This week we asked you to write stories in response to a drawing by Robbi, and many of you did, and for that we are glad.

Here is the image that crawled from the deep caverns of Robbi’s mind.

What’s going on here? you say. We’ll that’s exactly what the stories below are all about. Read on.

Spencer’s story:

“Defeating the Monster”

It is a picture of a big boat with an army tank on it. A big monster is going in the water and slicing it in half. The people in the tank are trying to turn it around so they can shoot the big monster. They do it and shoot the monster, but the finger of the monster makes a hole in the boat so it sinks. BUT good thing that the tank can float in the water, so the people are safe.

—

Oh the agony and the ecstasy. Spencer captivates us by taking us to the brink of disaster (a monster with a finger so powerful that it makes a hole in the hull of a boat?!) and then bringing us back again (a floating tank, equally improbable).

Tyler’s story:

“Monkey Monster Against the Big Battling Ship”

The big boat is getting away from the big monkey monster. The ship has guns but the monkey monster is too strong to get killed. So, the boat is running away but the monkey monster jumps on the boat and his feet break the boat so now the boat is sinking. But then, after that, the monkey monster doesn’t want to sink it and have everyone grow dead, so he decides to fix the boat so it floats again. Instead he kidnaps everyone on the boat. It’s all his boat, so he takes it to whatever island he wants to. The end.

—

In this roller coaster of a story, the monkey monster begins as a villain, finds an inner strain of compassion and repairs the damage he has wrought, and then develops delusions of grandeur, leaving his victims not dead, but still kidnapped. I’m emotionally spent in the wake of reading it. Fortunately, the next author provides a bit of relief.

Kato’s Story

I don’t WANT to write a story.  

—

How refreshing. The exercise of free will.

Alden’s Story

It’s the story of a man with a boat and he wants to crush it. And he’s trying to, but he can’t, and he’s banging and banging and crushing. Then he stopped because his arms were tired and he took a rest. And then he slept and slept and slept until he woke up. Then he saw his ship was gone and he ran and ran in the water and he found it and he bang, bang, bang, bang, crush, crush, crush. He wanted to crush it because he’s a bad guy. But then he crawled back into a snuggly moon and he curled up.

The End

—

I guess when Robbi draws a dark, menacing figure, the resulting stories are going to be ones of destruction. But I worry about the oceans of vitriol that must be swirling in Alden’s heart. There was a bit too much banging and crushing for my tastes. I suppose I should take comfort in the fact that her antagonist seems to have a change of heart at the end. Can redemption be found in a “snuggly moon”? The next 13 years will likely provide the answer.

Joe’s Story:

One day, a Gorilla sees a Tank peeking around where he lives.

The Gorilla says to the Tank:  “What are you doing here?”

But no one answers, and nothing happens.

The Gorilla tries to get into the Tank, but it’s locked.

Who is inside?

What is a tank doing here??

He doesn’t know.

He doesn’t like it.

He raises his arms and goes: “Grrrr….” to scare it away.

And at the same time, it starts to rain, on a sunny day…

—

In my experience, Joe can always be counted on to set a thought-provoking scene but stop just shy of offering satisfying resolution. Here, he establishes tension and leads us toward crisis before ending with a lovely metaphor. Joe’s a writer, to be sure. But also an artist. Here’s his version of the scene:

Robbi’s Story

The army was trying to scare the swamp thing out of his house in the swamp because they needed to put a highway there. And he didn’t like that. So he put on his swamp thing outfit and some stilts and he ran out in the dark of night and scared away the army, but he almost fell over because he was wearing stilts.

—

In Robbi’s version of the universe, swamp things are not intrinsically scary but must put on “outfits” and raise themselves with stilts to embody the terrifying form needed to exact their particular brand of wreckage on the world. In Robbi’s version of the universe, it’s perfectly acceptable for the army to violate the swamp thing homeland in the sake of “progress.” Go, swamp thing! I say. Go, brother!

 

Matthew’s Story

Herkemer Jones was angry because the group of tiny cupcake making friends would not share their cupcakes.

“But I’m so hungry,” he said.

“But we only have 1,200 cupcakes,” they said. “And we need them all.”

“But can’t I have just one?” Herkemer said, trying to be reasonable.

“Not even one,” they said. “This is not a time for compromise.”

So Herkemer rampaged, and the friends ran to their roaming hotel, which happened to be outfitted with tank treads and a really long diving board.

“Vroom, vroom” said the friends, even though the hotel was making plenty of vroom sounds on his own.

“Are you mocking me?” said Herkemer.

But the friends were too busy eating cupcakes to notice. Lucky for them, Herkemer insisted in walking in a high-kneed way, which made him rather slow.

When all of the cupcakes were gone, they lost all sense of ambition and promptly fell asleep, even the driver. So the hotel stopped, and Herkemer caught up.

He ripped off the roof of the hotel and gasped to find that all the cupcakes were gone.

And so, as a second-best option, he ate the friends, every one. As they slid into his belly, he couldn’t help notice how very sweet they tasted.

—

That is my story, and I’m sticking to it.

If you are fond of Robbi’s odd drawing and would like to terrify yourself (or others) by hanging it in a place of prominence in your home, it has been posted for auction on Ebay, where bidding will continue until 12:30pm EST on Sunday afternoon.

Sweet dreams.

Also: if you’re interested in getting weekly Bobbledy Prompts delivered to your inbox, SIGN UP FOR PROMPTS HERE.

And: if you’re interested in getting auction notices by email, SIGN UP FOR AUCTION ALERTS HERE.