Page 3

"So why have you kept it for sale?" Kay's mother asked, and he realised, again with relief, that something must have gone wrong with the deal for the purple gelid monster. Probably it was the price. With his parents it usually was the price. "If you aren't expecting to sell it, why keep it at all?"

If it was possible for the star monster to blush, it would have at that moment. Its tentacles drooped in embarrassment. "We don't know really what to do with it," it said. "Nobody wants to buy it."

"Why not?" Kay's father asked. "Is it dangerous?"

"Not dangerous, no," the star monster replied. "No, no, not dangerous at all."

"Where did you get it?"

The star monster's tentacle eyes glanced at each other. Since they all glanced at each other, the star monster lost its balance and fell over. "Um," it said, picking itself off the floor, "I'm sure I can find the information for you, if you're interested, sir. It's been here ever since I began working in this store, and that's been a good many years now."

"And nobody's tried to buy it in all this time?"

"No," the star monster admitted. "We just have no idea what good it is for anything. And as you can see, it isn't pretty. Now if you'll look here at this other monster –"

"Dad?" Kay said, breaking another command. "I want this one."

His father hadn't even heard, fortunately. He was looking at the thing in the case. "How do you feed it?" he asked.

The star monster didn't look too happy at having its attention drawn back to the tangle of flaps and tentacles. "It draws in nutrients from the air," it said. "It really doesn't need any food at all."

"No food?" Kay's father scratched his chin, a thoughtful expression in his eyes. "No food bills?"

"It has never had to be fed in all these years." The star monster sounded surprised. "Do you actually mean you are thinking of buying it?"

"That depends," Kay's father said. "How much?"

The star monster blinked several times. "I believe we can give you a special discount, sir." It touched the screen and scrolled through the figures. "In fact, I believe you are in luck. It's yours for only..." it poked at the screen and read out a number. "It's the cheapest item in the entire store."

There was a brief pause. "Going by your other prices, I'm not surprised," Kay's father said. "But we'll take it."

"Dad!" Kay said, happily. "It's just what I wanted."

"Shush, Kay," his mother said. "Your father is talking."

Kay stopped listening to his father talking about warranties and vaccinations and went to look at the monster. It had raised itself a little on its tentacles and was peering at him with its brown eyes. It raised and lowered its flaps, and he heard the faint squeaking noise again.

"I think you're trying to talk to me, is that it?" Kay asked. "Are you talking to me?"

The monster squeaked a little louder.

"Do you want us to take you away from here?" Kay asked the monster. "Is that what you're saying?"

The squeaking got louder and he saw the tentacles twitch, as though beseeching.

"Yes, we're going to buy you and take you away," Kay said. "You're going to live with me and be mine!"

The monster crawled a little closer on its tentacles and all its flaps undulated together. The squeaking was very loud by now but nobody except Kay seemed to hear it.

"All right," Kay told it. "Just wait a minute, can't you." He glanced at his parents, who were reading some papers the star monster had given them. The star monster didn't look very happy.

"I'm sure you'll get full satisfaction," it was saying, "but I could show you a lot of monsters which are much better. Full pedigrees, too."

[ Continue to page 4 ]