can hide.â
Before the lion could argue about it Ellen snatched him up and put him in the bottom drawer of the bureau, on top of a pile of clothes. She had to press him down hard to get the drawer closed. Even so it would not close all the way. The lionâs tail was caught and half of it hung down outside the drawer.
âOuch,â said the lion when Ellen finally noticed what the trouble was.
âBe quiet,â she whispered. âHere comes the policeman.â
âHello, Ellen,â the policeman said. âWhere is the lion? I have come to put him in a cage in the zoo.â
âYou are too late,â Ellen told him, standing in front of the bureau so he would not see the lionâs tail. âThe lion jumped out of the window.â
âOh.â The policeman sounded disappointed. âThen I cannot put him in the zoo.â
âNo,â said Ellen, shaking her head.
âGood-bye,â said the policeman, and he went away. Ellen opened the drawer and took out the lion. She squeezed him all over to unflatten him. But there wasnât much she could do about the kink in his tail.
âAnyway, youâre safe now, thanks to me,â she said as she made him comfortable on the arm of the big chair. âAnd you can live here happily ever after.â
TWO PAIRS OF EYES
âI wish I had a drink of water,â said Ellen in the middle of the night.
âWell, get one,â said the lion, from the other end of the pillow.
âIâm afraid,â Ellen said.
âOf what?â said the lion.
âOf things,â said Ellen.
âWhat kind of things?â said the lion.
âFrightening things,â Ellen said. âThings I canât see in the dark. They always follow along behind me.â
âHow do you know?â said the lion. âIf you canât see themââ
âI canât see them because theyâre always behind me,â said Ellen. âWhen I turn around they jump behind my back.â
âDo you hear them?â asked the lion.
âThey never make a sound,â Ellen said, shivering. âThatâs the worst part of it.â
The lion thought for a moment.
âHmm,â he said.
âTheyâre awful,â Ellen continued.
âEllen,â the lion said, âI donât think there are any such things.â
âOh, no? Then how can they scare me?â said Ellen indignantly. âTheyâre terribly scary things.â
âThey must be exceedingly scary,â said the lion.
âIf they keep hiding in back of you they canât be very brave.â
Ellen frowned at the lion. Then she considered what he had said.
âI guess theyâre not very brave,â she agreed. âThey wouldnât dare bother me if I could look both ways at the same time.â
âYes,â said the lion. âBut who has two pairs of eyes?â
âTwo people have,â Ellen said, staring up at where the ceiling was when it wasnât so dark. âI wouldnât be afraid to go down the hall for a drink of water if I was two people.â
Suddenly she reached out for the lion, dragged him to her, and looked him in the eyes.
âMine are buttons,â he said. âTheyâre sewn on. I canât see very well in the dark.â
âNobody can,â Ellen whispered as she got out of bed. âBut the things donât know that.â
âHow do you know they donât know?â said the lion.
âI know all about them,â said Ellen. âAfter all, I made them up in my head, didnât I?â
âAh,â said the lion. âI said there were no such things.â
âBut of course there are,â Ellen said. âI just told you I made them up myself.â
âYes,â the lion said. âButââ
âSo I should know, shouldnât I?â said Ellen, putting the lion up on her shoulder so that he faced behind her.
C. J. Box
S.J. Wright
Marie Harte
Aven Ellis
Paul Levine
Jean Harrod
Betsy Ashton
Michael Williams
Zara Chase
Serenity Woods