“Three, two, one, action!” The camera man said.
A little white alien with pink ears curled up in a ball flew out of the sky and onto the stage. Right as it landed, Rachel and her acting friend Ryan came on stage.
“Eether bunny!” the alien said really quickly.
“Do you mean Easter bunny?” Rachel asked, reading off her script. She was not a very fluent reader, so her voice sounded choppy, like a robot’s. She passed the script to Ryan.
“Eether bunny!” The creature repeated, pointing to itself.
“No strange creature. That is not an Easter bunny. That is a shirt.” Ryan said. He too, was not a fluent reader.
“No, I a eether bunny!” The little alien said.
“No you are not an Easter bunny. You are an alien.” Rachel said firmly, in her choppy robotic reading voice. Then she and Ryan took a few steps back.
“Do you think this creature is from outer space?” Ryan whispered.
“Maybe it plans to attack us.” Rachel whispered back.
“Maybe it has lost its mind.”
“I will try to use the force on it.” Rachel said passing the script to Ryan. Meanwhile, the alien had been bouncing in the background, looking very cute. Each time it jumped, it would tilt its head and raise its little arms. And then, it suddenly jumped as Rachel was passing the script. It grabbed the script and began tearing it up.
“No!!!!” Rachel and Ryan shouted, in their real voices, since they had nothing to read.
“What do we do?” Ryan asked, panicking.
“I don’t know!” Rachel shouted. “No, wait. I remember. I was going to use the force on it.”
She walked up to the alien. “Sit,” she commanded. The alien tore what was left of the script one last time, tossed the shreds of paper in the air, clapped its hands together, and sat down, smiling.
“You do not want to be an Easter bunny.” Rachel said, slowly waving her hand like the Jedi on Star Wars did. The alien followed her hand with its eyes. When she had finished it brightly said “Eether bunny. Rachel tried again.
“You do not want to be an Easter bunny,” She repeated.
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiii-Eeeee-The- bunnnn-nyyy.” The alien said, slowly waving her hand like Rachel did. Rachel sighed, and tried it a third time.
“You do not want to be an-Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!” She screamed when the alien suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand. She pulled herself free and ran behind Ryan.
“A-a-apparently, it’s n-not v-very weak m-minded.” she said.” “Yeah, that’s it! It’s not very weak minded.” “What do we do now?” Ryan whispered. “I can’t remember what was next.”
“Ummmmmmm, you use a spell on it.” Rachel said.
Ryan walked up to the alien. “Eether bunny!” it chirped. “Eether bunny! Eether bunny! Eether bunny!”
Ryan picked up a stick. Using it as a wand he cried “Silencio!” Like the wizards in Harry Potter.
“Eether bunny!”
“Silencio!”
“Eether bunny!”
“Silencio!”
“Sayyenso!”
“Silencio!”
“Eether bunny!”
“SI-LEN-SEE-OH!!!!!” Ryan screamed at the top of his lungs.
“SAY-YEN-SO!!!!!!!!!” the aliens screamed even louder.
“SI-’’ Ryan started, but Rachel interrupted.
“Ryan, if that’s supposed to be a silencing spell, then it doesn’t seem to be working.” She said.
“Well, do you have any better ideas?” Ryan said hotly.
“Yes. Why don’t we show the alien what it’s like to be an Easter bunny? Then it won’t want to be one anymore.” Rachel said calmly.
They, once again, walked up to the alien.
“So, you want to be an Easter bunny.” Rachel said. “Well, you’ve got to take this basket,”- here she pulled a basket out of nowhere-“and hide colored chocolate eggs for all the kids in the world.”
“And you have to hop.” Ryan added. “Like this.” He threw the alien in the air. When it hit the ground, he threw it up again. The alien caught on quickly. It hopped higher , and higher, and higher. Then it bounced even higher, and something amazing happened. The alien’s basket started filling up with Easter eggs. And then, the alien turned into……an Easter bunny, and disappeared.
“What?!” Ryan shouted turning towards the camera man. “You weren’t supposed to let it go!” Rachel joined in, shouting nonsense. And suddenly, a voice cried out of nowhere; “Eether bunny!” and the Easter bunny alien flew out of the sky, knocking Rachel and Ryan over.
“Never speak and play with strangers, or strange Easter bunny aliens. This is what will happen.” The camera man said in a dull voice. Rachel and Ryan slowly got up. “Eether chick.” They said. “Cheep! Cheep! Eether chick!” Then they bumped into the Easter bunny alien, and turned back into their normal selves, as the Easter bunny alien disappeared into the sky again.
Ryan did a bow so low that he almost tipped over, and Rachel did a wobbly curtsy.
“The end.” They said together. But the camera man, as usual, cut that off.
The End
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Dolphin Adventure
“Kylie! Time to get out of the pool,” my mom called. I was swimming in our gigantic indoor pool, pretending to train a dolphin. My mom stepped into the pool room.
“Show’s over,” she said.
“It’s not a show,” I protested “I’m training it,”
“I don’t care, it’s time to get out,” my mom came over and started dragging me out.
“wait,” I said “I have to at least tell her I’m leaving,” so I leaned over and pretended to stroke my imaginary dolphin. Then I pretended to grab its dorsal fin and I dove back in.
“Kylie,” my mom groaned.
Just then my big sister Breanna walked in. She’s 15, 4 years older than me, but she thinks everything should be done her was and she should be treated like a princess. Everything I love, like dolphins she hates. And the only thing that really interests her is boys, bossing people around, and being mean. Well anyways, she walked in and said “Dolphins are so stupid! I mean what’s the point?”
“They are not!” I insisted. “Dolphins are playful and intelligent, oh and don’t try to make up anything, you and what-ever-his-name-is were kissing last night. I saw you,” Breanna stormed out.
“Kylie I mean it. Besides, Dolphin Dreams is on soon,” Dolphin Dreams, I had forgotten all about that. It’s my favorite show. So I hurried out of the pool. This time it was about a dolphin that was going to have her first calf. The calf was born successfully. The show was just ending, when a thing flashed up.
WIN A FREE TRIP TO DOLPHIN DREAMS’ DOLPHIN POOL
(push next for more information)
I pushed next on the remote control. Now this flashed up:
It’s easy. You simply write you’re name and address on a paper along with your three favorite dolphin facts and send it to dolphin dreams. We will have a drawing. We’ll draw two winners, and they each can bring three other people. The winners will be on the show. You will be staying for four days, and we have some dolphins almost ready to have calves, so enter now. We will draw when we have 100 entries.
“Mom!” I shouted. “I’ve gotta enter this thing!” My mom came down the stairs. “What thing,” she asked.
“This,” I said pointing to the T.V.
“fine,” my mom said. “But don’t get your hopes up. There will be over 100 other papers, and they only draw two winners,”
I started writing my paper. When it was done it looked like this:
Kylie McApple 3267 Richland Ave. Los Angeles California
A boy spinner dolphin has a bulge near its tail called a keel.
A girl bottlenose dolphin has a mark on its belly like a division sign. A boy has a mark like an explanation point.
Adult Amazon River dolphins are actually pink!!!!
11111.60400471
.02.2+
+So then I sent it.(I know,bor-ing) A few weeks later I got a phone call from my dolphin crazy friend Becca. ”Guess what!!” she shrieked. ”I won!” Of course I knew exactly what she had won.
“So you want me to come with you?” I said
“Yes, exactly! Annalee and my mom are coming too,”
“I’m so excited! When does it start?”
“Well, we’ll pick you up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow, so we can get on the plane and be there by 7:30, that way we still have half and hour to unpack.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, then I’d better go start packing. Bye!” I had just started hanging up the phone when I heard Breanna yelling “Mom! Apparently Kylie thinks she’s going to some place. Probably about dolphins or she and her friend wouldn’t be screaming about it.”
“It’s fine. I told her she could enter…….What?! you mean you won!” My mom said.
“No, but Becca did, and she said I could go as one of her three people.” I said
“Is there an adult coming?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can go. But, just out of curiosity, who’s the third person?”
“Annalee,”I said. Annalee is my other dolphin crazy friend. She is also Becca’s twin. But looking at them you would never know. Annalee has brown curly hair, and Becca has dark blond strait hair. Annalee has brown eyes and Becca has green. They both have glasses, but Becca’s are blue and Annalee’s are redish- purple. I have light brown hair, blue eyes, and no glasses.
I quickly packed some clothes, a couple dolphin books, my sketch pad (for drawing dolphins of course) my camera, my dolphin research notebook, and I guess what you would call my dolphin diary.I just write things about dolphins in it. Like the time I swam with dolphins at sea world, or the time I was at the beach and I looked up to see a dolphin leap from not too far from where I was playing. Then I went to bed almost right after dinner.
The next morning my alarm clock went off at 5:00. It seemed twice as loud as usual. I turned it off. But I could still here an alarm clock ringing. So I ran around a corner and peeked into Breanna’s room, just in time to see her getting out of bed to turn off her alarm clock.
“Why are you up so early?” I asked her.
“none of your business.” She snapped. Then she ran downstairs.
I had to know why she was up so early, so I quietly followed her. Breanna went into mom’s room. “Mom?” she called.
“In here.” Mom’s voice came from her closet. Breanna was facing the closet, so she couldn’t see me so I dove under mom’s bed, where I could listen but not be seen. “mom, I’m going somewhere with Bartholomew.” Breanna said. So that was the boy she had been kissing’s name. I tried not to laugh.
“Where are you going?”My mom asked.
Breanna lowered her voice. “ To the same place Kylie’s going. “
“You mean dolphin Dreams? ”my mom asked, completely surprised.
“Well, we’re not going there for the dolphins. There’s gotta be lots of other things to do. We just thought it would be a nice place to hang out.” Breanna said.
“Is there an adult coming?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t go,”
“But mom, I’m 15! I can take care of myself.”
“Who’s going to drive the car? You and Bartholomew don’t have licenses.”
“We’ll get a Taxi.”
“Who’s going to pay for the Taxi?”
“I will.”
“And where are you going to get that money?”
“Mom! I have my own credit card!”
I could tell they weren’t going to do anything but argue, so I crept out and ran to my room. This was my worst nightmare. I almost felt like crying, but crying wouldn’t help. Besides, I only had 15 more minutes until Becca came. So I threw on some clothes and ran down to the kitchen. I stopped when I heard Breanna talking to Bartholomew on the phone. I know it’s rude to eavesdrop, but it’s also rude for Breanna to snap at me and call dolphins stupid, and tease me. Besides, she listened to me on the phone lots of times. She was explaining to Bartholomew that she wasn’t allowed to go if there wasn’t an adult, and apparently he said he would get an adult to come, so she hung up the phone. That’s when I walked into the kitchen. I barely had time to eat breakfast before the doorbell rang. It was Becca, Annalee, Mrs. Dewinger, and the boy I had seen kissing Breanna. I ran upstairs to grab my bag. Then I heard footsteps behind me. I spun around to face Breanna. “I’m just getting my bag.” She said rudely. Then she lowered her voice. “You won’t tell anyone that me and Bartholomew are, you know, boy-friend and girl-friend, right?”
“As long as you don’t bother me or my friends.” I replied, grabbing my bag. Then I added, “Race you down the stairs!” I ran down the stairs. When I got to the bottom I looked up at Breanna. She was walking very slowly down the first few stairs. “Aren’t you coming?” I asked. “Running will mess up my hair!” she called back.
“Ignore her,” Becca said.
