‘The Squashbuckler Diaries’ are the daily tales of Joy Shelley’s Life in the Dream. The ‘Lost in Dreams’ books will tell the story of what happens to her at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and so on. The diaries tell us what happens before, after, and between the books.

#383: The Strange Incident of the Pajama Monster, Part 3

“Tell me what it looks like!” 

Dragon Little and Dragon Father were still hiding behind the railing of Bonny’s Revenge from the monster Dragon Little was imagining.

“It’s big! Like a flying elephant!” Dragon Little said. 

“Oh, yeah?” 

“And it has a tall neck like a flying giraffe!” 

“Ooh, that doesn’t sound good.”

“And it looks like… Dad, what is the thing called that animals have?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“That thing. When you pet them, you feel the thing.” 

“What, you mean skin?” 

“Dad!” she shouted at him impatiently. “That thing! You know the thing!” 

“Okay. Calm down. What animals have the thing?” 

“You know!” She was stroking her arm. 

“Oh, you mean fur!” 

“Why did you take so long to say it!” she yelled at him. 

He shook his head and tried to keep his tone calm. “Joy, I didn’t know what you meant. When I did know, I said ‘fur’.”

She made an angry face at him. 

He took a deep breath and said, “So what about its fur?”

“It looks like this!” she pinched the pajamas she was wearing. Then she pointed to the pictures, “See, with unicorns.” 

“Oh! The pajama monster has fur that looks like your pajamas!” 

She nodded vigorously. “And it wants to eat me, Dad!” 

“Oh, no!” he said. “It can’t eat you! I won’t let it!” 

Dragon Little fell into his chest again, as he was still sitting with his back against the railing. 

And then a huge monster leapt out of the ocean water near them and landed in the middle of Bonny’s Revenge’s deck. It was a winged creature, as big as an elephant with a neck as long as a giraffe’s, and its fur showed pictures of unicorns just like Dragon Little’s pajamas. 

“Daaaaaad!” Dragon Little screamed and buried her head deeper into Dragon Father’s chest. 

—Told by The Red Dragon

#384: The Strange Incident of the Pajama Monster, Part 4

#382: The Strange Incident of the Pajama Monster, Part 2