“A crinkling, Maribel!” Peter cried.

“He’s back! Terrygood is really back!” Maribel replied.

“Hey kids! Remember me? I came back to eat you.”

“But why, Terrygood? We are just children!” Peter said as he backed off in mild terror.

For you see, Terrygood was not just a regular monster. Every time he visited, he crinkled the air around him. He looked soft and kind, yet had a heavy heart, full of sadness and pain.

“I am sad, because my mom got sick from rotten milk. She is very slow and frail. I must eat you. Then I will feel better.”

“Noooo!” The kids cried in unison. “We can help you, if you let us. Remember in book one when you lost your unicorn friend?”

“Yes, her name was Compassion.” He said slowly as the anger in his eyes faded.

Peter sprang forward and said fiercely, Terrygood, lets go back to visit our old friends, so we can be friends again. Kids don’t taste good, besides.

“Well, I know, but I’m very sad, and I don’t remember how to teleport.”

“Terrygood, it’s just a hop to the right and one step down, you dummy…” Maribel told him. She struggled with the steps, until her brother Peter decided to help by showing the proper way to Goobleland.

Poof! He disappeared with a smack. Then, in unison, Maribel and Terrygood stepped to the right and down, and they were all off to Goobleland.

“Hiya kids!” echoed from the buildings around them once they were all the way down. Joyous people hung from every balcony and window, full of color and sound. There to the right was Old Joe, the local shoemaker. Each shoe he made allowed its wearer to fly anywhere they wanted, as long as they asked their parents first. Oh, and to the left was Shiny, the lady of the wall. She ran to fast one time, and ran right into a wall, where she stuck forever. She would say stuff to children running by, like “Hey, slow down. Stop and smell the roses or you will get smacked by a wall, or not look both ways when you cross that street up ahead. Don’t eat too much candy either, because it won’t taste as good.

“Oh that’s the magic of candy! Maribel said. “I know that!”

“Oh, I hate rules!” Peter whined.

“If there weren’t any rules, Peter, everyone would use my shoes to fly around all day and night and nothing would get done. No one would work to make food, or clothes, or the house you live in, or even candy.” Old Joe said.

“So people have to ask their parents before they go flying, or no one will make candy?” Maribel said sadly.

“Yes, little one. That’s why there are rules.”

Terrygood asked, “Why is my mother sick?”

“I can answer that,” Shiny said. “Your mother is sick, because she didn’t read the date on the milk. Not only that, but imagine if no one ever got sick. It sounds good to you, but what if no one got sick for so long that they forgot what it was like to be sick. We have to be sick sometimes, that way feeling normal feels even better.”

“Thanks Shiny.” Terrygood said. “I love my smart friends. I feel so much better. Now I am ready to go back and be nice and listen to my parents.

Oh, didn’t you know, monsters have parents too?