“Come on, let’s go!” Annalee shouted, grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door. We got in the car and drove to the airport. Then we got on the plane and were on it for 2 hours. Finally the plane landed at an air port close to Dolphin Dreams. We looked around until we saw a car with pictures of dolphins on it. It was the Dolphin Dreams Taxi. There was another one next to it. Breanna and Bartholomew were getting into it. So we got into the Dolphin Dreams Taxi and drove to Dolphin Dreams. When we got the Taxi driver showed us our rooms, (One for me, Annalee and Becca, and one for Mrs. Dewinger), and told us to unpack, then meet by the front door at 8:00. So we did that, and when we showed up at the front door, we were in for another surprise. It was Dolphin Dianna, my favorite person from the show. First she showed us the Amazon River dolphins, or botos. There were three adults, and two babies. The funny thing was that both the babies had the same mom. They weren’t twins, because one was a year older than the other. “Most animals can’t get pregnant while they’re still producing milk for their baby, but since a botos pregnancy lasts about a year then the other baby doesn’t need to drink milk by the time the new baby is born, so they don’t fight over milk. But the babies will still stick with their mom for a long time.” Dianna explained.
“What are their names?” Becca asked.
“The older babies name is Bubblegum, the little baby’s name is Rosie, The mom’s name is Cherry, The adult with the scar on it’s fin is Scarlet, And the one that’s a little more gray is Leela. She’s Scarlet’s grown up daughter”
“Why are Bubblegum and Rosie grayer than Cherry and Scarlet and Leela?” I asked.
“Because babies are born gray and get pinker as they get older.” Dianna answered.
“Wasn’t there a show back in October about Rosie being born?” Annalee said
“Yes,” Dianna answered. “The babies are born when the rivers start to fall, which is usually around September or October.”
“Why are there trees in there?” I asked
“Because during the rainy season, the forest floods, and they sometimes chase fish through trees. We like to keep things as close to their natural habitat as possible, so during the rainy season, we pour water in until it floods the forest in their tank, and we give them live fish. “ then she added “Want to help?”
“YES!” we shouted. There were two huge buckets of fish that were still alive. It took all four of us to carry it. We dumped the fish in then went back for the other one. Once we had dumped that one in we watched them for a while. Sure enough, some of the fish swam through the trees and so did the dolphins.
“Here’s some dolphin fun fact sheets,” Dianna said. “Then we’ll go have lunch and maybe we can swim with Leela and cherry and the others.”
Here’s what the fun fact sheets looked like:
Did you know that…
Botos don’t swim as fast or jump as high as marine dolphins?
Botos can paddle one flipper forwards while paddling the other backwards?
Botos can turn their head from side to side?
Now you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After lunch we met by the front door again, but this time in our swimming suits. We walked to the boto’s pool. “Botos are very shy.” Dianna said. ”So it’s just going to be you three in the pool with them. Try not to splash too much and don’t grab at them.”
“Can we get in now?” Annalee asked.
“Yes,” Dianna answered “Now I’ll be right back.”
We slipped into the boto pool. Bubblegum came up to me. I looked around to see where Cherry was. She was pretty close, watching me suspiciously. Bubble gum was swimming around my legs. She nudged my hand with her long snout. I started stroking her. But then Cherry decided that was enough. She clicked and whistled. Bubblegum reluctantly followed her as she swam away. But I wasn’t alone for long. Pretty soon Leela swam over, followed by Scarlet. Then Dianna came back with some camera people. We were going to be on the show! I waved at the camera. Becca and Annalee did the same thing. Then we got out and helped Dianna get the fish. After we poured them in Dianna looked at her watch. “Dinner time,” she said.
“But they just ate,” Annalee said, pointing to the dolphins. Dianna laughed.
“Not them, us!” she said. “I’ll meet you by the front door tomorrow at eight.”
The next morning we met by the front door again. Just like the day before; we fed the dolphins, and talked about them. Then we went and had lunch and met at the front door in our swimming suits. And like the day before, we swam with the dolphins and were on the show. But this time Cherry decided I was okay, and when Bubblegum swam up to me, she and Rosie followed. They swam with me for awhile, then swam off to Becca. But Leela came up to me. I looked to see why Scarlet wasn’t with her. She was over with Annalee. Then Leela bumped my hand with her head. She wants me to pet her! I thought. So I started petting her she turned over. I stroked her belly. After awhile she swam away. Then Dianna called us out of the pool to help her with the fish. And we went in for dinner.
The next day when we met by the front door there was a boy with us. He looked about 15, so I figured he was Breanna’s boyfriend, Bartholomew. “Is your name Bartholomew?” I asked.
“Yes, but-but how did you know?” He said stammered.
“Breanna’s my sister.” I explained.
Just then Dianna showed up. “Are you ready to meet the spinners?” she asked.
“Yeah!” we all shouted. She took us over to the spinner pool. The spinners were literally spinning and twirling. They all had dark gray backs with lighter gray bellies, except for one, which had a white belly. They also had a stripe that ran from the eyes to the flippers. There were four of them. ”These are short snouted spinner dolphins, but there are also long snouted.” Dianna was saying. Then I leaned over and whispered to Bartholomew, ”Why are you here instead of off with Breanna?”
“I found out she hates dolphins and we broke up. She’s flying back home.” Bartholomew whispered back. Poor Bartholomew.
“Do you guys want to do a dolphin cross-word puzzle with me?” Dianna asked.
“Yes!” we all shouted. Then Becca asked, ”Shouldn’t we feed the dolphins first?”
“No,” answered Dianna, “They feed at night, but I probably should introduce you to the dolphins.”she pointed to the one with the white belly. “This one is Kaylee. She’ll be having a baby really soon, maybe in the next two days.” Then she pointed to the biggest one. When It jumped up, I saw its Keel and knew right away that it was a boy. “This is Paggle.” Dianna said. “The smallest one is Michala. And the one with the little scar on it’s flipper is Twirler.”
“How did you know that boy’s name was Bartholomew?” Becca whispered.
I figured since Breanna broke up with him it was okay to tell. “He’s Breanna’s X-boyfriend.” I whispered back. The suddenly Annalee let out a scream and fell into the dolphin pool with a big splash. A few seconds later she came up, holding onto Paggle.
“What happened?” Becca asked. Annalee looked embarrassed.
“I don’t know. I guess I just slipped and fell in.” She said as she climbed out of the pool.
“Well, then should we start on that cross word puzzle?” Dianna asked.
This is what it looked like:
Z C C D P N L Dolphins
Y A B O T O H Spinner
W L P L N V M Fun
M F O P Q U T Swim
I E O H G L F Keel
W A L I B E S Calf
S P I N N E R Boto
P O O S A K U Pool
After we did the cross word puzzle we went in for lunch. Then we met at the front door in our swimming suits. When we got to the pool Becca asked Dianna “Isn’t it normally just the females around when the calf is born? Where will Paggle go?”
“You see that gate? It’s in front of a tunnel that leads to a smaller pool. We’ll put Paggle in there for the first few days when the calf is born.” Dianna answered.
“But Paggle will be all alone!” Annalee cried.
“You can go in there with him, when it’s time to put him in and keep him company, if you want.” Dianna said.
Annalee nodded. I could tell she really liked Paggle. Then we dove into the pool. Paggle swam right up to Annalee. Becca seemed to be making friends with Twirler. Bartholomew had decided not to get in, but he was sitting by the side, stroking Kaylee, who had swum right up to the side of the pool. But what about me? Who would be my dolphin friend? I thought. Then like an answer to my question, Michala bumped against me. I had completely forgotten about her.
“Hi Michala!” I said. Michala squeaked and whistled at me. She leaped up and spun around once. Then she did it again. “Michala, what are you doing?” I sputtered.
“She’s trying to teach you how to spin.” Dianna guessed.
“Hey look, Twirler’s doing it too!” Becca said. Michala whistled at be then spun around again. That’s when I got a great idea. Maybe I could spin like Michala. So I climbed up on the side of the pool. Then I jumped and twisted around once before I hit the water. Michala clicked and whistled. I had done it right. After what seemed like just a few minutes it was time to go in for dinner.
The door to the hotel opened. In the doorway stood Diana. “Girls. Wake up.” She said. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It was only 2:00 a.m. “Kaylee’s having her baby.” Diana continued. After she said that, we were all out of bed, dressed, and out the door in seconds. I looked at annalee. She had her long-sleeve shirt on backwards, and was wearing shorts with it. In her rush to get to the pool, Becca had put on a striped shirt, with flowered pants. As for me, my clothes were okay, since I had laid out clothes before I went to bed, so I would be ready for today, but I was wearing one flip-flop, and one boot. Finally we reached the pool. Annalee went down to where Paggle was, and the rest of us watched Kaylee. She was lying on her back, while Twirler held her up. She flexed her tail, and squeaked to the other dolphins. They answered back. Michala swam around Kaylee in smaller and smaller circles.
“In the wild, they would do that to protect Kaylee,” Diana said.
“I see a tail!” Becca cried. And sure enough there was a tail. A few minutes later, there was a whole calf, right next to it’s mother. It wriggled around, trying to get to the surface. Michala swam up to the calf, and guided it to the surface,to take its first breath of air.
“ You three probably should be getting back in bed now.” Diana said. Then the next day we thought of names for the calf. Finally, we decided to call it Dreamer, because he was born during the night. Then we brought Michala and Twirler in the pool with Paggle, because Diana said that Kaylee and Dreamer needed some time alone. It also meant that we could swim with the dolphins, since we weren’t allowed to be in the pool with Dreamer. After a while, something wonderful happened. Dreamer swam up to the gate to look at us. I swam over, with Michala by my side. “Hi,” I whispered. At that moment, Diana snapped a picture. I would keep it forever. Then after swimming for the rest of the day, Diana said it was time to go. I said good-bye to all the spinners, Botos, and Diana. The next day we would be leaving first thing in the morning. But as we got in the car the next morning, I thought, I’ll never have to pretend to have been swimming with dolphins again. I all ready have, on my dolphin adventure.
THE END!
“Show’s over,” she said.
“It’s not a show,” I protested “I’m training it,”
“I don’t care, it’s time to get out,” my mom came over and started dragging me out.
“wait,” I said “I have to at least tell her I’m leaving,” so I leaned over and pretended to stroke my imaginary dolphin. Then I pretended to grab its dorsal fin and I dove back in.
“Kylie,” my mom groaned.
Just then my big sister Breanna walked in. She’s 15, 4 years older than me, but she thinks everything should be done her was and she should be treated like a princess. Everything I love, like dolphins she hates. And the only thing that really interests her is boys, bossing people around, and being mean. Well anyways, she walked in and said “Dolphins are so stupid! I mean what’s the point?”
“They are not!” I insisted. “Dolphins are playful and intelligent, oh and don’t try to make up anything, you and what-ever-his-name-is were kissing last night. I saw you,” Breanna stormed out.
“Kylie I mean it. Besides, Dolphin Dreams is on soon,” Dolphin Dreams, I had forgotten all about that. It’s my favorite show. So I hurried out of the pool. This time it was about a dolphin that was going to have her first calf. The calf was born successfully. The show was just ending, when a thing flashed up.
WIN A FREE TRIP TO DOLPHIN DREAMS’ DOLPHIN POOL
(push next for more information)
I pushed next on the remote control. Now this flashed up:
It’s easy. You simply write you’re name and address on a paper along with your three favorite dolphin facts and send it to dolphin dreams. We will have a drawing. We’ll draw two winners, and they each can bring three other people. The winners will be on the show. You will be staying for four days, and we have some dolphins almost ready to have calves, so enter now. We will draw when we have 100 entries.
“Mom!” I shouted. “I’ve gotta enter this thing!” My mom came down the stairs. “What thing,” she asked.
“This,” I said pointing to the T.V.
“fine,” my mom said. “But don’t get your hopes up. There will be over 100 other papers, and they only draw two winners,”
I started writing my paper. When it was done it looked like this:
Kylie McApple 3267 Richland Ave. Los Angeles California
A boy spinner dolphin has a bulge near its tail called a keel.
