Max's Midnight Moose.

When my son was only 2 1/2 years old, he learned about Moose and how they live in our part of the world. Like many topics before and since, Max's interest bordered on obsession. He asked many many Moose related questions to a point where it seemed like the only dinner conversation topic covered. However, with this particular subject, it turned out that Max had developed a toddler fear that in the middle of the night.......in the deepest darkest part of the night, he was afraid that the Moose were somehow going to enter our home and wander up and down the hallway. Not only was it freaking him out, it was wreaking havoc on any possibility that he was going to stay in his bed all night. So, I wrote him his own silly story, and read it to him. He was able to see the silliness of his fear and it became family lore.

I decided to post it as my contribution to Sunday Scribblings this week. The prompt is "deepest, darkest........" which we all have. I would also like to dedicate it to our family dog, Lucy who would be turning 14 on April Fool's Day and plays a key role in the story. Sadly we lost her a year ago. Not a day goes by when her name isn't mentioned.

Is a bit long for a blog post, so I hope you have time to read it. It's best read aloud to a little one. Enjoy.

Max’s Midnight Moose

Max lives in a white house with his mother, father, big sister Martha and his brown dog named Lucy. He’s a big boy and sleeps in a big bed in his blue room. Lucy sometimes sleeps with him. At night, after his bath, Max puts on his favourite pyjamas, chooses 3 books and crawls into his bed to read with his dad. Lucy sometimes reads with them.

One night, before he climbs into his bed, he says….”Do you think the Moose is loose?”

His sister Martha asks, “What Moose, Max?”

His father asks, “What Moose, Max?”

His mother asks, “What loose Moose, Max?”

“The Moose that is loose at night,” says Max.

They all laugh and say, “There’s no moose that is loose at night, Max. Now get into bed.”

“NO, NO, NO,” yells Max. Not until the Moose is NOT loose.”

So, they all start checking for the loose Moose.

“He’s not in your closet,” says Martha

“He’s not under your bed,” says his father

“He’s not in your room. There is no loose Moose, Max. Have some juice,” says his mother.

“I don’t want any juice, There IS a loose Moose. He comes into my room at night,” replies Max.

“I have an idea,” Martha says to her brother, “that will get rid of the loose Moose, Max. Jump on your bed and yell “MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! Let’s do it together.”

So, they climbed onto Max’s bed, started jumping up and down, and yelled as loud as they could…..“MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE!” Then they fell onto their bellies laughing.

“That worked,” says his father smiling. “No more loose Moose, Max. Climb into bed and we’ll read your stories.” Max said goodnight to his sister and his mother, crawled under the covers, snuggled up to his dad and fell asleep listening to his stories.

Later that night, in the deepest darkest part of the night, Lucy the brown dog walked into everybody’s bedroom to make sure her family was safe and sound. Everyone was fast asleep, so Lucy quietly climbed up on the end of Max’s bed and went to sleep.

The next night when it was time for bed, Max asks, “Do you think the Moose is loose?”

His sister Martha asks, “What Moose, Max?”

His father asks, “What Moose, Max?”

His mother asks, “What loose Moose, Max?”

“The Moose that is loose at night,” says Max.

They all laugh and say, “There’s no moose that is loose at night, Max. Now get into bed.”

“NO, NO, NO,” yells Max. Not until the Moose is NOT loose.”

So, they all start checking for the loose Moose.

“He’s not on your bookshelves,” says Martha

“He’s not in your toy box,” says his father

“He’s not in the hallway. There is no loose Moose, Max. Have some juice,” says his mother.

“I don’t want any juice, There IS a loose Moose. He comes into my room at night,” replies Max.

“I have an idea,” Martha says to her brother, “that will get rid of the loose Moose, Max. Put your bicycle helmet on, and we’ll jump on your bed and yell “MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE!”

So, Max put on his bicycle helmet, then they climbed onto his bed, started jumping up and down, and yelled as loud as they could…..

” MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE!” Then they fell onto their bellies laughing.

“That worked, says his father smiling, No more loose Moose, Max. Climb into bed and we’ll read your stories.” Max said goodnight to his sister and to his mother, crawled under the covers, snuggled up to his dad and fell asleep listening to his stories.

Later that night, in the deepest darkest part of the night, Lucy made her rounds again and checked to see if everyone was safe and sound in their beds. She then quietly crept into Max’s room and fell asleep on the floor in the doorway. That way, Lucy thought, she could protect Max from the midnight moose.

The next night, when it was time for bed, Max asks, “Do you think the Moose is loose?”

His whole family asks, “What loose Moose, Max?”

“The moose that is loose at night,” replies Max.

With a big sigh….UHUH….they say….”There’s no night moose, Max. Now get into bed.”

“NO, NO, NO,” yells Max. Not until the Moose is NOT loose.”

So, they all start checking for the loose Moose.

“He’s not hiding in your sneakers,” says Martha

“He’s not living in your underwear drawer,” says his father

“He’s not anywhere in the house. There is no loose Moose, Max. Have some juice,” says his mother.

“I don’t want any juice, There IS a loose Moose. He comes into my room at night,” replies Max.

“I have an idea,” Martha says to her brother, “that will get rid of the loose Moose Max. Put your bicycle helmet on, grab your hockey stick and we’ll jump on your bed and yell “MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE!”

So, Max put on his bicycle helmet, and grabbed his hockey stick. Then they climbed onto his bed, started jumping up and down, and yelled as loud as they could…..

“MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE! MOOSE VAMOOSE!” Then they fell onto their bellies laughing.

“That worked, says his father smiling, No more loose Moose, Max. Climb into bed and we’ll read your stories.” Max said goodnight to his sister and to his mother, crawled under the covers, snuggled up to his dad and fell asleep listening to his stories.

Once again, Lucy went into everyone’s bedroom to check if they were safe and sound. When she went into Max’s room, she sat down on the floor and watched over the littlest person in the family. The streetlight shone through the curtains and cast a shadow on the wall of Lucy and the rocking chair. The shadow had a funny shape. Max opened his eyes, and gasped….he saw the shadow of a Moose.

“Moose Vamoose, Moose Vamoose, Moose Vamoose,” whispered Max. The moose didn’t leave.

Max pulled the blankets over his head and crawled to the bottom of the bed. When he thought the moose wasn’t looking, he scampered out of bed, went out the door, and ran down to Martha’s bedroom to wake her.

“Martha!” whispered Max loudly. “Martha, wake up. The Moose IS loose and I said Vamoose! And he’s still sitting in my bedroom.”

“Oh Max, you’re crazy. There’s no Moose. I made up the Vamoose….go back to bed and I will see you in the morning,” said Martha and she rolled over to go back to sleep.

Max grabbed his sister’s blankets and pulled them off her. “Get up!” He demanded. “I want you to see that the Moose is loose.”

Martha sighed and followed him down the hall. When they got to the bedroom door, Martha and Max both saw the shadow of the moose on the wall. Just as they were about to scream, their father turned on the hall light. The moose shadow disappeared. Sitting in the middle of the bedroom, in front of Max’s rocking chair was their brown dog. “It’s Lucy!” They yelled. “The Moose is LUCE!! The Moose IS LUCE!” They all yelled as Lucy, their brown dog sat looking at them wagging her tail. They all fell on their bellies laughing.

After that, there were no midnight moose sightings at Max’s house. And everybody lived safe and sound until one day Martha said to Max, “do I see a Bear in there?”