SHHHOCKOLATE!!!

[Marie]

I happened to mention to loopylin that I liked writing for children and she wanted to read some of my work.  Suzy suggested posting it here in the ongoing fanfic so here's the beginning of a story for children aged 4-7.  Not sure about posting all of it tho as, this being a Follyfoot forum and this story having nothing whatsoever, do with Follyfoot or even horses... 

chapter 1

Tippety the monster was tired of eating swish-swash leaves. They did go down a treat and they did make a lovely swish-swash sound when you tugged them off the Plink trees with your monster fangs (that is, if you were tall enough to reach, the little Yaba monsters had to wait for someone else to get them) and they did make a delicious crunchy sound when you crunched them up but...Tippety was so tired of eating swish-swash leaves!

He wanted to eat shhhockolate!

He'd heard all about shhhockolate from the scarey tales they were told in school. Shhhockolate came from Big World where humans lived and it had a lovely shhhockolaty taste. Some monsters didn't believe there was any such thing as shhhockolate and humans but Tippety did.  Their teacher Miss Grrringggle said nobody really knew for sure if Big World and humans and shhhockolate existed or not, but some monsters believed if you wished hard enough you'd see shhhockolate.

So every day in Biggle Boggle Wood when Tippety ate swish-swash leaves he said, " I wish I had shhhockolate!"

The Yabas giggled. "There's no such thing, Tippety!" they said.

"Yes, there is," said Tippety. And he wished so hard. "I wish, I wish, I wish I had shhhockolate!"

Suddenly there was a terrible, terrible roaring and a strange green cloud covered Biggle Boggle Wood. The little Yabas ran away in terror but Tippety was very brave and held tightly on to a Plink tree. A mean-looking monster appeared. He wore a pin-stripe suit and black hat and sunglasses and he was tapping a brolly on the ground.

"I am the Scarey Godfather and you got your wish!" He growled. "You're off to Big World to eat shhhockolate but first I'm gonna turn you into a kid..."

Tippety didn't want to be a kid. He'd seen pictures of kids in scarey tale books and thought they looked dreadful. He was very proud of being a lovely sick-snotty-green colour and having six arms, six legs and nine eyes, and having his Mum say he was the ugliest monster in Monster Land.

But before he could say any of this say the Scarey Godfather opened the brolly and twirled it round and round. Tippety felt very strange. He felt like he was growing smaller...

...and smaller...

...and smaller and smaller and smaller...

And his growl was becoming further away...

... and further away...

...and further and further and further away...

...till in the end all that poor Tippety had left to remind him he was a monster was his lovely sick-snotty-green colour...

"Make sure you catch the afternoon ghost train back - here's your ticket!" shouted the Scarey Godfather, laughing wickedly. "So long, sucker!"

There was a peculiar whooshing sound and suddenly Tippety found himself in a very strange new place.  It was full of funny-looking creatures no bigger than Yabas and not a single one had more than two arms or two legs or two eyes and not a single one was green or purple or even silver...

 

[Marie]

**shrugs** well, um...chapter 2 then... 

chapter 2

But Tippety thought he would make friends with the strange-looking creatures anyway.

"Hullo, I'm Tippety!" he said politely. "How do you growl?"

The strange-looking creatures stared at him. "We're children and we don't growl," said one little boy, puzzled. "Have you been to painting class at school today? You're covered in a horrible green colour!"

"Sick-snotty-green is a very nice colour!" said Tippety crossly. He thought he would talk about something else. "Did you all eat your swish-swash leaves this morning?"

Everybody laughed. How did they growl? Swish-swash leaves? What on earth was Tippety talking about?  It was horrible to be laughed at. Poor Tippety! He turned away.

"They're just being mean, Tippety," said a kind little girl called Lucy. "Come with me to the sweetshop. I had a birthday last week and I've still got lots of money left!"

Now the sweetshop was nothing like the sweetshops in Monster Land, where they sold swishy-swashy jellies and swish-of-the-swash lollipops. This one sold so many different kinds of sweets that Tippety jumped up and down and ran round in excitement.

