And that there is something in the hole?"

"Well-ll. Sort of." Really, the Ugly Thing wasn't so much in the hole as on the other side of it. But that was close enough.

"All right then, Tommy. Suppose you show it to me."

"What?"

"Show me the hole, Tommy."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"The hole in the closet?"

"Tommy!"

"Yes, Daddy." This wasn't going to work out to anything good and Tommy didn't want to go back to the closet and close the closet door anyway. The Thing didn't eat Mr. Bear because Mr. Bear didn't have blood. But Daddy had and ... "Tommy!"

They went to the closet. At least, if he was risking a Daddy, Tommy thought, he was protecting Mr. Bear and the others.

"Now where is this hole, Tommy?"

"Over there by the corner." Tommy pointed.

Daddy went into the closet to look. Tommy started to close the door. In the black dark, Daddy would see what Tommy meant about the Thing in the hole. From the outside, Tommy started to close the door. It was a small closet and hardly big enough for both of them.

"Tommy! What are you trying to do? Open that door."

"But—" After all, the hole wasn't there, or scarcely seemed to be there, except in the dark.

"Open it up wider. Hm-m. I believe I do see. Wait till I get my lighter.... Say, by George, I believe you're right. There is a little hole there. Looks like a mouse hole."

There it was, as Tommy might have known. Grown-ups will always avoid seeing the important things. Of course there was a mouse hole there, the home of the little old Mr. Mouse with the wiggly nose and the gray whiskers. He had been nice. But he wasn't there any more and Tommy had a 

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