A girl bottlenose dolphin has a mark on its belly like a division sign. A boy has a mark like an explanation point.
Adult Amazon River dolphins are actually pink!!!!
11111.60400471
.02.2+
+So then I sent it.(I know,bor-ing) A few weeks later I got a phone call from my dolphin crazy friend Becca. ”Guess what!!” she shrieked. ”I won!” Of course I knew exactly what she had won.
“So you want me to come with you?” I said
“Yes, exactly! Annalee and my mom are coming too,”
“I’m so excited! When does it start?”
“Well, we’ll pick you up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow, so we can get on the plane and be there by 7:30, that way we still have half and hour to unpack.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, then I’d better go start packing. Bye!” I had just started hanging up the phone when I heard Breanna yelling “Mom! Apparently Kylie thinks she’s going to some place. Probably about dolphins or she and her friend wouldn’t be screaming about it.”
“It’s fine. I told her she could enter…….What?! you mean you won!” My mom said.
“No, but Becca did, and she said I could go as one of her three people.” I said
“Is there an adult coming?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can go. But, just out of curiosity, who’s the third person?”
“Annalee,”I said. Annalee is my other dolphin crazy friend. She is also Becca’s twin. But looking at them you would never know. Annalee has brown curly hair, and Becca has dark blond strait hair. Annalee has brown eyes and Becca has green. They both have glasses, but Becca’s are blue and Annalee’s are redish- purple. I have light brown hair, blue eyes, and no glasses.
I quickly packed some clothes, a couple dolphin books, my sketch pad (for drawing dolphins of course) my camera, my dolphin research notebook, and I guess what you would call my dolphin diary.I just write things about dolphins in it. Like the time I swam with dolphins at sea world, or the time I was at the beach and I looked up to see a dolphin leap from not too far from where I was playing. Then I went to bed almost right after dinner.
The next morning my alarm clock went off at 5:00. It seemed twice as loud as usual. I turned it off. But I could still here an alarm clock ringing. So I ran around a corner and peeked into Breanna’s room, just in time to see her getting out of bed to turn off her alarm clock.
“Why are you up so early?” I asked her.
“none of your business.” She snapped. Then she ran downstairs.
I had to know why she was up so early, so I quietly followed her. Breanna went into mom’s room. “Mom?” she called.
“In here.” Mom’s voice came from her closet. Breanna was facing the closet, so she couldn’t see me so I dove under mom’s bed, where I could listen but not be seen. “mom, I’m going somewhere with Bartholomew.” Breanna said. So that was the boy she had been kissing’s name. I tried not to laugh.
“Where are you going?”My mom asked.
Breanna lowered her voice. “ To the same place Kylie’s going. “
“You mean dolphin Dreams? ”my mom asked, completely surprised.
“Well, we’re not going there for the dolphins. There’s gotta be lots of other things to do. We just thought it would be a nice place to hang out.” Breanna said.
“Is there an adult coming?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t go,”
“But mom, I’m 15! I can take care of myself.”
“Who’s going to drive the car? You and Bartholomew don’t have licenses.”
“We’ll get a Taxi.”
“Who’s going to pay for the Taxi?”
“I will.”
“And where are you going to get that money?”
“Mom! I have my own credit card!”
I could tell they weren’t going to do anything but argue, so I crept out and ran to my room. This was my worst nightmare. I almost felt like crying, but crying wouldn’t help. Besides, I only had 15 more minutes until Becca came. So I threw on some clothes and ran down to the kitchen. I stopped when I heard Breanna talking to Bartholomew on the phone. I know it’s rude to eavesdrop, but it’s also rude for Breanna to snap at me and call dolphins stupid, and tease me. Besides, she listened to me on the phone lots of times. She was explaining to Bartholomew that she wasn’t allowed to go if there wasn’t an adult, and apparently he said he would get an adult to come, so she hung up the phone. That’s when I walked into the kitchen. I barely had time to eat breakfast before the doorbell rang. It was Becca, Annalee, Mrs. Dewinger, and the boy I had seen kissing Breanna. I ran upstairs to grab my bag. Then I heard footsteps behind me. I spun around to face Breanna. “I’m just getting my bag.” She said rudely. Then she lowered her voice. “You won’t tell anyone that me and Bartholomew are, you know, boy-friend and girl-friend, right?”
“As long as you don’t bother me or my friends.” I replied, grabbing my bag. Then I added, “Race you down the stairs!” I ran down the stairs. When I got to the bottom I looked up at Breanna. She was walking very slowly down the first few stairs. “Aren’t you coming?” I asked. “Running will mess up my hair!” she called back.
“Ignore her,” Becca said.
“Come on, let’s go!” Annalee shouted, grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door. We got in the car and drove to the airport. Then we got on the plane and were on it for 2 hours. Finally the plane landed at an air port close to Dolphin Dreams. We looked around until we saw a car with pictures of dolphins on it. It was the Dolphin Dreams Taxi. There was another one next to it. Breanna and Bartholomew were getting into it. So we got into the Dolphin Dreams Taxi and drove to Dolphin Dreams. When we got the Taxi driver showed us our rooms, (One for me, Annalee and Becca, and one for Mrs. Dewinger), and told us to unpack, then meet by the front door at 8:00. So we did that, and when we showed up at the front door, we were in for another surprise. It was Dolphin Dianna, my favorite person from the show. First she showed us the Amazon River dolphins, or botos. There were three adults, and two babies. The funny thing was that both the babies had the same mom. They weren’t twins, because one was a year older than the other. “Most animals can’t get pregnant while they’re still producing milk for their baby, but since a botos pregnancy lasts about a year then the other baby doesn’t need to drink milk by the time the new baby is born, so they don’t fight over milk. But the babies will still stick with their mom for a long time.” Dianna explained.
“What are their names?” Becca asked.
“The older babies name is Bubblegum, the little baby’s name is Rosie, The mom’s name is Cherry, The adult with the scar on it’s fin is Scarlet, And the one that’s a little more gray is Leela. She’s Scarlet’s grown up daughter”
“Why are Bubblegum and Rosie grayer than Cherry and Scarlet and Leela?” I asked.
“Because babies are born gray and get pinker as they get older.” Dianna answered.
“Wasn’t there a show back in October about Rosie being born?” Annalee said
“Yes,” Dianna answered. “The babies are born when the rivers start to fall, which is usually around September or October.”
“Why are there trees in there?” I asked
“Because during the rainy season, the forest floods, and they sometimes chase fish through trees. We like to keep things as close to their natural habitat as possible, so during the rainy season, we pour water in until it floods the forest in their tank, and we give them live fish. “ then she added “Want to help?”
“YES!” we shouted. There were two huge buckets of fish that were still alive. It took all four of us to carry it. We dumped the fish in then went back for the other one. Once we had dumped that one in we watched them for a while. Sure enough, some of the fish swam through the trees and so did the dolphins.
“Here’s some dolphin fun fact sheets,” Dianna said. “Then we’ll go have lunch and maybe we can swim with Leela and cherry and the others.”
Here’s what the fun fact sheets looked like:
Did you know that…
Botos don’t swim as fast or jump as high as marine dolphins?
Botos can paddle one flipper forwards while paddling the other backwards?
Botos can turn their head from side to side?
Now you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After lunch we met by the front door again, but this time in our swimming suits. We walked to the boto’s pool. “Botos are very shy.” Dianna said. ”So it’s just going to be you three in the pool with them. Try not to splash too much and don’t grab at them.”
“Can we get in now?” Annalee asked.
“Yes,” Dianna answered “Now I’ll be right back.”
We slipped into the boto pool. Bubblegum came up to me. I looked around to see where Cherry was. She was pretty close, watching me suspiciously. Bubble gum was swimming around my legs. She nudged my hand with her long snout. I started stroking her. But then Cherry decided that was enough. She clicked and whistled. Bubblegum reluctantly followed her as she swam away. But I wasn’t alone for long. Pretty soon Leela swam over, followed by Scarlet. Then Dianna came back with some camera people. We were going to be on the show! I waved at the camera. Becca and Annalee did the same thing. Then we got out and helped Dianna get the fish. After we poured them in Dianna looked at her watch. “Dinner time,” she said.
“But they just ate,” Annalee said, pointing to the dolphins. Dianna laughed.
“Not them, us!” she said. “I’ll meet you by the front door tomorrow at eight.”
The next morning we met by the front door again. Just like the day before; we fed the dolphins, and talked about them. Then we went and had lunch and met at the front door in our swimming suits. And like the day before, we swam with the dolphins and were on the show. But this time Cherry decided I was okay, and when Bubblegum swam up to me, she and Rosie followed. They swam with me for awhile, then swam off to Becca. But Leela came up to me. I looked to see why Scarlet wasn’t with her. She was over with Annalee. Then Leela bumped my hand with her head. She wants me to pet her! I thought. So I started petting her she turned over. I stroked her belly. After awhile she swam away. Then Dianna called us out of the pool to help her with the fish. And we went in for dinner.
The next day when we met by the front door there was a boy with us. He looked about 15, so I figured he was Breanna’s boyfriend, Bartholomew. “Is your name Bartholomew?” I asked.
“Yes, but-but how did you know?” He said stammered.
“Breanna’s my sister.” I explained.
Just then Dianna showed up. “Are you ready to meet the spinners?” she asked.
“Yeah!” we all shouted. She took us over to the spinner pool. The spinners were literally spinning and twirling. They all had dark gray backs with lighter gray bellies, except for one, which had a white belly. They also had a stripe that ran from the eyes to the flippers. There were four of them. ”These are short snouted spinner dolphins, but there are also long snouted.” Dianna was saying. Then I leaned over and whispered to Bartholomew, ”Why are you here instead of off with Breanna?”
“I found out she hates dolphins and we broke up. She’s flying back home.” Bartholomew whispered back. Poor Bartholomew.
“Do you guys want to do a dolphin cross-word puzzle with me?” Dianna asked.
“Yes!” we all shouted. Then Becca asked, ”Shouldn’t we feed the dolphins first?”
“No,” answered Dianna, “They feed at night, but I probably should introduce you to the dolphins.”she pointed to the one with the white belly. “This one is Kaylee. She’ll be having a baby really soon, maybe in the next two days.” Then she pointed to the biggest one. When It jumped up, I saw its Keel and knew right away that it was a boy. “This is Paggle.” Dianna said. “The smallest one is Michala. And the one with the little scar on it’s flipper is Twirler.”
“How did you know that boy’s name was Bartholomew?” Becca whispered.
I figured since Breanna broke up with him it was okay to tell. “He’s Breanna’s X-boyfriend.” I whispered back. The suddenly Annalee let out a scream and fell into the dolphin pool with a big splash. A few seconds later she came up, holding onto Paggle.
“What happened?” Becca asked. Annalee looked embarrassed.
“I don’t know. I guess I just slipped and fell in.” She said as she climbed out of the pool.
“Well, then should we start on that cross word puzzle?” Dianna asked.
This is what it looked like:
Z C C D P N L Dolphins
Y A B O T O H Spinner
W L P L N V M Fun
M F O P Q U T Swim
I E O H G L F Keel
W A L I B E S Calf
S P I N N E R Boto
P O O S A K U Pool
After we did the cross word puzzle we went in for lunch. Then we met at the front door in our swimming suits. When we got to the pool Becca asked Dianna “Isn’t it normally just the females around when the calf is born? Where will Paggle go?”
“You see that gate? It’s in front of a tunnel that leads to a smaller pool. We’ll put Paggle in there for the first few days when the calf is born.” Dianna answered.
“But Paggle will be all alone!” Annalee cried.