"Shhhockolate, Lucy! Buy shhhockolate!" he cried.

Lucy frowned. "I don't know shhhockolate, Tippety," she said. "I'll buy something else."

She bought two giant bars of chocolate and they sat on the doorstep to eat them. Tippety thought chocolate didn't taste at all like swish-swash leaves. It tasted much, much nicer and all of a sudden he knew...

"Chocolate is shhhockolate!" he shouted.

"Don't eat it so fast or you'll be sick," Lucy warned.

But Tippety took no notice and gobbled it all up. He rubbed his tummy and licked the lovely shhhockolaty taste on his lips, feeling very pleased with himself.

"Oh, I'm never sick, Lucy!" said Tippety. "I..."

Suddenly he felt very, very sick. Now I don't know if you've ever seen a sick monster before, but it's not very nice.  First Tippety glowed green, then he glowed yellow, then he glowed red, then he breathed dragon fire, then he growled like a lion, then he burped, then he stood on his head, then he twirled round and round, and finally he was SICK! It was a real SMELLY sick too, the kind you point out proudly to your friends and family afterwards and tell them that's the EXACT spot where YOU were SICK.

"Poor Tippety! But I did warn you," said Lucy, taking hold of his hand. "Are you okay?"

Tippety was about to say he felt fine when there was a hissing and a snarling and a roaring a terrible, terrible monster smell of hundreds and hundreds of dirty socks.

Tippety looked up and saw it at once. "The ghost train!" he cried. "Come on, Lucy, we have to hurry!"

[Marie]

***chapter 3***

The ghost train was crowded. There were witches and ghosts and skeletons and monsters and a giant spider, who had shopping bags on six of her eight legs and was sighing impatiently because she was late.

One of the younger ghosts had been shouted at by his Mum and was wailing. Three little witch girls were practising riding broomsticks and getting in everyone's way. Some of the younger ghosts and witches screamed in terror when they saw Lucy and Tippety. It was very, very noisy.

"No human kids on the train, please! You frighten the little ghosts," said the ghost train briskly, spreading out his wings. "I was told there was a monster to pick up here and if that monster isn't here in exactly two minutes I'm going without him. I can't be expected to float round here all day when there are people in fairgrounds waiting to be scared!"

"I’m the monster!" cried Tippety, waving his ghost train ticket.

"Hmmpph! You don't look like a monster - you look far too horribly like a kid. And you don't smell like a monster - all you smell of is shhhockolate," said the train, breathing dragon fire and puffing out smoke and looking very important "But you do have a ticket so I'll take your word for it this time. Hurry on board! Quickly, quickly! Clear the way, please, ghost train leaving! Chugga-chugga-chhooo!"

With a mighty leap, Tippety jumped on board and settled down in a seat by the window. He quite forgot he was still holding Lucy's hand!

"Tippety!" she said. "You've brought me with you!"

"Oops!" said Tippety. But it was too late to go back. The ghost train roared faster and faster and sailed high into the air.

"Don't look at any babies in case you frighten them," Tippety warned, and the skeleton sitting opposite looked from his newspaper, tutted and shook his head and said things like this never happened when he was a little skeleton.

Tippety and Lucy soon fell fast asleep and only woke up when the ghost train suddenly announced, "Biggle Boggle Wood!" - and promptly dropped them out of a trapdoor in the floor without any warning!

[Marie]

Good to know you're enjoying this.  I did find myself laughing when I wrote it! 

***chapter 4***

"It's lucky I can fly, Lucy!" Tippety called, holding tightly on to Lucy's hand. "Though I don't know how it happened. I never could fly before."

Lucy looked down and saw a strange wood. The trees were very tall and each had the biggest leaves you ever saw and each leaf was a different colour, even colours she had never seen. Beneath them were strange creatures who looked a lot like teddy bears except they all had claws and big teeth. There were monsters there too but she wasn't frightened because they seemed very friendly and were shaking leaves down for the little creatures to eat.

"What are they? What are they eating?" Lucy asked.

