A Monster on the Loose: An Easter Story

Illustrations by the inimitable Jenelle Schimpf

***

A long time ago lived a girl who was brave,
And one day she felt quite perturbed, you could say,
For her grandfather worked in the middle of town,
But she couldn’t go in - little kids weren’t allowed.

“Just this once!” the girl cried, “I’ll behave, Pop, I will!
I’ll be quiet and good like a fly on a sill!
And I won’t touch a thing, or I’ll try hard not to!
Well, I might touch some things… maybe one, maybe two…”

The old fellow laughed and looked down at his feet.
“Well, I would like to show you a thing you should see…”
Then he bent to a knee as he glanced all about.
“And I am here to quit, might as well get kicked out!”

And now grinning with glee, the girl let out a shout,
“I’ll do all that I should! I’ll be good, don’t you doubt!”
So her little heart leapt almost onto the floor
As she and her grandfather snuck through the door.

“Wow,” the girl whispered now holding his hand.
She’d never beheld things so good or so grand.
“I knew it looked big, but it’s bigger inside!
I see fifty places Goliath could hide!”

“And the roof of this place is as high as the sky!
Why there’s enough space for a dragon to fly!
And all of these trinkets are smothered in gold!
They look like they could be a zillion years old!

“Hey, Pop,” the girl said as he leaned down a bit.
“This place is amazing. How could you quit?”
The old fellow grinned. “I’ve no option, my dear.
These are lovely things, yes, but the best is not here!”

“Come,” the man said. “Let’s see just one more room.”
He looked around quick. “They’ll be closing up soon.”
Then he led the small girl to a quite frightful place
That oddly stood out like a nose on a face.

“Here it is!” the man beamed as he stretched straight and tall.
“Oh, the place in this space is my favorite of all!”
So the tiny kid slid like a fox in slick socks
’Round a room so surprising it gave her the shocks.

“Pop, it’s empty!” she said with a quizzical look.
“Why this room’s just as blank as an unwritten book!”
And the girl was quite right, for the room sure enough
Contained nothing but dust and some old, boring stuff.

“I don’t get it, I don’t! Pop, your taste is so queer…
Oh, I fear you’ll now claim the best color is clear!”
His big laugh erupted. “You’ve missed it, my dear.
It would eat us alive if it still lived in here!”

Then his finger stretched out toward a big, blackish sign,
And the dark, reddish lettering shivered her spine.
“I’m just learning to read, Pop. What’s this about?”
She stopped in her tracks. “Does that sign say… “KEEP OUT?’”

Then she turned around slow and looked back at the door
That she scurried right past when she hurried before.
Oh, the most dreadful sight made her little heart skip.
From the top to its bottom, the curtain was ripped.

Her knees wobbled wild. She shook like a shaker.
She closed her eyes waiting for someone to wake her.
“Pop, I love to adventure… I’ve always been brave…
But all that was before a big monster escaped!”

“Is it now on the loose?” the girl asked with a quiver,
And the old man thought hard on the answer to give her.
“Well, the room never kept it from roaming about,
But to say it is gone, now to that, I’ve no doubt.”

And like dominoes tumbling now out of control
Or the turbulent dash of a startled, young foal,
Her little mind sprinted and spiraled awhirl.
“If it broke out of here, what could it do to a girl?”

Then the tiny kid squealed, “Oh, I bet it’s a giant!
A huge, ugly ogre caught acting defiant!”
Her gray-headed grandfather held in a snicker.
“I’m sorry, dear girl, but this monster is bigger!”

Her eyes opened wide. “Then it must not be man!
It’s a beast so untame that it broke out and ran!”
“What beast is most free?” asked the man to the child.
“Well this beast, I tell you, is ten times more wild!”

As she paced all around, the air quiet and still,
The girl burned with a question, “Well, Pop… does it kill?”
With a curious smile he stopped the girl’s stroll.
“Oh yes, my dear child. It can swallow men whole.”

The little girl shrieked, “Just imagine the jaws!
A tongue made of fire and swords for its claws!
Imagine it roars as it crawls out its cave!”
Then the little girl paused. “Hey, Pop… are we safe?”

The old man then met the girl’s little brown eyes
That were filling with water like dark, stormy skies.
He held her small hand as he quietly thought,
Then he whispered quite softly, “No, dear. We are not.”

Then he sat on the ground and she crawled in his lap,
And he held her so tight that she felt she might snap.
“Pop, I’m scared,” the girl said wiping tears from her cheek.
“I am, too,” he replied, “for He’s here as we speak.”

Then a huge, mammoth grin came and widened his face
And his eyes got so wet they near flooded the place.
He tapped her small heart, which was starting to bust.
“This monster that’s gone is now breathing in us.”

Then he took the young girl and he set her up straight.
“The great beast has come down, and He’s torn through my gate.
My dear girl, if you’re willing, He might eat you, too.
Let Him tear out your heart and place His into you.”

The little girl shuttered like anyone would,
Then she stood up and asked him as brave as she could.
“Well, before I invite this great monster to visit,
You still have one question to answer. What is it?”

Her grandfather smiled, “There’s no need to fear.
This monster is good, and this monster is near.
You will soon know the brute that has broken these walls,
For His love, my dear child, will devour us all.”

***

And so the two left to go playing outside,
And the day was so fair the girl’s fears all but died,
Because even the ground seemed to talk through her shoes,
Like the earth couldn’t wait to reveal some good news.

Then a tingling lingered inside of her mind
That the something was following closely behind.
And though she knew not what the stranger was wanting,
She had a small hope that the monster was hunting.