Me2 Presents...
One day Vladimir was flying over a town called Schnogolopogas when he saw a beautiful bird flying to the right of him. He said, ”Hello.” She ignored him and flew off. He went back home, sad and angry. Then he realized a shadow was spinning around his nest, a nest that was not anything like an ordinary nest: it had a sleeping pod and a full television room (because he had a T.V.) The nest also had a lock down chamber if there were any enemy birds on the loose. If it rained, it even had a ceiling to cover him. It was pretty much the best nest in town. The shadow turned out to be the bird he saw earlier.
She decided she was being rude and mean earlier and wanted to stop by and apologize. She said, “Hello. I’m sorry I was being o’ so rude earlier.”
“That’s ok. It happens a lot,” he answered.
“Want to go get some worms?”
Vladimir screamed, “YES, PLEASE!!! I…I mean sure.”
That’s how Vladimir and Olga met. It wasn’t long before they decided to be mates. She walked into the nest and decided to make some “femalish” changes to the nest. She put up some flower curtains on the windows of the nest. Of course, she cleaned the place spotless. Vladimir grew angry and decided to hunt for worms. He would be back in the morning.
When morning turned into afternoon, Olga grew restless. She went to find him. She found him but not very alive. Vladimir looked at her and said, “Take care of Squirly” (their pet turtle). She held Vladimir in her wings as he…he died.
Olga screamed, “NOOOOOO!!! You punk biker! Look what you did!”
The only thing the bicyclist heard was, “Chirp chirp chirp.”
Olga did not know what he was doing in the street, but she did see food on the road next to him. The boy just rode off into the sunlight. Then she woke up screaming “Vladimir!!!”
He woke up and said, “What!”
“Sorry I woke you up, but I had a terrible nightmare.”
Vladimir responded, “That’s okay. I have to change my clothes. I wet the bed.”
One month later:
One of Olga’s eggs hatched. It was a girl, and they named her Olga Mir. Olga Mir was a very ugly and rather stupid bird. Her parents tried to teach her to fly, but they never could. The bird doctor said she would never fly. She ran in circles until she hit her head against something. Sometimes, she would look in the mirror until it broke. Then she knew she was ugly. Her parents felt bad for her and decided to throw her a party.
At the party she met an also rather stupid bird named Harry. They became mates and lived down the branch from Vladimir and Olga. One day, one of Olga Mir’s eggs had hatched. Olga Mir’s mom was thrilled to be a grandmother to the baby bird. Its name was Harga Mir. One day Vladimir babysat Harga Mir. When Harga Mir showed up a storm appeared. Their branch on the tree split in half.
Vladimir was too old to fly and Harga Mir couldn’t. The branch was snapping, and they could do nothing about it. The wind blew Vladimir right out of the nest, and Harga Mir had to do something. She dove down deep into the storm and found Vladimir falling, and that’s when she realized she was flying. She caught Vladimir and flew him safely to shelter under a rock.
After the storm, the family regrouped and celebrated Harga Mir’s fantastic news. They went to the wormhole for a snack. After that they went back to the tree to build. Harga Mir flew all the pieces to build with to the new branch.
The new branch was much bigger and stronger than the last branch that had been blown away in the storm earlier. They finished the nest late that night. It had plenty more rooms and a fitness room. They even had a worm pantry and an extra bedroom for guests. It had a new and improved storm room that was nailed to the branch some how and a kitchen to cook worms in. Still probably the coolest nest in town. People were watching from a bedroom window and saw Harga Mir in the fitness room working out through the window. They all nearly fainted from the bird’s workout.
The people seemed quite satisfied with the birds singing as they worked. Then winter came. It came with a BOOM!!!
The birds had to build heaters for the nest and fast. The first snowfall was almost three feet deep. The birds would have to depend on what they had in their pantry to feed themselves. It was a good thing Harga Mir now lived on her own down the branch and had plenty of worms for herself. Then, her family came and told her that their nest had been snowed in during the storm. She welcomed them in and offered to feed them from her plentiful supply.
The supply lasted until spring. When they ran out, they could go for more worms because it was warm again. The singing on the branches had started once again. Vladimir and Olga headed back home for spring.
On one of these spring days, Olga was cleaning the nest and making changes. Vladimir didn’t want to stay home, so he said, “Olga, I’m going to hunt for worms. I’ll be back in the morning…”
Friday, June 5, 2009
Highway to Mucus World
HurleyHogs FILMS presents...Three years ago Mr. Mukas and his family took a journey to Mucus World. It took them five days: four hundred three miles. He took his wife Mrs. Mukas, his son Fat Mukas Jr., and his maid Mukas Mukas. But of course he took his dinosaur floaty with dark pink polka dots which was bright pink. The morning they woke up, it was Wednesday April 5, 1972, 7:01 in the morning. His wife just couldn’t shut up; she wouldn’t stop complaining, “It’s too early!” ” I have no make up!” “I might be late.”
Two hours later the Mukas family headed on the road for Mucus World .The place they call FUN!
On the way they encountered a turtle that ended up being their pet. They made their way two miles in three hours. They’re on their way when Fluffy the turtle needed to go to the bathroom. So they stopped and they were on their way to Mucus World. They stopped at a museum to take a break and settle down to stay in a hotel. They spent the night and about thirteen hours of the next day. As they slithered away from their nasty slow green slug slime mobile, they were on their way to Mucus World....again.
On the way there they ran into a hobo and he wanted change. They told him they had no change, but the hobo noticed the one hundred dollar bill in his left pocket. So of course they said it’s not for him. They needed it for Mucus World, hotels, and food. So they give him three dollars in one dollar bills. But the hobo had completely forgotten they had given him some change. So he asked for more.
They said they had just given him some change, so they look in his cup. Empty. He had actually eaten the dollar bills they gave him. They ran him over and took out his friend with the door.
And driving and driving, they noticed a gift shop. They stopped because Fat Mukas Jr. and Mukas Mukas wouldn’t stop yelling at him to stop. They went inside and noticed mood rings, monkeys, toy cars, and even dolls of Mr. Mukas. They baught one Mr. Mukas doll, four mood rings, and half a toy car. It’s been three and a half days now and some how they’re only half way there. Mr. Mukas thought to himself, “Mmmhhh, maybe it’s my dang kid and maid.” Here they go on their way….again. Their vacation to Mucus World has just begun.
They stopped at a motel because sleeping in the car last night was the worst idea ever. They got there and they realized they’re out of gas. So Mr. Mukas and Mukas Mukas went to get some gas. With the little gas they had, they realized the closest gas station is closed and they didn’t have enough gas to go to any other gas station because it would be too far away. They got back and there was NO gas left. Mr. Mukas said he would walk down in the morning with his portable plastic gas tank.
The next morning came, so he walked to the gas station to fill up his portable gas tank. He had to make four trips to get it full. He didn’t even think of just driving there with the gas he had after the first trip. So they’re driving, again. They were almost there, just one hundred six more miles to go. It was still so early it was still dark out. It had been two hours and was bright out now and they only needed ninety six more miles to go. They had been driving for another fifteen minutes, a half an hour, and still ninety miles to go.
Everyone had been complaining, and no one had stopped in fifteen minutes. Finally Mr. Mukas stopped because he could not take it anymore. He let them go to the bathroom, stretch, eat, and do the basic needs. After about twenty minutes, they were back on the road and ready to ride. It had been about another hour and a half with eighty-four miles to go. They thought they had been so close but they finally realized they were not really that close at all.
“Here we go,” they all said all together.
After realizing they were actually quite a ways from being there and all bummed out they start singing...desperately. They sang every song that you could think of. They sang “Wheels on the mucus,” “Rudolph the red nosed mucus,” and of course “Happy Birthday” even though it was no ones birthday. So anyway they were traveling...and still traveling and finally one last stop, or at least that was what they thought. So the last stop was at the fanciest hotel known to mucus kind. It had sweet beds with mucus sheets, mucus soda, and of course mucus cake. The phone rang.
No one.
Mr. Mukas said, “Mmm.”
They all thought to themselves so they disconnected the phone and went on with their mucus
lives. They slept and in the morning they hit the road one last time at least that’s what they hoped so.Mukas Mukas (the maid) said she thought it would be a good idea if they took a two day brake instead of just one night on the road. But just sixteen minutes later by looking on their G.P.S. they were here. But there was no Mucus World. They used the G.P.S. to find it again and they realized they went the wrong way. No Mucus World for them today. Mr. Mukas was so angry for some reason he divorced his wife. They split the money, Mr. Mukas married Mukas Mukas, and they share custody for Fat Mukas Jr. Four years later they meet up at a party and talked.
What do they say? Oh you know, the usual: “How has Jr. been,” “What’s been up”. Later that night they went out together and somehow got back together and had another child. They went to Mucus World as a family and they went the right way this time. They lived happily ever after, except that they have a second child now. They moved closer to Mucus World in case they wanted to go there again. Mr. Mukas now works there as the ticket salesman. He now works twenty four hours a week including weekends.
Her Notebook
PurplePenguin Presents...
“I am standing here. I have no idea where I am and what everybody is doing all dressed in black,” Ashleigh wrote in her notebook. She yelled out, “Who are all of you people and what am I doing here?” She looked around when out of nowhere, she remembered how this all happened.
***
“Bye Ashleigh, have fun on your school trip to Canada!” yelled her mother as her daughter walked on to the bus from the bus terminal and left.
The bus driver yelled out to everyone, “We should arrive in New York City in about five hours!”
Ashleigh got up to talk to the driver, “You must have made a mistake. This bus is going to Canada, right?”
“Sorry Miss, I may be old, but I know where I am going, is there a problem?”
“U-m-m N-o-o,” stuttered Ashleigh.
She walked back to her seat and sat down. She thought that the bus driver would probably realize that she was right and that he DID make a mistake but nothing happened. That’s when she knew she had walked onto the wrong bus, but she fell in to a nice deep sleep anyway.
Four hours later, the bus finally stopped and reached its destination. “I guess we got here early everyone. Please unpack your bags and have fun in New York City,” the bus driver said.
That was all she remembered, and she was in reality land and her flashback was over. She yelled out, “New York City? I AM IN NEW YORK CITY!?!” She grabbed her water bottle out of her book bag and splashed herself with it yelling once more, “Wake up! WAKE UP!!!”
She fell to the ground as all the men in black passed by her not noticing she was there. “Where are my class and teacher, and where is Canada?” She thought for a second and realized she had her cell phone with her. She knew she had to call someone. She couldn’t just sit around in a big city like New York City!
“Mom! It’s me, Ashleigh. I’m in New York City!”
“You’re WHAT!!” screamed her mother.
“I got on the wrong bus, and I don’t know what to do right now.”
“I will call you right back. Keep your phone on!”
As she hung up the phone, she just sat there calmly so nothing bad would happen. A few minutes passed and she got the call.
“Hey, so what’s the plan? What am I going to do?”
“Just explain to me where you are and everything will be fine!”
“I’m at some bus terminal, it’s really big and it’s called Port Authority!”
“Okay. Stay right where you are. My friend lives there and will come and pick you up! She has blond hair and blue eyes. She’s not too tall, but you will notice who she is. Call me when you find her! By the way, her name is Kelly.”
