James was scared.
He shook in his shoes.
His fingers went all fidgety.
He hid under his blanket.
When a monster appeared at the foot of his bed, James pulled the blanket all the way up to his eyes.
“My name is Goob,” the monster said in a gentle voice. “It’s okay to be scared. But you don’t have to be.”
James peeked out from under the covers. The monster had a smile on his face and, to his great surprise, James thought he looked somehow friendly.
James’ tiny voice came over the blanket. “How can I not be scared?”
Goob grinned and wide, toothy grin. “It’s easy,” he said. “The way to not be scared is to do things that scare you.”
James thought about it for a second. He thought, That makes no sense!
Then he thought about it for another second, and the thought came to him that maybe, just maybe, it made all the sense in the world.
After all, he was doing something that scared him right now by talking to Goob.
Slowly, he pulled the blanket down from his eyes.
“Okay,” James said. “I’ll give it a try.”
James looked under the bed and looked at the monsters who lived there. At first he wanted to duck under his covers again, hiding from their sight. But instead, he stared at the monsters who lived there in their yellow and green and purply eyes, and he waved.
The monsters waved back.
Just like that, James was not afraid of them anymore. He wasn’t sure where his fear had gone, but gone it had.
James jumped out of bed and turned the nightlight off so his room was pitch black except for Goob’s eyes.
For the first time in his life, the darkness made James laugh. Goob laughed with him, and the sound of his chortling was a comfort.
The next day, with Goob by his side, James ran outside to pet Mr. Barnum’s big slobbery dog.
The dog licked James’ face. And James felt brave.
Goob took James to the amusement park and James agreed to ride the roller coaster–in the front car!
The look on his face was priceless.
At dinner, James ate all of his vegetables, rather than feeding them to the dog.
By the last bite, James decided they tasted pretty good.
Goob lifted James to the attic, where James befriended the ghost.
The ghost said, “Drop by anytime!”
While in the attic, Goob held onto James’ feet as he stuck his head out the window and looked all… the… way… down.
James decided he liked the view from so high in the air.
All the things that had scared him now seemed so far from scary. And James smiled at Goob, who had helped turn his fears into fun.
And when Feebie came over to play, James wasn’t scared to share his favorite toy.
Feebie didn’t break it. She made playing with the toy even more fun.
And when a big loud storm came over the house, Feebie said, “I’m scared.”
James looked around for Goob, but the friendly monster was nowhere to be seen.
So James turned to Feebie and said, “It’s okay to be scared. But you don’t have to be.”
Feebie’s tiny voice whispered as the thunder clapped outside, “How can I not be scared?”
“It’s easy,” said James with a grin. “The way to not be scared is to do things that scare you.”
James and Feebie sat on the front porch and watched the rainclouds roll by.
As the thunder boomed and the lightning streaked, Feebie became a little less afraid and a little more full of wonder and joy.
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