"Yabbas. They're eating swish-swash leaves," Tippety answered. He swooped down and snatched a lilac swish-swash leaf from a musical Plink tree that was singing away to itself. "Here, try one!"

Lucy was feeling very hungry so she took a big bite - but she spat it out again at once. It tasted dreadful! She couldn't understand why all the monsters were munching away quite happily.

"I don't like swish-swash leaves, Tippety," she said. "It must be something only you monsters like."

Tippety sighed. "But I'm not a monster any more, Lucy. I'm a kid. I don't know what Mum and Dad will say when they see me and my little brother will be scared of me and my big brother will laugh at me."

Lucy sighed too. "I don't know if I'll ever see home and my Mum and Dad again," she said.

It was nice to sail through clouds that felt like cold, misty cobwebs as they brushed their faces, but they both felt very sad.

"Isn't there anything we can do to change back?" Lucy asked, shaking her head to free her hair from another cloud.

"Well...if we could find Mr Monster Maker, perhaps he could sort it all out," Tippety said thoughfully. "He's the cleverest monster in Monster Land."

"Good idea! Where does he live?" Lucy asked.

Tippety thought about it. "Well, no-one's sure. He could be anywhere really. Nobody ever knows. He likes to change his mind a lot about where he puts his castle."

"But how are we going to find him then?"

Tippety looked puzzled. "I was hoping you'd know!"

"Me? I wish I did know where Monster Maker lived but I..."

And then the strangest thing happened! All of a sudden Lucy imagined a huge castle perched on a cliff and surrounded by hundreds of bats. On the edge of the cliff there was a signpost that pointed towards it and said 'Monster Maker's Castle'. Except it didn't just say it in letters. It had a strange little monster face and was shouting through the wind "Mr Monster Maker's Castle! This way, Lucy! This way!"

[Marie]

***chapter 5***

"I know the way, Tippety!" cried Lucy, gripping his hand tightly. "We have to turn right at Three Witches Point, fly nine times round Biggle Boggle Brook, touch Green Monster Moon and zoom back faster than time! Could you fly us there, do you think?"

Tippety nodded bravely. It was a very scarey journey, especially when they zoomed back faster than time and the Monster Earth kept turning to night then day, then day then night, and was spinning so fast that they didn't know if they'd land on it or not. But at last they landed with a big bump next to the signpost.

"What kept you?" the signpost asked. "The bats kept asking when you would arrive and why you're here."

The bats were lesser-spotted-lotsa-curious bats which, as you may know, are very nosey and love to talk and talk.  They followed Tippety and Lucy twittering away the whole time. It was very tiresome to have them asking the same questions over and over again and then gossiping about the answers each other.

"Please go away!" said Lucy, when she'd just explained for the tenth time that she had long fair hair because she wasn't a monster.

"Why aren't you a monster?" asked one of the bats, and the other bats shouted the same question.

"Because I'm NOT" Lucy shouted back, deciding she just wasn't going to answer any more. "I wish you bats would all shut up and disappear!"

To Lucy and Tippety's astonishment the bats disappeared! It was suddenly very quiet without them.

"Done it now!" smirked the signpost. "Hullo, Mr Monster Maker! If you're looking for the bats these two have just wished them disappeared. Nothing to do with me!"

"Dear, dear, dear, you do have to be very careful with wishes, you know," said Mr Monster Maker, who knew everything anyway and wasn't cross. "Still, no harm done! You've sent them to The Vanishing Star where they go on holiday sometimes though usually not all at once. The very little bats love going there. You never know what's going to appear or disappear next, and of course you can appear and disappear as many times as you like yourself. Signpost, stop being so silly!"

Signpost was having great fun. He kept spinning round and pointing to silly places because two witches on broomsticks were watching. Now he was pointing down to a tiny pebble on the edge of the sea. The witches were looking very puzzled and wondering how on earth Mr Monster Maker's Castle could fit on the pebble.

Mr Monster Maker was a very old monster. He was a lovely purply-de-bong colour and had a long purply-de-bong beard and sparkling orange and yellow eyes. He wore a battered old wizard hat and was smiling a twinkly smile. Tippety and Lucy liked him at once. He'd seen them in the crystal ball so he knew to expect them and he explained all about shhhockolate.