She kept waiting and waiting for someone to come, and she realized she was really bored when out of nowhere, a car pulled up to her. The girl in the car had blond hair and blue eyes, but you can never trust if it is really them. There are tons of blondes with blue eyes walking around.
She yelled to the girl, “Kelly. Is that you?”
“Are you Ashleigh?”
“Yes I am. I’m guessing your Kelly, my mom’s friend?”
“You got that right! Let’s go! You look freezing out here.”
“I am!” Ashleigh said in a relieved voice and laughed.
They reached the house and got inside. “Wow. This is your house? It’s amazing!”
“Thank you! I clean all the time!”
“I hope you’re not one of those neat freaks.”
“No no. Don’t worry.”
“What day am I going home? It’s not that I don’t like it here, it’s just that I want to know.”
“I will get in contact with your mother and see what day it’s possible for her to pick you up.”
“Are you going to buy me a bus ticket?”
“Well, I don’t know what I’m doing. Just relax and enjoy it while you’re here and I will find out this stuff!”
Ashleigh left the room to go relax like Kelly said. She was so bored, and she knew that Kelly was a TOTAL cleaning freak. Ashleigh also knew that this was going to be the worst time ever here because she wouldn’t be able to do anything that she did at home.
She walked into the kitchen where Kelly’s fiancé Jeff was there.
“Hey. Not to sound mean or anything, but I don’t want to have a boring time while I am here, and I want to get out and smell the kind of fresh air.”
“Oh. We LOVE to get out and smell the fresh air.”
“Would you show me around the big city while I am here please?”
“Sure. You, Kelly and I could all go tomorrow. How does that sound? Right after breakfast?”
“Awesome. I can’t wait!”
The next day came quickly and Ashleigh chomped down her breakfast really quick. She was so excited to see the city. She had seen tons of pictures and knew that it was huge and busy, so she had to be careful. Before she knew it, they were out the door to give her the “Big Tour.”
“Wow. This city looks amazing!”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” said Kelly.
They went through Manhattan, Rockefelle Center, and even Time Square.
“I am having a great time. This is so cool.”
“That’s great. I’m glad you like the city,” said Jeff.
“I’m going to have to visit back here, if that’s okay.”
“Sure. Why not? Bring your mom along too. I haven’t seen her in a while,” said Kelly.
“Okay!” said Ashleigh VERY excited.
The days went by quickly and time does fly by when you’re having fun.
“So did you talk to my mom? When did she say I am coming home? Not soon, right?”
“Well Ashleigh, I did talk to your mother and the only way you can come home is tomorrow. That is the only time she can pick you up at the bus stop.”
“Tomorrow?” Ashleigh choked.
“I’m sorry. You’re more than welcome to come back when you like.”
“I have only been here for four days!”
“I know, but your mother knows that you need to be home, and I will keep in touch with your mother all the time!”
“Well I guess I am going to go pack.”
She walked away, but she was okay after a while. She knew she COULD come back and that everything was going to be fine. She packed up all of her clothes, shoes, and even her teddy bear Mr. Snuffles.
“Jeff, Kelly. Thanks for everything! I really had a great time!”
“Of course. Anytime! Tell everyone we said hi!”
“Okay!”
Ashleigh walked on to the bus; she said all of her goodbyes and began to write in her journal once more.
“I feel like this was the best time of my life, and I will return here and do even more exciting things along the way. But until now, I shall just stay home and tell everyone what happened,” she wrote.
“I am standing here. I have no idea where I am and what everybody is doing all dressed in black,” Ashleigh wrote in her notebook. She yelled out, “Who are all of you people and what am I doing here?” She looked around when out of nowhere, she remembered how this all happened.
***
“Bye Ashleigh, have fun on your school trip to Canada!” yelled her mother as her daughter walked on to the bus from the bus terminal and left.
The bus driver yelled out to everyone, “We should arrive in New York City in about five hours!”
Ashleigh got up to talk to the driver, “You must have made a mistake. This bus is going to Canada, right?”
“Sorry Miss, I may be old, but I know where I am going, is there a problem?”
“U-m-m N-o-o,” stuttered Ashleigh.
She walked back to her seat and sat down. She thought that the bus driver would probably realize that she was right and that he DID make a mistake but nothing happened. That’s when she knew she had walked onto the wrong bus, but she fell in to a nice deep sleep anyway.
Four hours later, the bus finally stopped and reached its destination. “I guess we got here early everyone. Please unpack your bags and have fun in New York City,” the bus driver said.
That was all she remembered, and she was in reality land and her flashback was over. She yelled out, “New York City? I AM IN NEW YORK CITY!?!” She grabbed her water bottle out of her book bag and splashed herself with it yelling once more, “Wake up! WAKE UP!!!”
She fell to the ground as all the men in black passed by her not noticing she was there. “Where are my class and teacher, and where is Canada?” She thought for a second and realized she had her cell phone with her. She knew she had to call someone. She couldn’t just sit around in a big city like New York City!
“Mom! It’s me, Ashleigh. I’m in New York City!”
“You’re WHAT!!” screamed her mother.
“I got on the wrong bus, and I don’t know what to do right now.”
“I will call you right back. Keep your phone on!”
As she hung up the phone, she just sat there calmly so nothing bad would happen. A few minutes passed and she got the call.
“Hey, so what’s the plan? What am I going to do?”
“Just explain to me where you are and everything will be fine!”
“I’m at some bus terminal, it’s really big and it’s called Port Authority!”
“Okay. Stay right where you are. My friend lives there and will come and pick you up! She has blond hair and blue eyes. She’s not too tall, but you will notice who she is. Call me when you find her! By the way, her name is Kelly.”
She kept waiting and waiting for someone to come, and she realized she was really bored when out of nowhere, a car pulled up to her. The girl in the car had blond hair and blue eyes, but you can never trust if it is really them. There are tons of blondes with blue eyes walking around.
She yelled to the girl, “Kelly. Is that you?”
“Are you Ashleigh?”
“Yes I am. I’m guessing your Kelly, my mom’s friend?”
“You got that right! Let’s go! You look freezing out here.”
“I am!” Ashleigh said in a relieved voice and laughed.
They reached the house and got inside. “Wow. This is your house? It’s amazing!”
“Thank you! I clean all the time!”
“I hope you’re not one of those neat freaks.”
“No no. Don’t worry.”
“What day am I going home? It’s not that I don’t like it here, it’s just that I want to know.”
“I will get in contact with your mother and see what day it’s possible for her to pick you up.”
“Are you going to buy me a bus ticket?”
“Well, I don’t know what I’m doing. Just relax and enjoy it while you’re here and I will find out this stuff!”
Ashleigh left the room to go relax like Kelly said. She was so bored, and she knew that Kelly was a TOTAL cleaning freak. Ashleigh also knew that this was going to be the worst time ever here because she wouldn’t be able to do anything that she did at home.
She walked into the kitchen where Kelly’s fiancé Jeff was there.
“Hey. Not to sound mean or anything, but I don’t want to have a boring time while I am here, and I want to get out and smell the kind of fresh air.”
“Oh. We LOVE to get out and smell the fresh air.”
“Would you show me around the big city while I am here please?”
“Sure. You, Kelly and I could all go tomorrow. How does that sound? Right after breakfast?”
“Awesome. I can’t wait!”
The next day came quickly and Ashleigh chomped down her breakfast really quick. She was so excited to see the city. She had seen tons of pictures and knew that it was huge and busy, so she had to be careful. Before she knew it, they were out the door to give her the “Big Tour.”
“Wow. This city looks amazing!”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” said Kelly.
They went through Manhattan, Rockefelle Center, and even Time Square.
“I am having a great time. This is so cool.”
“That’s great. I’m glad you like the city,” said Jeff.
“I’m going to have to visit back here, if that’s okay.”
“Sure. Why not? Bring your mom along too. I haven’t seen her in a while,” said Kelly.
“Okay!” said Ashleigh VERY excited.
The days went by quickly and time does fly by when you’re having fun.
“So did you talk to my mom? When did she say I am coming home? Not soon, right?”
“Well Ashleigh, I did talk to your mother and the only way you can come home is tomorrow. That is the only time she can pick you up at the bus stop.”
“Tomorrow?” Ashleigh choked.
“I’m sorry. You’re more than welcome to come back when you like.”
“I have only been here for four days!”
“I know, but your mother knows that you need to be home, and I will keep in touch with your mother all the time!”
“Well I guess I am going to go pack.”
She walked away, but she was okay after a while. She knew she COULD come back and that everything was going to be fine. She packed up all of her clothes, shoes, and even her teddy bear Mr. Snuffles.
“Jeff, Kelly. Thanks for everything! I really had a great time!”
“Of course. Anytime! Tell everyone we said hi!”
“Okay!”
Ashleigh walked on to the bus; she said all of her goodbyes and began to write in her journal once more.
“I feel like this was the best time of my life, and I will return here and do even more exciting things along the way. But until now, I shall just stay home and tell everyone what happened,” she wrote.
The Journey
"Buffy" PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS...
It was August 5, 1902. Andréa was getting ready to take a long travel on her father’s old boat. Her father had died about two years ago out at sea. No one really knew how he had died, but he never came back. Her father was taking a big trip to go fishing. But the day he was supposed to come back, he never did. Andréa used to wait for him every day after that, but he never came, so she just gave up. Her father had given the boat to Andréa about of month before he had died. The boat looked more like a pirate ship. It was very old and had been made out of auburn wood that was faded to a very light colored brown. The boat was so old but somehow was kind of nice. As Andréa was untying the boat, her necklace dangled from her neck. It swayed back and fourth. She had gotten it for her sixth birthday present from her dad. She wasn’t really sure why it had been a dolphin, but it was very beautiful.
After she had untied the boat and got it ready, she hopped on and started steering down the Atlantic Ocean. The day was nice but the clouds seemed dark. Andréa was hoping it wouldn’t rain.
As she was sailing down the big ocean, she saw birds soaring in the sky; she also saw white and gray seagulls and the big blue ocean that was in front of her. Andréa had picked the perfect day to go sailing. After a while of sailing and admiring the appealing ocean, the sun started to set. Andréa looked up and saw the clouds were still dark. Maybe even darker. Andréa decided to go back home. She didn’t want to have to sail home in the dark, so she turned the big boat around and set off back home.
She heard a loud split of thunder. Andréa ignored the thunder and decided to just focus on getting back home. Then after at least five noisy cracks of earsplitting thunder, it hit her. Miniature tiny raindrops fell on her. First it started slow, 1... 2... 3... 4... 10... 20... then after maybe one blink thousands of chilly damp raindrops were falling on Andréa. It got really dark fast. Then the waves started crashing, the boat started swaying, and the thunder was so noisy that she had to cover her ears. Andréa tried to steer carefully but every time she went to turn, the gigantic waves would turn her in the opposite direction. Then she looked a round in puzzlement. Was home this way? No, maybe it was that way? After sitting there thinking a while, she couldn’t decide. She now knew that she was lost, in a boat, in a thunderstorm. Andréa felt scared. How was she going to get home? Was she going to die out here? Would she drown? So many horrible questions went through her head. Andréa started too panic. She wished her dad was here to help her. He would have known what to do. Then maybe she would’ve gotten out of here by now.
