It Was a Dark and Stormy Night........

“It was a dark and stormy night,” read Mrs. Nightingale, out of the story book. Then she glanced at her watch. “Oh, dear,” she said. “It’s bedtime already! We’ll have to finish the story tomorrow!” 1

"But, mom!” chorused Jeffrey and Johnny, the Nightingale twins.2

“It’s time for bed, if you go to bed right now, I’ll finish the story tomorrow night,” Mrs. Nightingale replied. 3

“Okay,” said the twins resignedly. 4

Mrs. Nightingale kissed each on the forehead, then left the room that Jeffrey and Johnny shared. 5

“Hey,” whispered Johnny, “What do you think happens in the story?” 6

“I don't know,” responded Jeffrey. 7

“I think it’s a dark, stormy night and a monster comes to someone’s room, and they get scared and run away and the monster follows them,” exclaimed Johnny. 8

“Well, I think that a vampire comes while people are camping and they have to run away with their stuff,” replied Jeffrey. 9

“You copied me! Tell a different story!” wailed Johnny.10

“Be quiet!” scolded Jeffrey, “You don’t want Mom to here us!"11

"Well, okay. A monster comes and steals a little child, and then her mom finds out. So her mom has to go find her and scare away the monster. But then, she says the monster can stay at their house, because all the monster wanted was a friend.” 12

“That’s lame!” remarked Johnny, “It’s not scary at all!” 13

“Yes, it is! The monster’s scary!”14

“No, it’s not!”15

“Yes, it is!”16

“No!”17

“Yes!”18

“No!”19

At that time, Mrs. Nightingale came in and switched on the light, brightening the darkened room. “What’s going on here?” she asked sternly.20

“He. . .” they chorused.21

“One at a time!”22

“Well, Jeffrey got mad ‘cause I called his story lame,” explained Johnny.23

“What story?” questioned Mrs. Nightingale.24

“Well, we were thinking of scary endings to the story, ‘cause we couldn’t fall asleep, and we didn’t know what was going to happen,” answered Jeffrey.25

“Well, to settle this, I’ll read a little more of the story,” said Mrs. Nightingale, and began to read. “It was a dark and stormy night, and the dinosaurs roamed, looking for prey,”26

The boys looked at each other and shrugged.27