“You can go in there with him, when it’s time to put him in and keep him company, if you want.” Dianna said.
Annalee nodded. I could tell she really liked Paggle. Then we dove into the pool. Paggle swam right up to Annalee. Becca seemed to be making friends with Twirler. Bartholomew had decided not to get in, but he was sitting by the side, stroking Kaylee, who had swum right up to the side of the pool. But what about me? Who would be my dolphin friend? I thought. Then like an answer to my question, Michala bumped against me. I had completely forgotten about her.
“Hi Michala!” I said. Michala squeaked and whistled at me. She leaped up and spun around once. Then she did it again. “Michala, what are you doing?” I sputtered.
“She’s trying to teach you how to spin.” Dianna guessed.
“Hey look, Twirler’s doing it too!” Becca said. Michala whistled at be then spun around again. That’s when I got a great idea. Maybe I could spin like Michala. So I climbed up on the side of the pool. Then I jumped and twisted around once before I hit the water. Michala clicked and whistled. I had done it right. After what seemed like just a few minutes it was time to go in for dinner.
The door to the hotel opened. In the doorway stood Diana. “Girls. Wake up.” She said. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It was only 2:00 a.m. “Kaylee’s having her baby.” Diana continued. After she said that, we were all out of bed, dressed, and out the door in seconds. I looked at annalee. She had her long-sleeve shirt on backwards, and was wearing shorts with it. In her rush to get to the pool, Becca had put on a striped shirt, with flowered pants. As for me, my clothes were okay, since I had laid out clothes before I went to bed, so I would be ready for today, but I was wearing one flip-flop, and one boot. Finally we reached the pool. Annalee went down to where Paggle was, and the rest of us watched Kaylee. She was lying on her back, while Twirler held her up. She flexed her tail, and squeaked to the other dolphins. They answered back. Michala swam around Kaylee in smaller and smaller circles.
“In the wild, they would do that to protect Kaylee,” Diana said.
“I see a tail!” Becca cried. And sure enough there was a tail. A few minutes later, there was a whole calf, right next to it’s mother. It wriggled around, trying to get to the surface. Michala swam up to the calf, and guided it to the surface,to take its first breath of air.
“ You three probably should be getting back in bed now.” Diana said. Then the next day we thought of names for the calf. Finally, we decided to call it Dreamer, because he was born during the night. Then we brought Michala and Twirler in the pool with Paggle, because Diana said that Kaylee and Dreamer needed some time alone. It also meant that we could swim with the dolphins, since we weren’t allowed to be in the pool with Dreamer. After a while, something wonderful happened. Dreamer swam up to the gate to look at us. I swam over, with Michala by my side. “Hi,” I whispered. At that moment, Diana snapped a picture. I would keep it forever. Then after swimming for the rest of the day, Diana said it was time to go. I said good-bye to all the spinners, Botos, and Diana. The next day we would be leaving first thing in the morning. But as we got in the car the next morning, I thought, I’ll never have to pretend to have been swimming with dolphins again. I all ready have, on my dolphin adventure.
THE END!
Where the Wild Flowers Grow
I lived in a small log cabin with my Grandma and my pregnant cat Pussy-Pussy. The cabin was in a big field full of flowers. There were all kinds of flowers: roses, pansies, violets, lilacs, you name it. I loved that house.
Well, that is, I lived there until one day in September. I was playing in the field with Pussy-Pussy. Suddenly there was a huge explosion, like a firework. I looked up to see a helicopter getting ready to drop a bomb. I ran inside.
“Grandma, a bomb!” I shouted. She pushed me into the basement. Then she gave me Pussy-Pussy. She was about to climb in herself, when BOOM! The bomb exploded.
“Grandma?” I called. No answer. “Grandma!” still no answer. I climbed out of the basement through the trap door. The house was burned down, and there was still a fire.
“Stay there.” I told Pussy-Pussy. Then I grabbed two buckets from the basement and ran to the stream by our house. After five trips the fire was out. But half the flowers were dead. And so was my grandma. I pulled Pussy-Pussy out and we sat there, not sure what to do. We sat there for about four hours, until our neighbor, Mrs. Toddle, who lives about a mile away, came over.
“No need to tell me, Lila,” she said. “I saw the explosion. Now where’s your grandma?”
“Dead,” I answered quietly.
“Oh,” said Mrs. Toddle. “Then get in my car.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“To the orphanage, where else?”
To your house, I thought. But instead I said, “then I have to get something.” I bent to pick up some of the few flowers that were left. I would press them when I got to the orphanage.
The car pulled up on the orphanage driveway. “Go on,” Mrs. Toddle said, pushing me towards the door. Then I watched as she drove away.
A lady came out. Her name tag said Tonia. She looked at me, holding Pussy-Pussy, very disapprovingly. “That cat will have to go,” she said.
“What?!” I shouted. “She’s the only thing I have left.” Tonia ignored me.
“Now you give her to me and we’ll take her to the animal shelter, or we’ll have her put to sleep.”
I realized I had no choice. “Okay, but I get to go with you,” I said. We got in her car.
When we got to the animal shelter I told the person who works there, “She’s going to have kittens soon. And make sure nobody adopts her unless I don’t come back by February.”
It was almost dinner time. I was at the dump, looking for a box to put my flowers in. After 10 more minutes of searching I found the perfect box. The person who threw this away must be very picky, I thought. The box only had a few cracks in its glass top. I looked at the sun. It looked like it was sitting on top of a mountain. Dinner time. And I ran off to dinner with the box in my hand.
At dinner I was sitting by three girls. Their name tags said Rayla, Ranay, and Rubi. Sitting across from me were twins, Ben and Zack. We sat there in silence for a minute. Then Ranay looked at her plate. “Eww!” she said, pointing to her potato.
“I want it!” said Rayla. So Ranay threw her potato to Rayla, but she missed and it landed on Rubi’s head.
“Meanie-pooh,” Rubi said, throwing the potato back at Ranay. She missed and it hit one of the boys without a name tag. Pretty soon food was flying all over the place.
“Ugly alien.”
“Picky eater.”
“Squash is so disgusting.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“You are such a bad aimer. You can’t hit me! Ouch!!”
Everybody was throwing food and fighting, except for me. I sat there eating quietly, while food flew all around me, sometimes hitting me. “Um, could you stop it?” I said, peeling green beans off my head. They didn’t pay any attention, so I got up and left. When I got to the room I would be sleeping in, I was disappointed to see I was with Rayla, Ranay, Rubi, and two other girls. Oh well.
I lived at the orphanage for a month. Then a family came and adopted me as a servant. I must have had a very sad face at dinner one night, after I had worked there for three months, because Mrs. Merry, the mother of the family I worked for, asked me if something was wrong.
“Is anything wrong?!” I repeated angrily. “My house got bombed, my grandma is dead, my cat is still at the animal shelter, and you ask if anything’s wrong!”
“Ungrateful child!” Mr. Merry snapped. And I was sent back to the orphanage, where I was immediately adopted by another family. But not as a servant.
It was a week until Christmas, and the lonely little girl in the family wanted a big sister for Christmas, so they adopted me. The first day after I was adopted we made wish lists. It was a complete mess. The four boys acted like I didn’t even exist, and I did the same, because I didn’t know anybody’s name. I didn’t even know my full name until they told me it was Lila Lunders.
“Lila, is something wrong? Isn’t there anything you want?” my new mom asked.
“Well, there is one thing,” I said, “but first I have to know if anyone’s allergic to cats.”
“No, and what a dumb question. It’s not like you’re going to get a cat,” the oldest boy said.
“Now, Matt, be nice to Lila,” my new mom said.
I wrote something on my wish list. One of the boys looked over my shoulder.
“Who’s Pussy-Pussy?” he asked.
“My cat,” I said.
“Are the kittens yours too?” the little girl asked.
But before I could answer my new dad asked, “Where does your cat live?” They asked me question after question until it was time to go to bed.
On Christmas morning even the adults were excited. My mom handed me a huge present. “Open it!” she shouted. Inside were four kittens, and they all looked like Pussy-Pussy.
“But where’s Pussy-Pussy?” I asked.
Mom and Dad stopped bouncing. “She died giving birth to the kittens,” they said.
“But you still have her kittens,” dad pointed out.
And it’s true. Even though I’m old now, and the kittens have died, I still have their kittens and their kittens and their kittens, and now my house is pretty much overrun by cats. But that’s okay, because they all remind me of my best friend Pussy-Pussy.
THE END
Well, that is, I lived there until one day in September. I was playing in the field with Pussy-Pussy. Suddenly there was a huge explosion, like a firework. I looked up to see a helicopter getting ready to drop a bomb. I ran inside.
“Grandma, a bomb!” I shouted. She pushed me into the basement. Then she gave me Pussy-Pussy. She was about to climb in herself, when BOOM! The bomb exploded.
“Grandma?” I called. No answer. “Grandma!” still no answer. I climbed out of the basement through the trap door. The house was burned down, and there was still a fire.
“Stay there.” I told Pussy-Pussy. Then I grabbed two buckets from the basement and ran to the stream by our house. After five trips the fire was out. But half the flowers were dead. And so was my grandma. I pulled Pussy-Pussy out and we sat there, not sure what to do. We sat there for about four hours, until our neighbor, Mrs. Toddle, who lives about a mile away, came over.
“No need to tell me, Lila,” she said. “I saw the explosion. Now where’s your grandma?”
“Dead,” I answered quietly.
“Oh,” said Mrs. Toddle. “Then get in my car.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“To the orphanage, where else?”
To your house, I thought. But instead I said, “then I have to get something.” I bent to pick up some of the few flowers that were left. I would press them when I got to the orphanage.
The car pulled up on the orphanage driveway. “Go on,” Mrs. Toddle said, pushing me towards the door. Then I watched as she drove away.
A lady came out. Her name tag said Tonia. She looked at me, holding Pussy-Pussy, very disapprovingly. “That cat will have to go,” she said.
“What?!” I shouted. “She’s the only thing I have left.” Tonia ignored me.
“Now you give her to me and we’ll take her to the animal shelter, or we’ll have her put to sleep.”
I realized I had no choice. “Okay, but I get to go with you,” I said. We got in her car.
When we got to the animal shelter I told the person who works there, “She’s going to have kittens soon. And make sure nobody adopts her unless I don’t come back by February.”
It was almost dinner time. I was at the dump, looking for a box to put my flowers in. After 10 more minutes of searching I found the perfect box. The person who threw this away must be very picky, I thought. The box only had a few cracks in its glass top. I looked at the sun. It looked like it was sitting on top of a mountain. Dinner time. And I ran off to dinner with the box in my hand.
At dinner I was sitting by three girls. Their name tags said Rayla, Ranay, and Rubi. Sitting across from me were twins, Ben and Zack. We sat there in silence for a minute. Then Ranay looked at her plate. “Eww!” she said, pointing to her potato.
“I want it!” said Rayla. So Ranay threw her potato to Rayla, but she missed and it landed on Rubi’s head.
“Meanie-pooh,” Rubi said, throwing the potato back at Ranay. She missed and it hit one of the boys without a name tag. Pretty soon food was flying all over the place.
“Ugly alien.”
“Picky eater.”
“Squash is so disgusting.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“You are such a bad aimer. You can’t hit me! Ouch!!”
Everybody was throwing food and fighting, except for me. I sat there eating quietly, while food flew all around me, sometimes hitting me. “Um, could you stop it?” I said, peeling green beans off my head. They didn’t pay any attention, so I got up and left. When I got to the room I would be sleeping in, I was disappointed to see I was with Rayla, Ranay, Rubi, and two other girls. Oh well.