A gigantic wave came towards her boat and knocked it almost over. The wave was so large that Andréa lost her balance and fell down. She was knocked out. She must have been having a dream because she was on a boat, fishing, it was sunny, and her father was standing right next to her. He looked down at Andréa and smiled. The first words he said were “Don’t give up Andréa.” He then laid his hand on her shoulder and said, “I know you can do it.” Then with a blink of an eye, he was gone.
“But wait!” Andréa yelled. “Come back! I need your help!” Then the dream was over. She opened her eyes very slowly and rubbed them. Her head still ached a little bit to. Andréa must have been knocked out for a while because the sun was shining. The bright sun had dried up all the rain and it had seemed to be smiling down at her. She had to squint to get used to the brightness. Andréa stood up, looked around, and took a long stretch. In the distance she saw land about three miles away. She now knew where she was. Now she could make her way back from where her boat was.
“Yes!” she screamed. “I’m going to be okay!” Andréa was so cheerful she forget about her aching head.
When she finally reached the dock, she got off the old boat and tied it to the wooden dock. She looked back at the ocean, and in the distance she saw a dolphin. The dolphin looked up at Andréa and seemed to smile at her. As if to say, “Good work.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
After that she decided not to ride the boat only if she knew it wasn’t going to rain.
It was August 5, 1902. Andréa was getting ready to take a long travel on her father’s old boat. Her father had died about two years ago out at sea. No one really knew how he had died, but he never came back. Her father was taking a big trip to go fishing. But the day he was supposed to come back, he never did. Andréa used to wait for him every day after that, but he never came, so she just gave up. Her father had given the boat to Andréa about of month before he had died. The boat looked more like a pirate ship. It was very old and had been made out of auburn wood that was faded to a very light colored brown. The boat was so old but somehow was kind of nice. As Andréa was untying the boat, her necklace dangled from her neck. It swayed back and fourth. She had gotten it for her sixth birthday present from her dad. She wasn’t really sure why it had been a dolphin, but it was very beautiful.
After she had untied the boat and got it ready, she hopped on and started steering down the Atlantic Ocean. The day was nice but the clouds seemed dark. Andréa was hoping it wouldn’t rain.
As she was sailing down the big ocean, she saw birds soaring in the sky; she also saw white and gray seagulls and the big blue ocean that was in front of her. Andréa had picked the perfect day to go sailing. After a while of sailing and admiring the appealing ocean, the sun started to set. Andréa looked up and saw the clouds were still dark. Maybe even darker. Andréa decided to go back home. She didn’t want to have to sail home in the dark, so she turned the big boat around and set off back home.
She heard a loud split of thunder. Andréa ignored the thunder and decided to just focus on getting back home. Then after at least five noisy cracks of earsplitting thunder, it hit her. Miniature tiny raindrops fell on her. First it started slow, 1... 2... 3... 4... 10... 20... then after maybe one blink thousands of chilly damp raindrops were falling on Andréa. It got really dark fast. Then the waves started crashing, the boat started swaying, and the thunder was so noisy that she had to cover her ears. Andréa tried to steer carefully but every time she went to turn, the gigantic waves would turn her in the opposite direction. Then she looked a round in puzzlement. Was home this way? No, maybe it was that way? After sitting there thinking a while, she couldn’t decide. She now knew that she was lost, in a boat, in a thunderstorm. Andréa felt scared. How was she going to get home? Was she going to die out here? Would she drown? So many horrible questions went through her head. Andréa started too panic. She wished her dad was here to help her. He would have known what to do. Then maybe she would’ve gotten out of here by now.
A gigantic wave came towards her boat and knocked it almost over. The wave was so large that Andréa lost her balance and fell down. She was knocked out. She must have been having a dream because she was on a boat, fishing, it was sunny, and her father was standing right next to her. He looked down at Andréa and smiled. The first words he said were “Don’t give up Andréa.” He then laid his hand on her shoulder and said, “I know you can do it.” Then with a blink of an eye, he was gone.
“But wait!” Andréa yelled. “Come back! I need your help!” Then the dream was over. She opened her eyes very slowly and rubbed them. Her head still ached a little bit to. Andréa must have been knocked out for a while because the sun was shining. The bright sun had dried up all the rain and it had seemed to be smiling down at her. She had to squint to get used to the brightness. Andréa stood up, looked around, and took a long stretch. In the distance she saw land about three miles away. She now knew where she was. Now she could make her way back from where her boat was.
“Yes!” she screamed. “I’m going to be okay!” Andréa was so cheerful she forget about her aching head.
When she finally reached the dock, she got off the old boat and tied it to the wooden dock. She looked back at the ocean, and in the distance she saw a dolphin. The dolphin looked up at Andréa and seemed to smile at her. As if to say, “Good work.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
After that she decided not to ride the boat only if she knew it wasn’t going to rain.
Jeff’s Friend
A Fred Figglehorn Production
“OK, I’m going to the plain by the lake.” said Jeff
“Be back by Sunday.” Kelly responded.
Jeff grabbed his camping equipment, put on his shoes, left the biology lab, and slammed the door shut. When Jeff arrived at the plain, he began to pitch his tent and start a fire. Jeff started to look around for animals. He heard an owl, cricket, and a frog.
“Ahhh!!!” Jeff shrieked. A fawn had nudged his arm. He scared the fawn away. Jeff then decided it was time to go to bed. When Jeff woke up, he crawled out of the tent and looked directly at the lake, a moose was drinking from the lake. He grabbed his camera and took a picture of the moose. He started to cook breakfast. A few animals came to see what the smell was, including a raccoon, fox, and the fawn he had scared. He took pictures of the animals and continued to cook. He ate his breakfast and decided to get to work. He had been looking for a bear for about two and a half hours. He was hiding behind trees and boulders trying to keep from startling the animals.
It was about four in the afternoon when Jeff decided to call it a day and went to bed. He woke up and decided to try and look for a bear again. He looked in a different area, by the lake. On his way to the lake, he said to himself, “OK, this is my second day here and I still haven’t found any evidence as to why bears in this area can be vicious.” When he arrived at the lake, he saw ducks swimming in the water. He looked to his left, nothing. He looked to his right, nothing. He looked in the forest area, nothing. He went back to his camp, “Oh my God,” he gently said. A bear was rummaging through his back pack.
It looked at Jeff. Jeff looked at it. The bear snarled. Jeff stepped back a couple feet. The bear stepped forward a couple feet. Jeff slowly walked backwards to his truck; the bear followed. The bear growled and leaped forward. Jeff opened his truck door, got in his truck, started the truck, and left.
“Oh my God, Oh my God!!!” Jeff screamed. “Why did it do that?!?!” Then, something hit him. It was the answer as to why he was there in the first place. Bears in the area don’t like their homes disturbed. Jeff knew he had to go back and get the equipment, after all it wasn’t his equipment. He waited in his home until it was seven thirty and drove back to the plain.
He spotted the tent with his flashlight and saw the bear. The bear was eating the food Jeff had packed for the trip.
“Huhuh” Jeff sighed. The bear started to find Jeff’s scent. The bear was right next to Jeff. The bear bellowed a war cry. Jeff ran for his life. He tripped on a tree root. The bear caught up. Jeff crossed his arms in protection. Jeff looked at the bear. It looked puzzled. Jeff lowered his arms, and the bear sniffed Jeff.
“What?” Jeff asked himself. Jeff got up and walked around. The bear followed. He went back to the campsite and gathered the equipment and put it in his truck; the bear continued to follow. Jeff went to sit down by the lake. Exhausted from running he decided to rest by the lake for the night. When he woke up, the bear was still beside him. He walked to his truck; the bear followed. He opened the truck door. The bear started to whimper.
“Don’t cry,” Jeff pleaded. The bear looked up at Jeff with big brown eyes. “How about you come to the lab for a while” Jeff said to the bear. Jeff gave the bear a push to move him into the back of the truck. Jeff closed the tailgate door and sped down the road.
When Jeff arrived at the lab, he gently gave the bear a push to get him out of the truck. “Kelly look what I’ve got,” Jeff announced.
“Oh my God!” Kelly screamed. “You brought a bear to the lab?” Kelly asked Jeff.
“Yep” Jeff replied.
“This is great we’ll be able to get so much research done on this area!” Kelly excitedly screamed.
“Yeah,” Jeff said sadly
“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked.
“Well I brought the bear home because it looked like it was miserable in the wilderness,” Jeff responded.
“Oh, well we don’t have to examine this bear. If there’s one, there are one hundred,” said Kelly.
“OK” Jeff responded.
“I would take the bear back to where you found and release it” Kelly wisely said.
“Alright, come on” Jeff said to the bear. Jeff hopped into his truck and went back to the plain for the final time. He released the bear and said his good-byes to the bear and watched it walk off into the sunset. Jeff drove home relaxed and tired. When he arrived at his home, there was a mysterious looking letter taped to his door. He opened it.
Dear Jeff,
I know you miss the bear. It will be fine on its own, don’t worry about it! You were probably afraid of the bear when you first saw it, now you treat it like it’s your best friend. Take care! Visit the bear often!
Kelly
Jeff sighed, went in his house, walked up the stairs, walked into his room and fell onto his bed and went to sleep.
Heights
GreenJello proudly presents...January 7, 1990: A new girl in town, her name is Kristen Heights. Birthday: October 10, 1975. Place she wants to be: Florida. Kristen moved out from her parent’s house because she lived with her sister, Katie, and her cousin, Major, and her parents, Vicky and Larson. Her mom was the head of a big company, while her dad owned a lumberjack industry. Katie and Major had already started building their own store! And while Kristen lived there, she was nothing. Plain. Like thin air floating up to the clouds and slowly repeating itself.
She had dreams, dreams to go to college and become a kindergarten teacher or a high school math teacher. Her best friends lived with her. Their names were Heidi and Annabelle. They called Annabelle, Belle, but they called each other sisters. Heidi wanted to be a philosopher and Annabelle wanted to be a physiologist. Well, they would be split up when they went to college. But the bad thing was, they were leaving for college in about a month and a half.
“Did you see the new girls!! They moved into the Brookes house!! They won’t last here long.” Kristen heard a little boy say to a friend. She thought she had nothing to worry about, because they were new, but she will soon see.
“Hey girls, have you heard anything about this house because I had an interview for a job today and this person asked where I lived and I said on Hates Street and he said, ‘where on that street’ and I said the last house on the left before the huge bushes. And he started telling me how many people have gone ‘missing’ from this house!” Heidi explained, shocked to see Belle’s straight face just as Kristen’s face went sheet white.
“So what? Someone told you a folk tale about our house… How old was this dude again?” Belle explained and asked without anything but wonder.
“Bells, someone told Heidi a scary story about our house. Doesn’t that freak you out?” Kristen asked
“No” Annabelle said a heartless, stone cold no.
“What, why doesn’t that freak you out? Did the person who sold us this house ever let us meet the previous owner when we asked? No!” Heidi obviously was consumed with pondering thoughts.
