Millicent and Oriel Bring Presents to the Mournful Monster

 

    Millicent and Oriel live in sun drenched valley surrounded by shadowed hills. The hills are full of strange monsters. These monsters dig holes into the earth and live underneath ground. During the days they wander the hills. The people of the valley have always feared and disliked the monsters. Sometimes the monsters wander down the hills and pick fruits off their trees and vegetables from their gardens. The valley inhabitants tell stories passed on from past generations implicating the monsters in all sorts of vicious activities ranging from burning down houses to stealing children. Even though the modern day monsters never behave maliciously, the valley inhabitants are still suspicious. Sometimes as the sun is setting, the valley inhabitants will look up toward the hills and see the menacing frame of one of the monsters silhouetted against the darkening sky. 
  One day the valley inhabitants woke up to feel the ground trembling underneath their feet. In the distance they heard a horrible sound. It sounded like mighty thunder at first, but the soon it morphed into a more familiar sound. It was the sound of great, heaving sobs. The valley inhabitants were scared of the sounds, so they spent all their time in the protection of indoors hoping the sounds and trembling would stop. But it just went on and on, and finally, two brave and curious inhabitants decided they would investigate the strange phenomenon. They walked up to the monster infested hills, following the sound. They expected to see monsters everywhere, but the hills seemed empty. As they got closer to the sound, the ground trembled more fiercely below their small feet. Soon, they saw the monster! It was the first time either of them had seen a monster so close up. The monster was crouched with his tear smeared face pressed into his palms. Tears pooled around his taloned feet. Instead of looking intimidating, he looked only pitiful.
   "Poor monster." Oriel whispered.
   The two friends gave each other a knowing look and approached the sobbing beast.
   "Monster, what is wrong?" Millicent hollered in the gentlest tone possible.
  The monster looked down at her, at first startled, because he too had never seen any of the valley inhabitants up close. But to overcome by grief to adhere to the societal expectations of monster-valley inhabitant relations, he confessed all.
   "I woke up the other day, and everyone was gone! All of my monster brethren disappeared into the night, leaving me alone here in the hills. I do not know if something horrible happened to them, or if they abandoned me." Then, not being able to talk any more, he began more baleful crying.
   Millicent lightly patted the side of the monsters legs in an effort to comfort him, but he was too consumed with his sorrow to notice. Millicent and Oriel walked home leaving the monster to mourn in private. Instead of feeling the expected adrenaline rush of excitement at their great adventure, they only felt sad.
   "We must try and cheer up that poor monster." Oriel declared.
Millicent nodded her head solemnly in agreement.
   The two friends did not sleep that night. They spent the entire night crafting presents for the monster. Millicent made cookies. She made chocolate chip, strawberry cookies and snickerdoodles. Oriel embroidered him a handkerchief, which was really a small table cloth, but would be about the right size for the monster. She embroidered make-believe animals such as lions and penguins and surrounded the animals with embroidered flowers. The next day, Millicent and Oriel trekked back into the hills with their presents, hoping this would help cheer up the mournful monster.