Free The Mystery of the Monster Movie by David A. Adler Page B

of popcorn and looked up at the screen. It was early in the morning. A man was just finishing getting dressed. He was tying his shoes. When the man ate his breakfast, one of the threads holding his shoe together broke. Another thread broke. As the man walked along a busy street on the way to work, threads on both shoes opened up. His shoes were coming apart.
    The man stopped and waited at a corner. Other people stopped, too. The threads on their shoes were opening up.
    Without looking away from the screen, Cam quickly ate the popcorn in her hand. As she took another handful, Eric whispered, “This is scary.”
    “It’s only a movie,” Cam told him. “It could never happen.”
    The man was standing in an elevator. Other people in the elevator were talking to him, wishing him a good morning. Then the screen showed their shoes. The threads on the other shoes were breaking, too.

    The man got off on the eighth floor of the building. But the doors to the elevator didn’t close. The man sat down at his desk. He felt something move beneath him. It was his shoes. They walked off his feet and ran out the office door. In the hall other shoes were running. They all ran into the elevator. The doors closed. At the seventh floor the doors opened and more men’s and women’s shoes ran in. Then the screen became dark.
    “What happened?” Cam asked.
    “It’s the shoes,” her father said. “They’re all getting together. The movie gets real exciting now.”
    “I don’t mean about the shoes. Why did the movie stop?”

Chapter Three
    “While we wait,” Eric said to Cam, “let’s finish that memory test.”
    Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click.”
    “What color shoes was the woman just ahead of me in line wearing?”
    “You’re trying to trick me again, Eric. She wasn’t wearing shoes. She was wearing a pink running suit and white sneakers.”
    “What color eyeglasses was Mr. Bender wearing?”
    “He wasn’t wearing eyeglasses.”
    “What color were his shoes?”
    “Brown.”
    “That’s right,” Eric said.
    Cam opened her eyes. People around her were talking. Some wanted to know why the movie had stopped. Others wondered what the shoes did next.
    “I think the shoes all go dancing,” a man behind Cam said.
    “No. Shoes don’t like to dance. They all go to a shoeshine stand.”
    “I think they run to the park and play football.”
    Cam’s father shook his head. Then he turned around and said, “None of you is right. But I won’t tell you what happens. That would ruin the fun.”
    “Dad,” Cam said, “can I get some soda? All that popcorn made me thirsty.”
    Mr. Jansen gave Cam some money. She and Eric squeezed past Cam’s parents. They were just about to walk into the lobby when the theater manager walked in.
    “Let’s wait and hear what he says,” Cam told Eric.
    The theater manager walked onto the stage. He buttoned his jacket, straightened his tie, and waited. A few people in the theater saw him standing there. They stopped talking. Then others saw him. Soon the theater was quiet.
    “We seem to be having some trouble with our film Shoe Escape. I am sorry for the delay, but I do promise that the film will begin again shortly.”

    The theater manager started to walk off the stage. Then he stopped, smiled, and said, “And I can tell you, this movie will be worth the wait.”
    “Come on,” Cam said to Eric. “Let’s get our soda before the movie starts again.”
    Cam and Eric rushed into the lobby. The theater manager was right behind them. There was a line of people waiting to buy refreshments. Cam and Eric stood at the end of the line. The theater manager walked past them and up a dark, narrow staircase in the corner of the lobby.
    “We’re next,” Eric said.
    “Can I help you?” the woman behind the counter asked.
    “We’d like two small cups of soda, please,” Cam said. “I want cola.”
    “And I want orange,” Eric told the woman.
    The woman took two cups from a large stack