“Heidi, let’s just drop it and go to bed. Maybe he was trying to scare us. Goodnight girls,” Kristen said.
“Yeah night,” Heidi said.They all went to bed. Heidi had a bad night’s sleep: a presence of someone watching her, gently rocking in the chair, staring at her bed. Bad dreams consisting of clowns, darkness, and endings. She was terrified of clowns. Kristen was terrified of long-lasting darkness. Annabelle acted as if she wasn’t afraid of anything but deep down she was afraid of something.
The next morning…
January 8, 1990: “Okay… They had a weird experience last night when a ‘story’ came home with Heidi about their new house. And after Kristen heard that little boy, I think she is scared. She can’t even watch scary movies. She is terrified. Kristen wants to look over her shoulder, but she is scared to think what might be behind her. She might just stay home today all alone with Annabelle. She might even ask why Belle isn’t scared or freaked out about the story. And see if she can get an answer although it would be like ripping nails out of steel. Kristen wants to know why it didn’t shock Belle about what news Heidi had brought back. Kristen just had a different idea about the news that she had heard… I guess. Kristen would be home almost all day just to wander the halls of the house, and wonder what lies through the dark, gloomy halls.”
***
“Good morning everybody! What’s for breakfast? I hope its pancakes with eggnog coffee!” Belle came into the kitchen chanting. The two girls gave her a very disgusted look. “What haven’t you ever met me?!”
Then Belle poured herself a cup of coffee with eggnog and gave Heidi a great big hug and said in the sweetest little tone and big smile, “Heidi will you please make me some pancakes?”
Heidi was a softie for big smiles.
“So how did you girls sleep?” Kristen asked in a perky tone.
“Good,” she heard from Belle, although nothing from Heidi.
“Heidi, how did you sleep?” Kristen asked in a gentle voice.
“Well… I slept okay. I guess I had a weird feeling,” explained Heidi.
“What kind of feeling?” Belle questioned.
“A weird feeling like someone was watching me.” Heidi opened up.
“Oh my goodness, just let the story go Heidi!” Belle screeched as she slammed her coffee cup on the counter.
“No, I won’t let it go! You should have heard his tone of voice, he sounded dead serious,” Heidi said.
Belle just walked away. “She is just…” Kristen was cut off.
“I’m going to work! Bye and have a great day. And I know he wasn’t just lying,” Heidi said.
“I will watch where I go,” Kristen assured Heidi.
That Afternoon
Kristen was walking through the halls as she heard a sound of a door slowly creaking, like nails on a chalkboard. A few minutes passed and then she heard a harp playing gently above her. She saw a door ahead and walked closer. The music got louder and louder. She opened the door. There were stairs, and she walked up them slowly as the music got louder. She started to speed up. She got to a black door. The music was definitely in that room. She pushed the door open and, nothing. Not a thing, the room was empty except for a spider webbed harp, a black chest, a photo album, and an old book with writing. Kristen didn’t dare touch anything. She immediately ran down the stairs and was only left with thoughts of the attic.
Later that evening
Heidi returned home and rushed into the house. “Kristen! Belle!” She shouted up the stairs. They came down the stairs. “Okay listen. The story is true.” Heidi said as Belle started to walk away. “Listen Belle, I found a newspaper article talking about people missing from this house and a week later they were found dead.” The girls just stared into the house.
“Okay maybe this is true. Let’s look for more articles and talk to the families,” Belle had made the suggestion.
“Oh yeah, we just go to their home and say ‘hey, we live in a house your child lived in and could you tell me if anything creepy happened before they died!’” Heidi yelled.
“Guys! Let’s take this seriously okay. Now we can look up more papers alright! But for now let’s go to bed. Goodnight,” Kirsten stormed off. Heidi and Belle didn’t say anything after Kristen went up the dark stairs. They then all went to bed.
January 10, 1990: “Alright, it’s real. The stories the articles; it’s all real! People have gone missing then found DEAD 7 days later. All with-in the first month of living in this house! Okay Kristen, Belle, and Heidi plan to move out but they never expected what was happening.”
That afternoon
“Girls!! Let’s go I want to leave before we are next!” Belle was realizing the truth about their little house on the left.
“Okay, but first I wanna show you something.”
She showed them the attic and after a little argument, it came. A ghost popped up! The man told of the people who lived there and that were now dead. The man sent warnings to Heidi in her sleep. The feeling of someone watching over her was the ghost. He told them they were next. Then the ghost disappeared into the dark, gusty fog in the attic. They ran screaming. But something had got Heidi and she collapsed to the floor. Dying. Then, Kristen and Belle, with Heidi in their arms, ran to Heidi’s car and drove off to the hospital. All that was running through Kristen’s mind was this is a challenge; it’s a dream; it’s all fake.
As if Kristen were asleep this was a horrible nightmare. Then the car swerved, hit another car, and flipped down a hill. The crash injured Belle and Heidi was now dead in the backseat. Belle told Kristen to go and run and make sure she’s safe and the killer died.
Kristen ran and called the cops who tell her to take a car and go out of town, but they told her to tell them where they are going. She said, “I’m going to kill the man who killed my best friends.” And then she ran off. She stole a car and went after him. They ended up in the woods. He asked for their names, and she told him. She asked, “Why?”
He said, “Because you lived in the house.”
She asked him if he killed all those people who lived in that house and he said, “Yes, I did.”
She had a secret and he did too. She had a knife, and he had his hand in his pocket thinking she would not hurt him. She stabbed the knife through his heart, and he dropped to the ground. He was dead. She lay on the grass and fell asleep.
She woke up in her bedroom in the house on the left, with the pages of the journal of everything that happened scattered across the room. Her dead best friends were next to her. She screamed and nobody saw her ever again”
“That story was so fake Jack!” A girl said.
“No Chelsea! It’s real! I can show you the house.”
“Jack, no let’s just go eat lunch.”
“Alright” They started to walk away.
“Hey, you wanna hear about the last house on the right?!”
“No Jack,” Chelsea said.
“No it’s no problem,” Jack said.
“No Jack, that’s okay.”
“Your loss” Jack said, and they walked to lunch with the knowledge of the last house on the left of Lasting St.
No Way Home!
“Settle down everyone. OK, is every body here?” Chris said calmly. After he said that, Chris and all the 30 tourists started to walk around the museum. They all ended up in the South American’s Rainforest. “As most of you should know by now, the rainforest has animals such as monkeys, snakes, birds, cheetahs, insects, and reptiles.”“That’s amazing!” said one of the tourists.
“OK, let’s move on. Now we are heading for the glass part of the museum. Please keep all your hands to yourselves at all times. Thank you,” said Chris. “Let’s move on please.” Chris was planning to show all of them a very special painting. When they all got to where they were going, Chris made them be quiet.
“What’s behind this curtain is something very important.”
“Come on open the stupid curtain! I’m waiting,” said an impatient tourist.
“Hold on. Now for the grand finally…” Chris paused. “Ta Da! The exit to the outside. Aah. Feel that sunshine!” Everybody looked confused, except for one person.
“Can I leave now? OK bye! (Thud) WHAT!! Why can’t I go outside?”
Chris laughed. He knew what was going on. It wasn’t really the door to the outside.
“That’s not funny!” yelled a tourist.
“I got you all because I was just kidding. This is actually a picture of a parking lot. Who here has heard of a guy named Michael Forager? He was 55 when he drew this picture.”
“Is he dead?” asked a tourist.
“Yes he is. He died in 1994. That was 5 years ago.” As he told that story, Sarah’s attention was caught on a shiny object. She was walking toward it when she stumbled over a large piece of a curtain.
“That’s weird,” Sarah said
* * *
“Let me see if we all are still here. 10, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29… 29… Wait we are missing somebody! Let’s go back to the parking lot picture everybody.” Chris panicked. He was very worried that she was either kidnapped or lost in the large museum. Meanwhile Chris called backup to help look for her.
* * *
Sarah tried to open the second curtain, but it was too late. Backup came. They called Chris on the walkie-talkie to say that she was alright.
“I was worried about you.”
“I’m sorry about that Chris. I was focused on a shiny object right over there. By the way, what’s behind the other curtain?”
“Oh, you found the other curtain,” Chris said with a little smile.
“Yes. What is it?” asked Sarah. As they all walked over to the second curtain, Sarah said she was very exited to see what was behind the other curtain. Actually, everybody said they were very excited to see it too.
“Well, I am going to tell you that right now. What ever is behind this curtain is very special.”
“Come on open the curtain for the second time already,” yelled a tourist.
“Hold on. Hold on. Are you ready to see what’s behind THIS curtain?” Everybody cheered. “And now for the curtain of the day…” The tourists couldn’t hold on any longer.
“A new meaning of life. A sweet place to be,” Chris announced. “And I am not kidding about this one. This is a time capsule or as you all know it as a time machine. It can bring you to the past or to the future in just seconds.” Everybody especially Sarah, wanted to go to the future.
“Can we go to the future?” asked Sarah.
“Sadly no, but I can give you a tour of the rest of the museum,” said Chris. When everybody left with Chris, Sarah stayed to check out the machine. She stepped into the time capsule and accidentally pushed a button. She didn’t know until the machine started to move, and then she realized she had pushed the button.
“Oh no! What have I done? I want to get out of here!” Sarah panicked.
* * *
While Chris gave a tour of the rest of the museum, Sarah was in the past. Chris didn’t even know it until someone was yelling,
“Where is my sister?”
Chris looked back and counted all the tourists, and he counted 29 again. He noticed that it was the same girl who ran off the first time. Once again they all had to go back to the time capsule. But once they arrived, they noticed that the time capsule was not there. Chris was thinking that he was in big trouble with his boss because Chris wasn’t supposed to show any tourists the time capsule.
“Please stay calm. We are going to find Sarah sooner or later.”
“Please hurry. My mom is going to kill me because I didn’t stay with her and now she is lost,” cried the tourist.
“Calm down please.” Chris said calmly.
* * *
“Where am I? I’m not sure, but I think I am in the past, and I mean the way past like sometime in B.C. Aah a dinosaur! ” she screamed. She was scared so she ran for her life. Sarah didn’t know what to do. She was stuck in the past FOREVER!!!!!!! (or at least that’s what she thought).
* * *
Again Chris called backup but this time the backup could not find her and that was a problem. It was a very bad mystery. Chris just remembered that there was another time capsule in the back of the museum. He told everybody to stay put so he could go get the other time capsule. (Yes it was light enough to carry. Amazing!)
“I’m back and here is the other time capsule. I am going to plug it in the outlet, and then I want you all to start bordering it.” Chris demanded.
“What are we going to do? Are we going to go to the future or the past?” asked a tourist.
“We are going to the past. I think she went to the early years in the B.C.’s” As Chris plugged the time capsule up, all the tourists started to chat about going to the past. They all were very exited to go to the past for the first time ever. They all boarded the time capsule and off they all went.
“Cool! Where are we?” asked a tourist.
“Now we are in the past,” Chris explained. “We are here to find a girl who’s name is Sarah. She should by around here somewhere.” The only problem is that Chris didn’t know that they all landed on the other side of the continent. They all looked forever and ever and still didn’t find her.
“Where is she? I am getting worried that we will never find her,” cried the tourist.
