The Monster Diner

On a breezy Saturday evening, just as the streetlights began to flicker on, Dad was taking his twelve-year-old daughter, Luna, and his ten-year-old son, Cosmo, for a walk to find a place for dinner.

As they strolled along, they wandered into an alley they rarely took and spotted a brand-new, incredibly bizarre restaurant on the corner.

The building's walls were made of dark purple stone, and the front doors were shaped exactly like the gaping mouth of a giant monster. But the most eye-catching part was the flashing neon-green sign that read: MONSTER DINER. Eerie, purplish-blue light spilled from the windows. The whole place looked super creepy, yet totally awesome.

"Whoa! Dad, can we eat there?" Cosmo jumped up and down, pointing excitedly at the sign.

Dad wrinkled his nose, eyeing the weird building. "It's called the Monster Diner, buddy. The food in there is probably meant for actual monsters, not humans. Let's just go to our usual pizza place."

Luna, who always loved trying new things, tugged on Dad's sleeve. "But it looks so fun! Come on, Dad, let's just try it, please?"

Dad shook his head. "Monster food might not be safe for humans. I don't want you guys getting an upset stomach."

The siblings, however, weren't listening. Cosmo deployed his ultimate puppy-dog eyes, while Luna promised up and down that they would eat every single bite of their dinner. They stood on the street corner, pleading and whining to go inside.

Finally, Dad couldn't take the noise anymore. He let out a long, defeated sigh and nodded, agreeing to take them inside just to check it out.

As they pushed open the heavy front doors, a bell rang out with a low, spooky clonk. The moment they stepped inside, they froze in their tracks.

The restaurant was actually full of real, live monsters!

At the very next booth sat a giant beast covered in shaggy blue fur, slurping a bowl of bubbling red soup. Not far away, a creature that looked like a giant blob of green Jell-O was holding a knife and fork with its slippery tentacles. Out of the entire diner, Dad, Luna, and Cosmo were the only humans.

A waiter in a crisp, neat suit—who had only one giant eyeball in the middle of his face—walked over to greet them. Seeing the three humans, his massive single eye blinked. He clearly thought it was a bit strange to see them there. Still, with perfect professional manners, he led them to a quiet booth in the corner and handed them three heavy, black menus.

Opening the menus, the family was stumped. The pages were filled with squiggly, scratchy monster handwriting that they couldn't read at all. Thankfully, there were brightly colored pictures next to the words.

Cosmo flipped to the first page and was instantly drawn to a picture of glowing green gelatin served in a tall, clear glass. The jelly seemed to shimmer with different colors deep inside. He pointed at the picture and yelled, "I want this one!"

The one-eyed waiter leaned in to look, speaking in a deep, gravelly voice. "Ah, excellent choice. That is the Chameleon Jell-O."

Luna pointed to a picture on another page. It looked like a faintly glowing, golden cloud—absolutely magical.

The waiter nodded. "That is our signature dessert, the Firefly Cotton Candy."

Dad looked at the weird food pictures, still feeling incredibly nervous. Just to be safe, he pointed to an item that looked mostly like normal noodles, figuring that plain old spaghetti couldn't cause too much trouble.

The waiter quickly jotted it down on his notepad. "Not a problem at all. One order of Unicorn Spaghetti. Coming right up."

Before long, the food arrived. Cosmo couldn't wait. He scooped up a giant spoonful of the Chameleon Jell-O and shoved it into his mouth. It was ice-cold, tasted like sweet-and-sour green apples, and popped and fizzed on his tongue just like Pop Rocks.

The exact second he swallowed the Jell-O, something magical happened! Cosmo's arms turned bright neon green, perfectly matching the dessert he had just eaten.

He stared at his hands in shock. In his panic, his hand brushed against the red pepper shaker on the table. In a blink, the green faded away like watercolor paint, and his skin turned bright cherry-red to match the shaker!

Cosmo's eyes went wide. He realized his skin could change color depending on whatever he touched.

Curious, he placed his hand flat on the dark brown wooden table. Sure enough, his skin slowly morphed into the exact shade of the wood grain. Next, he squeezed his eyes shut and imagined a clear blue sky as hard as he could. When he opened them, his skin was a beautiful, brilliant blue.

He laughed out loud, feeling as cool as a superhero from the comic books.

Across the table, Luna pinched off a piece of her faintly glowing Firefly Cotton Candy and popped it into her mouth. It melted into a sweet, warm feeling.

Suddenly, Luna felt incredibly light. Her feet actually lifted off the floor! She floated right up into the air like a balloon, nearly bumping her head on the diner's giant chandelier.