"The Scarey Godfather is always playing tricks like this," he said. "He once gave a monster a packet of shhhockolate buttons which made her turn beautiful and of course she was horrified when she looked in the mirror. Then there was monster who ate shhhockolate and couldn't stop talking. It was dreadful! He couldn't sleep for days because he would keep on talking, no matter how many times he told himself to shut up! You were lucky it only made you able to fly, Tippety. Many years ago there was the case of the baby monster who found a box of shhhockolates someone had hidden away and forgotten about. The baby ate them all up before anyone could stop him and then...well, his poor mother got a terrible shock when she went to pick him up and found he'd turned into a human baby! That's why we call it shhhockolate, you see - it's always a shock for monsters to find out what happens after they've eaten it. Don't worry, there is a cure, but first you must come and look round my castle."

[Marie]

***Chapter 6***

Mr Monster Maker took hold of their hands and led them up the drawbridge. It was very exciting. The drawbridge had suddenly decided it wanted to be a log flume and they dipped in and out of the moat and got drenched several times.

"Hold on tight!" chuckled Mr Monster Maker, enjoying the ride as much as Lucy and Tippety were.  At last the drawbridge whizzed them into the castle and they didn't stay wet for long because some very nice tiny dragons, who were flying about and who's job it was, blew warm smoke on them to dry them off. 

The castle was very interesting. Some of the rooms were tiny and some of the rooms were big, and some of them were always changing their minds about who and what and where they wanted to be. One minute you could be in a room full of trees on the third floor when all of a sudden it would change its mind, become a giant room of mirrors and move to the ninth floor instead. It would have been easy to get lost without Mr Monster Maker to look after them.

There was a room with hundreds of clocks that told the time backwards and they had to run out quickly and press the back-to-now switch before they ended up in two hundred years ago! There was a room having a blizzard where some very jolly snowpeople lived and they showed Tippety, Lucy and Monster Maker how to do the snowpeople dance which made everybody laugh. Then there was the room where they met Jinty the sea monster.

Lucy was a bit scared of him at first because of his sharp teeth but he was very friendly and wanted to take them on his next trip round the oceans which he was just packing for. He told them tales of his sea travels and made it sound so exciting that Tippety and Lucy jumped on his back at once.

"Sorry, children, you can't go this time," Mr Monster Maker said. "We have to get you both back home to your parents."

So they had to say goodbye to Jinty and could only watch from the window as he jumped into the stormy sea off on the start of his next great adventure. Lucy wiped away a tear as Jinty gave a final wave of his enormous tail before he disappeared into the water.

"Will we ever see Jinty again, Mr Monster Maker?" she asked.

"Oh, Jinty will turn up sooner or later, you may be sure of that," said Mr Monster Maker. "He'll jump out of a pond or land on a ship just when you least expect it!"

"Help! It's suddenly getting very, very slippery here!" Tippety said, as he slid to the floor...

[Marie]

Sorry, haven't had any time to work on wtsf(2) lately, been busy catching up with friends.  Hope you enjoy this next chapter of Shhhockolate!!! instead. It gets madder and madder... 

***chapter 7***

Mr Monster Maker looked down. "It's I Scream that's making you slip, Tippety.  The tub must have overflowed again. It usually happens when the I Scream is nearly ready."

"Don't you mean ice-cream?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

Mr Monster Maker smiled. "We only have I Scream here in Monster Land, Lucy. Come on, I'll show you."

He gave a low whistle and suddenly three pair Ice Skate Monsters appeared and fastened themselves round their feet.

"Follow me, children!" cried Monster Maker, holding on to his hat.

Tippety and Lucy skated after him down dozens of long, winding corridors. The Ice Skate Monsters skated so very, very fast it made them out of breath. At last they skated into the I Scream room where the Ice Skate Monsters jumped off their feet to show off with a tap dance and then skated off sulking because everybody had been far too busy making I Scream to watch and clap.

