Anthony Sheen
Sep 4, 2018 · 8 min read

And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon

Angus knew that spoons had eyeballs. He saw them with his own! But nobody would believe him. He told his dad’s, Marcus and Tom but they just giggled and nodded as Angus would retell his tale of a wooden spoon with googly eyes.

You see, Angus wore glasses that were magic. When he was six, he went to the optometrist who told him. “These glasses, here are special, dear boy. They will give you powers that you won’t believe. All you need to do is wear them all the time and they will activate after they have been worn for one hundred hours!” The optometrist looked at Angus’s dads’ and nodded. They nodded back knowingly. Angus nodded to, wondering what the magic inside could be. He really hoped it would make a giant jelly bean that tasted like chocolate cakes appear every time he blinked his eyes. He could share them with his friends and his dads and never need to worry about buying lollies ever again. Angus blinked a few times just in case this was the case. Unfortunately nothing happened yet. He would need to wait another ninety nine days and twenty three hours.

Angus never took his glasses off after that, except to go to sleep. One time he even slept with them on and woke up in the morning to find they had fallen down the side of the bed. Angus had stretched his hand as far as he could down the side but couldn’t’ reach. He called for his dad Tom to come and use his long arms to reach down and pull them out.

“Oh dear. That’s not a very good spot for our glasses,” Tom exclaimed. He reached down and felt around under the bed for the glasses. After a little while, Tom froze and looked at Angus.

“What is it? Did you find them?”

Tom retracted his arm and instead of a blue and red pair of glasses, he pulled out a chewed up apple core!

“Ewww,” Angus exclaimed. “That is disgusting!”

Tom pursed his lips and looked questioningly at Angus. “Yes, it sure is you cheeky little button. Now come here”.

Angus burst into a fit of laughter as Tom began to tickle him all over. Tom handed Angus his glasses and ruffled up his hair with a smile.



One night he woke up and heard a clang coming from the kitchen. Angus sat upright, puzzled, but not scared. He put on his glasses and adjusted his eyes to his night light. BING BANG BOSH! More noises echoed from the kitchen.

Angus jumped out of bed and grabbed his trusty torch. He clicked it on and walked out into the hall.

“Keep it down”, he heard whispered from afar.

Angus crept slowly along the hallway and made it to the kitchen door. He pushed it open ever so slightly and peeked inside. His eyes grew wide as he looked in.

Standing by the pantry, on top of the recycling bin was one of the family’s giant dinner plates! He had tiny legs and arms and eyeballs! His eyes were closed tight as a wooden spoon struggled to balance on the plate edge. The spoon was holding on to a packet of popcorn plucked out of the cupboard.

“Got it!” whispered the wooden spoon with a huge grin.

Angus let out a tiny gasp as he saw his crockery balancing. The dinner plate shot open his eyes and looked straight at Angus. The spoon turned and looked too!

All three stood silent and still staring at each other.

The wooden spoon looked down at the plate and the plate looked back at the spoon. They then both looked at Angus and blinked. “Uh, hello,” the dinner plate said.

Angus waved at them in disbelief.

“We’re, uh, just having a midnight snack,” the spoon smiled.

“Oh.”Angus pushed the door open further and walked in. “Do you need a hand?”

The plate nodded, and as he did, the spoon lost his balance and slipped down to land on the floor with a bump, one packet of popcorn plonking on his head.

A smile lit across Angus’s face at the sight. A plate and a spoon with a packet of popcorn, all smiling and limbs akimbo on the kitchen floor.

“Are you real?” Angus asked curiously.

The plate smiled as the spoon rubbed his head. “Quite real yes,” he replied, “Also a bit peckish.”

Angus slid next to the recycling bin and picked the spoon up to place him next to the plate. Angus grabbed the popcorn packet and pulled it open. “Here you go,” he said, passing the bag to the plate as he licked his lips.

The plate began to shove tiny handful after tiny handful into his mouth. The wooden spoon watched on in shock and disbelief as the packet emptied to none. Angus began to giggle.

“Oh plate, you really can never be too full, can you?” questioned spoon.

Plate just smiled and let out a tiny burp. Angus giggled again.

At that moment, Angus caught a glimpse of the calendar on the fridge. He looked at the date. Tuesday the 24th. Angus’s eyes widened. “It must be one hundred hours! My glasses are activated!”

Angus leapt to his feet and clapped. Plate and spoon looked on amused and bewildered.

“What’re you on about, kid?” Spoon questioned.

Angus retold the story of his magic glasses as spoon and plate nodded and smiled in excitement.

“So it must be one hundred hours tonight. And now I can see you!”

“Well, kid,” spoon began. “That is pretty special. We haven’t met a boy who could see us before. They must be very magic glasses.”

Plate nodded furiously. “It sure is exciting to talk with a real life person!”

