Bad Day at Riverbend

At first, the book, takes a different format in black and white. On a quiet day at the Western town of Riverbend, local sheriff Ned Hardy sees a bright light across the hill. Soon after, he hears that a strange matter, a colorful slime, is covering many animals. When he heads out to investigate, he finds the local stagecoach driver covered in this mass and unable to speak. Upon returning to Riverbend, he finds it too covered in the slime. The citizens say that it appeared after the light. Distraught but unwilling to surrender, Hardy heads on towards where the light came from with his men. They find a large stick man like figure in the mountain and deem him as the culprit. However, just as he charges, Hardy himself is covered in this substance and unable to move or speak.

Suddenly, a hand and crayon in van Allsburg's traditional art style appears. It is then revealed that the strange matter was none other than crayon scribbles, and that Sheriff Hardy and Riverbend are part of a coloring book owned by a small boy. The book ends saying that the light went out as the boy is shown leaving, indicating that the light was in fact a lamp.