“Don’t worry. We will find her.” They all kept looking very hard.
* * *
“I’ll stay right here and won’t move. It’s been two days and I am scared,” said Sarah. “Hey, I think I actually see them!” Sarah exclaimed. She was so proud to see all her friends and her sister. Sarah ran as fast as she can just to go see them. The tourists also ran as fast as they could too.
“Are you all right?” asked Sarah’s sister.
“Yes, now that you’re all here.”
“OK everybody; let’s go back to the time capsule. Follow me please,” Chris said. It took two days until they all reached the place where they had landed. They all realized that the time capsule was not there and that was another problem. The tourists and Chris were very scared.
“Where is the time capsule? I need to know!” yelled another tourist.
“I don’t know, but I’m scared too,” Chris said nervously. Again they all looked around for the time capsule. No one found it of course. They were all stuck there FOREVER!!!!!!!
Sarah was right. No way home!
Table Top
A "BrownieLover101" production...While hibernating, Jim had no clue what was going on around him. The world was passing by while his baby Logan was waking up periodically and making a total mess of the house. Jim’s wife Carrie was on a book tour In Madagascar, so she had no clue what was going on back home in the little town of Hull, Idaho. Jim decided to hibernate for the winter because he had been having really terrible mood swings lately. Logan messed everything up that was in sight and in her reach and had some of her friends come over sometimes who were older, but they always had a good time. Logan was almost two and her friends were all five in a half. There were a few that did a quality job whose names were Summer, Anna and Kirstin.
“What should we mess up today? The living room?” Logan murmured since her speech was not the best.
“Yeah, sounds good to me!” replied Summer with a huge smile on her face.
“Have you ever wondered what would happen if your Dad woke up and found us having an awesome time trashing the place?” Anna mumbled.
The team was off destroying the house. While they were off doing that, they didn’t know what was lurking behind the walls of the house. Outside a terrible crime was being committed. A burglar was watching everything that was going on. He had been watching them for a while now. The burglar was known all around town; his name was Sparky, Sparky Table. He was known for stealing tables from rich people’s houses and Jim had an estate that was worth a million dollars. Sparky was hoping to go scope out his surroundings tomorrow, but he didn’t know how he was going to do it. He was aiming for their glass table with beautiful jewels encrusted on it. His problem was getting the table out of there while being totally quiet, so Logan wouldn’t wake up. The next day after Logan went to take a nap, Sparky went in. As he walked in the front door, he was already having trouble. The door rang when it opened and immediately Logan woke up, so Sparky furiously ran up the staircase into the bathroom and slammed the door shut and locked it. Logan heard a noise, so she got up crawled up the stairs. She had a terrible time getting up there because of the gate that was at the bottom, but she was too smart for it. She finally got up to the top and looked around. She didn’t see anything, so she crawled back down the stairs, which gave her a major wedgie. Logan went back to the couch and fell back asleep. After about 10 minutes of complete silence, Sparky unlocked the bathroom door and walked down the stairs, opened the door, and walked outside. After he stretched out his arms from being stuck in a 12 by 24 foot bathroom, he noticed that his crappie old piece of a car that had been kicked, scratched, with a paint job with about 20 different shades of orange was missing. He had no place to go without his car because he practically lived out of it. What would he do now? He decided to go back inside the house and go back to the upstairs bathroom where he could stay the night and then find his car in the morning because it was already 9 P.M. and he was exhausted. So he fell asleep with his head on the toilet cushion and his arm in the waste paper basket.
While Sparky was in the bathroom, Logan got up for a snack. She always had a hard time falling
asleep because of Jim’s ridiculously loud snoring. After having her deep fried chicken from Phil’s Chicken House that was left in the fridge before the hibernating started, Logan went back to sleep again. Sparky woke up in the middle of the night because he had remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and the smallness of the bathroom was killing his back. He enjoyed the fried chicken too. While he was eating the chicken, he made a game plan in his head for getting the table out of there before he made any bigger mistakes, but then he looked around and saw that the place was a dump, so he really wasn’t that worried about making a mess. Finally, he was done making his game plan in his head and looked for some paper so he really could make this burglary the best he had ever done. While looking for the paper, he noticed that the Logan had absolutely no clothes on what so ever any time Sparky saw her. He thought that was a little strange, but then again so was Sparky for being obsessed with tables. He spotted some paper and was on his way back up the stairs to finish writing it in the bathroom and get some more shut eye before his big day.The next morning Logan wasn’t up yet which was surprising because usually she was up at least by 8 a.m. Sparky had been keeping her schedule, but the fact that she wasn’t up was good for Sparky, so he could get out of there earlier. In his process of somewhat disassembling the table, he really had to go to the bathroom. He took a little break to relieve him and get another snack. After he was done with his snack and done going to the bathroom, he headed back into the dining room where the table remained in many different parts. Now Sparky had a whole other problem that he had forgotten about. His car was still missing, so he decided to play it out and take Jim’s car instead. Jim’s car was very special to him; he raised his cars so he could race them in Japanese sports car shows. Sparky took the car that Jim won with in 2001. He loaded up the car with the table parts and drove away without anyone waking up. But there was one other thing that Sparky didn’t think about: all the rich people had video cameras, so when Jim finally woke up from his hibernation and realized that his car was missing and saw all the mess that had been done over the course of his hibernation, he automatically went to the security room and saw everything that had happened around him. Jim called the police and cleaned the house up without Carrie knowing what had happened.
Sparky Table was found and put in jail. To this day Sparky Table was still in jail and Jim never hibernated again!
The Green Forest
A dark fairy tale by: NoWhereManOnce upon a time, there was a slave named Abagail. She was twenty-three. She wore a blue plaid dress with a white apron and wore her nice, straight, silky hair in a bun. Her owner was a forty year old, rich, plantation owner named Arthur who wore a blue silk shirt and black silk pants. His hair was really short. Arthur had a sister named Elizabeth who was a thirty-two year old widow who wore a black and blue mixed dress and also had her hair up in a bun, but her hair was nothing like Abigail’s. Her hair was puffy. Elizabeth worked on the plantation by watching the women slaves. They lived in South Carolina on a cotton plantation near the Atlantic Ocean. One day in the fall of the 1740s, Arthur had a craving for a fresh berry salad. He yelled, “Abagail! Elizabeth! Come here!”
When they came in, they looked scared because they didn’t know what he wanted them to do.
“Yes master?” Abagail asked.
Arthur sighed, “I want a fresh berry salad as so as possible.”
“O.K. Arthur, I know why you called for her, but why did you call for me?” Elizabeth asked.
“Because,” Arthur said, “I want the berries from the berries from the Green Forest and I need you to make sure she won’t run away.”
They both gasped at the surprise. The Green Forest was heard to be haunted. No one went in there without either dying or getting badly injured.
“Oh,” Elizabeth started, “then who will watch over the other slaves then?”
“Hannah, will watch over them,” Arthur stated.
Hannah was Elizabeth’s only daughter who was eleven. She wore fancy silk clothes that Uncle Arthur bought her.
“Hannah? But she’s my only daughter! What if she gets hurt? She doesn’t know how to do the job anyway!” exclaimed Elizabeth.
“Well she has to learn someday if she’s going to own this plantation, and you better teach her quick because you leave at sundown,” Arthur said in a scary voice.
“But she’s only eleven!”
“I said go!” and he stood up with rage.
“Yes, Arthur”
As they left, Abigail saw a tear on Elizabeth’s face. She asked, “What’s wrong Elizabeth?”
“Hannah is just not ready for the job I have.”
“I know,” said Abagail as they arrived at Elizabeth’s house, which was forty feet away from Arthur’s house. “I’ll tell you what though; I will help teach Hannah what to do when we’re gone.”
“Thank you. You’re a good friend,” Elizabeth said. “Oh, no it’s almost sundown, and we haven’t even started!”
“Then we better hurry!”
They both hurried into Hannah’s room and explained what had happened and how to watch the female slaves and how to catch them if they started to run off. After they explained everything to Hannah, they got their bags packed with food and clothes. They got everything packed and were out the door at sundown.
Just then Arthur came and said, “I hope you ladies have a safe and happy trip to the Green Forest.”
They walked two miles in the dark to the edge of the Green Forest. That’s were they made camp in the lantern’s light. After they made camp, Elizabeth said, “Go and get some water down by that creek while I get some firewood.” Abigail did what she was told. As Abagail came back with the water, Elizabeth already had the fire going and was cooking a venison steak. After they ate, they put out the fire that made a sizzling sound that scared Elizabeth because she had never heard it. After that they want to bed.
In the morning they got up at sunrise and made corn meal for breakfast. One hand later, they started to pack things up and head out into the creepy Green Forest.
“We need to split up to cover more ground to find those berries,” Elizabeth said. Abagail nodded. They had to walk through the forest trying to find a trail. A half a hand later Abagail screamed, “I FOUND THE BERRIES!” she said with joy.
Elizabeth found a small trail were Abagail was. She came sprinting over to where Abagail was. “Oh my gosh! You found all the best berries: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and gooseberries!”
They picked all the berries they could see. After they picked and packed them, and licked their fingers, they headed out of the forest. A couple minutes later, they heard aloud crack that sounded like thunder, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Just then a large heavy piece of wood fell on Elizabeth and paralyzed her legs.
Instead of running away like any other slave and leaving Elizabeth to die, Abigail took Elizabeth’s pack and put it on. Then she picked Elizabeth up and started to carry her back home. On the way home, they snacked on the delicious berries.
They didn’t get home until five hands later. Abagail went right to Arthur and said, “A tree branch fell on her and she can’t move her legs.”
“Thank you for bringing her home. I’ll let you go and live free for the rest of your life,” he said.
“You’re welcome and thank you,” Abagail started, “but before I go I’m going to make the best berry salad you’ve ever had.”
“Oh, thank you, I completely forgot about that.”
A couple minutes later the salad was ready. Arthur said, “It’s the best berry salad I’ve ever had.”
Untitled
A heart warming tale by: SoftServe
In the small village of Greenville, Maine, William, and his brother, Brendon, along with their families were very close. Their families were together all the time. In the summer they would get together for picnics and soccer games and in the winter they would go ice skating and sledding everyday. They would have play dates for the kids during the week. On the weekends the brothers and their families would be together from morning until night for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Holidays were extra special to them they spent Christmas, Easter, and every holiday they could think of, together.
William was the older brother. He always knew what to do in every situation especially when their parents left him in charge of something. He was bossy, but always got the job done. A determined man, he always worked hard to succeed. Brendon was more of a shy guy he didn’t say much but always worked hard.
William went to Harvard to be an accountant, were he meet his wife Sarah. Her books fell and he helped her pick them up and as soon as they looked each other in the eyes they fell in love. During their third year of college they got married.
Brendon, his brother, went to Yale to become a teacher. He worked really hard in school and succeeds. Brendon was the smartest student in his class. He completed college two years earlier than the rest of his class.
