Aaron and the Grasshopper

            Aaron sat on the dusty bench looking over the fence at the barrel races going on in the arena.  He was waiting for the bucking broncos, which was his favorite event, and was getting a little antsy.

            Suddenly, he spied a large grasshopper crawling along the fence in front of him.  He had never seen such a big grasshopper before.  For a moment he simply watched the grasshopper completely fascinated, and then he decided he just had to catch it.

            His first attempt to catch the grasshopper involved a dive in the grasshopper’s direction that simply sent the grasshopper hopping to a new location.  Then he decided he would have to be sneakier if he wanted to catch it.  He very carefully and very quietly stalked toward the grasshopper’s new position.  Right when he was just inches from having his hands on the grasshopper, the grasshopper leaped to a place just out of Aaron’s reach.  Frustrated, Aaron stomped the ground, but he wasn’t ready to give up the chase.

            Aaron found a stick long enough to reach where the grasshopper had landed.  The grasshopper leaped to a new spot that was in Aaron’s reach.  Aaron slowly crept up with his hands outstretched.  Right before he clasped his hands around the grasshopper, it leaped to a new position.  Aaron began to creep up to the grasshopper again.  This time when the grasshopper leaped a strong gust of wind swept through and blew the grasshopper back in Aaron’s direction.  It landed on his neck.

            Having a grasshopper in his hands was okay, but having a grasshopper on his neck was a different matter.  Aaron began to swat and twirl and bat at the air trying to get the grasshopper off of his neck.  He looked like he was having some sort of wild mad fit.  In the midst of his fit, Aaron did not realize how close to the wooden post of the fence he was until it was too late.  He smacked his face into the post busting his lip.  At that point the grasshopper leaped off of his neck and onto the fence.

            Aaron sat back on the ground and wiped the blood from his busted lip onto his sleeve.  For a moment, he just sat there stunned by the blow to his mouth.  When he looked up, the grasshopper was sitting on the fence.  Aaron swore he thought the grasshopper was taunting him.  Part of him wanted to continue the chase and show that grasshopper who was the boss.  However, the rest of him had had enough of this chase and wanted to go sit back down to wait for the bucking broncos.  He decided this chase wasn’t worth it and went back to his seat on the bench.  That grasshopper could stay on that fence for as long as it wanted as far as Aaron was concerned.  He was done.

Katarina's Close Call

           Katarina hung on the limb right next to the bottom of the Christmas tree.  Her wings had become tangled in the string of lights when the child had played with her right before bedtime.  Now every person in the house was asleep.  It was time for all the Christmas ornaments to come to life.

            Katarina grabbed the string of lights and pulled herself free of both the limb and the string of lights.  She was careful to leave her hook exactly where it was.  If she went exploring, she would need to be sure she could get back in place before morning.  Ornaments that loose their hook sometimes end up on the floor where the cat can get them.  Katarina did not want that to happen to her.

            She lowered herself onto the tallest present right under her branch.  She had been so excited when the people put that present under the tree during the day.  She knew that with that present right under her branch, she would be able to climb down to the floor.  This was the first time this Christmas season that she had been given that opportunity, and she meant to make the most of it.

            When she reached the floor, the first place she went was the front door.  Next to the front door the child had left a raincoat and hat.  Katarina had watched the child pull them off and lay them there.  Katarina rubbed the smooth surface of the raincoat.  She really liked the rubbery feel of the boots.  After a few minutes, she made her way to the child’s room.  The child had a castle Katarina wanted to explore.  She had watched the child open that present last year and had waited an entire year to go see it for herself.

            The castle loomed before her as she stood trying to decide where to go first.  She decided to climb to the top of the tower.  From this point she could see all of the child’s room.  She could see the child’s foot hanging over the side of the bed.  Then she saw the cat’s tail swishing over the side of the bed.  The cat was awake.  Katarina very carefully climbed down from the tower of the castle trying to make as little noise as possible.  Before she made it to the bottom floor of the castle, she spotted the cat’s eyes staring at her through one of the windows of the castle.  For a moment she stood frozen in place unable to move for fear.  The cat simply stared at her swishing his tail.

