On Monday afternoon I found something trying to devour our belongings: A Mess Monster. Luckily, I caught it in a bag before it could eat anything, but...
NOT BEFORE IT STOLE--AND HID--OUR BROWNIES!!!
Has a mess monster ever come to your house? They are attracted to mess as ants are attracted to sugar. And our house was messy. The monster gave us the following terms and conditions:
1. Clean up your mess in fifteen minutes.
2. If you do, I'll release my secret message. You Win!
3. If you don't, all remaining mess is MINE to eat,
and goes in this garbage bag with me. I Win!
I explained the situation to the family after dinner. John said, "This is going to be fun!!" Noelle said, "Monster!" Liam said, "I'm very disappointed." We were pretty sure we could win this contest.
Dad set the kitchen timer to fifteen minutes, and we got to work cleaning up our messy house as fast as we could. It was the fastest I've ever seen John work. Poor Liam was genuinely scared of the monster. He was huddled in a chair, wrapped in his blanket and clutching his pillow pet. I soon realized I would have to stop cleaning and console him.
When the fifteen minutes were up, John took the monster around the house to prove that we had cleaned it. Reluctantly, he handed over his secret message. We were all hoping that it would lead us to our brownies.
This is what it said:
A Monster's Riddle
Deep within a closet you'll see
Linens stacked high so cozily.
We use them to dry after we bathe or swim,
Or cover ourselves when the lights are dim.
Tucked inside the thickest of these,
You'll find your precious fudgy brownies.
The following video is a reenactment of the reading (it actually took John longer to decipher the riddle), but shows the true and actual finding of the brownies:
We found our brownies, ate them, and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening together (except for Liam).
He only looks innocent.
