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It seemed, suddenly, that the mention of “Something Good” by the Oogie was just what was needed to cause the children to finally snap out of the trance that they’d been in. As the Oogie paced, the children were excitedly chattering to each other, all of them telling each other the “Something Good” that they wanted for themselves. Listening to the children’s conversation-the Oogie was meagerly amused, smiling to himself, sometimes actually chuckling out loud as he heard some of the ridiculous ideas and choices that the children were talking about. Through all the clamor, the Oogie heard Izayah say that he wanted to be “the best basketball player in the whole world.” It listened to Micaiah tell her brother and sisters how she was going to tell the Oogie that what she wanted is “A big, giant, ice cream cone, full of strawberry and vanilla ice cream, covered in sprinkles- and that it would last and last forever.” That really made the Oogie burst into laughter. A big, giant ice cream cone- the Oogie thought to itself, its eyes rolling at the utter silliness of it.
After listening to the kids, excitedly trying to decide amongst themselves what they felt was something very good- the Oogie could take no more of it. These children have no clue as to what Something Good really meant. He decided that it might help them better decide with just a little guidance.
“Ahumph, the Oogie grunted, the sound of it so loud and boisterous that all the children jumped in surprise at the interruption.” They all just stood there, frozen, staring at the Oogie- wondering what it was about to say, or do.
The Oogie said to the children; “Excuse me for interrupting, but I’ve never heard such silly dribble, such nonsense in all my life.” “As I was listening, I heard some of the things that you want me to do- that each of you feel is Something Very Very Good.” “But, the Oogie began to explain, you kids are all thinking on too small a scale.” “No, No- you need to be thinking waaaaayyy bigger, over the top bigger, the Oogie emphasized.” “Come on kids- really think this through.” “This is your one big chance to get something that very few- and I do mean very few- have ever had the opportunity of getting.”
“You mean like- I could ask to be invisible or something?” asked Alaysia.
“Now were talking- the Oogie said, pointing his finger at Alaysia.” “Yes, Yes- that’s exactly the kind of thinking that I’m talking about.”
“Do we have to decide right this minute, asked Izayah.”
“This is really hard, said Shaylah.” “It’s just not very easy to think up things that you didn’t even know could be done at all.”
The Oogie paced back and forth while tapping itself on the forehead with its index finger, thinking, and finally realized that these kids really wouldn’t have any idea, no idea what-so-ever about what they could have, what they could be, what they could do- all there for the asking.
“Tell you what, the Oogie said.” “You can all take some time to think about it. Take a couple days if you want. But, only two days at most, you hear? After that, after those two days are gone- you forfeit the gift. And, once you forfeit, you’ll never have the chance at it ever ever again.” “Do all of you really understand what I’m saying here, the Oogie asked them?”
The children just stood there, their faces looking down at the dirt floor, pondering what the Oogie had said. The Oogie stretched its arms all the way out to its sides, then brought them swinging together- clapping the palms of its huge hands. Oh- it rang throughout the entire room, making such a thunderous, earth jarring sound, that it nearly caused the children to jump straight out of their shoes. Seeing the kids jump made the Oogie start to laugh. Once it started laughing, the Oogie just couldn’t seem to stop itself. It just laughed, and laughed, and then laughed some more. The kids had to put their hands over their ears because the Oogie’s laugh was just soooooooo incredibly loud. None of them had ever heard anyone laugh this way, or so loudly. The Oogie’s laughter was also causing its hair to pulsate with the glowing, colorful lights. The sparkling illumination of so many colors was bouncing all over the place. The Oogie couldn’t remember ever laughing at anything this hard before. Tears the size of moth balls were streaming down the Oogie’s face, flowing over its cheeks and drenching the hair on its face. The Oogie sat down hard, dropping onto the dirt with its arms holding its belly, laughing and laughing and laughing. The kids, watching the Oogie sitting there laughing so hard, began to laugh themselves. The laughter in the room was contagious. Everyone was just laughing and laughing. It took awhile, forever it seemed to the children who were still tightly pressing their hands to their ears, but- little by little, the Oogie’s laughter slowly began to ebb. As the Oogie was finally able to get itself under control, the colorful lights also dimmed less brilliantly, making it easier for the children to open their eyes. The kids took their hands away from their ears. Once again- the cellar was eerily silent.
“Whew!” exclaimed the Oogie as it wiped tears from its eyes, its belly still slightly bouncing up and down. “I really needed that, thank you so much.” “Laughing helps to strengthen an Oogie’s magic ya know, and right now- well I’d just bet that my magic is pretty strong, the Oogie said, matter of factly.”
“Hey listen kids- the Oogie said, still sitting in the floor. You should all go back to the house before your grandfather finds out that your missing.” “Tomorrow night- right at midnight, all of you meet me outside so we can discuss what needs to be done about the Ogre.”
“What time is it? asked Izayah, suddenly realizing that they had been out of the house for what seemed a very long, long time.”
“Uhhh, Ohhh Nooo- It’s almost two o-clock in the morning, Alaysia said as she stared at her watch.” “I hope grandpops hasn’t woke up and found out that we snuck out- or we’re all in big trouble, she said worriedly.”
Together, the children quickly began filing towards the stairs to leave. Izayah, noticing that the light didn’t quite reach the entrance to the cellar, went up first so that he could shine the flashlight down on the steps for his sisters as they came up.
“Hey, Don’t forget- You all have to think about what you want that would be really, really good, the Oogie reminded them.” “Use your imaginations- and make it something that will be very special, truly worthwhile for each of you.”
“We will, Alaysia answered back over her shoulder, the last one up the stairs.” “See you tomorrow night, Oogie!”
After Alaysia emerged from the cellar, all four of the kids quickly made a beeline for the house. They were worried about their grandfather catching them, hoping that they would be able to sneak back in unnoticed. Because their minds were so preoccupied, not even one of them had noticed that, over by the fence, at the edge of the yard, concealing itself behind a tree- that the Ogre was watching them.