"The Animals Went in Two by Two"

**"The Animals Went in Two by Two"** is the third tale in the eleventh episode of the tenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman recalls a sinister childhood game. Written by Olivia White, it has a runtime of 29:15 and was performed by Erika Sanderson and Penny Scott-Andrews. It is the 1215th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A girl and her twin brother John attend school with their classmates Kirsty, George, Lisa, Wendell, Blake, Michael, Vanessa, Jimmy, Josephine, and Sarah. A long period of rain hits their area, causing it to pour constantly for over a week. Every day at recess, the children march around the schoolyard singing the classic nursery rhyme, "The Animals Went in Two by Two".

The children's daily march always leads them around the muddy playground and through a wooden gate into the school's wildlife garden, something the girl finds odd because the gate should be locked. After traveling around the garden's trails, they arrive at a small wooden shack with metal roof. On the first day, Kirsty and George enter while the other children remain outside in the rain. The girl's memories jump to after class starts, with the pair sitting beside each other, giggling.

With each passing day, the children form the line again and travel their same route, singing the song as a refrain through the rain. Every time, one more person enters the hut, which is dark and dirty. It succeeds from Lisa to Wendell to Blake. After recess, the children that enter the hut sit in the play corner together and whisper. The girl thinks she sees Kirsty eat a fly after it lands on her shoulder.

When it comes to be Michael's turn, the remaining children wait outside when he is suddenly thrown out the door. He pounds on it to be let back in. A long, bony, pale hand reaches out and pulls him inside. The girl becomes afraid of the game at this point but is somehow still compelled to play it.

The next day, Vanessa is chosen to enter the hut, but something appears to go wrong. The children that have entered sit in the corner while Vanessa sits at her desk on the other side of the room in a catatonic state. She doesn't return to school ever again.

The playground becomes flooded by this point, the children splashing through puddles almost ankle-deep on their daily march. Jimmy and Josephine are chosen next. Although the girl remembers being last place in the line, she can recall a phantom hand on her shoulders as she traveled. Her and John wait outside the hut as usual (which has gotten exceedingly dirty and abanonded-looking) with Sarah, who questions when it will be her turn to enter.

The next day, as the children set out on their march, the girl sees their teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson, standing on the stoop that leads up to the school. She has a sad smile on her face. The girl recalls her father telling her that her teacher is a spinster. One day when Sarah accidentally called her "mummy", she became exceedingly sad and cried. Sarah enters the hut with the others, leaving the girl and John by themselves. The storm is worse than ever that day, with thunderheads filling the sky.

On the tenth day, the girl can sense that this march will be the final one. She ends up at the back of the line with John in front of her. The playground is so flooded the children nearly sink in the puddles. The gate falls away as they enter the garden. The storm is the worst one yet, with torrential rain and distant lightning strikes.

Finishing the rhyme, they begin climbing up the stairs to the hut. The girl finally realizes that something is terribly wrong and attempts to stop John from entering. She manages to grab hold of his sweater before the door opens, revealing a long, thin, bony man with pale skin and yellow eyes. He grabs John around the waist and pulls him inside the hut.

The girl pounds on the door, screaming to be let in, but receives no response. She runs back through the garden and to the school, looking for anyone for help, but it appears to be deserted. She runs back to her home to tell her parents.

The ten children that entered the hut are never found. The girl's mother is sent to a psychiatric hospital and her father moves away. She goes to live with her grandparents. Years pass and whenever she hears the old rhyme, the memories come flooding back.

## Cast

Erika Sanderson as the girl

Penny Scott-Andrews as Sarah