Grow Your Own Gargoyle

Wendy clutched her Slime Sisters comic book. She saved her allowance to buy all kinds of things that were in the back of the comic. She had bought talking fish, dancing dolls, a living pet rock, giant super heroes, and all kinds of other stuff.

She’d run to get the mail. “My giant super heroes are here.” Wendy had opened it up, but they weren’t as big as a child like in the ad. In small print were the words “not actual size.”

All the other things she had sent for didn’t work right either. The dolls didn’t have batteries and broke after just two days. The living rock was not alive, and all the other toys and games she bought were lying twisted and broken in a heap on her bed.

he sat on the floor and frowned.

“Can I come in?” her Mom, Mrs. Delane, asked.

Wendy nodded. Mrs. Delane moved some of the junk away and sat down. She had a tiny package in her hand. “Maybe you shouldn’t send for any more toys?” Mrs. Delane said, “but you have one more package.”

Wendy took the package. It said “The Living Gargoyle Co.”

“I forgot all about this,” Wendy said. She opened the package and there were two very small gargoyles with pointy ears, and a small piece of paper.

Grow Your Own Gargoyle

1. Put each gargoyle in a large bowl of water. (Don’t put them in the same bowl; the gargoyles need space to grow.)

2. Wait overnight and they will have grown to more than twice their size.

3. Dry them off with a towel.

P.S. Gargoyles are very cranky at first, so plan activities they will enjoy like picnics and tag. No, they can’t fly.

“I might as well try. I think Stacy had a sponge toy like this and hers grew.” Wendy smiled and removed the junk from her bed. “Mom, can you get me two bowls of water?”

“If you promise to clean your room.” Her Mom said, and got her the bowls and tucked Wendy in.

Wendy went to sleep and dreamed that the gargoyles grew as big as her house and were very mean looking.

She felt something wet on her ear and woke up. The gargoyles were on her bed.

“Dry me,” said gargoyle one.

“No, me first,” said the other one.

Wendy didn’t scream because the directions said they’d be real cranky. “Okay, I’ll dry you both.” Wendy dried them off with towels.

Wendy named one Lester and the other one Tina, because one of them was a boy and the other one was a girl. When Wendy was off at school, they’d get into pillow fights and make her room a mess.

“You have to clean up your room,” Mrs. Delane said. “Your Dad almost fainted when he saw your room.”

“But Lester and Tina made the mess.”

“They’re your gargoyles and you have to clean up after them.”

Wendy gave them crayons to draw with, but they ended up drawing all over the walls and it took Wendy hours to clean the walls.

As soon as she was done with that she had to clean sticky bubble gum off Lester’s wings.

“This place is so much fun,” Tina said. “Most of us are sent back to the company.”

“And the kids get their money back?” Wendy asked.

“Nope,” Lester said. “You have to pay the company.”

Tina shook her head. “The other gargoyles are much crankier than us. The reason I’m nicer to you is I like it here. I never want to leave. I like you too.”

“Well, there are those pillow fights,” Wendy replied.

“We won’t have them any more.” Tina smiled.

“No, I don’t mind if you have pillow fights as along as I’m allowed to join in.”

They tossed pillows and sang songs. Afterward they cleaned up the mess. Mrs. Delane made Wendy, Lester and Tina cups of hot chocolate and tucked them into bed. Tina started to snore.

“Maybe you can order more gargoyles,” Lester said.

“No, two are all the gargoyles I can handle.” Wendy closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Illustrations by Carol Moore