            Finally when she could stand it no longer, Katarina made a dash for the door of the child’s room, but the cat cut her off.  Everywhere Katarina tried to run, the cat pounced in front of her.  He obviously wanted to play with her for a while before he tried to eat her.  Then Katarina dived under a baby doll blanket the child had left on the floor.  The cat pounced on the blanket, but the blanket protected Katarina from the cat’s claws.  Katarina remained as still as possible even though the material made her itch.  She knew if she kept still long enough, the cat would lose interest and go away.  It seemed like an eternity before the cat finally jumped up on the bed and started playing with a toy the child had left on the bed.

            Katarina very slowly peeked out from under the blanket.  By this time, she itched all over but still resisted the urge to scratch.  The cat was looking the other way.  Katarina dashed out from under the blanket and hid behind a leg of the nightstand.  The cat continued to play with the toy.  The door to the child’s room was only a few feet from where she hid.  She waited until the cat became extremely involved with the toy and then made a dash for the open door.  She ran as hard as she could back to the Christmas tree without looking back once.  If the cat was chasing her, she really didn’t want to know it. 

            When she reached the present under her branch, she climbed it with one big bound.  Then she climbed back onto her limb and slowly lowered herself back onto her hook.  She was home.  As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered what wonders lay in the presents now under the tree that the child would open tomorrow on Christmas morn.  However, she would wait until next Christmas to go exploring again.  She had had enough excitement for one Christmas season. 

Bradford's Belt Dilemma

           Bradford looked under his bunk for the fifth time.  It still was not there.  Where in the world could his belt be?  He had looked everywhere.  In an hour he had to run a race in the Camp Celebration and his only clean pair of shorts needed the belt to stay up.  Where could it be?

            He sat down on his bunk to think.  Where had he last seen his belt?  Did he have it when he was swimming earlier at the pool?  He couldn’t remember, but maybe he did.  He ran to the pool and began to walk over every inch of the area around it.  His belt was not there.  What was he going to do?

            He went back to his cabin and looked at his other shorts to see if any of them were clean enough to wear.  Unfortunately, he had had a lot of fun at camp.  All of his shorts were filthy.  Then he came across a piece of rope lying on the floor.  He wrapped it around his waist.  It was long enough.  This would just have to do.  He couldn’t go without a belt at all so he thread the rope through his belt loops and tied the best knot he could muster.  Hopefully this would be okay.

            He made his way to the field where the Camp Celebration was to be held.  His event the 1000-yard race would be last so he sat down in the stands to watch the other races.  His friend, Logan, won the 50-yard dash.  Bradford jumped up and down cheering his friend on to victory.  The next race was the 100-yard dash, and his friend, Noah, was in this one.  Again, Bradford cheered for his friend, but Noah slipped and fell.  He came in next to last.  Bradford would have to cheer him up after everything was over.  The relay race was next, which was the race before Bradford’s.  He made his way down onto the track to get ready.  So far his rope belt was holding, but it seemed looser than when he started.

            While the relay race was under way, Bradford did his stretches to prepare for his race.  He would have to complete nine laps around the track.  He pulled the knot in his rope belt as tight as he could, and then made his way to the sidelines to watch the finish of the relay race.  He didn’t have any friends in this race so he really didn’t care who won.  The red team had a massive lead going into the final lap, but the last runner for the blue team was fast as lightning.  Bradford jumped up and down with excitement despite himself as the blue team pulled ahead of the red team at the very last moment winning the race.

            Now it was his turn.  Bradford took his position on the starting line.  When the buzzer sounded he took off at a good steady pace.  This was a long race so he needed to pace himself.  Bradford’s strategy was to stay in the middle of the pack until the last lap.  Then he would pour on the speed hoping the lead runner would be tired out from setting too fast a pace.