Their parents made it a big deal to do well in school because they had to work really hard all of their lives just to survive they didn’t want their boys to have to work as hard as they did. Two years little after Brendon graduated he meet his wife, Bella. At the age of 35 he had three children, Lily, Joseph, and Ella. William and Sarah were both 39 and already had four children Michael, Clara, Sophia, and Thomas. Sarah loved children, and enjoyed caring for Brendon and Bella’s children while they both worked.
The William and Brendon enjoyed visiting their parents even though they lived 300 miles away. They would load the boys in Brendon’s van and the girls in William’s van and off they would go. It was fun to share with their children what it was like growing up in the country with their parents. Every time they kids went to their grandma’s and grandpa’s house they would tell them the best stories ever. She would tell stories of how their family came over from Italy to America. She told the boys how their parents meet on a boat on their journey to America. Both families chose to settle next door to each other. The boy’s grandfathers were carpenters and built the house they grew up and their parents got married and had William and Brendon a couple years later.
This trip home however was unpleasant. William and Brendon’s parents were in a car accident and killed by a drunk driver. The boys were devastated that their parents would never be able to see their grandkids get married, have their own kids, learn how to ride a bike ,and tons of other things. They loved their parents so much. As the brothers were preparing for the funeral they thought of all of the good times they had in that old country house. How the floor creak, the doors would get stuck and they would help their dad fix because they did everything like their dad when they were very little. After the funeral the boys and their families returned home.
As the months went by the brothers realized that they had to go home, and sort through their parents things and find out if they are going to keep the house. It was time to decide what to do with the house they grew up in. William and Brendon pack a bag and headed home for the weekend.
When they arrived Friday night it was very late. William woke up early and took charge as always. “Brendon why don’t you start in the basement? I will start in the attic, and we can meet somewhere in the middle.”
“That’s fine with me. I just want to get this over with”, said Brendon.
The two boys set off in different directions, and began to sort. As much as the boys didn’t want to do this they knew it had to be done. William found many treasures and reminders of their parent’s long journey to America. He even found his Great grandmother journal. Brendon came across the tools of his Grandfathers, he and his brother’s baseball gloves, and a box of very old maps of Italy. He was surprised when he found the maps. He remembered his mother telling stories of their family bringing over very old documents from the 1600’s with them. Their parents knew these documents were very valuable because they were over 350 years old or so. He set the maps aside and continued to work. The time went by so fast that before they realized the day was gone. William and Brendon brought their finds to the den, and ordered a pizza and opened a bottle of their grandfathers’ famous wine. Brendon showed William the maps and documents he found and suggested they give them to their sons. William thought that was a great idea. William told Brendon of the journal he had found. The boys looked at it, but couldn’t read Italian so they set it aside and continued to share what they had found.
The next day the boys worked until late afternoon and then head for Greenville. They were really tired when they reach home so the brothers just went to bed.
Several weeks passed and Sarah yelled to William “What are you going to do with these boxes from home?”
“I guess I will call Brendon and see if Bella and he would like to come over for a picnic. And we can go threw them save what we want and get rid of the rest.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Brendon and Bella arrived and the four of them sat down with a bottle of Great grandpas’ wine. They started to go though the boxes. Bella came across the journal. She tried to read it however it had been years since she had study Italian. She could make out some of this however it wasn’t making much since. She had made out enough to know that the maps the brothers found were very important. Sarah and Bella convinced the boys to take the journal and maps to a professor at Yale that was a good friend of Brendon.
Professor Cantabonia had taught Italian at Yale for 35 years. She could read and speak it well. “Brendon how long has it been? 5, 6 years!”
“Oh Professor Cantabonia thank you so much for seeing me.”
“Please, Brendon anything for you, and just so you know you can call me Rose, I was so sorry to hear about your parents. How is your William doing?” she asked.
“He is doing well. We found this journal and these maps in our parents’ house Bella couldn’t understand only parts of this and thought maybe you could help us to understand what these were all about.”
“I would love to. Let’s see what we have here. Brandon this is going to take some time could a keep these for a week or so?” Rose told Brendon.
“Sure, Rose, take your time there is no hurry. They have been in the attic for all these years what a few weeks.”
“As soon as I’ve found anything I will give you a call.”Brendon yelled on his way out the door.
The next day the phone rang and Bella picked it up and said, “Hello.”
“Bella, this is Rose is Brendon there?” Rosa said exactly
“Yes, just a minute, and I will get him.”
“Rose, that was quick it hasn’t even been two days.” Brendon said confused.
“Well once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Your grandmother was quite a writer. Her journal read like a novel. I couldn’t put it down. I haven’t slept because I could stop putting the pieces of this terrific puzzle together. Is there any way that if I came up to Maine I could meet with William and you I think I should share what I found with both of you together.”Rose asked.
“Sure, how about this weekend?” Brendon told her
“Well I was hoping that tomorrow would be better if that’s ok with the two of you?”
“Ok. Is there something wrong?”
“Oh no just the opposite. Something is great and I know you are going to love it.” Rose said
“We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Brendon called William and told him about the call from Rose and invited him and Sarah over for dinner the next night. Wednesday came and so did Rose.
“Gentlemen your parents never realized the value of the papers they posed. Your Great grandparents own the largest vineyard in Italy. Your grandmothers were best friends and when your father’s parents decided to come to America. Your mother’s mother was sad that her best friend was leaving so your grandfather tired to sell his vineyard. They didn’t have any money to start over with here in America. Your father’s parents gave them some of their land here to build a house. Your Grandfather was so thankful he split His land in Italy and gave half to your grandfather. The two families never went back. I did some research and found out your family still own the land.”
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” exclaimed William?
“Oh, Dear God!” said Sarah.
“That’s right you own the biggest vineyard in all of Italy.” Rose exclaimed.
As soon as the brothers came back from their trip to Italy, they realized that if they sold the vineyard they would be putting a lot of people out of Jobs. So the brother decided to keep the vineyard and run like a family business, the way it should have been. Once William and Brendon the business was strong and giving them a good income they decide to buy their parents house and a house in Italy. As they were a year in the business they found a great deal of money left from when their parent’s parents run the business. Later that year they got an award for the best wine in Italy.
Right now the boys are very rich and currently send all their kids to college. They have also been receiving tons of awards for their fabulous wine.
In the small village of Greenville, Maine, William, and his brother, Brendon, along with their families were very close. Their families were together all the time. In the summer they would get together for picnics and soccer games and in the winter they would go ice skating and sledding everyday. They would have play dates for the kids during the week. On the weekends the brothers and their families would be together from morning until night for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Holidays were extra special to them they spent Christmas, Easter, and every holiday they could think of, together.
William was the older brother. He always knew what to do in every situation especially when their parents left him in charge of something. He was bossy, but always got the job done. A determined man, he always worked hard to succeed. Brendon was more of a shy guy he didn’t say much but always worked hard.
William went to Harvard to be an accountant, were he meet his wife Sarah. Her books fell and he helped her pick them up and as soon as they looked each other in the eyes they fell in love. During their third year of college they got married.
Brendon, his brother, went to Yale to become a teacher. He worked really hard in school and succeeds. Brendon was the smartest student in his class. He completed college two years earlier than the rest of his class.
Their parents made it a big deal to do well in school because they had to work really hard all of their lives just to survive they didn’t want their boys to have to work as hard as they did. Two years little after Brendon graduated he meet his wife, Bella. At the age of 35 he had three children, Lily, Joseph, and Ella. William and Sarah were both 39 and already had four children Michael, Clara, Sophia, and Thomas. Sarah loved children, and enjoyed caring for Brendon and Bella’s children while they both worked.
The William and Brendon enjoyed visiting their parents even though they lived 300 miles away. They would load the boys in Brendon’s van and the girls in William’s van and off they would go. It was fun to share with their children what it was like growing up in the country with their parents. Every time they kids went to their grandma’s and grandpa’s house they would tell them the best stories ever. She would tell stories of how their family came over from Italy to America. She told the boys how their parents meet on a boat on their journey to America. Both families chose to settle next door to each other. The boy’s grandfathers were carpenters and built the house they grew up and their parents got married and had William and Brendon a couple years later.
This trip home however was unpleasant. William and Brendon’s parents were in a car accident and killed by a drunk driver. The boys were devastated that their parents would never be able to see their grandkids get married, have their own kids, learn how to ride a bike ,and tons of other things. They loved their parents so much. As the brothers were preparing for the funeral they thought of all of the good times they had in that old country house. How the floor creak, the doors would get stuck and they would help their dad fix because they did everything like their dad when they were very little. After the funeral the boys and their families returned home.
As the months went by the brothers realized that they had to go home, and sort through their parents things and find out if they are going to keep the house. It was time to decide what to do with the house they grew up in. William and Brendon pack a bag and headed home for the weekend.
When they arrived Friday night it was very late. William woke up early and took charge as always. “Brendon why don’t you start in the basement? I will start in the attic, and we can meet somewhere in the middle.”
“That’s fine with me. I just want to get this over with”, said Brendon.
The two boys set off in different directions, and began to sort. As much as the boys didn’t want to do this they knew it had to be done. William found many treasures and reminders of their parent’s long journey to America. He even found his Great grandmother journal. Brendon came across the tools of his Grandfathers, he and his brother’s baseball gloves, and a box of very old maps of Italy. He was surprised when he found the maps. He remembered his mother telling stories of their family bringing over very old documents from the 1600’s with them. Their parents knew these documents were very valuable because they were over 350 years old or so. He set the maps aside and continued to work. The time went by so fast that before they realized the day was gone. William and Brendon brought their finds to the den, and ordered a pizza and opened a bottle of their grandfathers’ famous wine. Brendon showed William the maps and documents he found and suggested they give them to their sons. William thought that was a great idea. William told Brendon of the journal he had found. The boys looked at it, but couldn’t read Italian so they set it aside and continued to share what they had found.
The next day the boys worked until late afternoon and then head for Greenville. They were really tired when they reach home so the brothers just went to bed.
Several weeks passed and Sarah yelled to William “What are you going to do with these boxes from home?”
“I guess I will call Brendon and see if Bella and he would like to come over for a picnic. And we can go threw them save what we want and get rid of the rest.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Brendon and Bella arrived and the four of them sat down with a bottle of Great grandpas’ wine. They started to go though the boxes. Bella came across the journal. She tried to read it however it had been years since she had study Italian. She could make out some of this however it wasn’t making much since. She had made out enough to know that the maps the brothers found were very important. Sarah and Bella convinced the boys to take the journal and maps to a professor at Yale that was a good friend of Brendon.
Professor Cantabonia had taught Italian at Yale for 35 years. She could read and speak it well. “Brendon how long has it been? 5, 6 years!”
“Oh Professor Cantabonia thank you so much for seeing me.”
“Please, Brendon anything for you, and just so you know you can call me Rose, I was so sorry to hear about your parents. How is your William doing?” she asked.
“He is doing well. We found this journal and these maps in our parents’ house Bella couldn’t understand only parts of this and thought maybe you could help us to understand what these were all about.”
“I would love to. Let’s see what we have here. Brandon this is going to take some time could a keep these for a week or so?” Rose told Brendon.
“Sure, Rose, take your time there is no hurry. They have been in the attic for all these years what a few weeks.”
“As soon as I’ve found anything I will give you a call.”Brendon yelled on his way out the door.
