Strangers

The Dustbin Men series is a collection of short stories(originally based on anti-litter), where funny little men dressed in dustbins (the English word for trash-can), have all sorts of adventures whilst picking up litter. I wrote illustrated and read them to my younger children who now read the same stories to their younger children and urge me to share them with the world. Some have been lost and forgotten over the years and I have created others in their place, but I have kept the originals, as near as possible, to how they were twenty five years ago, (some are in rhyme while others are not).In England, a dustbin is the word we use for trash-can. Up until a few years ago each house had a dustbin with the number of the house it belonged to painted on the side, hence I use numbers for the names of each Dustbin Man, (Greeny-Two, Hungry-Eight, Professor-One, ect).The story 'Strangers' is not a typical Dustbin Man tale. It came about when my young son's friend asked where the Dustbin Men came from. At that same time a child had gone missing in the west of England and the police and local community were searching for him. I felt upset and useless being too far away to help, and when the child was found murdered I wrote a story that might teach any child it is read to, never to go off with strangers.It's the only Dustbin Man story that has no happy ending, and it broke my heart to create a new Dustbin Man who would be sacrificed in the story for the purpose of saving real children from harm.Be prepared to talk to the children you read this story to, there will be questions so please answer them truthfully. If it saves just one child from harm it was well worth writing..