Do as you’re told!

“Mason, it’s dinner time. Come inside, please,” called Mum.

But Mason didn’t listen and continued playing.

“Mason, your food’s getting cold!” boomed his dad.

The screen door opened briskly, then slammed shut.

Mason sighed. “But I’m not hungry, and Mr Caterpillar needs me.”

“You can go back to Mr Caterpillar after you’ve eaten, okay?”

“Fine,” huffed Mason as he slumped in his chair.

“So, what did you do at school today?”

“I don’t know… nothing,” he shrugged. Just then, a pea flicked onto his lap.

“Oh no! I pead my pants!” cried Mason before erupting with laughter.

“Mason, stop playing with your food!”

“Can I get a drink? I’m so thirsty!” he gasped.

“Not until you’ve eaten some carrots.”

“But I hate carrots!” Mason hopped off his chair, ready to skip to the fridge.

“Mason, sit down and eat your dinner. Do as you’re told!”

“Fine.” Mason put his finger through a carrot and wiggled it around.

“Hello, I’m Mr Carrotpillar,” he said in a squeaky voice.

“That’s enough, Mason! Why do you do this every day? We went to a lot of effort to make this for you.”

Mason pulled his eyelids wide open and pushed out his tongue. “I’m an alien,” he warbled.

“Mason, eat your dinner! You are not an alien!”

“Am so!”

Mason’s arms flailed, then turned into slimy tentacles covered in hundreds of sticky suckers. His head ballooned, and four eyes popped onto his face, each one blinking rapidly in sequence.

He slapped a tentacle onto his plate, then flung it against the wall. CRASH!

“That’s it, Mason, go to your room! And no running!”

“But I don’t want to!”

“Do as you’re told!”

“Fine.”

Mason’s tentacles transformed into great feathery wings, and his nose stretched to form a curvy, yellow beak. His feet changed into large talons, and before long, he was a magnificent eagle.

“SQUAWK!”

He launched himself into the air and looped around the room before knocking over a large plant pot with his wedge-shaped tail, covering himself in dirt.

“Mason, now look what you’ve done! Go wash that off right now, and don’t get water everywhere like usual.”

“No!”

“Do as you’re told!”

“Fine.”

Mason flew upstairs and into the bathroom. But instead of turning on the tap, he hovered in the air before morphing into a dark grey cloud.

Drops of rain began to fall. The rain got heavier and fell faster. Soon, a wall of water was streaming from an ominous-looking Mason. The deluge promptly filled the bathroom and overflowed into the hallway. Then, a torrent raged down the stairs and whirled around Mum and Dad.

“Mason, what have you done?!” yelled his dad, as the rising floodwater shattered the front door off its hinges before washing his parents outside.

“Mason, why are you doing this?! We only wanted you to eat your din—” Dad’s shouting faded as he sailed off in the distance.

Mason’s cloud quickly turned light and fluffy. The rain soon stopped, and the water receded.

He floated downstairs to the dining room and looked in astonishment at the damage and devastation.

“Mum? Dad?” he whimpered as tears started to well in his eyes.

Then he heard a soft, repeating voice. “Mason… Mason… Mason, darling.”

Mason looked around. His mum and dad were sitting next to him at the dining table. Everything was dry and back to normal.

“Mason, can you eat some dinner, please?”

“Okay, Mum. It looks delicious, by the way.” He scooped up a mouthful of food with his fork. “Yum!”

“Would you like a drink? How about some water?”

Mason pondered for a moment. “No, thank you. I think I’ve had enough water for today.”

Mum and Dad looked puzzled.

Then Mason noticed something poking out from under his plate. He slid the object out and inspected it closely. “Dad, how did this feather get here?”

“That’s weird! I have no idea!”