I lived at the orphanage for a month. Then a family came and adopted me as a servant. I must have had a very sad face at dinner one night, after I had worked there for three months, because Mrs. Merry, the mother of the family I worked for, asked me if something was wrong.
“Is anything wrong?!” I repeated angrily. “My house got bombed, my grandma is dead, my cat is still at the animal shelter, and you ask if anything’s wrong!”
“Ungrateful child!” Mr. Merry snapped. And I was sent back to the orphanage, where I was immediately adopted by another family. But not as a servant.
It was a week until Christmas, and the lonely little girl in the family wanted a big sister for Christmas, so they adopted me. The first day after I was adopted we made wish lists. It was a complete mess. The four boys acted like I didn’t even exist, and I did the same, because I didn’t know anybody’s name. I didn’t even know my full name until they told me it was Lila Lunders.
“Lila, is something wrong? Isn’t there anything you want?” my new mom asked.
“Well, there is one thing,” I said, “but first I have to know if anyone’s allergic to cats.”
“No, and what a dumb question. It’s not like you’re going to get a cat,” the oldest boy said.
“Now, Matt, be nice to Lila,” my new mom said.
I wrote something on my wish list. One of the boys looked over my shoulder.
“Who’s Pussy-Pussy?” he asked.
“My cat,” I said.
“Are the kittens yours too?” the little girl asked.
But before I could answer my new dad asked, “Where does your cat live?” They asked me question after question until it was time to go to bed.
On Christmas morning even the adults were excited. My mom handed me a huge present. “Open it!” she shouted. Inside were four kittens, and they all looked like Pussy-Pussy.
“But where’s Pussy-Pussy?” I asked.
Mom and Dad stopped bouncing. “She died giving birth to the kittens,” they said.
“But you still have her kittens,” dad pointed out.
And it’s true. Even though I’m old now, and the kittens have died, I still have their kittens and their kittens and their kittens, and now my house is pretty much overrun by cats. But that’s okay, because they all remind me of my best friend Pussy-Pussy.
THE END
Friday, September 2, 2005
The Worst Sister in the World
“I know a song that gets on every body’s nerves, every body’s nerves, every body’s…Mommy! She hit me!” That was Rebekah and Hayley’s annoying little sister banana head, I mean Bannah. She was singing that annoying stupid song at 2:00 in the morning on a Saturday, so they had a very good reason to hit her. And before we go any farther, Rebekah and Hayley are 12 year old twins.
Their mom came up the stairs. You could tell she had just gotten up. Her eyes were half open, and her hair was sticking up like she got electrocuted. Her voice sounded sleepy.
“What’s going on?” she said, “Oh never mind, I’m going back to bed and don’t bug me again,” Then there was a slam, then a click as she locked the door, and then like 2 seconds later snoring.
“Now we we’re trapped with Banana head, or not,” Rebekah and Hayley said at the same time. They opened the window and stepped onto the window sill.
“Okay, so we’re going to land right…” Rebekah started to say and all of a sudden they were flying, I mean falling, unfortunately. They were planning to fall onto the trampoline, but they grabbed onto a tree branch just before they hit the ground.
“I’m alive,” said Rebekah in relief.
“It’s a miracle,” said Hayley, also in relief.
“I think you missed!” Bannah called, or should I say, banana head. Then she threw down all of their stuff and they ended up sleeping outside. It was something like camping except they were fighting until morning about what they were going to do to get revenge on Banana head.
The next morning they woke up to their baby sister, Liza, screaming. They walked over to pick up the phone but when they picked it up they heard their mom screaming for help to the hospital lady.
“I know, I know you have a rule for children. I’ll just get my older kids to baby-sit…..BEEEEPPPP.” Then the girls hung up the phone and stared at each other in disbelief. They couldn’t believe they had to baby-sit their little sister who had pushed them out a two story window and nearly killed them! Who knows what she would do next.
Rebekah and Hayley came into the kitchen to find a note that was mostly scribbles. The only thing they could read was Rebekah, Hayley, baby-sit Bannah, and Mom. They looked at each other. “So it is true,” whined Hayley, just before they fainted.
Hayley and Rebekah woke up to Bannah singing at the top of her lungs, “I’m going to have a party; I’m going to have a party, oh look! It’s my party!”
The door bell rang, and before they could get the door, it flew open. Tons of kids marched in. “I don’t even know half of them,” Rebekah whispered to Hayley.
“Buggily, boggily, boo! Buggily, boggily, boo!” shouted the kids.
“I’ve got it!” said Hayley, “We can take the kids on a long walk to the park, and then they’ll get tired and not get into mischief,”
“And we can get our revenge,” added Rebekah.
So they rounded up the kids and started walking. “This is the song that never ends; it just goes on and on my friends! People started singing it not knowing what is was, they’ll continue singing it forever just because this is the song…hey look! It’s the park!” And the kids took off running. They jumped all over the play structure.
“Time for our revenge!” whispered Hayley and Rebekah. And they ran back home.
“I know we could sneak out right now, but I really want to swim in the lake,” Rebekah was saying to Hayley back at home. “Besides, you know how much trouble we would be in if Banana head told mom,”
“Oh fine,” Hayley said “Just let me get my swimming suit,”
Both girls stepped into the murky water and walked deeper until they were almost swimming. Then suddenly a dark fin appeared. Then another, and another, and before more than a few seconds there were at least 20. “Sharks!!” screamed Hayley.
“Run!!” Rebekah yelled. They splashed back, until they were almost out of the water when they tripped, fell, and broke their arms. They looked up to see if the sharks were following them, but now instead of sharks there was Bannah and her friends. They were wearing goggles that had shark fins attached to the back.
“You’re going to pay for this!” Hayley and Rebekah shouted. Then they had to call the kids’ parents to tell them the party was over because their mom wasn’t there and they had broken their arms.
“Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, Hey stop kicking me!” Banana head sang in mimicking voice all the way home. Well, until the kicking part, because Rebekah and Hayley really had kicked her.
“I don’t get why she has to make such a big deal about the whole thing,” Hayley said.
“Yeah, it’s not like she hasn’t played a trick on us before,” agreed Rebekah
Suddenly Banana head ran to the door and slammed it.
“What was that all about?” asked Rebekah. Hayley shrugged and reached out to open the door. But it wouldn’t budge, it was locked! The girls ran around and tried the other doors.
“What about the windows?” suggested Hayley. They tried those, but they were locked too.
“Great,” said Rebekah sarcastically. But Hayley didn’t seem to be listening.
“I’ve got it!” she shouted.
“Huh? Got what?” asked Rebekah.
“Our revenge, what else?” Hayley said. Then she told Rebekah her plan.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Goodinger, Hayley and Rebekah’s mom, was sitting in a chair in the waiting room. Finally, after what seemed like hours a nurse came up to her to report on Liza. “We’ll keep her here overnight and see how she’s doing then,” the nurse said. Then quick as a flash, she was gone.
Mrs. Goodinger pulled out her cell phone to call Hayley and Rebekah. The phone rang eight times and a kid’s voice came on. “Hello, if you want to talk to Hayley or Rebekah, they’re down in the dungeon. If you want to talk to mom or Liza, they’re having brain surgery. And if you want to talk to Bannah, she’s a beautiful princess and is too busy to talk to you,” Mrs. Goodinger hung up and started pushing buttons again.
Bannah looked out the window down at her silly sisters. They were running around, trying all the doors. Then they went over to the neighbor’s house and rang the door bell. “Uh-oh” she whispered to herself, and ran for a place to hide. Under the kitchen sink? Too dark. . . If there was one thing Banana head was afraid of was being alone in the dark. The clothes hamper? Perfect. After crouching under dirty clothes for about an hour, Bannah decided Hayley and Rebekah hadn’t been getting the neighbors to come inside and get her.
She decided to make a trap for her sisters. First she tied a rope across the bottom of the door, so when Rebekah or Hayley walked in they would trip on the rope and fall splat into the transparent-extra-sticky-slime that she had spread all over the floor. But now she needed something to make sure they didn’t look at the rope. So she went into the kitchen and took out the ketch-up, mustard, and a banana. She squirted the ketch-up and mustard all over the wall you would see first when you opened the door. Then she took the banana and smashed it on the wall with the ketch-up and mustard. Bannah reached to unlock the door, but then changed her mind. She would let Hayley and Rebekah sleep outside, and then let them trip on her rope and fall into the slime. In the meantime, she had some other tricks to get ready.
Banana head dashed up stairs. Then she ran back down stairs, with a bottle of shaving cream in her hand. She made two ice cream sundaes. But instead of whipped cream she put shaving cream. Next she set out two sodas. She dumped half a bottle of olive oil into each soda.
Then she went upstairs and dug around in her room until she found two whoopi cushions. Bannah placed those under Rebekah and Hayley’s pillows. Banana head ran back into her room to find some more slime to pour all over Hayley and Rebekah’s double bed. She was just reaching for it when there was the sound of breaking glass. She turned around just in time to see a big, dark, scary, arm-less monster float in through the window. She screamed and screamed and screamed, but nobody came to help her. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the monster was gone. But now bugs flew in through the window. Spiders, cockroaches, worms, centipedes and lots of other bugs. And she ran screaming the whole way down to the kitchen.
Hayley was trying not to laugh as Rebekah moved the big armless monster puppet they had borrowed, around in Bannah’s room. They smiled at each other with satisfaction as they heard her screaming. There were two reasons Hayley couldn’t laugh. One was that she would give them away and two was she might let go of the rope that held Rebekah up to Bannah’s window on the second floor, and then Rebekah would come crashing down. Apparently Bannah had gone as far as the monster puppet could go so Rebekah pulled the monster puppet back through the window and Hayley lowered her down then strapped the rope to herself as Rebekah pulled her up to the window where she could throw the rubber bugs. “She ran into the kitchen,” Hayley whispered as Rebekah lowered her down. So they took off.
Bannah kept running and screaming until she was in the kitchen. “This song goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, this song goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, this song goes on forever and--what was that?!” Bannah sang softly to her self, until she heard a loud creaking noise. There it was again. And again. Now there was a scraping noise. Then a twig breaking, and now a ghost “Boo”ing. Then as suddenly as the noises had started, they stopped. Bannah looked around and spotted two ice cream sundaes and sodas. They were the very same ones Bannah had set up as a trap, but she was too freaked out to think clearly. So she sat down and took a big bite, then she spit it back out. The whipped cream tasted like soap for some odd reason. She shrugged and took a sip of the soda. Yuck! Banana head choked and coughed. Then it came to her. This was the trap she had set out for Hayley and Rebekah. But she was too scared to fix it now.
Rebekah and Hayley dashed around to the kitchen. They took out the tape player they had borrowed and put in the tape of creaking noises, then switched it off. Then Rebekah scraped the side of the house with her finger nails. When she stopped, Hayley carefully broke a twig in half. Then they took the tape player again and popped in a tape with ghost noises. Then they watched, trying not to laugh as Banana head took a bite of the ice cream sundae in front of her then spit it out. Next she took a sip of soda, and Rebekah and Hayley watched as she gagged and coughed.
“Hey look, the phone’s right next to her,” Rebekah turned to Hayley “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she said.
Hayley took out her cell phone “uh-huh,” she said. And then she started dialing the Goodinger’s phone number.
Bannah jumped as the phone rang. Cautiously she made her way over to the phone and picked it up on the 4th ring.
“Hello,” said the person on the other line “Is your toilet running?”
“Um, well, yes,” Bannah said.
“Then you’d better go catch it!” the other person said and hung up. Bannah had just put the phone down when it rang again.
“Hello,” she said.
“Come out side or you’ll be sorry,” the other person on the phone said in a ghostly voice. Bannah hung up the phone and stood there trying to decide what to do. But it turns out, she didn’t do anything. Well, other than collapse on the floor and faint.
