Monsters in the House

What did you get for your fifth birthday? I got a Cookie Monster, an ice-cream cake and

a tonsillectomy. A few months later, while Snuffleupagus batted his eyelashes on TV,

mommy sewed the eyeball onto my Cookie Monster again. I wiggled that plastic eye like a

loose tooth until it fell off. To shield my stuffed toy from seeing what happened when

mom wasn’t home. I trusted his fuzzy hugs and couldn’t bear his pity. Not that I even knew what that word meant. My voice, stolen. Blue monster, eyeless. Mother, blind.

Step-father, hide-and-seeking his monster behind closed doors.