Children story: Max

Dad and Max live together in a small apartment. Max’s room is so tiny that he can sleep, play with his knights and brush his teeth in the bathroom all at the same time. That’s why Dad rarely allows Max to bring a friend, and why Max always has to clean up immediately after playing. “Otherwise, eventually we won’t be able to get into our apartment, or worse, out at all!” says Dad.

Once dad was terribly tired after work that afternoon he just fell asleep on the sofa. Max had then played with his knights. First with the castle made of building blocks, then in addition with the figures from his game shelf, then with self-made swords and at the very end Max had also dressed up himself. He had previously had to pull out of his closet all the sweaters and pants and socks and jackets and undershirts until he got to his carnival costume.

When Dad woke up, Max looked around and felt queasy. But Dad was not angry at all. It was merely the first time that Dad grew long arms. They were so long that they protruded from the shirt sleeves and reached from the sofa to under Max’s bed. So Dad didn’t even have to get up to clean up all the mess. When Dad was done, he looked all happy and Max and Dad went outside for ice cream.

Since that afternoon, Dad has been growing longer arms every now and then. Especially since Max has two new friends. Their names are Anger and Wanger. Anger lives in the left hand of Max and Wanger in the right. When Max bathes, they are hardly visible afterwards. Max hates to bathe because of this. They can then only be found in the cracks between the fingers.

But if the sun shines and Max is out for a long time, Anger and Wanger grow until they even divide. When they no longer fit Max’s hands, they hop off them. Max can also stick them somewhere. Because Anger and Wanger have something like suction cups under their bodies. Therefore, some days it happens that the whole playground and the whole apartment is full of Angers and Wangers. They come in green and brown and yellow and light orange. Depending on what they ate.

Dad doesn’t like Max’s new friends very much. That’s because Max has to feed them. Preferably with chocolate cake and ice cream. Max grinds the food between his fingers for this purpose. Because Anger and Wanger are everywhere on good days, Max has to feed them everywhere, too.

There was a day when Max was in kindergarten for a long time. No one had told him that he had to wash his hands. A celebration had taken place. By then, Max had already brought home a particularly large number of Angers and Wangers. All of them were very hungry. These Angers and Wangers were exceptionally red, because there had been strawberries in kindergarten. The red Angers and Wangers were particularly voracious and they reproduced faster than the others Max was used to.

Max tried to recolor the Angers and Wangers with lemon cookies so they would be more peaceful. But it did not work. They remained red. Then he took kiwi jam and spilled it in the form of a road to the apartment door. This also failed. The last thing he remembered was the chocolate cream he usually put on his roll in the morning. He stroked her along the window sill. That worked at least a little bit, some of the red Angers and Wangers rushed down into the backyard. Most, however, rubbed their bellies with relish and reached greedily in Max’s direction, who still held the chocolate cream jar in his hand. Suddenly there were hundreds of millions of them.

Max ran into the living room. He screamed and shook and jumped on Daddy’s lap. Dad was listening to music and reading a newspaper. He had not been aware of any of this until now. First he took Max in his arms and stroked his head. Max told him about his new friends who suddenly became more and more voracious today and who just didn’t disappear that day, even though he fed them well and was always kind to them. Then Dad had an idea: “We’ll ask your neighbor Noah if he wouldn’t like to play with you tomorrow. Then, if the red Angers and Wangers should come back, you could tame them together! What do you say?” Max agreed.

Then when Dad got up and saw the mess, he went “Whew!” once and Max had seen Dad trying to secretly roll his eyes behind his back. But then Dad suddenly grew long arms again. And not only that. This time he even grew a few more arms. They came from his stomach, from his back, and from his head. They were short or long or medium length and had hands. Dad could now easily reach all corners of the apartment from the sofa.

Dad wore rubber gloves for this. In one hand he held a wet wipe, in another a bucket of water, in another a spray bottle, and in still another a dry cloth. One arm had grabbed a broom and another a dustpan. This was used to sweep up all the red Angers and Wangers and then put them in a trash bag. The remaining hands tapped and rubbed Max, and one hand ran a wet washcloth through his face. “Ewww!” exclaimed Max.

When the apartment was clean again, Papa and Max rang Noah’s apartment doorbell. Max was lucky, Noah was there. The next afternoon he was allowed to come along to Max. Then Dad and Max went to a toy store and they bought a magic blanket for Max. If the red Angers and Wangers ever reappeared, he could throw this magic blanket over them. Because the ceiling managed to make Angers and Wangers invisible. At home, Max carefully folded the blanket and put it under his bed. But before he went to sleep that night, he enjoyed an extensive bath and vigorously scrubbed the crevices between his fingers. Since then, there are only green, brown, yellow and light orange Angers and Wangers. And they are always friendly.