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When a young city boy goes on a country outing, he finds himself exploring the

Black Lagoon, collecting the usual treasures – rocks, reeds, pine cones, and a

cute little pollywog, which he lovingly puts in a water-filled jar.

But once the boy gets his new pet home to the family brownstone in the city,

the little pollywog has already outgrown the jar. And it’s not so cute anymore.

Within days, this “Creature’s” appetite has progressed from bugs to pigeons to

Mail Carriers, and it has flooded the cellar and taken up residence in it – turn-

ing most of the house into a swampy, humid, moss-dripping lair. In a reversal of

roles, the boy and his family have become the Creature’s pets, and to forestall

becoming entrées on the menu themselves, they keep it fed by sending a series

of hapless Neighbors and Salesmen into the depths of the house as “offerings”.

In the meantime, the boy locates the only Monster Expert he can find on the

net - Brady Plunkett, who arrives to professionally handle the situation.

It’s a creepy adventure as Brady and Virgil set a series of traps, lures, and

oddball strategies - all of which fail. It looks hopeless until Brady sends the

reluctant Virgil to the dark and frightening Black Lagoon with a cellphone,

hoping to transmit the sounds of other creatures at play. What he gets,

though, is the creature’s mother laying a monster-sized guilt trip on it. “You

don’t write, you don’t call...”

does find a cute young girl Creature to lure him back into the Black Lagoon

(via a subway, two bus transfers, and one unlucky cabby).

“How To Get Rid Of

An Undesirable Monster”

“How To Get Rid Of

An Undesirable Monster”

The Foggy Bog

That, of course, doesn’t work, but luckily Virgil

Figure 6.1 Continued