The continuation of Mr. Snaggle’s Oddities. In this part, Peter can’t wait to tell his family about his trip, but their strange behavior might just change his mind. Thanks for the comments last week. Some of the ideas can be seen in this part, but more will come later as well. If anyone has ideas or suggestions go ahead and leave a comment.

Audio Version narrated by David Carroll:

As always, thanks for reading. If you missed last weeks episode, check it out here.

Peter opened the front door feeling quite excited about telling his parents of all the fun things he’d seen at the circus. It had closed a couple hours ago now, but his friend’s family liked the idea of the circus and made it fun talking to about it. Mr. Snaggle had so many stories to tell that they’d ended up staying the whole day. The more kids that showed up, the more interesting the stories became.

The smell of dinner from another room distracted all other thoughts. His stomach growled at the delicious smells reminding him of dinner time. He found his parents already sitting at the table, waiting for him.

“You almost missed dinner, you know? Have you been down at that circus all day?” His mother asked, not unkindly.

His father had more irritation in his voice. “So, was it everything you’d hoped?” Neither was enough to make Peter forget the fun of the day though.

“It was,” he said, “there was an enormous toad with three heads! And I saw a monkey that could fit into the palm of my hand. I’m serious, I saw it with my own eyes!” His parents only looked at each other in disbelief.

“Nothing more than illusions, I’m sure.” His father’s words made Peter’s jaw drop open. “Go on in the kitchen, Pete. Clean your hands and come eat. You can tell us all about it.”

With a sigh of disappointment, Peter went into the kitchen to do what he was told. Why did he think they would care? They never liked the things he did.

Back in the dining room, his parents were already filling their plates with food. He smiled at the sight of it all. It wasn’t often that his dad cooked, but it was obvious when he did. He always made way more than they could eat.

Tonight was some sort of chicken dish, with a red sauce he didn’t recognize. To go with it, there were two kinds of rolls. And three other bowls that he could only tell certain ingredients from. It all smelled wonderful. His stomach grumbled again at those smells, so he sat down quickly at the table.

Peter scooped different dishes onto his plate while he tried to think of something his parents might like to hear about from the circus. It seemed so obvious when it finally came to him.

“There was one one thing that was really weird about the circus. I bet you guys would like that since you think Mr. Snaggle is so strange and all.”

“Honey,” his mother interrupted, “it isn’t polite to talk about Mr. Snaggle like that.”

“You know better than that, Pete.” His father finished the thought for her.

Neither stopped eating. Peter stared at them back and forth without saying anything. He just couldn’t think of anything to say. It’s not polite for me to talk about strangers, he thought?

“But, you were the ones so convinced he was a strange old man.” His argument fell upon deaf ears. His parents just stared without expression.

“Did we, now? Well I guess we just had to sit down and think it through.” Said his father with a shrug, and his mother nodded in agreement. Peter didn’t know what to think. Five minutes ago they obviously had felt completely different!

He didn’t feel much like telling them about his day after that. It didn’t seem to bother his parents either. So they sat there, eating in silence.

* * * * *

Billy had watched all the kids pour out of the circus when it was time to close. He watched over the tent for a couple of hours to make sure than the old man living there had moved on to one of his other ridiculous tents. He had it in for Snaggle for making a fool of him earlier.

Maybe trashing his tent will teach him to mess with me, he thought. The sun went down early this time of year, which was all the better to him, because he didn’t want anyone to see him sneaking into the circus.

He walked slowly up to the bright yellow entry flap and peaked his head inside to make sure nobody was there. The place was dark without any lights on. He sighed at not having brought a flashlight.

Billy crept through trying to peak into different cages and glass tanks. This was pointless, he couldn’t see anything at all in the dark. He leaned close into one enclosure and the biggest snake he’d ever scene hissed and attacked him. Billy fell back against a wooden block, his heart pounding in his chest.

He leaned in again to notice the snake in a glass enclosure. Billy breathed a little easier. Then he blinked at the realization that the snake, which he recognized as a cobra, had two heads! He decided not to release that one.

Then he felt something touch his back. Billy jumped, turning in alarm, but his cry was cut off short. The last thing he saw was a shadowed outline of a beast, towering in the darkness.