It was nearly dark by the time Lissa Stevens was half way home down Coon Hollow Road and her arms were aching with the weight of the big fur coat.

Suddenly a shriek seemed to rise up out of the ground at her feet.  Maybe it was a wolf - but no, it sounded more like a child crying.  She let out her breath and inched sideways so she could peer around the fur coat piled in her arms.

There, like a hop toad beside a puddle was little Janey Jarvis.

"Janey!  What are you doing with your hands in that freezing puddle?"

"Trying to get my flashlight.  I was coming to your house because Daddy phoned that he and Mama would be late and I dropped my flashlight 'cause I saw a bear..."  Two  shiny tears added themselves to the puddle.

"You just saw Grandpa Eliot's old buffalo coat that my Mom sent me over to borrow for the Old Time Show at the church.  But I can see how you would be scared."

Janey sat back on her heels.  "Lissa!" she squeaked,  "Hows come your Mother let you go bare feeted when it's almost snowing outside?"

Lissa grinned and turned her flashlight onto her feet.

"Fooled you, did they?  These are my trick shoes that look like big bare feet.  I lent them to Ricky Eliot for his Halloween costume and then I had to wear them home over my shoes because I had the buffalo coat to carry."

"I'm c-c-cold."  Tears were beginning to splash into the puddle again.

"Oh, sweetie, you are cold.  We'll get home faster if I carry you.  You can ride on my shoulders like you did last summer and we'll put the coat over your head to keep it from dragging on the ground.  C'mon over to this log and I'll sit down and you climb on my shoulders."

 Lissa had just managed to straighten her knees under the double weight of Janey and the coat, when a car came around the curve, catching them in its headlights.  Lissa wavered

It seemed a long way home, but finally the gravel scrunching under her plastic feet told Lissa that they wereat the driveway.  Breathless, Lissa sat down on the porch steps and was helping Janey untangle from the coat when Mrs. Stevens came out the door.  Lissa kicked off her funny shoes and they landed under the bushes beside the steps.

"There you are, Lissa.  And Janey, too.  Mrs. Ames is coming to take me over to the church for dress rehersal.  And here's the coat.  Thank you, honey.  You and Janey can keep each other company until Daddy gets home.  Janey's parents called that they would be along a little later."

She picked up the coat and folded it across her arm just as a car came up the drive.  "Here's Mrs. Ames.  Bye, dears.  See you later."

The girls huddled on the porch steps watching the red tail lights grow smaller and smaller as the car went down Coon Hollow Road.  The wind licked at their faces and blew a first little ghost whirl of snow against the steps.

"Come on, Janey.  Let's go in the house."

The house was very warm and quiet.

"I always think about bears in the kitchen," said Janey in a listening voice.  Janey had surprised blue eyes and a surprised mouth that always seemed ready to say "hooo".

Lissa, thinking of wolves in the kitchen, turned on the radio to push away the silence.

"...interrupt this program for a special local news bulletin," said the announcer's voice, "Emily Johnson reported to the police that a large animal tried to attack her car on Coon Hollow Road this evening.  Ms. Johnson said the beast is nine feet tall and had heavy dark fur.  She said it lurched towards the car making angry noises."

"He said Coon Hollow Road - that's right here!"  Janey's eyes got rounder than ever.

"Police say that the footprints of a small child disappear at a trampled spot, but that the tracks of the large beast keep on."

Lissa snapped off the radio.

"Maybe the Monster's out there right now, just outside the door...snuffling around...and waiting..."  Janey pressed against Lissa, mouth ajar, listening.

And then, just outside the door, there was a shuffling noise.  A floor board creaked.

"He IS out there!" whispered Janey.

"Maybe it's just the wind," said Lissa in a shaky voice.

Creak, creak, creak, went the floorboards.

"I want my Daddy," Janie whispered.

Lissa stopped shivering.  "Oh, no!  Our parents will be coming up on the porch.  They don't know the Monster is out there and...we'll just have to catch him."  It took all the courage Lissa had, but she tiptoed over to the window and peeked out around the edge of the drawn drape.  "He's there.

I can see his shadow," she whispered, "Come on, Janey, I've got an idea."

Hand in hand they tiptoed into the dark kitchen.

  "Can you screech again like you did down the road?"  asked Lissa.

Janey nodded.  "Easy," she said, "All I have to do is stop not screeching."

"You know the tool shed out back?  Well, if we could get him in there, we could lock him in.  There's a little window at the back and if you stood outside and shrieked through that window, the Monster would think you were inside.  Andthen when he goes into the shed to get you, you slam the window and I'll slam the door and we'll have him."

The shed seemed miles away through the whirling snow.  The window stuck and the door squeaked but finally everything was ready.  Janey stood on a box outside the open back window and Lissa was behind the open door of the shed.

"Ready?  YELL!" shouted Lissa.  Janey's shriek was very sincere.

For a moment or two there was only the sound of the wind.  Then heavy footsteps came crunching towards them.

Lissa pressed against the wall, biting her teeth together to keep them from chattering.  The footsteps stopped. Then thump, thump, thump, they went into the shed.

There was hardly time to push the bolt before there was a great banging inside the shed.  Lissa heard the back window slam - but where was Janey?  "Hurry, Janey, hurry!"

"Lissa, wait!"  Janey's voice was anxious.  "I flashed my flashlight in the window after I closed it 'cause I wanted to see what a really live Monster looks like...and he looks like Officer Clancy who came to school to talk about safety.   I think he's pretty mad."

"Ohmygoodnessgracious, we'll have to go back."

Officer Clancy came out the door slowly.  In one largehand he held the plastic barefoot shoes.  His eyebrows looked very angry.

"These yours?" he rumbled.

"Yes, they are.  I wore them home from Eliot's tonight because I had to carry the fur coat - and then, Janey, too."

Suddenly she thought of the lady in the car who had shouted at them on the road.

"Ohmygoodnessgracious," she gasped, "The lady in the car thought we were a Monster...and we thought YOU were a Monster and we had to catch you because our parents would come home and they wouldn't know you were on the porch..."

Officer Clancy's eyebrows weren't fierce any more.  He took Janey's hand and as they walked back to the house he said,"  Well, you were brave to try to catch me even if I was

"We didn't mean to scare anyone," said Lissa,  "But we scared ouselves most of all."  She was quiet for a minute.

"Seems as if lots of the things we're scared of are 'imaginary monsters' - like wolves...and the dark..."

"And 'maginary bears'," put in Janey.

As they came around the corner of the house, two cars were coming into the drive.  Car doors flew open.

"Janey!  Lissa!  We heard the radio.  Are you all right?"

The girls rushed to hug their parents.  Lissa said, "We're all right now.  And we caught two imaginary monsters in one night.  One was Officer Clancy and the other was - - us."