I awoke and found myself in bed next to a roll in the covers. And I cautiously checked to see if it were a cone. I stared at the closet.

A speck was coming out of the doorway

It was a terrible monster called The Merranium.

And it was growing in size.  It’s getting bigger, and it’s going to engulf me in its tentacles. It came nearer and nearer. I could feel the pressure of its singing, spinning noise against my ear drums.

Soon it was on top of me, and still coming. Now it was ten feet across the room, right over my bed. It was reaching for me with its tentacles and mouth. I woke up screaming.

HELP MOMMY! TURN ON THE LIGHTS! I discovered that I was upside down with my head under the covers where my feet belonged. I had crawled in my sleep.

Grammie came in.

“Please”, I screamed. “Please turn on the light! Don’t turn off the light, Nanna. That mean old ugly thing will come back again.”

“I don’t see anything. There’s no such things anyway.”

“I told Mommy not to turn out the light. Where’s Mommy?”

Mother came in a moment later. She snapped at me in a cross voice, “What do you want? Ah, get back to bed, Peter.”

She hurt my feelings.

Nanna spoke softly, “Go, back to sleep, Peter. I’ll stay with you. You just had a nightmare.”

“But, Nanna I wasn’t asleep.”

“No, you just thought you were awake.

“There goes that strange noise again. Nanna, do you hear it?”

“No”, she answered,” “It’sprobably just a coyote.

Or maybe the wind.”