            The first four laps went by without much incident.  Bradford kept himself squarely in the middle of the pack.  On the fifth lap, Bradford began to notice that his shorts seemed to be hanging lower than they had been.  By the seventh lap, Bradford had to pull his shorts up every so often.  On the eighth lap, Bradford had to pull his shorts up every few feet.  When he hit the last lap, he wanted to pour on the speed, but by this time his rope belt came completely loose.  Bradford had to use both hands to keep his shorts from falling down around his ankles.  He ran as fast as he possibly could while holding up his shorts, but it was awkward.  He came in fifth place.

            When the race was over, Bradford collapsed in the grass.  He wanted to cry but didn’t.  His friend, Noah, came over and sat down next to him in the grass.  For a while, neither of them said a word.  Then Noah began to giggle.  Bradford looked at him and giggled, too.  For the next half hour the friends talked about how silly Bradford had looked trying to run holding up his pants, and what bad luck Noah had had in his race.  This would be a Camp Celebration to remember. 

Tyler's Picnic Catastrophe

            Tyler walked into the kitchen and found his mom putting food and drink in quart mason jars.  She only did that for one reason.  They must be going on a picnic.

            “What are you doing?” asked Tyler trying to see what was in the mason jars.

            “What does it look like I’m doing?” asked his mom with a slight grin.

            “Are we going on a picnic?” asked Tyler starting to jump with excitement.

            “Yes, we are,” said his mom.  “Now go get ready, and then help your dad with the bicycles.”

            Tyler took off to his room to find his socks and shoes.  Once he had those on correctly, he headed out the door to find his dad.  He found him by the SUV loading the bicycles on the bicycle rack.  Tyler quickly ran to get his bike and handed it to his dad.

            “Oh boy!” exclaimed Tyler.  “A picnic and bikes!  Where are we going?”

            “We’re going to the state park where we always go,” said his dad as he loaded Tyler’s bike on the rack.

            Just then, Tyler’s mom came through the front door with the fully loaded picnic basket.  “Anyone ready to go on a picnic,” she called as she headed for the SUV.

            “ME!!!” shouted Tyler as he climbed into the back seat and strapped himself into the seatbelt.

            The ride to the state park only took 30 minutes, but for Tyler it seemed to take forever.  By the time they pulled up to the picnic area, he was really hungry.  As soon as his dad parked the car, Tyler shot out of the SUV and started surveying his surroundings.  He knew it would take his mom a few minutes to get everything ready.  Before long, he heard his mom call, and he headed back to the table where his mom had set out their lunch

            What Tyler loved most about his family’s picnics was that they never had the traditional sandwiches and chips.  Today his mom had packed spaghetti and meatballs, bread, and sweet iced tea in her mason jars.  For dessert she had banana pudding –Tyler’s absolute favorite.

            As Tyler settled in to devour his spaghetti and meatballs, a bee landed on the edge of his plate.  He shooed it away, but soon it was joined by several more.  Before long there were so many bees buzzing around his plate, Tyler had to abandon his lunch and run away from the table.  He was soon followed by both of his parents.

            “Oh my!” exclaimed Tyler’s mom.  “The bees aren’t going to let us eat.”

            “Why don’t we just eat in the SUV?” suggested Tyler’s dad.

            “Good idea,” said his mom.

            Tyler’s parents gathered the food shooing the bees away as much as they could.  Finally, the three of them settled into the SUV and continued their meal with the bees angrily buzzing outside the windows.  When everyone finished dessert, they started unloading the bicycles for a nice ride through the park. 

            The angry bees had put a damper on Tyler’s mood, but now with the prospect of a bike ride, his mood perked right back up.  For a while, Tyler rode along lost in the thrill of feeling the wind rush against his skin.  Then they approached a hill, and Tyler stood up on his pedals, determined not to be outdone by his parents.  About halfway up the hill, his foot slipped on the pedal.  The pedal went sideways and Tyler’s foot became entangled with the pedal.  This made the bike jerk sending Tyler sprawling to the ground.  His scraped his knee and elbow bad enough to make them bleed.  His parents came back to where he lay, and his dad picked him up carrying him back to the SUV.  While his mom bandaged his knee and elbow, his father gathered all the bikes and loaded them back on the SUV.  They decided they had had enough fun for one afternoon and headed back home.