“Where are you going to go now?” Angus quizzed the pair.

Spoon cleared his throat and took a deep breath. He looked out to the moon from the window and smiled. “We are about to embark on a journey to a far away planet to meet some more plates and spoons and live happily forever inside a giant cupboard.”

Spoon jumped down onto the floor and gestured for plate to follow.

Angus looked on, puzzled. “Just the two of you?” he asked. “What about the forks?”

Plate let out a great belly laugh. “Forks? Forks don’t have eyeballs.”

For a second, Angus stood and thought about this comment. Plates and spoons have eyes and legs and hands when viewed with magic glasses but not forks? “That’s weird.”

With a smile, plate looked up at Angus. “You’re right. That is weird. I wonder why forks never grew eyes.”

They all shrugged and laughed.

“Would you like to take a snack on your way? I can reach for you.”

Spoon smiled widely and nodded. “We might get a bit hungry on our way. A little something would be great!”

Angus passed a packet of crackers to spoon to take and checked to make sure the coast was clear down the hallway. “Which way plate and spoon?”

In unison, plate and spoon pointed to the chimney. “This way.”

All three kept low and edged closer and closer to the empty fireplace. The door was clear and clean due to the late spring sun taking hold and warming the house. Angus opened the door quietly and motioned the two to enter.

“See you next time Angus,” plate whispered as spoon tried to pull him up the small space.

“Bye plate. Bye spoon. Have a safe trip. It was nice to meet you.”

Angus closed the door and listened to make sure his dads’ weren’t awake. He shone his torch towards his bedroom and skipped silently up the hall. He clicked off his torch and placed it back in its spot next to the picture of his dads.

With a jump, Angus landed back in his bed and pulled up his covers close around his shoulders. As he lay back on his pillow, he looked out the window and saw spoon and plate waving from the street corner. He waved back with a smile and began to close his eyes. Within a few minutes, Angus was sound asleep.



The next morning, Angus bounded out of bed, refreshed and full of spirit. He recounted his wonderful night and the adventure he had taken into the kitchen to meet new friends in spoon and plate. He wondered if they were now in the magic cupboard far away dancing and singing and enjoying themselves with their friends. Angus peered to his side and grasped at his glasses. He placed them on his face and scoured the room, his eyes adjusting as he did. He looked at his pencil to see if they too grew eyes and arms. Nothing happened. He glanced at his clothes basket to see if feet were forming at the bottom. Nothing again.Angus wondered if his chest of draws would open up and start to eat his shorts like pickle sandwiches. But nothing happened still. His magic glasses must have only worked on plates and wooden spoons that liked crackers.

Angus pulled back the covers and wandered into the dining room to find his dads already preparing breakfast.

“Good morning Angus, how did you sleep?” asked Marcus as he sipped his cup of tea.

“Good. Did you hear anything last night?” Angus gently nudged to see if his parents had heard any noises in the night.

Tom and Marcus frowned at each other.

“Hmm, I don’t remember hearing anything last night. Why, did you?” asked Tom.

Angus thought before he answered. He didn’t want to get plate and spoon in trouble for eating a midnight snack so he just said what he thought was the best thing to say. “I don’t know what I heard.”

Angus began to eat his toast and smiled to himself as his dad, Tom, pushed the recycle bin back into its usual space.

“Tom, have you seen the blue plate?” Marcus asked looking about the bench top with a furrowed brow.

Tom shook his head. “No, but I can’t find the wooden spoon either to make my scrambled eggs. Looks like some things have been moved around in the pantry too.”

Angus smiled to himself and let out a tiny little giggle. He thought it funny that his dads didn’t know what had happened last night. Angus wondered if they would believe him even if he told them what had happened to plate and spoon, but they didn’t wear special magic glasses, so they wouldn’t probably understand.

Marcus noticed Angus smiling with a mouth full of strawberry jam toast. “Angus, did you wake up in the middle of the night?”

Angus sheepishly nodded. “I came into the kitchen because I thought I heard a noise.”

Outstretching his arm, Marcus cuddled around Angus. “Well thank you for checking everything out for us. That was very brave. Do you know what happened to the plate and spoon and where they went?”

Unsure of the real answer, Angus shrugged. He knew where he thought they had gone, but he couldn’t be certain. Angus wasn’t sure where the magic cupboard place was so he couldn’t go and check the make sure the spoon and plate were in there.

“Maybe the dish ran away with the spoon.” Tom smiled.

Marcus chuckled and shook his head.

Angus piped up assuredly. “I don’t think they would be running after the plate ate a whole bag of popcorn.”

Marcus and Tom laughed heartily.

Angus just smiled to himself, adjusting his magic glasses on his nose.

Anthony Sheen

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Finding the humour in my tumour. And other stories of life as they come from my mind.