Sunlight was just starting to stream in through the windows when Bannah woke up. She suddenly remembered her plan, and went to unlock the door. After she did that she remembered last night’s ghostly experience. So she ran upstairs to hide in the laundry hamper.
Hayley peaked through the window just in time to Bannah run and disappear into the laundry. “That was the last trick, right?” she said.
“Yeah, too bad, those tricks were fun,” Rebekah said.
Then they heard the sound of a car driving up. Their mom got out, and left Liza in the back seat. Mrs. Goodinger flung open the door and gasped. Rebekah and Hayley crept closer to see what was so surprising. Then they saw it too. The wall was covered with ketch-up, mustard, and smashed banana. Mrs. Goodinger took a step forward, her eyes still on the wall. Then suddenly she screamed as she tripped over a rope tied to the bottom of the door and fell right into a pile of super sticky invisible slime.
Bannah ran downstairs at the sound of her mom screaming. “Oh, sorry mom, I forgot to tell--, I mean how did that rope and slime get there? I don’t have that much sticky slime--, I mean; I don’t have any slime,” she said, trying to look innocent.
“Bannah,” Mrs. Goodinger said in a warning voice. She was about to say something else when she noticed Hayley and Rebekah’s arms were in casts. “How did you break them?” she asked.
“After you left Bannah called up a bunch of friends without permission. We took them to the park,” Hayley explained.
“And they put on goggles that had shark fins on the back, so we thought there were sharks and we ran and fell,” Rebekah added.
“I would never do a thing like that,” Bannah said.
“Yeah you would,” Hayley and Rebekah said.
“No I wouldn’t,” Bannah said.
“Uh-huh!”
“Nuh-uh.”
“You would too.”
“I would not!”
“Yeah you would! We have proof--just search her room,” Hayley and Rebekah said.
So Mrs. Goodinger searched, and she found all kinds of stuff: sneezing powder, bottles and bottles of slime, a couple ropes, some dirty jeans, a bottle of shaving cream, a disappearing ink pen, a pair of shark goggles, Mrs. Goodinger’s missing cell phone and its phone bill, just to name a few. Plus there were the rubber bugs Rebekah and Hayley had thrown in the night before. Mrs. Goodinger made sure everything that Bannah might use for pranks was cleared out.
So that night Rebekah and Hayley went to bed laughing to themselves about how well their revenge had worked out, and about how Bannah was probably going to be grounded until she was 35.
Bannah went to bed angry and frustrated because all of her favorite pranks had been taken away, and she was going to be grounded for 3 years, maybe more.
And Mrs. Goodinger went to bed feeling relieved that she had sorted out the problem.
So Rebekah and Hayley never had to be worried about Bannah again, except, maybe for her annoying songs.
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their mom came up the stairs. You could tell she had just gotten up. Her eyes were half open, and her hair was sticking up like she got electrocuted. Her voice sounded sleepy.
“What’s going on?” she said, “Oh never mind, I’m going back to bed and don’t bug me again,” Then there was a slam, then a click as she locked the door, and then like 2 seconds later snoring.
“Now we we’re trapped with Banana head, or not,” Rebekah and Hayley said at the same time. They opened the window and stepped onto the window sill.
“Okay, so we’re going to land right…” Rebekah started to say and all of a sudden they were flying, I mean falling, unfortunately. They were planning to fall onto the trampoline, but they grabbed onto a tree branch just before they hit the ground.
“I’m alive,” said Rebekah in relief.
“It’s a miracle,” said Hayley, also in relief.
“I think you missed!” Bannah called, or should I say, banana head. Then she threw down all of their stuff and they ended up sleeping outside. It was something like camping except they were fighting until morning about what they were going to do to get revenge on Banana head.
The next morning they woke up to their baby sister, Liza, screaming. They walked over to pick up the phone but when they picked it up they heard their mom screaming for help to the hospital lady.
“I know, I know you have a rule for children. I’ll just get my older kids to baby-sit…..BEEEEPPPP.” Then the girls hung up the phone and stared at each other in disbelief. They couldn’t believe they had to baby-sit their little sister who had pushed them out a two story window and nearly killed them! Who knows what she would do next.
Rebekah and Hayley came into the kitchen to find a note that was mostly scribbles. The only thing they could read was Rebekah, Hayley, baby-sit Bannah, and Mom. They looked at each other. “So it is true,” whined Hayley, just before they fainted.
Hayley and Rebekah woke up to Bannah singing at the top of her lungs, “I’m going to have a party; I’m going to have a party, oh look! It’s my party!”
The door bell rang, and before they could get the door, it flew open. Tons of kids marched in. “I don’t even know half of them,” Rebekah whispered to Hayley.
“Buggily, boggily, boo! Buggily, boggily, boo!” shouted the kids.
“I’ve got it!” said Hayley, “We can take the kids on a long walk to the park, and then they’ll get tired and not get into mischief,”
“And we can get our revenge,” added Rebekah.
So they rounded up the kids and started walking. “This is the song that never ends; it just goes on and on my friends! People started singing it not knowing what is was, they’ll continue singing it forever just because this is the song…hey look! It’s the park!” And the kids took off running. They jumped all over the play structure.
“Time for our revenge!” whispered Hayley and Rebekah. And they ran back home.
“I know we could sneak out right now, but I really want to swim in the lake,” Rebekah was saying to Hayley back at home. “Besides, you know how much trouble we would be in if Banana head told mom,”
“Oh fine,” Hayley said “Just let me get my swimming suit,”
Both girls stepped into the murky water and walked deeper until they were almost swimming. Then suddenly a dark fin appeared. Then another, and another, and before more than a few seconds there were at least 20. “Sharks!!” screamed Hayley.
“Run!!” Rebekah yelled. They splashed back, until they were almost out of the water when they tripped, fell, and broke their arms. They looked up to see if the sharks were following them, but now instead of sharks there was Bannah and her friends. They were wearing goggles that had shark fins attached to the back.
“You’re going to pay for this!” Hayley and Rebekah shouted. Then they had to call the kids’ parents to tell them the party was over because their mom wasn’t there and they had broken their arms.
“Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, ooh, you’re going to pay for this, Sharks! Ouch, Hey stop kicking me!” Banana head sang in mimicking voice all the way home. Well, until the kicking part, because Rebekah and Hayley really had kicked her.
“I don’t get why she has to make such a big deal about the whole thing,” Hayley said.
“Yeah, it’s not like she hasn’t played a trick on us before,” agreed Rebekah
Suddenly Banana head ran to the door and slammed it.
“What was that all about?” asked Rebekah. Hayley shrugged and reached out to open the door. But it wouldn’t budge, it was locked! The girls ran around and tried the other doors.
“What about the windows?” suggested Hayley. They tried those, but they were locked too.
“Great,” said Rebekah sarcastically. But Hayley didn’t seem to be listening.
“I’ve got it!” she shouted.
“Huh? Got what?” asked Rebekah.
“Our revenge, what else?” Hayley said. Then she told Rebekah her plan.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Goodinger, Hayley and Rebekah’s mom, was sitting in a chair in the waiting room. Finally, after what seemed like hours a nurse came up to her to report on Liza. “We’ll keep her here overnight and see how she’s doing then,” the nurse said. Then quick as a flash, she was gone.
Mrs. Goodinger pulled out her cell phone to call Hayley and Rebekah. The phone rang eight times and a kid’s voice came on. “Hello, if you want to talk to Hayley or Rebekah, they’re down in the dungeon. If you want to talk to mom or Liza, they’re having brain surgery. And if you want to talk to Bannah, she’s a beautiful princess and is too busy to talk to you,” Mrs. Goodinger hung up and started pushing buttons again.
Bannah looked out the window down at her silly sisters. They were running around, trying all the doors. Then they went over to the neighbor’s house and rang the door bell. “Uh-oh” she whispered to herself, and ran for a place to hide. Under the kitchen sink? Too dark. . . If there was one thing Banana head was afraid of was being alone in the dark. The clothes hamper? Perfect. After crouching under dirty clothes for about an hour, Bannah decided Hayley and Rebekah hadn’t been getting the neighbors to come inside and get her.
She decided to make a trap for her sisters. First she tied a rope across the bottom of the door, so when Rebekah or Hayley walked in they would trip on the rope and fall splat into the transparent-extra-sticky-slime that she had spread all over the floor. But now she needed something to make sure they didn’t look at the rope. So she went into the kitchen and took out the ketch-up, mustard, and a banana. She squirted the ketch-up and mustard all over the wall you would see first when you opened the door. Then she took the banana and smashed it on the wall with the ketch-up and mustard. Bannah reached to unlock the door, but then changed her mind. She would let Hayley and Rebekah sleep outside, and then let them trip on her rope and fall into the slime. In the meantime, she had some other tricks to get ready.
Banana head dashed up stairs. Then she ran back down stairs, with a bottle of shaving cream in her hand. She made two ice cream sundaes. But instead of whipped cream she put shaving cream. Next she set out two sodas. She dumped half a bottle of olive oil into each soda.
Then she went upstairs and dug around in her room until she found two whoopi cushions. Bannah placed those under Rebekah and Hayley’s pillows. Banana head ran back into her room to find some more slime to pour all over Hayley and Rebekah’s double bed. She was just reaching for it when there was the sound of breaking glass. She turned around just in time to see a big, dark, scary, arm-less monster float in through the window. She screamed and screamed and screamed, but nobody came to help her. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the monster was gone. But now bugs flew in through the window. Spiders, cockroaches, worms, centipedes and lots of other bugs. And she ran screaming the whole way down to the kitchen.
Hayley was trying not to laugh as Rebekah moved the big armless monster puppet they had borrowed, around in Bannah’s room. They smiled at each other with satisfaction as they heard her screaming. There were two reasons Hayley couldn’t laugh. One was that she would give them away and two was she might let go of the rope that held Rebekah up to Bannah’s window on the second floor, and then Rebekah would come crashing down. Apparently Bannah had gone as far as the monster puppet could go so Rebekah pulled the monster puppet back through the window and Hayley lowered her down then strapped the rope to herself as Rebekah pulled her up to the window where she could throw the rubber bugs. “She ran into the kitchen,” Hayley whispered as Rebekah lowered her down. So they took off.
Bannah kept running and screaming until she was in the kitchen. “This song goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, this song goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, this song goes on forever and--what was that?!” Bannah sang softly to her self, until she heard a loud creaking noise. There it was again. And again. Now there was a scraping noise. Then a twig breaking, and now a ghost “Boo”ing. Then as suddenly as the noises had started, they stopped. Bannah looked around and spotted two ice cream sundaes and sodas. They were the very same ones Bannah had set up as a trap, but she was too freaked out to think clearly. So she sat down and took a big bite, then she spit it back out. The whipped cream tasted like soap for some odd reason. She shrugged and took a sip of the soda. Yuck! Banana head choked and coughed. Then it came to her. This was the trap she had set out for Hayley and Rebekah. But she was too scared to fix it now.
Rebekah and Hayley dashed around to the kitchen. They took out the tape player they had borrowed and put in the tape of creaking noises, then switched it off. Then Rebekah scraped the side of the house with her finger nails. When she stopped, Hayley carefully broke a twig in half. Then they took the tape player again and popped in a tape with ghost noises. Then they watched, trying not to laugh as Banana head took a bite of the ice cream sundae in front of her then spit it out. Next she took a sip of soda, and Rebekah and Hayley watched as she gagged and coughed.
“Hey look, the phone’s right next to her,” Rebekah turned to Hayley “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she said.
Hayley took out her cell phone “uh-huh,” she said. And then she started dialing the Goodinger’s phone number.
Bannah jumped as the phone rang. Cautiously she made her way over to the phone and picked it up on the 4th ring.