The next day the phone rang and Bella picked it up and said, “Hello.”
“Bella, this is Rose is Brendon there?” Rosa said exactly
“Yes, just a minute, and I will get him.”
“Rose, that was quick it hasn’t even been two days.” Brendon said confused.
“Well once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Your grandmother was quite a writer. Her journal read like a novel. I couldn’t put it down. I haven’t slept because I could stop putting the pieces of this terrific puzzle together. Is there any way that if I came up to Maine I could meet with William and you I think I should share what I found with both of you together.”Rose asked.
“Sure, how about this weekend?” Brendon told her
“Well I was hoping that tomorrow would be better if that’s ok with the two of you?”
“Ok. Is there something wrong?”
“Oh no just the opposite. Something is great and I know you are going to love it.” Rose said
“We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Brendon called William and told him about the call from Rose and invited him and Sarah over for dinner the next night. Wednesday came and so did Rose.
“Gentlemen your parents never realized the value of the papers they posed. Your Great grandparents own the largest vineyard in Italy. Your grandmothers were best friends and when your father’s parents decided to come to America. Your mother’s mother was sad that her best friend was leaving so your grandfather tired to sell his vineyard. They didn’t have any money to start over with here in America. Your father’s parents gave them some of their land here to build a house. Your Grandfather was so thankful he split His land in Italy and gave half to your grandfather. The two families never went back. I did some research and found out your family still own the land.”
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” exclaimed William?
“Oh, Dear God!” said Sarah.
“That’s right you own the biggest vineyard in all of Italy.” Rose exclaimed.
As soon as the brothers came back from their trip to Italy, they realized that if they sold the vineyard they would be putting a lot of people out of Jobs. So the brother decided to keep the vineyard and run like a family business, the way it should have been. Once William and Brendon the business was strong and giving them a good income they decide to buy their parents house and a house in Italy. As they were a year in the business they found a great deal of money left from when their parent’s parents run the business. Later that year they got an award for the best wine in Italy.
Right now the boys are very rich and currently send all their kids to college. They have also been receiving tons of awards for their fabulous wine.
A Bittersweet Fairy Tail
A Bittersweet Fairy Tail by: HelpfulPurpleButterflyIt was a crisp autumn afternoon, the leaves were changing color and the air was getting colder. There were two children wandering through the woods in old, tattered clothes.
“I’m getting tired,” whined Marilyn to her brother.
“Just keep walking, we’re lost,” replied Leif.
Something rustled in a nearby bush and out strutted a black cat with a coin around its neck and a basket filled with greens next to it.
“Hey, a kitty!” Marilyn exclaimed as she ran to greet it.
As soon as she was in the cats’ striking range, it let out a loud hiss, gashed her arm, and ran away leaving a large cut.
The cat ran until it arrived at a large house in the middle of the forest. It morphed into a tall human with long, flowing black hair, slammed open the door, stared at the man sitting inside and said, “You know, some kind of greeting would’ve been nice, Anon.”
“Did you get the herbs, Lucifer?” Anon asked calmly.
“I wasn’t able to find the verbena you wanted,” answered Lucifer. “So you’ll just have to get it yourself the next time you go out.”
“You sound sort of flustered,” observed Anon. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” defended Lucifer. “I just ran into a couple of-“(knock, knock) There was a knock at the door followed by the faint and innocent voice of a child. When Anon opened the door two small, frightened children stood before him. What stared back at them was a tall, kind-looking man with a shaved head.
“We were looking for our mommy and daddy and got lost,” Leif explained to Anon.
“You look exhausted,” Anon said. “Come on in and get some rest.” The children thanked him and he escorted them to an extra bedroom where they plopped down on a bed and fell asleep. As Anon was leaving the room, he saw a flower on the floor with yellow pedals and a long stem, but he thought nothing of it and exited the room.
Later that night Lucifer approached Anon and asked, “You aren’t going to let them stay here, are you? You know I can’t stand humans.”
“Just a few days,” he replied. “Just a few days.”
The next morning, the children were up early to help Anon make breakfast.
“Take the flour and mix it with in a large bowl.” He instructed them. “Then pour some of the mix into a heated pan and let it sit for a few minutes.” They finished making them and sat down at a large table to enjoy their creation. They had turned out great, and with maple sugar on top of them they were arguably the greatest pancakes in the world.
“I have some errands I need to run,” Anon announced at the end of their breakfast. “You are more than welcome to stay here today while I’m gone.” At that he waved goodbye to them and left for the day.
“We should do something nice for him while he’s gone,” suggested Marilyn. “After all, he is feeding us and letting us stay here.
“That’s a great idea,” agreed Leif. “Let’s clean his house.” They quickly devised a plan of who would clean what. Leif would clean upstairs; Marilyn, the downstairs. By lunchtime they had the house sparkling like a thousand lights. “What should we do now,” questioned Marilyn to her brother.
“Well, we’re done cleaning the house, so we can do whatever you want.” He replied
“I wanna go pick blueberries, so I can make a pie!” she said. So off they went into the thick, lustrous forest.
“Heh heh,” Anon chuckled as he sat on the roof of his house. “I wonder what they’re up to now. Hey, there’s Lucifer. Is he going into the forest too? Well, it’s a nice day, and I have nothing better to do, so I might as well watch and see what happens.”
The grass was still moist against Lucifer’s’ paws as he followed the children into the forest. He didn’t think they could be trusted, so he wanted to keep a close eye on them, but seeing as he was part cat he got distracted, wandered off and began frolicking around. He suddenly morphed into a human, scaring the nearby wildlife and then changed back again, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt…content, but then he remembered why he had gone into the forest in the first place and bolted off to catch up to the children. He quickly found them and snuck around them as quiet as well, a cat stalking its prey. They seemed to be just normal kids, but when he met Marilyn in the forest, all he could see in her eyes was bloodlust. “It’s probably just me,” he thought and walked on.
“I don’t think there are any blueberries around here,” Leif told his sister.
“But I can’t make pie without berries,” Marilyn persisted.
“Fine,” Leif responded, “we’ll keep looking.
“Hey, Leif,” she said with surprise. “Look, it’s that cat again.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Up in the tree,” she said. “It’s got a blueberry branch in its mouth. I think it wants us to follow it.”
“They’re following him to the cliff,” Anon said as he watched through a pair of binoculars.
“They’re getting pretty close to the ledge. Wait a minute, what are they doing? OH MY GOD!!!!”
Later that night, Leif and Marilyn walked back through the door with cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Leif looked at Anon and said, “We followed a cat to the ledge and, and, he fell off.”
“It’s okay,” Anon said trying calming them down. “Go get some rest.”
Later that night Leif and Marilyn approached him and offered him a cup of herbal tea which he graciously accepted thanking them as he took a sip.
“Heheheh,” the children giggled in unison.“What’s so funny,” he asked.
“That’s not herbal tea,” they said.
“What?” he asked.
“We used a plant that grew at our house,” they said. “We tried it on a bunny and it died. Mom and Dad tried to ditch us, so they got some special tea too. It’s getting boring here. There’s nothing to do. I’m sure we’ll find someone to take care of us. I mean, look at us, we’re helpless children.”
“Heh, do you have any idea who I am?” Anon asked grinning.
“What, how can you not be dead?” asked Leif. “I know I put it in.”
“You mean that yellow plant?” he asked. “I’m sure it works, because your parents are dead, but it won’t work on me.”
“They really don’t know what you’re capable of doing, do they?” said Lucifer as he jumped in through the window.
“W-what do you think you’re going to do with us?” asked Leif. “No one’s going to believe we killed our parents, and a talking cat? You’ll be burned at the stakes for being a witch.”
“Oh, I’m not going to do anything to you,” Anon said with an evil smile. “I’m just going to hand you back over to your parents.” Suddenly the door slammed open and out in the cold, foggy night stood their parents.
“NO!” the children screamed as Anon grabbed them and began to throw them outside. “DON’T MAKE US GO OUT THERE. NOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” But it was too late, the door shut and as they looked into their parents’ eyes, everything stopped.
The Golden Plan
A golden story by: SPC88The gold mine in Brazil was as desolate as the planet Pluto. The day was June 17, 1964. Ja, Fell, and Aaron were going on their lunch break. Ja had skin the color of chocolate; Fell was dressed with a black sweater on; and Aaron had an unzipped jacket on. They were the best of friends you could have. But, Ja and Aaron didn’t know Fell’s secret. He wanted to blow up the mine! He was sick of the lousy offerings.
As Fell stood there, Ja asked, “Hey, you coming?”
Fell replied back, “Ye… Yes, I’m coming.”
Fell didn’t have the guts to tell his closest friends that he wanted to blow up their workplace. He was as frightened as a kitten trapped between two bloodthirsty stray dogs. When Fell finally had the guts to tell them, they agreed with him.
Ja and Aaron both said, “We’ve been planning that for years. We have wanted dental, health, and life insurance from the boss for years. We thought that you’d be furious at us.”
As they all ate their lunches, they thought of co-workers who might want to also be in on the plan.
“Maybe big, old, Abeeku might want in. After all, he was part of that strike a few years ago,” Aaron finally said.
But Abeeku was a gargantuan, unkind, and shy person. Ja, Fell, and Aaron drew straws, and, unfortunately, Ja drew the short straw. As Ja walked up to Abeeku, he had butterflies in his stomach the size of Jupiter. When Ja reached Abeeku, he couldn’t think of the words to say. He had never spoken to Abeeku, but he had beginner’s luck. They had gotten the biggest and strongest man in the mine.
The four of them, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku finished their lunch and went back down to the mine. All afternoon, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku couldn’t stop talking about ways to blow up the mine. The next day, Fell offered that he could get some bombs really cheap from his brother who worked in the United States as a bomb manufacturer. Ja and Aaron said they would spread the news. Abeeku said that he was a bomb expert in World War Two. They all knew what to do when they blew the place up. They decided to call their plan, “The Golden Plan.”
Soon everyone knew about “The Golden Plan,” including the boss! As soon as that happened, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku were called down to Abhay, the boss’s, office.
Abhay screamed, “What is going on here? I offer a reasonable amount in each of your paychecks. Fifty percent of your findings is enough, right?”
Fell answered right back and said, “You’ve got it all wrong. In the United States, the citizens that work get health insurance, dental insurance, and even life insurance through their work. You don’t offer any of that the last time I checked.”
Abhay calmed down and said, “N… No. I guess I don’t. I’ll consider that. You’re all free to go, except you, Abeeku.”
Abeeku got really annoyed with Abhay. He thought that he could just go. Abeeku and Abhay have had a gigantic rivalry. Ever since Abeeku led that strike a few years ago, Abhay had wanted to fire him, but he couldn’t: Abeeku was the mine’s best employee.
Abhay said slowly his commands, “You aren’t going to mess up my mine again. Ever since that strike, things haven’t been going as smoothly. You are either going to give up, or you can be on the streets asking people for spare change. You’re now free to go.”
But, those few little words didn’t scare Abeeku. He walked out the door and told his new friends what Abhay had said. When they heard the news, they knew what they had to do, blow up the mine and make a point. But, Ja wasn’t convinced.