            Poor Tyler was so upset that his wonderful picnic had turned out so disastrous, that he cried quietly most of the way home.  When they made it back home, Tyler limped into the house, changed into his pajamas, and plopped on the couch.

            His mother came to him with a bowl of popcorn.  She put on his favorite movie, and snuggled with him making sure to be careful of his wounds.  Before long, Tyler’s mood perked up again.  This might not be a picnic, but this was another good thing he loved about his family.

Lily's 3-Layer Mud Cake

Illustration by Summer  Age:  9
Paris, TN

           This book is now available at Amazon!!!!
https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457

Madison and the Barnyard

           Madison looked out the window as the car pulled into her grandparents’ driveway.  It had been several months since Madison had seen her grandparents’ farm, and this time they were visiting in the summer.  She was almost beside herself with excitement for the opportunity to explore the farm today.

            Grandma and Grandpa stood on the front porch for Madison and Marie with outstretched arms.  Madison raced out of the car, up the porch steps, and into Grandpa’s waiting arms.  His overalls smelled like hay and cows, but that was how Grandpa always smelled.  Marie calmly walked up and hugged Grandma and then Grandpa.  Madison let go of Grandpa and jumped up so that Grandma held her on her hip.  Nobody else in the world still carried her this way anymore, and she loved that Grandma still let her do this.

            After everyone had finished all the hellos, Madison climbed down and grabbed Grandpa by the hand.  It was time to go exploring, and she didn’t want to waste a single minute.  Marie tagged along as Madison nearly dragged Grandpa to the fence of the cow pasture.  A cow was quietly chewing on grass next to the fence.  A calf came up and stuck his head through the fence toward Madison.  Grandpa showed Madison how to pet the calf, and then the calf licked Madison right in the face.

            “Ugh!” Madison exclaimed in disgust.  “That calf just licked me in the face.  His breath smells horrible.”

            Marie and Grandpa laughed, but Madison wiped her face off with her sleeve and then her shirt tail.  She couldn’t seem to get the icky off and kept wiping her face every few minutes.

            Just then Marie noticed something in the corner of the pasture lying on the ground next to the fence.

            “What’s that, Grandpa?” Marie asked.

            “Why, that’s a piece of honeycomb,” replied Grandpa.  “I must have dropped it when I gathered the honey this morning.  Look, it still has a little honey on it.  Do you girls want to try it?”

            Madison looked at the honeycomb suspiciously.  After the calf episode, she wasn’t sure she wanted to trust something in the cow pasture.  However, Marie dipped her finger in the honey and made a yum sound.  Madison slowly dipped her finger in the honey and barely touched the tip of her tongue with it.  It was sweet, but also a little strange tasting, too.  She wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about the honey.

            Grandpa and the girls slowly walked back toward the house.  Grandma’s chickens were pecking the ground in the backyard close to the backdoor looking for seeds to eat.  Madison went up to one of the chickens and reached out her hand to ruffle the chicken’s feathers.  As soon as she touched the chicken, it squawked and began chasing Madison.  Madison screamed and ran for Grandpa.  When she reached Grandpa, she literally climbed him and started crying uncontrollably.  All Grandpa could do was laugh.

            “It’s okay, Madison,” said Grandpa soothingly.  “I got you.  Look, that chicken has already gone back to pecking for seeds.”

            Madison looked at the chicken and began to calm down.  Then she saw that Marie was laughing at her and began to sulk.

            “Stop laughing at me,” said Madison angrily as she hid her face against Grandpa’s shoulder.

            “I’m sorry, Madison,” said Marie.  “But you climbing Grandpa like you just did was the funniest thing I have ever seen.”

            Madison thought about how that must have looked and began to giggle.  “It probably was pretty funny, wasn’t it,” said Madison as she climbed down out of Grandpa’s arms.