“Hello,” said the person on the other line “Is your toilet running?”
“Um, well, yes,” Bannah said.
“Then you’d better go catch it!” the other person said and hung up. Bannah had just put the phone down when it rang again.
“Hello,” she said.
“Come out side or you’ll be sorry,” the other person on the phone said in a ghostly voice. Bannah hung up the phone and stood there trying to decide what to do. But it turns out, she didn’t do anything. Well, other than collapse on the floor and faint.
Sunlight was just starting to stream in through the windows when Bannah woke up. She suddenly remembered her plan, and went to unlock the door. After she did that she remembered last night’s ghostly experience. So she ran upstairs to hide in the laundry hamper.
Hayley peaked through the window just in time to Bannah run and disappear into the laundry. “That was the last trick, right?” she said.
“Yeah, too bad, those tricks were fun,” Rebekah said.
Then they heard the sound of a car driving up. Their mom got out, and left Liza in the back seat. Mrs. Goodinger flung open the door and gasped. Rebekah and Hayley crept closer to see what was so surprising. Then they saw it too. The wall was covered with ketch-up, mustard, and smashed banana. Mrs. Goodinger took a step forward, her eyes still on the wall. Then suddenly she screamed as she tripped over a rope tied to the bottom of the door and fell right into a pile of super sticky invisible slime.
Bannah ran downstairs at the sound of her mom screaming. “Oh, sorry mom, I forgot to tell--, I mean how did that rope and slime get there? I don’t have that much sticky slime--, I mean; I don’t have any slime,” she said, trying to look innocent.
“Bannah,” Mrs. Goodinger said in a warning voice. She was about to say something else when she noticed Hayley and Rebekah’s arms were in casts. “How did you break them?” she asked.
“After you left Bannah called up a bunch of friends without permission. We took them to the park,” Hayley explained.
“And they put on goggles that had shark fins on the back, so we thought there were sharks and we ran and fell,” Rebekah added.
“I would never do a thing like that,” Bannah said.
“Yeah you would,” Hayley and Rebekah said.
“No I wouldn’t,” Bannah said.
“Uh-huh!”
“Nuh-uh.”
“You would too.”
“I would not!”
“Yeah you would! We have proof--just search her room,” Hayley and Rebekah said.
So Mrs. Goodinger searched, and she found all kinds of stuff: sneezing powder, bottles and bottles of slime, a couple ropes, some dirty jeans, a bottle of shaving cream, a disappearing ink pen, a pair of shark goggles, Mrs. Goodinger’s missing cell phone and its phone bill, just to name a few. Plus there were the rubber bugs Rebekah and Hayley had thrown in the night before. Mrs. Goodinger made sure everything that Bannah might use for pranks was cleared out.
So that night Rebekah and Hayley went to bed laughing to themselves about how well their revenge had worked out, and about how Bannah was probably going to be grounded until she was 35.
Bannah went to bed angry and frustrated because all of her favorite pranks had been taken away, and she was going to be grounded for 3 years, maybe more.
And Mrs. Goodinger went to bed feeling relieved that she had sorted out the problem.
So Rebekah and Hayley never had to be worried about Bannah again, except, maybe for her annoying songs.
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The Knight in Shining Armor
1
You are at the library. You pick up a book about castles. Then you check it out and bring it home. You flip through the pages. It looks pretty boring. But then you turn to page 47 and you see a knight fighting a terrible dragon. “Wow,” you whisper, just before you find yourself getting sucked into the book. Suddenly you are the knight, and the dragon is coming towards you. What should you do?
If you turn and run, turn to page 2. If you try and fight the dragon, turn to page 9.
2
You start to run. The dragon is after you, and the armor is really heavy. It makes clanking noises, and really slows you down. The dragon is gaining on you, and you’re getting really tired. What should you do?
If you stop and take the armor off, turn to page 4. If you keep running, turn to page 3.
3
You keep running. The armor is still on. The dragon is coming. It’s getting closer. You are getting more and more tired, and you are going slower and slower. Suddenly you step on a trap door. You fall down into a dark room.
“Who’s there?” a voice bellows. A bright light shines in your face. It is the jailer, and you just landed in the prison.
“Well what do we have here? It’s another prisoner,” the jailer says.
“Wait, I’m not a prisoner! I got sucked into a book,” you try to say, but the jailer chains you up. “I wish I never picked up that book,” you grumble.
The End
4
You stop and quickly pull the armor off. Then you take off running. You are surprised at how light and energetic you feel. It feels like you just got charged. You run and run. The dragon gets confused because he can’t hear you.
“Good,” you mutter under your breath. Suddenly the dragon charges at you. You put on a burst of speed and race around the corner. But it just leads to a dead end. The dragon is rushing at you, and you left your sword with your armor so you can’t fight him.
“Jump on his back!” a voice says.
If you jump on the dragon’s back, turn to page 6. If you run, turn to page 5.
5
You start to run. But the only way to run is right towards the dragon. So you run towards the dragon. You run right into its leg. Then everything goes black. Suddenly you wake up, in your own bed. The book on castles is lying next to you. “I’m going to the library!” you call. And then you go and dump the book.
The End
6
You take a running start, and then leap onto the dragon. It throws back its head and you tumble down to its tail, where you hang on for your life. Then suddenly with a flick of the dragon’s tail you are in the king’s chamber. His oldest child is there too. “Oh daddy!” the kid says. “Isn’t that person so cute?! Let’s get married,”
“Yes, yes, I’ll arrange the wedding for…this evening!” the king says. And before you know it you are walking down the aisle with the king’s child. It seems like you’re walking in a dream. Then the king’s child’s voice brings you back to life. “I do,” the child is saying. Then the minister turns to you. What do you say?
If you say I do, turn to page 7. If you say I don’t, turn to page 8.
7
“I do,” you hear yourself say. And suddenly you are in charge of everybody, and you are married to the king’s oldest child. The dragon doesn’t ever bother you any more, because you live on the 15th story and the dragon never goes there. So you all live happily ever after.
The End
8
You say “I don’t”.
“Daddy!” the king’s child screams, looking offended.
“I wasn’t even old enough to get married,” you mutter as the king throws you into prison. And you live there for the rest of your life.
The End
9
You pull out your sword and stab the dragon. But the sword won’t even touch the dragon. The dragon seems to have some kind of magic surrounding it. You try again and again, but it won’t work. Suddenly you look up and another dragon charges at you. Then another. You are trapped. There are dragons on three sides, and the moat on the other. You back up, closer and closer until you fall into the moat. The water is freezing. You see a dark shape. It’s an alligator! And it’s coming towards you.
If you try to get out of the way, turn to page 10. If you try to get on the alligator, turn to page 13.
10
You try and swim out of the way, but you are frozen and tired. You wish you had paid more attention at swimming lessons, because you can only do the dog-paddle, which isn’t very fast. Suddenly something grabs your leg and pulls you under water.
If you try and see what’s pulling you, turn to page 11. If you fight against whatever it is, turn to page 12.
11
You look around but the water is too dark, you can’t see anything, and you are getting colder and colder by the minute. Then you see sparkles. You feel your self changing. And before you know it, you are an alligator.
The End
12
You wiggle and squirm and kick. Your foot hits something and the thing lets go of you. You quickly swim to the other side and climb out. Mist rolls in, making it very hard to see. It’s getting dark, and there are creepy sounds around you. Suddenly you step on some leaves covering a pit and down you fall. But you land on a very bouncy trampoline. You fly up, up, up, and right out of the world, then out of the solar system. You land on a small rocky planet. There are other people there too, other people who stepped on the trampoline. You live there for the rest of your life.
The End
13
You jump on the alligator. Then with a flick of its tail, you are on top of the castle. You swing around a flag pole. Suddenly a helicopter comes and lands on the roof. A bunch of men in black jump out.
“That’s the king’s child, right there,” they say to each other. Then they grab you. You are thrown in to the helicopter. They take off. What should you do?
If you jump out, turn to page 14. If you fight the men in black, turn to page 15.
14
You jump. There are a few seconds where you are flying, then you land splat on the castle roof. Suddenly you wake up, in your own bed. It was all just a dream.
The End
You kick and punch, but it doesn’t do anything. The helicopter is flying right over the dragon when the dragon reaches up and grabs the helicopter. You jump and land on the dragon’s back, right before the dragon throws the helicopter with the men inside, into the moat. Suddenly the dragon starts shrinking until, hey wait a minute. Was that really your pet lizard the whole time? You pick up your pet lizard, and suddenly you are in your own house holding your pet lizard. Then you go to the library and return the book.
The End
Saturday, June 4, 2005
Neighpunzel
Once upon a time there lived a very unhappy young mare named Neighpunzel. She hated her name, but most of all, she hated the witch that kept her locked up in the high barn that was hidden in the dark, spooky forest. Let me tell you about Neighpunzel. She is a white Lipizzaner horse. She was captured right after she turned three, her last year as a filly. But the strangest thing about Neighpunzel is her long tail. It reaches almost all way down the tall barn so it is two feet off the ground. Now the story…
THUMP! Neighpunzel jumped as she heard the thump of the witch kicking the door. Oh no! she thought, I haven’t finished dusting or done the dishes. If her tail was the same length as a normal horse dusting would be easy. But instead she had to put the awful-tasting duster in her mouth and move her head around. And the dishes, well, they were always hard, especially when you had to use your front hooves to wash and your back hooves to stand.
“Neighpunzel, Neighpunzel, let down your long tail!” The witch crackled. “No,” Neighpunzel answered stubbornly.
“Then we’re having horse meat tonight!” The we meant the witch and her weasel, which Neighpunzel hated. So she gave in and threw down her tail, which was still sore from the last time the witch climbed up it. The witch inspected the table. “This hasn’t been dusted,” she said. Then the witch ran to the sink. “And the dishes haven’t been washed.”
“But-but your Majesty, you were home early!”
“Shut- up, you fool! Not another word from you, and finish your work or you won’t be having any supper.” Just then a mail- bird flew by and dropped a paper. It landed so quietly that only Neighpunzel could hear it. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning, and I won’t be back until the day after tomorrow, in the afternoon.” The witch continued. “Now get to work.” Her weasel hissed, making Neighpunzel jump and knock a vase over. “Neighpunzel, you clumsy, worthless horse!” the witch shouted angrily. “No supper for you!” and with that she stormed into her room.
Neighpunzel ran out to see what the paper was. It was an invitation to a horse show. A horse show! Neighpunzel though excitedly. She burst through the door. “Your Majesty!” she called. “Can I ask you a question?”
“What is it?” the witch said grumpily.
“This horse show, Can I go?”
“No!!” the witch barked, “you will be busy making this barn/ house perfect while I’m gone.” Neighpunzel walked out of the witch’s room. If she didn’t make the barn/house perfect like the witch wanted, she might as well be dead.
The next morning, Neighpunzel woke up to find the witch and her weasel gone. Good, she thought, but I still wish I could go to the horse show. Then she saw a light. It was the magic fairy donkey! “Is there any thing I can do?” the magic fairy donkey asked.
“Yes! I mean No! Well not unless you can get me out of here.” Neighpunzel said. “I’m afraid my magic won’t be able to break the tower or lift you out of here, but I can go get another horse and his owner to get you out,” the Magic Fairy Donkey said. And then she disappeared. She came back a few minutes later. “A horse Prince is coming” the Magic Fairy Donkey said. “And he’s bringing his owner. Now let’s get you ready for the horse show.”
“But Fairy donkey, the witch wants the barn/house perfect when she comes back,” Neighpunzel said, looking worried.
“I think I can manage that,” The Fairy Donkey said with a smile. Then there was a poof! And the barn/house was perfect. Pretty soon Neighpunzel was too.
