We all know how lovely it feels to have had a good night’s rest, but Nelson had never experienced a sleep like this. Every single part of his body and his mind felt brand new, and the dream they had all shared had been such a happy one that he could barely stop smiling for five days afterwards. Even the knowledge that there were only three wishes left to go before they had to say goodbye to each other forever could not wipe that smile off Nelson’s face.
His school work improved so much and so quickly that his teachers started to talk about him on their coffee break.
‘Have you noticed a change in Nelson Green? He’s never been interested in my lesson before, but for the last few days he’s been my best student.’
‘He’s gone from bottom to the top of my class.’
‘You know, he helped carry my books to my car, and I must say I never knew he could be such a chatty little fellow. Always thought of him as a quiet one.’
‘He’s reminded me of his sister recently. Do you remember her? Celeste. Delightful girl.’
And it wasn’t just the teachers who had seen a sudden change in Nelson. Nelson’s classmates couldn’t fail to notice how instead of slinking into the classroom and flopping down into a seat, Nelson now bounded in, humming a tune he had heard on the radio and chatting to anyone who was nearby.
‘What’s happened to you?’ whispered Katy Newman one day, as if the answer might be a secret.
‘Nothing.’
‘Then why are you so . . . so up?’
They were sitting on the swings in the playground at break-time. Nelson shrugged as he ate the rest of his Lion bar. ‘Dunno. Oh! I totally forgot to tell you. My Uncle Pogo’s already made a prototype splurge gun and he sent a video to see if you like it.’ Nelson pulled his phone out of his backpack, switched it on and showed Katy the video. It started with a clip of a large black toy Nerf gun lying on a workbench. Pogo’s voiceover explained he had sprayed the gun black and added a small compressed air tank to the shaft, which was connected to a liquid foam dispenser. Then the picture cut to a shot of him holding the gun and pointing it at Doody in their living room.
‘It has a good range, probably about six metres, but it is completely safe,’ said Uncle Pogo.
‘It better be!’ snapped Doody.
‘Three . . . two . . . one . . .’ Pop! Pogo fired the gun and Doody’s face was instantly coated in a thick layer of white foam.
Katy burst into hysterics while on the video Pogo laughed at the sight of Doody shaking his head and wiping the foam out of his eyes.
‘Oh my gosh, your uncle is a genius!’
Nelson felt very proud to be Pogo’s nephew but their sudden outburst of laughter had drawn attention from everyone in the playground, including Mr Mallison, who was on break duty.
‘Pogo said if you’re happy with it he will be able to make twelve of them,’ said Nelson as he hid his phone from sight. He was way more enthusiastic about Katy’s play since the super-sleep, and had even agreed to play Bugsy.
‘Of course I’m happy with it!’ squealed Katy. ‘Oh, this is going to be the best show ever!’
It wasn’t just Nelson who had been on a high since the super-sleep. All of his monsters were happier than they had ever been, and Puff was literally high. Instead of crawling around on the floor, Puff now floated a metre from the ground. His body was rounder than it used to be, his paws dangled beneath him, and underneath those heavy-lidded eyes stretched a wide, satisfied grin that never left his face. When he needed to move, Puff could simply swim through the air like a dog in water. This change in Puff meant the monsters could now get around more quickly. Instead of having to carry Puff or wait for him to catch up wherever they went, Miser could pull him along beside them like a balloon on the end of one of his long tentacles, and this was especially useful when it came to the night of honouring Crush’s wish.
Crush was so excited about getting his wish, he had been making little honking noises all afternoon, though if you had seen how excited all the other monsters were, you would have assumed they were all getting their wish.
BANG!