SOCKS
Dea is convinced that her house is filled with gremlins that hide in the shadows behind the sofa, somehow avoiding the vacuum cleaner when her mom sweeps up the dust balls. Dea’s cat, Dreamboat, avoids the living room, and many things have gone missing from Dea’s house.
The gremlins are mischievous creatures, leaving gum wrappers on the floor, even tearing up Dea’s homework, for which Dea’s mom blames her. Their favorite trick is to steal her mom’s socks on washday. Dea tells her mom that these misdeeds are the work of gremlins that she is too old to see, but, of course, her mom does not believe her. She whispers to Dea’s teachers, “This is what happens when parents get divorced.”
One night, Dea’s friend Kat sleeps over. Hoping to solve the mystery of the gremlins, the girls creep through the house and surprise the gremlins, who are having a wild party in the living room and using Mom’s socks to dress up in elaborate fashions. The gremlins scurry down to the basement, and Dea locks the door.
The girls make a plan to confront the gremlins. On a night when Mom is on a date with her boyfriend Phil, Kat sleeps over again. After the babysitter, Andi, falls asleep with her headphones on, they quietly unlock the basement door. Taking her mom’s vacuum cleaner, Dea creeps silently to the
