Always read the Instructions

"What is that AWFUL smell?" I asked. Then I saw the cauldron full of bubbling purple liquid.

“Oh,” said mom. “I thought since it was Halloween I would spice up our meal with some food coloring”.

 “Well, it definitely looks…ummm…mysterious?” I said. “What is it?” I asked nervously.

“It’s chicken and wild rice soup” my mom said very matter-of-factly.

Eating that dinner was very difficult, because my mom kept telling me it was chicken, but I couldn’t help but imagining that it was, well, not chicken. I think the food coloring was a bit too much. I think I tasted more purple dye than food. But, it got worse.

I went upstairs to put on my Halloween costume. I already wasn’t in the greatest mood, because my best friend had to perform at Thriller instead of going trick or treating with me. I went into the bathroom to put the finishing touches on my costume only to see that my mouth was PURPLE!!! Trying not to panic, I brushed my teeth for probably ten minutes straight. I was afraid to look. I slowly opened my eyes, not sure if I was ready for my reflection… and phew! My teeth were back to their usual shade.

“Piper hurry up. If I don’t get candy in five minutes, I might literally die!” came the voice of my very impatient brother, Finn.

“I’m coming, let me just grab my bag and we can go”, I said in an annoyed voice.

Finn did not have a purple mouth because he refused to eat my mom’s chunky, slime soup. And honestly, I don’t blame him.

We had just started to walk outside when I was suddenly very hot. This was strange because it was 65 degrees. The more we walked the more I regretted wearing long sleeves.

That’s when Finn asked, “Piper are you ok? Did you eat too much candy?”

“I’m fine.” I replied.

“You look kinda, well, how do I explain this to you?” Finn said.

And he didn’t need to explain it. I looked down at my arm, pulled my sleeve up, and saw purple—everywhere. Fuzz was growing rapidly from my head to my toe (no wonder I was so hot!). I rubbed my face, and sure enough, it was covered in a furry layer as well. Of course, I panicked. What would you do if you had a purple fuzzy face? A purple fuzzy everything? I ran as fast as I could back to my house. I came inside and sure enough, there was my mom, bent over the kitchen sink--bright purple, hairy, and scrubbing her face.

“Ugh, it’s not working” my mom said in a worried tone.

“Mom it happened to me too! What did you put in that soup?”  I asked.

“Just purple food dye.” Mom said. “Look, here’s the package”.

The package said, “Halloween ready in minutes! Turn yourself into a hairy beast! Just add the mixture to your food and watch the magic happen.” WARNING: Add only suggested amount. If more is consumed, called a doctor right away.”

“Mom, how much of this did you add?” I asked.

“I just added all of it.” My mom replied obviously confused.

“Did you read the box?” I said.

“Not really…” My mom replied. “Instructions are so boring.”

I explained to my mom that we should probably get to a doctor’s office. We walked through the office doors, expecting to have everyone stare at us. To my surprise, there was a HUGE line of purple, fuzzy monsters! They all looked like us! The doctors were prepared and acted like this was a totally normal thing. They simply smiled and calmly handed out small orange pills. We took them and almost immediately our “hairy beast” look was fading away! We drove home and ate candy and lived happily ever after.

The End!