The Monster in the Basement

One day, after we had just packed the bags of the first monster that came to live at our house, another one set up residence. We had been laughing and enjoying our babies, happy to have survived what we thought was at that very moment the scariest time of our lives. The second monster was lurking, and he was laughing, too.

This monster was like a big fat, slimy green toad with evil gold eyes. His name was once whispered under a cupped hand, for fear that he might hear you and come your way. Cancer. Shh. He oozed his way around the house, leaving his slime everywhere.

We pushed and shoved the monster until we had him locked in the basement. We could hear him pounding on the floorboards beneath us, but we chose to ignore him, and went on with raising our babies. Unfortunately, he took a big bag of our money with him, and we had no choice, but to make do with what remained. We sighed, and went on with living. Sometimes the monster escaped, but for a while we managed to shove him back into his slick hole.

Then one day, ten years after he came to live at our house, he came upstairs and swallowed my husband whole.