Abeeku told Ja, “Come on man. This is war. We’ve made it this far and now isn’t the time to give up.”
Ja said he’d sleep on it. Abeeku was certain that if his words went his way, he would’ve changed Ja’s mind.
The next morning as Ja, Fell, and Aaron were arriving, Abeeku was already there.
Ja asked, “What are you doing here already?”
“I’m always here at three o’ clock in the morning. Want a cup of coffee? What is your answer, Ja?” Abeeku replied.
Ja said, “I’m not sure. Last night, I had a dream that instead of the bombs going off in thirty seconds, they went off in only ten seconds and everyone but Fell, Aaron, and I die.”
Abeeku answered, “Don’t worry about us. I will be the only one who gets hurt if anyone. I’m going to say that I’m going to blow up the mine. Then, I set the bomb and run out of the mine as fast as I can. Don’t worry; I’m an expert at bombs.”
“Oh,” Ja paused, “well then, I guess I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m in.”
The day went on and everyone did their job, as usual. When it was lunchtime, the four of the friends decided when to do it and what the signal would be.
Ja suggested, “Abeeku should say something like, ‘the gold for us’ or ‘the gold for everyone,’ since we are blowing up a gold mine. But, we shouldn’t do it for at least two months.”
Fell, Abeeku, and Aaron agreed with the signal, “the gold for everyone.” But Fell and Aaron didn’t want to wait that long.
Fell said, “We cannot wait. My brother says that if we hold it off for that long, he won’t give me the bombs.”
Aaron agreed with Fell. He said the sooner that he got out of the mine the better.
But Abeeku again convinced the other two.
He said, “We cannot do it that soon. If we do, than Ja might not be with us. After all, he did just decide this morning. I say that on August 18, we shall put our names into the record books as the only people to have a planned destruction of a mine.”
As the day came, the four of them decided that 1:30 would be the time. At 1:30 P.M. Abeeku planted the bombs at each of the 50 support beams. He connected the bombs fuses to one big wire. But, he didn’t set them off until 1:50 P.M.
He then said the signal, “The gold for everyone!”
Fell and Aaron heard the signal clearly. But Ja couldn’t hear it. He was on the far side of the mine. As the bombs went off, the only person still in the mine was Ja. Everyone was certain he was dead. The impact was like a meteor hitting the earth. But, walking out of the dirt and ashes was Ja! He’d survived the explosion!
The only thing that could ruin this moment would be Abhay coming over and yelling at Aaron, Abeeku, Fell, and Ja. It happened.
Abhay screamed, “I thought I’d convinced you guys! Look at what you’ve done! It took me 25 years to build this mine, and it’s gone! I will kill you, Abeeku!”
As Abhay came charging at Abeeku’s throat, Abeeku gave him a hard left hand to the face! He’d lain out the boss!
“You don’t mess up my mine again!”Abeeku said afterwards, “So what do you guys want to do? Mess up another mine with my plan again, eh?”
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
THE VACATION
A C is for Cookie PRODUCTIONKelsi
I plugged in my blue iPod Nano; the song “So What?” blaring from it. I was driving home from my last day as a waitress, thank god. But another thing I had to look into was college. High school was done, and I had many possibilities in the future. The hot sun felt nice on my skin with the convertible top down. My midnight black hair, down to my back, was flowing along the side of my face. As I slowed to a stop, my hazel eyes stared into the rearview mirror. Finally, I turned into the driveway of my house. In the rocking chair on our porch, sat my best friend, Taylor. She leaped from the chair and ran to me.
“Kelsi! Your never gonna guess what your parents got you for graduation.” Taylor said ecstatically. I thought for a moment, but I was clueless.
“ A trip to a warm place….maybe Texas?” I guessed. After all, I always wanted to go to a warm place where it didn’t rain as often, Maui to be particular.
“Nope. Even better! They got you the best vacation spot EVER! A ticket for you and me to go to MAUI!” She shrieked.
“No way. Shut up! You must be lying! Well, unless there’s a catch…Is there a catch?” I said.
“Well….” Taylor mumbled.
“Well what?” I asked crossing my arms.
“My sister kind of has to come. “ She said smiling warily.
Claire
** Three days later**
“I’ll be out in a minute,” I yelled to Taylor, my ride to the airport. I walked into our house and set the umbrella down. I walked into the large bathroom and stared at my face. I have sapphire blue eyes and blonde hair that tangles in every direction around my pale face. I grabbed my hairbrush and a toothbrush and tossed them into a makeup bag.
“Where did I put that suitcase?” I grumbled to myself.
“Claire? Is that you?” Mom called from upstairs, “Can you come here for a minute?” I rolled my eyes. This was probably one of those lectures. I walked slowly up the stairs. Mom was packing my suitcase and looking at her watch with worried eyes.
“Now you be safe. Don’t get in trouble. And stay away from boys!” She said kissing my forehead and giving me one of those long torturous hugs that she always gives me before I go on a trip. I heard Taylor pull out of the driveway. Figures. Mom drove me to the airport and talked to me with worried eyes about what to do if a stranger came up to me, and more nonsense.
Taylor
I just got on the plane with Kelsi. She was packing her bags into the overhead compartment and chattering about Maui. I ignored her and looked out at the rain-covered window. My breath fogged the glass, so I started drawing a picture in it. Then I heard Claire’s obnoxious voice.
“ Sorry I’m late! But it usually helps when you don’t leave me at home!” She grumbled noisily. I ignored her, rolling my eyes. Suddenly the flight attendant signaled our take off.
Kelsi
It took three days to get from Seattle to L.A. and then to Maui. It was much hotter in Maui then I expected. The beaches had black shiny sand and sapphire blue water. I could taste the salt from the ocean in the air. It was very silent though. We were staying at Iao Valley with my step grandparents, Lily and Richard. They were very rich and gave us a beautiful room. There were decorations of Hawaiian flowers on the walls, a large window with an excellent view of the ocean (they lived on a beach!), two king-sized waterbeds, and black sand for floors. It was beautiful.
“If there are two beds, then where am I sleeping?” Claire asked. I smiled at her, though she was being annoying.
“Taylor and I will share a bed. You can keep the pink one over there.” I said politely. She rolled her eyes at me and plopped down on her bed.
*LATER THAT DAY*
I was filling my purse with wads of money, preparing for a long shopping spree. Taylor grabbed my hand, and I smiled at her. I grabbed Claire’s hand gently with my free hand. We bought seashell bracelets and some cute Hawaiian clothing.
Taylor
My large deer like eyes stared into the seashell shaped mirror. My skin is slightly darker, like a permanent tan. I looked much darker than my pale sister and Kelsi. My hair is caramel that swirls and frames my face. I have bright green braces on my teeth. Kelsi skipped in my direction and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
“ Hey Taybear, you look scared. What’s wrong?” She asked. Kelsi was my best friend, and knew when I was scared. I found out that there were mountains off to the side, and I was deathly afraid of heights. Kelsi still didn’t know that. I wanted to be strong with her and brave.
“ Just some family issues,” I lied. She shrugged like she was trying not to think about it. We walked into the bedroom and got ourselves situated. Then I drifted into a long sleep, dreaming about magnificent Maui.
Kelsi
I woke up when the bright sunshine painted the room a light honey color. Taylor was up and ready, probably wanting to play volleyball, our favorite team sport. I smiled and dressed quickly. I wore a baby blue tank top that I had just bought and some worn down cut off shorts. I pulled my hair into a messy bun and pulled on my new white flip-flops. I skipped to the black sands with Taylor as we waited for Claire to finish showering. We stuck our feet in the ocean and chatted. Finally, Claire was finished. We decided to look for a good volleyball game. Just our luck, three guys (two were our age and one Claire’s) were talking while they waited for worthy opponents.
“Maybe we met our match Taybear,” I whispered sarcastically under my breath. She chuckled.
“Hey girls! Lookin good!” the tall one said. He winked at me, and I felt my face grow red.
“You boys up for a good game of volleyball?” I taunted.
“No way am I gonna play against a bunch of girls!” the darkest one said.
“Oh, are you afraid of losing to us?” Taylor laughed.
“No way! Let’s go!” The young one said. And so the game began. Taylor served with her wicked serve, sending the ball flying over the net and scoring our first point.
*ONE HOUR LATER*
The game was tied, and it was their serve for the game point. The dark one served it high over the net. I smiled at Taylor. She bumped it up and went on her knees, getting out of my way. Ashe brought her hands into a cup formation. I put my foot in her hands, and she launched me into the air. I spiked the ball hard and we won! We went to go hang out, shopping and talking.
*2 HOURS LATER*
We were all sitting at a bonfire. The tall boy (Chad as I found out after the game), the dark one (Chris), and the young one (Jamie) sat with Taylor, Claire, and I.
“Jamie and I are going to go… we’ll be back later.” Claire said blushing.
“Stay outta trouble Claire. I’m not getting blamed for you again!” Taylor grumbled. I laughed.
Taylor
“So, you girls heard about the mountains? You can go above the clouds and watch the sunrise. It’s awesome,” Chris said. Oh great! I thought to myself. Kelsi will love climbing mountains with her precious Chad. She’ll take Chris and I too. Look how excited she looks.
“I wanna go. Just me and Taylor for some best friend bonding,” She said with her happy voice. I sighed.
Kelsi
I woke early and woke Taylor. We had my grandma take us to the mountains where she dropped us off with hugs and kisses, and the typical, “Be safe!” We started climbing.
It only took us three hours to climb past the clouds. But Taylor looked petrified the entire time. I should’ve guessed this wasn’t something she’d like to do. Next thing I knew, the golden sun flamed through the clouds. I was so awed that I didn’t hear Taylor slip, a slight whimper escaping her lips.
“Kelsi, I- I’m falling. Kelsi help, help me up,” she said petrified. I ignored her. I was too awed by the sun. Then I heard a shrill scream. I turned in Taylor’s direction just in time and snatched her hand while she fell.
“Oh my God! Taylor, I’m sorry. I heard you call me, but the sun had me distracted. I’m so sorry! Just hold on! I’ll try to pull you up!” I said terrified for my best friend’s life.
Taylor
I looked down carefully. All I saw was a misty cloud and the dark sands. This was it. I was going to die here, falling from a mountain! I looked back at Kelsi and saw she was crying.
“It’s okay Kelsi. You’ll be fine without me. I love you. You were always my best friend. Um… let’s see… tell my mom that I love her, and tell Claire to toughen up and that she’s the best little sister ever. I guess this is goodbye Kelsi,” I said feeling my hand slip from hers. I let go and felt the air lift from me as I gained speed from falling. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the afterlife. The last thing I heard was a crash, and then it was all black.
Kelsi
I felt tears drip hard down my face as I sobbed. My best friend ever had just died, falling from a mountain. She was somewhere down in the sand, dead. I felt numb and helpless as I sat on the mountain. An hour later, Chad came with a group of guys and took me back to my grandparents. He soothed me as I cried, but it didn’t help. We took the next flight home.
Claire
It’s been a year since Taylor died. I got the message from Kelsi, and have been trying not to think about my sister’s death. I heard Kelsi went to college. Life’s been going on miserably. But I know that Taylor is in a better place, and I will be happy once again.
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