The room was very noisy. Mini monsters called Bubble Monsters were jumping up and down on barrels and screaming in sing-song voices. Lucy thought they were very funny. They looked just like bubbles but Lucy had never heard bubbles make a noise before and the Bubble Monsters sounded like baby elephants stampeding when they jumped up and down.

One of the barrels had overflowed because the Bubble Monsters had been enjoying themselves so much that they had jumped too fast and made the lid come off.

"This is where we make I Scream," Mr Monster Maker explained. "We get the ingredients from Big World, put it all in a barrel, then the Bubble Monsters scream and jump to mix it all up and make it just right. We discovered a long time ago that it was the only cure for shhhockolate, you see."

"What a lovely cure!" said Lucy, as he gave her a big bowl of I Scream.

Tippety had never tasted I Scream before and he ate a big spoonful. To his amazement, it was icy cold! Lucy laughed at the surprised look on his face.

After he'd got over the surprise Tippety decided it was delicious. He ate it all up and licked his lips. "More, please!" he shouted.

"I'm afraid one bowl is quite enough, Tippety," Mr Monster Maker sighed, "because the spell works very quickly."

No sooner had he spoken than Tippety began to...

[Marie]

Forgot I hadn't posted the final chapter.  Been really busy lately but for a nice reason, catching up with people.  Going to see my friend's first grandchild tomorrow night.  (By the way, I swear I wasn't doing drugs when I wrote this story!!!  )

***Chapter 8***

Tippety began to grow bigger...

...and bigger...

...AND BIGGER...

...UNTIL HIS HEAD TOUCHED THE CEILING!

"I'm a monster again!" He growled in delight.

Just then a large green cloud burst in.

"Ah, just in time! Here's our cloud home!" said Mr Monster Maker. "Jump on!"

Some of the Bubble Monsters who had finished their screaming for the day jumped on the green cloud too. They were very nice to talk to and pointed out to Lucy and Tippety lots of interesting places in Monster Land as they flew.

The Bubble Monsters were dropped off one by one at their homes until only Tippety, Lucy and Mr Monster Maker were left. The cloud stopped very suddenly above Biggle Boggle Wood.

"This is your stop, children," Mr Monster Maker said. "When you open your eyes you'll be back where you first started."

Lucy felt very sleepy. So did Tippety.

"Now, Tippety, don't forget to brush your fangs when you get home," Mr Monster Maker said. "The crystal ball showed you keep forgetting. And, Lucy, remember your third magic wish. If you are kind to a monster you get three magic wishes, you see, and you were very kind to Tippety when he went to your world. You've already used two - when you wished to find my castle and when you wished the lesser-spotted-lotsa-curious bats would disappear - so don't use your third wish up all at once or you'll have none left!"

"I won't," Lucy promised sleepily.

Lucy felt a popping sound in her ears. She opened her eyes and found she was back in her own home!

Of course she told her parents of her adventure but they said she must have fallen asleep and dreamt it all. Lucy began to think so too - until she remembered Tippety had given her the ghost train ticket to mind. She took it out of her trousers pocket and to her amazement tiny golden stars flew out and Mr Monster Maker's face appeared.

"Hullo, Lucy!" he said. "I just looked into the crystal ball and saw what you're going to wish for! I'll see you and Tippety next time then!"

The face and the stars disappeared back inside the ticket and Lucy smiled to herself. She had been thinking she'd like to go back to Mr Monster Maker's Castle with Tippety though she hadn't said it out loud yet.

"See you again, Tippety," she whispered. "See you again!"

Tippety was in Biggle Boggle Wood eating a swish-swash leaf when tiny golden stars suddenly fell down from a Plink Tree and he was sure he heard Lucy whispering, "See you again!"

He really hoped he would see Lucy again one day. He had told his monster friends all about his exciting time, but only the baby monsters believed it.  And now every day somewhere in Monster Land you'll be sure to hear a baby monster saying I wish, I wish, I wish I could go to Big World!

So you never know - you could meet a monster yourself one day. Oh, but please remember to be very, very careful if you have chocolate!

END