Then Prince and his owner came. “How are we going to get up there?” Prince wondered.
“I’ll climb,” his owner said. “How?” Prince said.
“Um, I haven’t thought of that part yet,” the owner said, looking embarrassed.
“What about my tail?” Neighpunzel called, throwing her tail down. And the owner climbed up. “You’re light,” Neighpunzel said when he got to the top.
“And you’re beautiful” the boy said.
Prince snorted. “Enough mushy-gushy stuff!” he said “Let’s get going!”
“How?” Neighpunzel asked. The owner, who’s name was James, looked for the Fairy donkey for help, but she had disappeared.
“Um, I guess we find some rope and lower you down.” There was a mad search, until they finally decided to tie the ropes they had already found together, to make a 75 foot rope.
“You’re going to fall about 5 feet when Prince unties you,” James told Neighpunzel. But he had forgotten that horses can’t untie knots. So James had to climb down the rope until he got to Neighpunzel, where he untied her and slid down the rest. Then they ran off to the horse show.
As it turns out, Neighpunzel and Prince won 1st and 2nd prize. Then they ran back to the high barn to figure out what to do about the witch. Finally they decided to steal the witch’s broom when she came back, and that would get rid of all her evil magic, locking her in the tower forever. Their plan was a little disorganized, but what do you expect from a 12 year old boy and two horses? Neighpunzel stole the broom and James lowered her down. Then he slid down. But so did the witch. James jumped to the ground. So did the witch. “You, you, you…” the witch started to say, but then there was a terrifying roar of a grizzly bear. The horses and James ran off, leaving the witch with the bear.
James, Prince and Neighpunzel became famous. They were even invited to stay at the White House for a few weeks, where they ran around, ate the most delicious food they had ever tasted, and Prince and Neighpunzel were invited into the ballroom for a big dance.
And what became of the witch? She managed to convince the bear not to eat her, but she ended up spending the rest of her days as a servant.
And they all (except for the witch and her weasel) lived happily ever after.
THUMP! Neighpunzel jumped as she heard the thump of the witch kicking the door. Oh no! she thought, I haven’t finished dusting or done the dishes. If her tail was the same length as a normal horse dusting would be easy. But instead she had to put the awful-tasting duster in her mouth and move her head around. And the dishes, well, they were always hard, especially when you had to use your front hooves to wash and your back hooves to stand.
“Neighpunzel, Neighpunzel, let down your long tail!” The witch crackled. “No,” Neighpunzel answered stubbornly.
“Then we’re having horse meat tonight!” The we meant the witch and her weasel, which Neighpunzel hated. So she gave in and threw down her tail, which was still sore from the last time the witch climbed up it. The witch inspected the table. “This hasn’t been dusted,” she said. Then the witch ran to the sink. “And the dishes haven’t been washed.”
“But-but your Majesty, you were home early!”
“Shut- up, you fool! Not another word from you, and finish your work or you won’t be having any supper.” Just then a mail- bird flew by and dropped a paper. It landed so quietly that only Neighpunzel could hear it. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning, and I won’t be back until the day after tomorrow, in the afternoon.” The witch continued. “Now get to work.” Her weasel hissed, making Neighpunzel jump and knock a vase over. “Neighpunzel, you clumsy, worthless horse!” the witch shouted angrily. “No supper for you!” and with that she stormed into her room.
Neighpunzel ran out to see what the paper was. It was an invitation to a horse show. A horse show! Neighpunzel though excitedly. She burst through the door. “Your Majesty!” she called. “Can I ask you a question?”
“What is it?” the witch said grumpily.
“This horse show, Can I go?”
“No!!” the witch barked, “you will be busy making this barn/ house perfect while I’m gone.” Neighpunzel walked out of the witch’s room. If she didn’t make the barn/house perfect like the witch wanted, she might as well be dead.
The next morning, Neighpunzel woke up to find the witch and her weasel gone. Good, she thought, but I still wish I could go to the horse show. Then she saw a light. It was the magic fairy donkey! “Is there any thing I can do?” the magic fairy donkey asked.
“Yes! I mean No! Well not unless you can get me out of here.” Neighpunzel said. “I’m afraid my magic won’t be able to break the tower or lift you out of here, but I can go get another horse and his owner to get you out,” the Magic Fairy Donkey said. And then she disappeared. She came back a few minutes later. “A horse Prince is coming” the Magic Fairy Donkey said. “And he’s bringing his owner. Now let’s get you ready for the horse show.”
“But Fairy donkey, the witch wants the barn/house perfect when she comes back,” Neighpunzel said, looking worried.
“I think I can manage that,” The Fairy Donkey said with a smile. Then there was a poof! And the barn/house was perfect. Pretty soon Neighpunzel was too.
Then Prince and his owner came. “How are we going to get up there?” Prince wondered.
“I’ll climb,” his owner said. “How?” Prince said.
“Um, I haven’t thought of that part yet,” the owner said, looking embarrassed.
“What about my tail?” Neighpunzel called, throwing her tail down. And the owner climbed up. “You’re light,” Neighpunzel said when he got to the top.
“And you’re beautiful” the boy said.
Prince snorted. “Enough mushy-gushy stuff!” he said “Let’s get going!”
“How?” Neighpunzel asked. The owner, who’s name was James, looked for the Fairy donkey for help, but she had disappeared.
“Um, I guess we find some rope and lower you down.” There was a mad search, until they finally decided to tie the ropes they had already found together, to make a 75 foot rope.
“You’re going to fall about 5 feet when Prince unties you,” James told Neighpunzel. But he had forgotten that horses can’t untie knots. So James had to climb down the rope until he got to Neighpunzel, where he untied her and slid down the rest. Then they ran off to the horse show.
As it turns out, Neighpunzel and Prince won 1st and 2nd prize. Then they ran back to the high barn to figure out what to do about the witch. Finally they decided to steal the witch’s broom when she came back, and that would get rid of all her evil magic, locking her in the tower forever. Their plan was a little disorganized, but what do you expect from a 12 year old boy and two horses? Neighpunzel stole the broom and James lowered her down. Then he slid down. But so did the witch. James jumped to the ground. So did the witch. “You, you, you…” the witch started to say, but then there was a terrifying roar of a grizzly bear. The horses and James ran off, leaving the witch with the bear.
James, Prince and Neighpunzel became famous. They were even invited to stay at the White House for a few weeks, where they ran around, ate the most delicious food they had ever tasted, and Prince and Neighpunzel were invited into the ballroom for a big dance.
And what became of the witch? She managed to convince the bear not to eat her, but she ended up spending the rest of her days as a servant.
And they all (except for the witch and her weasel) lived happily ever after.
Monday, April 25, 2005
The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus
One day a mother blue penguin laid three eggs. When the eggs hatched, the penguin’s names were Flipper, Flapper, and Feather. They lived with their mom for a year, and then their mom told them to go and build their own houses. “But watch out for the big bad walrus!” She warned. Then Flipper, Flapper and Feather were off.
The first little penguin (Flipper) dug a hole in the snow. Then he covered it with snow. The second little penguin (Flapper) cut down millions of icicles and piled them in a house shape. Then they danced around and slid and splashed in the water. Meanwhile the third little penguin (Feather) was busy making her house perfect with rocks sealed together with solid ice and snow. “Forget the house and come play with us!” they shouted. But Feather ignored them. Finally Flipper and Flapper went to bed. But not Feather. She stayed up late and finished her house.
The next day there was a thump at Flipper’s door. “Little penguin, little penguin, let me in!” a voice shouted. Flipper had been in such a hurry to finish his house that he forgot to make a window, so he poked a hole in the roof. The thing outside was the biggest, ugliest walrus Flipper had ever seen. It was the big bad walrus!
“Not by the feathers on the top of my head,” Flipper answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock you’re house down!” And with that, the walrus started to whack and smack.
Flipper dashed off, with the walrus at his heals. But Flipper reached Flapper’s house first.
Then there was a thump at Flapper’s door. “Little penguin, little penguin, let me in!” A voice bellowed. Flipper and Flapper peeped out through a space in between two icicles. There was the meanest, maddest walrus Flapper had ever seen.
“Not by the feathers on top of my head,” They answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock your house down!” And with that he started to whack and smack.
“Ahh!” the penguins screamed as the thin icicles shattered. Then they waddled as fast as they could, with the walrus at their heels, to Feather’s house. They reached her house just before the walrus, and they barely had time to push the ice door closed, but they made it in one piece.
“What are you doing here?” Feather asked “I thought you would be off playing,”
“The Wa-,” Flipper and Flapper started to say, but they were cut off by a thump at the door.
“Little penguins, little penguins, let me in!” a voice roared. The penguins looked out the window, and there stood the biggest, meanest, most furious walrus.
“Not by the feathers on top of our heads,” Flipper, Flapper, and Feather answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock your house down!” the walrus shouted, getting angrier by the minute. He started to whack and smack, but this time the house did not fall down. The walrus tried again and again and finally slunk over to the water shouting “I’ll be back and I’ll get you, you just wait, you’ll be sorry!” And finally he was gone.
“Yea!” all the penguins shouted “stone and ice is the best!” And Feather helped Flipper and Flapper make houses like hers for next time the big bad walrus came, though he never did. So they all lived (you guessed it) happily ever after.
The End!!!!
The first little penguin (Flipper) dug a hole in the snow. Then he covered it with snow. The second little penguin (Flapper) cut down millions of icicles and piled them in a house shape. Then they danced around and slid and splashed in the water. Meanwhile the third little penguin (Feather) was busy making her house perfect with rocks sealed together with solid ice and snow. “Forget the house and come play with us!” they shouted. But Feather ignored them. Finally Flipper and Flapper went to bed. But not Feather. She stayed up late and finished her house.
The next day there was a thump at Flipper’s door. “Little penguin, little penguin, let me in!” a voice shouted. Flipper had been in such a hurry to finish his house that he forgot to make a window, so he poked a hole in the roof. The thing outside was the biggest, ugliest walrus Flipper had ever seen. It was the big bad walrus!
“Not by the feathers on the top of my head,” Flipper answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock you’re house down!” And with that, the walrus started to whack and smack.
Flipper dashed off, with the walrus at his heals. But Flipper reached Flapper’s house first.
Then there was a thump at Flapper’s door. “Little penguin, little penguin, let me in!” A voice bellowed. Flipper and Flapper peeped out through a space in between two icicles. There was the meanest, maddest walrus Flapper had ever seen.
“Not by the feathers on top of my head,” They answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock your house down!” And with that he started to whack and smack.
“Ahh!” the penguins screamed as the thin icicles shattered. Then they waddled as fast as they could, with the walrus at their heels, to Feather’s house. They reached her house just before the walrus, and they barely had time to push the ice door closed, but they made it in one piece.
“What are you doing here?” Feather asked “I thought you would be off playing,”
“The Wa-,” Flipper and Flapper started to say, but they were cut off by a thump at the door.
“Little penguins, little penguins, let me in!” a voice roared. The penguins looked out the window, and there stood the biggest, meanest, most furious walrus.
“Not by the feathers on top of our heads,” Flipper, Flapper, and Feather answered.
“Then I’ll whack and I’ll smack and I’ll knock your house down!” the walrus shouted, getting angrier by the minute. He started to whack and smack, but this time the house did not fall down. The walrus tried again and again and finally slunk over to the water shouting “I’ll be back and I’ll get you, you just wait, you’ll be sorry!” And finally he was gone.
“Yea!” all the penguins shouted “stone and ice is the best!” And Feather helped Flipper and Flapper make houses like hers for next time the big bad walrus came, though he never did. So they all lived (you guessed it) happily ever after.
The End!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)