Alphabet Allie's Arc

Chapter 11 of 13

Allie walked on until the path opened into a wide green lawn. At the end of the lawn stood a huge house with tall windows and painted trim. It looked like a place from a storybook, too grand for the small road that led to it. Allie stopped at the front step. Something odd was happening on the porch. A monkey sat on a small gray moon by the door. He held the moon between his knees like a ball. Next to him, a mongoose crouched over a pink slice of melon, chewing loud, juice running down his paws. Neither one looked up when Allie came near. A brass sign on the door read MANOR in careful letters. "Excuse me," Allie said. The monkey pointed at the door without turning his head. The mongoose took another wet bite. Allie tried the handle. Locked. A slot in the door had a small card above it that said COINS ONLY. She had no coins. She looked back at the two animals. "Do you know how to get in?" The monkey finally spoke. "You need money. M money. Manor, moon, monkey, mongoose, melon, money. That's the rule of the house." He tapped his moon. "Everything here starts with M." Allie thought hard. She looked at her dress, at the row of letters stitched across it. She found the M near her waist and touched it. "M," she said out loud. "For manor. For moon. For mongoose and melon." The mongoose paused mid-chew. The monkey sat up straighter. Then, from behind a potted plant on the porch, a small gray mouse in a purple hat stepped out. He carried a tiny wand. "You said the word," the mouse said. "You noticed the letter. That's the trick." He tapped the door with his wand. It swung open. Inside, on a low table, sat a heap of gold coins, stacked and spilling. Allie stepped in and stared. The mouse waved her forward. "Take one," he said. "You earned it by seeing what the others missed." Allie picked up a single coin. It was warm and heavy. The monkey and mongoose crowded in behind her, curious now, no longer bored. The monkey held his moon up next to the coin. "They're both round," he said, surprised. The mongoose sniffed the coin, then the melon, then grinned. "M money," he said. "I get it now." Allie laughed. She had come to a locked door with nothing, and one letter had opened it. Better still, the monkey and mongoose were looking at her the way she had always wanted people to look, like she had shown them something they hadn't seen before. She dropped the coin into the monkey's paw and stepped back onto the porch. The M on her dress felt brighter than the rest. She kept walking.