While the two kids were enjoying their magical treats, Dad twirled a large forkful of spaghetti and took a bite. He had barely swallowed the noodles when he looked up to see Cosmo turning blue and Luna floating near the ceiling!

Terrified, Dad jumped out of his booth, reaching up to try and pull Luna back down to safety. But before he could even grab her ankle, the center of his forehead started to itch wildly. Then—POP!—a sparkling, colorful, spiraled unicorn horn grew right out of his head!

Dad gasped, dropping his fork to the floor with a loud CLANG. He grabbed the horn on his head and yelled, "I told you monster food wasn't for humans!"

"Excuse me!" Dad shouted frantically, waving the one-eyed waiter over. "How do we fix this?"

Completely unfazed, the waiter pulled a small wooden box from his suit pocket. Inside sat three plain, boring white mints.

"These are Antidote Mints," the waiter said calmly. "Humans usually experience side effects from our menu. Just eat one of these, and you'll go back to normal."

Hearing this, Dad snatched a mint and swallowed it whole. In less than three seconds, the sparkly horn on his forehead vanished into thin air.

Next, he quickly reached up and handed a mint to Luna. As soon as she ate it, her weight returned, and she floated gently and safely back down to her chair.

Finally, Dad handed the third mint to Cosmo. But Cosmo clamped his mouth shut tight and shook his head hard. He thought his new color-changing powers were awesome! It was the superpower he'd always dreamed of having. He definitely didn't want to be a boring, normal boy again.

Dad pleaded with him. "Cosmo, listen to me! You're going to scare people. Just eat the candy, right now."

But Cosmo was stubborn. No matter what Dad said, he refused to open his mouth.

Eventually, Dad gave up. He let out a helpless sigh, paid the bill, and took his bizarre, colorful son home.

On Monday morning, Cosmo caused a massive commotion the second he walked into his school. He purposely touched a red brick wall, turning his skin brick-red. Then he touched his purple backpack and shifted to bright violet. He even grabbed his lunch and turned bright banana-yellow.

His classmates crowded around him, watching him change colors on command like a magical street performer.

Soaking up their cheers and gasps of amazement, Cosmo felt like a superstar. He held his head high, feeling like the coolest kid in the entire school.

But the excitement didn't last very long. About three days later, Cosmo noticed something was very, very wrong.

While taking a shower, he saw patches of rough, bumpy green scales starting to grow on his arms. Even creepier, his eyes were starting to roll around in different directions, completely on their own. When he walked down the hallway, he could feel a long, heavy tail slowly sprouting from his tailbone.

He realized the awful truth: he wasn't just getting color-changing powers. He was slowly turning into an actual chameleon!

Panicking, Cosmo bolted out of his house and ran as fast as he could toward the Monster Diner, desperate to get his hands on an Antidote Mint.

But when he finally reached the corner, out of breath, the spot was empty. The purple stone walls were gone. The glowing neon sign was gone. There was nothing left but a dirt lot covered in weeds, as if the restaurant had never existed in the first place.

Cosmo ran home in total despair, bolting into his bedroom. He stared into his mirror at the scaly, weird-eyed creature looking back at him, not knowing what to do. Filled with fear and crushing regret, he threw himself onto his bed and bawled his eyes out.

Just then, his bedroom door creaked open. Dad walked in. Seeing Cosmo crying so hard, he sat gently on the edge of the bed. "What happened, buddy? Why are you crying like this?"

Between heavy sobs, Cosmo told his dad all about the terrifying, scaly changes happening to his body.

He looked up, tears streaming down his bumpy face, feeling awful. "Dad, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have been so stubborn, and I shouldn't have refused the candy. I don't want to be a monster chameleon... I just want to be your Cosmo again."

Dad listened quietly. Seeing the true, honest regret in Cosmo's weirdly spinning eyes, he gently patted his son on the head.

Then, Dad stood up, walked over to the dresser in the corner of the room, and opened the top drawer. He pulled out a small wooden box.

He opened the lid, and inside lay a single, plain white mint. Back at the diner, when Cosmo refused to eat it, Dad hadn't thrown the candy away. He had secretly pocketed it and brought it home for safekeeping.

Dad smiled warmly and handed the mint to Cosmo. "Here. Eat up."

Cosmo popped the candy into his mouth and swallowed. A warm, tingling feeling rushed through his entire body. The rough scales on his arms vanished, his eyes locked back into place, and that weird, heavy feeling on his backside disappeared. His skin turned back to its normal, healthy tone.

Staring at his perfectly normal human hands, Cosmo burst into happy tears, threw his arms around his dad, and hugged him tight.

From that day forward, Cosmo never dared to ignore his dad's advice again. And as for that mysterious Monster Diner? The family never saw it on any street corner, ever again.