Where Skeletons Came From

Last night at bedtime, she showed me that she has another wiggly tooth, and asked me to repeat her story of the Tooth Fairy. So I opened up the post and read the story back to her. (You don’t think I just write these for you, do you?) Afterward, she asked, “Why are the skeletons trying to steal the teeth?”

I reminded her that she told me that the skeletons wanted the teeth because they would take the bacteria off them to help create new skeletons.

“Okay,” she said, thinking it through, “but where did the FIRST skeleton come from?” That’s up to you, I said. Kabos is a land made up of your stories, so the answer to any question can be whatever you want.

“There was a man,” she started. “And he got shot and died, and his friends took out his bones and made instruments out of them…” She stopped. “But I don’t know where the bacteria came from!”

Maybe they came because they liked the music, I suggested. “Okay!” she agreed, and told me a story that I had to rush and write down after she was tucked in and asleep:

WHERE SKELETONS CAME FROM

“Long ago in the time of kings, people were fighting and someone got shot in the eye and died. All his friends were really sad, and since he loved music so much they took the bones out of his body and made instruments to play at his funeral.

“The bone music made everyone happy, including all the bacteria that had come to eat the body. They loved the music so much that they wanted more of it so they crawled onto the bone instruments but they didn’t make any music—they just sat there!

“So the bacteria crawled into people’s mouths while they were sleeping, and learned how to make music when the people were awake and singing. They crawled all over the bones in their bodies, and when those people died the bacteria ate the bodies and made slime oil out of them to hold the bones together. Then they were the first skeletons!

“The skeletons had learned to make music because the people played instruments when they were alive. So the skeletons knew how to make music using their bones. They made drums, and recorders, and xylophones, and ukuleles.

“The skeletons were very happy playing music but anytime people heard them they came to look and got scared because the skeletons were just bones and then they tried to kill the skeletons. This made the skeletons mad. But monsters didn’t care that they were just bones, so they decided to be friends with the monsters even though the bones came out of people. But eventually the bacteria crawled into monster mouths, so sometimes you see monster skeletons too.

“If you see skeletons, you can make them be peaceful by singing a song, but it has to be the most beautiful song you know. If you sing an angry song, it can make the skeletons angry and then they will try to kill you.

“And that’s the end of this story.”