00:00Jett's Wobbly Wonders
00:02Seven-year-old Jett lies awake in the gathering darkness, her vivid imagination transforming
00:09ordinary shadows into menacing creatures.
00:12But when she accidentally notices something wonderfully absurd about her fears, they're
00:17all desperately trying to balance on wobbly legs, her clever mind transforms terror into
00:23giggles.
00:24Through her own ingenuity and sense of humour, Jett discovers that even the scariest things
00:29become harmless when you realise they can barely stand up straight.
00:34The last stripe of sunset had slipped behind Mrs Pemberton's chimney pot, and Jett's
00:38bedroom settled into that peculiar dimness that wasn't quite dark, but certainly wasn't
00:43light any more.
00:44Jett lay in her bed, covers pulled precisely to her chin, for she was a tidy-minded child
00:49mostly, and watched the familiar shapes of her room begin their nightly transformation.
00:54There was her wardrobe, tall and dignified in daylight, now looming like a great wooden
00:59giant.
01:00There was her bookshelf, which in the growing shadow seemed to lean forward ever so slightly,
01:05as if listening.
01:07And there, oh dear, there in the corner by the window was something that definitely, absolutely
01:13had not been there at breakfast time.
01:15It was tall, it was dark, and it had what appeared to be very long arms.
01:21Jett's heart performed a small, uncomfortable flip.
01:25It's only the coat stand, she whispered to herself, for Jett was an intelligent girl who
01:30understood about shadows and angles of light.
01:32Papa's coat and my dressing gown, that's all.
01:37But her imagination, which was a marvellous and powerful thing, perhaps too powerful at
01:41bedtime, whispered back.
01:43But what if it isn't?
01:45The shape seemed to shift.
01:47One of its arms, no, branches, no, definitely arms, appeared to reach out just a fraction
01:53of an inch.
01:54Jett sat up a little straighter.
01:58Her sock, which she'd meant to put in the hamper, lay crumpled on the floor like a small,
02:02abandoned creature.
02:04A book she'd been reading had slicked halfway under her bed, its pages splayed open.
02:08Her usually tidy room suddenly felt full of untidy possibilities.
02:12And then she heard it, a soft creak.
02:15The floorboard near the wardrobe.
02:16It creaked again, as if something heavy were stepping, ever so carefully, across the room.
02:21Old houses settle, Jett told herself firmly, though her voice came out rather smaller than
02:26intended.
02:27Grandmama said so.
02:28Creak, creak.
02:31Creak.
02:32Two steps.
02:33Whatever it was had two feet.
02:35Jett pulled her knees up under the covers.
02:37Her imagination, now thoroughly engaged, began populating her room with an entire committee
02:42of shadowy things.
02:44The curtain wasn't a curtain.
02:46It was clearly a cloaked figure, swaying in the draught.
02:49The pile of stuffed animals in the corner wasn't toys at all.
02:53They were huddled together, whispering about her.
02:56Even her own reflection in the mirror looked suspicious, watching her with wide eyes.
03:01This is ridiculous, Jett announced to the darkness, borrowing one of her teacher, Miss
03:06Appleby's favourite words.
03:08I am seven years old and I know perfectly well that…
03:11The coat stand definitely moved.
03:13She saw it.
03:14Jett's breath caught.
03:18But then, and this is where Jett's clever mind did something rather wonderful, she noticed
03:23something peculiar.
03:24The coat stand, in its attempt to look menacing, had shifted its weight, and in doing so it
03:29had become wobbly.
03:30One of its feet, the back left one, to be precise, lifted slightly off the ground.
03:37The whole thing swayed, overcorrected, and nearly toppled before catching itself with an
03:42ungainly wobble.
03:43A small giggle, unexpected as a hiccup, escaped Jett's lips.
03:47She looked more closely at the shadowy figure by the curtain.
03:52It too was swaying, but not in a ghostly, threatening way more like someone trying to stand on a
03:57rocking boat.
03:58It clutched at the curtain for balance, and the curtain rod groaned in protest.
04:02Another giggle.
04:09Jett's eyes, now adjusted to the dimness and aided by the clever moon that had decided
04:13to peek through the window, travelled around her room.
04:16The wardrobe giant was leaning rather heavily against the wall.
04:20The bookshelf creature had one corner lifted up where she'd meant to slip a bit of cardboard
04:24underneath to stop it tilting.
04:26Every single one of her imagined terrors was unsteady.
04:30"'You're all wobbly!' she exclaimed with delight.
04:34And once she'd said it aloud, she couldn't unsee it.
04:37The shadow in the corner wasn't reaching for her.
04:40It was desperately trying to maintain its balance, arms windmilling slightly.
04:44The reflection in the mirror looked worried because it was concentrating very hard on
04:48not tipping over.
04:49Even the creaking floorboard made sense now.
04:52Whatever was walking across it was stepping very, very carefully, like someone crossing
04:57a frozen pond, terrified of falling through.
04:59Jett began to laugh properly now, a warm, bubbling sound that filled the room and seemed to make
05:07the shadows even wobblier.
05:09She imagined them all, every scary thing her mind had conjured, trying so terribly hard
05:14to look frightening, while simultaneously struggling to stand upright.
05:17What if they had to balance on one leg, like flamingos?
05:22What if they were all wearing shoes two sizes too big?
05:25What if they were actually quite terrified of falling down?
05:28The wobbly wonders, she named them, and somehow that made everything perfect.
05:33The coat stand gave up its pretense entirely, and simply hung there, papa's coat sleeve dangling
05:39in a rather defeated way.
05:40The curtain figure stopped swaying and became, once again, just fabric stirred by the wind.
05:46The wardrobe resumed being furniture, though Jett gave it credit for trying.
05:51Jett lay back down, arranging her pillow just so.
05:54Her room, she decided, was full of the most wonderfully incompetent scary things in the
05:59entire world.
06:00They couldn't even stand up properly.
06:02How could she be afraid of that?
06:04She thought about her crumpled sock on the floor.
06:07Perhaps it had been running away from the wobbly wonders.
06:10She giggled again, softer this time, and felt sleep beginning to tug at her eyelids with
06:15gentle, persistent fingers.
06:17Good night, wobbly wonders, she whispered into the darkness.
06:22Do try not to fall over.
06:25And somewhere in the corner, she was almost certain she heard a grateful sigh, as if the
06:29shadows themselves were relieved to finally give up the exhausting business of being frightening
06:34and simply rest, however precariously, in their comfortable, familiar places.
06:40Jett's eyes closed.
06:42Her breathing deepened, became rhythmic and peaceful.
06:45The moon smiled through the window.
06:47The house settled with its customary creaks.
06:50And in her tidy bed in her mostly tidy room, Jett slept, soundly and safely, guarded by the
06:56most harmless haunting imaginable.
06:58Her very own wobbly wonders, who wouldn't hurt her soul even if they could manage to walk across the room without falling over.
07:06Her imagination, that marvellous, powerful thing, now conjured not terrors but a parade of gently teetering creatures, each one more absurdly wobbly than the last, processing softly through her dreams.
07:18The first golden rays of mourning crept across the floorboards, touching the crumpled sock, the splayed book, and the peaceful form of a sleeping girl who had discovered that the best way to banish fear was to give it a good giggle.
07:31The end.
