The hour was late and all the children had gone to bed; all except Leon, of course, who was always too rambunctious to sleep. He was a boy of five and had always been curious; stealing into the study to get down a nursery rhyme book, or to the window to watch the candles being put out by the maintenance man down the lane, and one time, even learning to unlatch the back door to pet the dog on the back stoop! My, what a handful to keep up with!
But Matilda Thatchmaster was always up to the challenge. She was the Head Mum of the Orphanage, and watched over all of the orphans like a mother hawk. She was firm and fair and kind and loving and careful. Once, she had beaten back a would be robber at the window with a wooden mallet. (The mallet went with a wooden stake that was kept handy in case of a Vampire, of course. Everyone kept those at the ready.)
The thirty-ish Miss Thatchmaster had just gone to bed and covered up when she had that intuition of hers. It never failed her. Someone was up and that someone was probably young Mr. Leon. She flung the covers off her legs and stalked quietly to the bathroom and peeked around the doorjam: no one there. She hurried quietly to the back step and found the door still locked. She then made her way down the hall, and with her back pressed against it, eased her face around the frame of the opening to the kitchen and…
…there, climbing up onto a stool stealth-fully was Leon. He had on still clean, white flannel pajamas that were all one piece, like a jump-suit. They stopped at his ankles, so his chubby little feet were bare and there was a nice collar to keep his neck warm. He had the collar pulled up looking much like a mad concert pianist and she almost chuckled out loud. But what was he up to? She was bent on remaining hidden for the moment and observed…
…as one knee came awkwardly up on the seat of the chair, then with a straining effort, his other knee joined it. Then he carefully stood, almost falling but catching his balance, and turned to face the cupboard. She knew now what it must be, and as she saw him open the cabinet door and pull out the cookie tin, she was right! He took great pains to make sure the container made no sound as he set it on the countertop, then carefully opened it, and even more carefully set the metal lid aside. His little hand was pulling out a cookie when she made her dramatic entrance.
“Ahah! Master Leon, what have you to say for yourself?”, she challenged as she came up to him, staring down with a frown. His little bottom lip quivered, then held up the doughy circle and replied in a sheepish voice and lisp, “Me ownee wanted dish cookie.”
Her heart went out to him then, as she knew he must feel bad about now and confused. She was just about to apologize when his other little hand came up with another cookie. His arm locked straight out to her, the cookie dead center in his palm and he spoke with a smile, “Yew kin haff cookie wif me?”
The orhpan stewardess blushed and wrinkled her nose as she pinched his tummy gently, leaning close to then mess up his hair, “Of course I will, little Leon.” He bit into his and she bit into hers and they laughed at each other as they dined together. After he finished his treat, he clapped his hands up and down, discarding the left crumbs off his hands. She mocked him as she did the same and they laughed again. Then she frowned and blinked slowly to him.
Leon watched her and laughed. She looked down at her feet and crumpled slowly to the floor, her back and the back of her head coming to rest against the wooden frame of the sink. Her mouth worked a little, but no sound came out. Her eyes just stared at the little boy as her breathing was shallow. She watched as he crawled down off the chair and trotted to the backdoor, unlocking it. The door swung open…
…and by two black-gloved fingers he led Count Monzar von Hellsman over to the collapsed woman.
“Very good, Leon. I told you my drugged cookie would work perfectly, and you made it all happen.”, he hugged the lad and pulled the boy’s collar down, letting the gold slave collar show. The Slaver took out a loose device that matched and held it out for the child to take. “Now, you lock this about her neck, then we will go take all your friends, as well.”
Leon nodded big and proud.
