In 2023, Carteret Writers will be 40 years old (though we hardly look a day over 18). To begin celebrating our organization’s long and storied history of supporting, connecting, and inspiring local writers, we asked our members to think back to some of the best stories, poems, and essays of the year before the group was founded. Member Jessi Waugh and her son Bradley offer an imaginative response to the 1982 bestseller The Indian in the Cupboard in the form of a short story in three parts. Stay tuned for the next three weeks to read Jessi’s serial The Legos in the Cupboard. Thank you, Jessi and Bradley,  for your submission.

Chapter 1

“Get out of my room, robber!” Bradley told Gavin.

“But I just want to see it,” Gavin said as sweetly as only a little brother can.

“I said, ‘get out!’” Bradley repeated, his voice rising in volume and anger. This was at least the third time today that Gavin had come in his room without being invited. Bradley pushed Gavin. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he pushed Gavin out of his room.

Gavin fell dramatically to the floor, wedging himself intentionally in the door so it could not be closed.

“Mom!” Gavin yelled at the top of his lungs. “Bradley pushed me!”

Mom was just walking in the back door, returning for another armful of birthday gift wrappings and boxes from yesterday’s party. Emotions were high – overexcitement of guests, overindulgence of sugar, totally over it.

“To your rooms!” Mom yelled, slamming the back door not-so-accidentally.

The boys scrambled to their rooms, and mom yelled at herself internally for yelling at the boys, for the third time that day.

Mom went to Bradley’s room first. It had been his birthday, after all.

“Why don’t you just play in your room with these cool new toys,” Mom said, plopping down beside him on the bed and laying her arm across his big seven-year-old shoulders.

“I want to put things in my new cupboard from Nanna,” Bradley said, his face splotchy but his voice calmer. “But Gavin keeps trying to open it. I don’t want him playing with my secret treasures.”

Mom nodded sagely. Yes, secret treasures – bouncy balls, shark’s teeth, plastic rings, whistles, birthday cards.

“Doesn’t it lock?” she asked. “I saw a keyhole. Did Nanna give you the key?”

Bradley looked, opening each red velvet-lined drawer in the cupboard, some no larger than a roll of quarters. There was no key. He teared up again, realizing he was missing something that he hadn’t even known to want.

Mom regretted mentioning a key. Wanting to save the day, she jumped up and left the room, calling behind, “I think I may have just the thing.”

“Can I come out of my room now?” Gavin asked as Mom passed his door.

“Oh yeah, come on out; just stay out of Brad’s room for the rest of the day, ok?”

“Ok,” Gavin answered, returning to his room and the Lego creation he was making.

Mom came back with her keychain.

“Let’s see if this skeleton key works,” she said. “I got it from an antique store years ago, and it’s never fit into anything before, but this looks like just the right kind of lock.”

Gavin followed her into Bradley’s room, already forgetting the instruction to stay out for the remainder of the day.

Mom put the key in the lock, and Bradley and Gavin leaned in close, their faces just inches away from the key and the cupboard.

When the key fit perfectly and turned the lock, they let out a cheer of excitement.

“Now everybody out of my room,” Bradley said.

Mom scolded him for being rude. Then, she and Gavin went to the cul-de-sac so Gavin could ride his dirt bike, leaving Bradley alone with the new cupboard.

Bradley considered what he would place inside the cupboard – he had so many treasures. They couldn’t all fit, and the drawers weren’t big enough for his larger toys like pop-its or his mini-drone. They were, however, just the right size for some of his precious Lego creations.

He picked an amphibious vehicle he had made earlier in the week; he called it the Adventurer. He didn’t want anyone (Gavin) breaking it. It could go on land or water; it was heavy-duty and powerful. It also had a drill on the front, so it could go through the ground or even through solid rock. He’d put a lot of work into the design, adding lights, bumpy wheels, two engines, tracks, and a driver. The driver wore a scuba suit, complete with helmet and air tanks.

He placed the Adventurer in one of the drawers and locked the cupboard, just to make sure the lock really worked. He pulled on the doors – yep, safe and secure. He smiled to himself, happy with his birthday gift. Thanks, Nanna. Then, he thought of more things to add and opened the doors.

He pulled on the drawer with the Legos, but when he reached into the small velvety box, enclosing the vehicle within his hand, he heard a noise.

It was a voice, a quiet voice. Quiet, but yelling. “Hey! What’s going on here! Hey! Why am I moving? Where am I?”

Who was talking? Bradley glanced around the room, but Mom and Gavin were nowhere in sight. He looked out his window; they were still in the cul-de-sac, with the neighbors. Generally, Bradley would have rushed outside to join the other kids, but the voice was growing increasingly loud and frantic.

“Help! I can’t get out! I can’t get out!”

The voice was coming from his closed hand. It was coming from the Legos. Just then, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his palm, and Bradley screamed.

Subscribe to the Carteret Writers blog to have the next chapter of Jessi’s story The Legos in the Cupboard delivered directly to your inbox, or come back next Thursday!