The Monster in the Mailbox by Xavier Bonet

Author:Xavier Bonet [Dahl, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction; Stone Arch Books; Michael Dahl's Really Scary Stories; JUV018000; JUVENILE FICTION / Horror; JUV058000; JUVENILE FICTION / Paranormal; JUV038000; JUVENILE FICTION / Short Stories; 9781496537713; 9781474728133; 9781474728096; 9781496537751
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2020-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

THE MONSTER IN THE MAILBOX

Mr. Howard Finn, the neighborhood’s new mailman, had never met anyone like Dory before. The little girl never stopped talking.

“This one’s Mrs. Gomez’s house. She has twelve grandchildren. Twelve’s a lot, isn’t it? She must get a lot of presents for her birthday. I like presents. Especially games and puzzles. But I don’t want grandchildren. I wonder what kind of presents Mrs. Gomez gets.”

Dory was eight years old with pumpkin-colored hair. Mr. Finn had met her as soon as he stepped out of his mail truck. He was hauling the heavy mailbag over his shoulder when Dory appeared at his side. She told him she would help him because this was his first day.

“It’s not my first day delivering the mail,” Mr. Finn had pointed out. “But it is my first day in your neighborhood.”

“My family just moved in a few weeks ago, so I know what it feels like,” Dory said.

Mr. Finn had dropped off mail, and a few packages, to four of the neighborhood homes when he asked about Dory’s house. The little girl frowned and pointed across the street.

“That’s a big house,” said Mr. Finn. Four stories of glass and steel towered above the nearby houses. No trees or bushes or flowers grew in the yard. Instead, there were a dozen boulders — big boulders — scattered across a field of white gravel. Mr. Finn thought it looked more like a machine than a house. No wonder the little girl was frowning.

Mr. Finn kept talking while he dug into his bag for the next customer’s mail. He didn’t want to let go of his end of the conversation, or Dory might start chattering again.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” he asked.

Dory shook her head. “Not really,” she said.

Mr. Finn thought that was an odd answer.

Dory added, “But I have a pet —”

“Oh, that’s nice,” the man said. “I always liked pets when I was a boy. Dog or cat?”

Dory shook her head again.

“A hamster, maybe?” asked Mr. Finn.

“It’s a monster,” said Dory, smiling.

“Oh, I see,” said Mr. Finn. This little girl really was odd. “A monster, huh? Is he a nice monster?”

“It’s a girl monster,” said Dory. “She’s very nice. But sometimes she gets very, very hungry.”

Mr. Finn walked across Mrs. Gomez’s yard and up the front steps of her house. He slipped the mail through a slot in the door, and then started toward the next house, the Hendersons’. The last one on that block. “So do you let your monster play in the yard?” asked Mr. Finn.

“She’s not allowed outside,” said Dory. “That makes her very sad.”

“So where do you keep her?” the man asked while digging into his mailbag again.

“She’s in the mailbox.”

Mr. Finn stopped digging and looked down at the girl. Dory was busy pulling clovers from the Hendersons’ lawn. “Ten, eleven, twelve,” she counted. The man glanced across the street at her house, the glass-and-steel giant. After this block, Dory’s house was next on his route.

Then he saw the mailbox.

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