute she couldn't see at all. And then the veil was gone and for the first time in ever so long, everything was clear.
The man was handsome and shiny, like the colored plastic toys she got, only much larger, of course, and very strong. And he was all beautiful colors, like electric lights on a Christmas tree, and he had the same kind of skin one of her dolls had, soft and warm and smooth—much better than human skin. And there was a place in back where she knew he could hook on wings whenever he wanted to.
Of course he wasn't a man, any more than the little one was a monkey—he looked like one of the things on a picture of an Indian totem pole that she had found in a gift book.
And now she could see where his eyes were. They were inside his head and they were very wise and kind.
HE put her down and spoke again—she couldn't see with which mouth—and it was only one word, but she knew what it meant. Some people might think it was just "Good-by," but it really meant much more than that. It meant "Good luck" and "God be with you" and "I love you very much" and "One day you will come and live with us" and a lot more.
Instead of blinking out of existence like the little one in the bathroom, he faded slowly, almost regretfully, looking back at her with the kind, wise eyes inside his head. She knew he would have eaten green toothpaste or anything else she gave him, but only because it would be a gift and he would want to make her happy. He seemed to like the kiss she threw him better than toothpaste or a toy rabbit.
And then he was gone.
For a while, she stood there, just looking around. She looked out the window and at Lillian Marilyn and at Georgie sleeping and at all her fuzzy animals. She just couldn't get tired of looking at things.
Then the alarm clock went off and she hurried to tell about her big friend.
Her Mommie and Daddie looked at each other.
"There was a man here?" Daddie asked, worried.
"A very nice man," said Rhoda, "except he wasn't really a man. He was all colors and he had his eyes inside his head." Without boasting, she added, "He loved me."
"He couldn't help loving you, dear," Mommie replied.
"He was nice. He made me see. Mommie, can I go to the movies this afternoon? I didn't go for such a long time."
"Rhoda, what's got into you? You've been saying the strangest things!"
"Like what, Mommie?"
"That he made you see!"
"But he did. My vidgeon is perfect. I can see where the hem of your robe is unrabbling and where Daddie cut himself and I can see what a mess this room is. I'll help you clean it up, Mommie, if you let me go to the movies today."
There was a silence. Georgie came in and even he understood that something had happened that was more important than his newfound rabbit and, eyes round and missing nothing, he kept quiet.
And then Mommie said, "Does your head hurt, Rhoda dear?"
"Oh, no! I feel fine. Mommie can I go to the movies if the do tor says it's all right?"
"We'll see what he says, dear. Are you sure you can see s clearly?"
" 'Course, Mommie. I can se out the window much better than I could yesterday. Look, there's little bird in that tree and he's pulling a piece of paper out of his nest."
"Where?" asked Mommie. "I don't see that myself."
"I think," Daddie said hoarsely, "we'd better get her to the doctor right away."
BUT the doctor was silly. Even though he admitted there was nothing wrong with her eyes, he still wouldn't let Rhoda go to the movies. He didn't understand it and he wanted other doctors to look at her and see if he'd somehow made a mistake and. to make sure the recovery was permanent.
Mommie was still sillier. She began to cry without being a bit sad. Even Daddie had tears in his eyes, although Daddies weren't supposed to cry. But knowing what the man who wasn't a man had said to her without talking, Rhoda understood how Daddie felt.
As for Rhoda, she herself was sad for the first time. She could see better than anybody else—right through the wall and into the next room and a bird on the opposite side of a tree, as she had done that morning, and around corners and in the deepest dark. But that was something she had and it could be taken for granted.
She knew the monkey and his Daddie would never come back again.