            “I think we’ve done enough exploring for the time being,” said Grandpa.  “I think your Grandma has supper waiting on us, and she made blackberry cobbler just for you girls.”

            Madison and Marie both looked at each other and dashed for the back door.  Exploring the farm would have to wait for later.

Lily's Rainy Day Adventure

Lily stared through the windows of the gazebo.  The rain fell in thick sheets just like it had all morning.  It looked like she would be stuck inside all day.

Just then she noticed a puddle forming on the brick path that had sawdust floating on top.  This made her think of an oil spill she had seen on the news.

Suddenly, she was there standing on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.  A reporter held a microphone to her mouth as she asked a question.

“Ms. Lily, what is your expert opinion as a natural science expert as to how this great oil spill can be removed?” asked the reporter.

“We are working on a system that will filter the water removing the oil,” stated Lilly as if she really knew how that worked.

“Oh, that sounds like it might take a while,” stated the reporter.

“We expect it might take us months to fully filter the water and return the area to normal,” responded Lilly importantly.

Lily came back to herself at the gazebo, and began to explore.  Before long she came upon an old hammer.  Her grandfather must have left there.  She sat down on a bench and examined the hammer carefully.

Suddenly, she kissed the hammer, and it changed into a magic hammer able to take her anywhere she wanted to go.  She held the hammer up in the air, and she flew right out of the gazebo into the rain.  The hammer blocked the rain and made it fall on either side of Lily.  She zoomed through the air until she reached New York City.  She landed on the top of the Statue of Liberty and looked out over the city and harbor.  Boats sailed in the harbor.  People were busily going here and there.  Airplanes soared overhead as they landed and took off from the nearby airports.  Lilly sat enjoying the view.

When she came back to herself in the gazebo, she again began to explore.  On the other side of the gazebo, she found an old flashlight under one of the benches.  She checked to see if it still worked, and it did.

Now she was in a deep dark tunnel underneath an old castle.  Her team of archaeologists was exploring the tunnels looking for artifacts.  She looked down and saw a shiny object at her feet.  When she picked it up, she realized she had found an ancient coin.  

“Hey guys, look at this!” exclaimed Lily as she held up the coin she had found.

“Why isn’t that one of the lost coins of Camelot?” asked one of her colleagues astonished.

“Yes, I do believe it is,” stated Lily matter-of-factly.

“We’re going to be famous!” exclaimed another colleague.

“I do believe you are right,” said Lily as she held the coin up to the light.

Lily came back to herself in the gazebo.  She sat on one of the benches holding a shiny penny in her hand.  Sighing, she looked out at the steady falling rain.  Maybe one of these days she would get to have a real adventure instead of only in her daydreams.

Raja's Kitten

            Kamesh sat in the walled garden on his family’s estate.  He was lazily stroking his kitten, Ketifa, while they both warmed themselves in the sunshine.  The skies over Bangladesh shone a deep blue with not a cloud in sight.

            “Oh, Ketifa,” sighed Kamesh.  “What are we going to do today?”

            The kitten’s response was a huge yawn.

            Suddenly, Kamesh heard a commotion on the other side of the wall that divided his family’s estate from a section of jungle.  He ran over to the wall and found his favorite peeking hole, which was a crack in the wall situated perfectly for his height.  When he looked through the crack, he saw a great elephant struggling through the underbrush.  For a moment, Kamesh couldn’t tell why the elephant struggled.  Then the elephant’s back leg came into view.  An axhead was lodged in the leg.  While Kamesh watched, the elephant gave out a loud trumpeting sound and collapsed on the ground.

            Kamesh stood stunned for a minute, and then ran into the main house screaming for help.  It took several minutes to explain the situation to the servants, but finally a wildlife officer was located and brought to the estate.

            The elephant still lay where he had fallen.  When the wildlife officer determined that the elephant was still alive, a veterinarian was called to the scene.  Kamesh and Ketifa along with many of the servants watched the men work on the elephant from a safe distance.

            After a few minutes, Ketifa jumped out of Kamesh’s arms and slowly stalked toward the elephant.  Kamesh started to go after the kitten, but one of the servants pulled him back.  Kamesh called and called for Ketifa to come back, but the kitten was on the prowl.  The kitten crouched low to the ground and made his way through the tall grass toward the elephant’s trunk.  Then the kitten sprang into the air and landed on the elephant’s trunk.  Everyone expected the elephant to cry out and shake the kitten off of his trunk, but the elephant just lay there.

            Then Ketifa climbed up the elephant’s trunk and pounced on the elephant’s ear.  Kamesh watched in horror expecting the elephant to send his kitten flying off to his death any moment.  Instead, the elephant flapped his ear while the kitten tried to catch it.  This went on for several minutes until the kitten became so excited he flipped himself off the elephant and landed on the ground next to the trunk.  The elephant then curled his trunk and nudged the kitten.  Ketifa immediately took up the game again with the elephant’s trunk.  Up and down and around the kitten twirled and flipped chasing the elephant’s trunk while the elephant did his part to keep up the chase.  Now Kamesh and the servants watched in wonder at the game the elephant and kitten continued to play.

            Before long the men managed to remove the axhead from the elephant’s leg and bandaged it.  Then they, too, stood back and watched the game going on between the kitten and the elephant for several minutes until a huge truck arrived to take the elephant away.

            “Where are you taking the elephant?” Kamesh cried, suddenly very concerned about the elephant’s fate.

            “Don’t worry,” said the vet.  “We are taking him to a wildlife refuge where he will be able to heal.”

            The vet went over and scooped up the kitten midjump.  Then he handed the kitten to Kamesh.  The men worked with the elephant until they managed to get him back on his feet and then slowly guided him into the truck.  They closed the gate on the back of the truck, and the elephant stuck his trunk out searching for his new friend.

            Kamesh walked over to the truck and placed Ketifa on the elephant’s trunk.  The elephant curled his trunk.  Ketifa curled up in the trunk, fell asleep, and started to purr.

            “You need a name,” said Kamesh to the elephant as he patted his trunk.  “I think I will call you Raja.”

            The vet smiled and said, “Well, Raja, are you ready to go to your new home?  Don’t worry, Kamesh, the refuge isn’t far from here.  I’m sure Raja wouldn’t mind at all if you AND Ketifa came to visit.”

            This seemed to make Kamesh feel better.  He picked up his sleeping kitten, rubbed Raja’s trunk, and said, “You’ll be okay, Raja.  We’ll come see you as often as we can.”

            Raja wrapped his trunk around Kamesh and the kitten as if to give them a goodbye hug.  Then the truck lumbered off taking Raja to his new home.

            Kamesh stayed true to his word.  He brought Ketifa to visit with his new friend every other Saturday.  As Ketifa grew larger, so did the friendship between the elephant and the cat.

The Hunt for Truffle Flowers

          Lullabelle shivered with excitement as she set out with her friend Twitch, the camouflage mouse, for Crystal Lake.  Tonight was the night when the magical truffle flowers would bloom at midnight.  They only bloomed on the night of the full moon and could only be found along the shores of Crystal Lake.  Each flower contained a delicious candy much like a truffle.  Everyone that ate the candy would have good luck for an entire month.  Since the flowers only bloomed for half an hour, it was extremely important that Lullabelle and Twitch be at the lake before midnight.

            Lullabelle had only been to Crystal Lake once when she was younger.  However, she had gotten directions from some other fairies before she set out.  Lullabelle had to carry Twitch in her arms as they flew toward the lake.   When the lake came into sight, she sighed in relief.  She didn’t realize how heavy Twitch would become before they reached the lake.

            They landed next to the lake a half hour before midnight.  Lullabelle had left a little early because she wanted to give them time to find some of the flowers before they bloomed.  She made a light with her wings, and the two friends set out in search of truffle flowers.  However, in the dark everything looked the same.  Lullabelle knew that when the truffle flowers bloom, they let off a faint glow, but when they are closed, they look like every other flower.  There was no way to tell which flowers were truffle flowers until they bloomed.

            Twitch and Lullabelle walked along a path stopping at every flower.  Lullabelle was so intent on examining the flowers as she walked along that she didn’t notice the mud until it was too late.  Her foot slid out from under her as soon as she stepped on the mudslick sending her sliding face first in the muck.

            Once she stopped sliding, she stood up and looked at herself.  “I must be a sight,” Lullabelle stated as she flapped her wings to work magic.  In no time at all, the mud disappeared.  However, from that point Lullabelle started paying more attention to the path than the flowers.

            “I guess we just need to wait until midnight, Twitch,” said Lullabelle.  “There is no way to tell which flowers are truffle flowers until they bloom.”  Twitch nodded in agreement.

            The two friends continued to walk along the path beside the lake.  After a while, Twitch wiggled his nose and went off into the grass in search of something.  Suddenly, Lullabelle heard a loud crash, and Twitch squeaking in alarm.  Lullabelle followed the sound of Twitch’s squeak until she found him trapped in a cage.  He had obviously set off some sort of trap.

            “Oh, Twitch,” sighed Lullabelle.  “What am I going to do with you?  Don’t you know not to go wandering off without me?  Here.”  With that, Lullabelle flapped her wings and turned the cage into a pile of flowers.

            Twitch squeaked his gratitude, but then froze in his tracks.  Right behind Lullabelle was a growling bobcat.  Twitch used his gift of camouflage he had received from Lullabelle for saving her life, and turned the color of the grass.  Lullabelle picked up a handful of flowers and dumped them on the bobcat’s head while Twitch scampered away.  Then Lullabelle flew away to catch up with Twitch.

            “Wow, that was close,” said Lullabelle.  “I guess now we are even.  You saved my life, and now I have saved your life.”  Again, Twitch squeaked his gratitude.

            Then far off in the distance, a clock began to chime.  It was finally midnight.  All around them the truffle flowers began to sparkle and bloom.  Lullabelle and Twitch went from flower to flower gathering the truffle candy and eating it.  They had never tasted such candy.

            “I hope it’s true that this candy gives you good luck,” said Lullabelle.  “I think we both really need some of that.”  Twitch nodded in agreement and continued to gobble down the candy.

            The two friends talked and ate until the flowers closed.  Then they started back for the old castle where they met.  Their tummies were full, and their hearts were happy.  Maybe next month, they would wait until closer to midnight before they started their hunt, but they would absolutely be back.

Lullabelle's Castle Adventure

Lulabelle knew she was not supposed to be in this old castle, but she just couldn’t help herself.  She loved all the old paintings and wall hangings.  Being a fairy, she could fly all the way to the very top to see all the things that the people who had once lived there couldn’t see.

            As she flew down the cold, dark corridor, goosebumps popped up on her arms.  She didn’t know if they were from the cold or the excitement of what she might find.  As she rounded a corner, she came face to face with a large tapestry hanging on the far wall.  The designs were faded but she could see knights and ladies in waiting dancing in what looked like clouds.  She was awestruck.

            She twirled through the air as she imagined herself a part of the great tapestry.  She greeted the various knights and ladies and pretended to participate in polite conversation.  She danced to the imaginary music and dreamed of being among the clouds with the rest of the dancers.  She was having the time of her life. 

For her finale, she twirled the entire length of the tapestry.  The twirling made her dizzy, and she bumped into the wall.  She held onto the wall for a moment until the room stopped spinning, but when she tried to fly away, she found that she was hung on a nail.  The nail had snagged her dress just under her arm and had ripped a hole in her dress as she turned away from the wall to fly away.  Now she was hanging on the wall like a picture.  She couldn’t reach the nail with her hands.  She didn’t have room to flap her wings, and the more she struggled the more tangled her dress became. 

She tried to use magic to free herself, but that didn’t work either.  She had to be able to flap her wings to work magic, and she couldn’t.  She was truly stuck on the wall in an old castle, and nobody knew she was there.  Now she began to panic.

As she pondered her predicament, an old tabby cat strolled down the corridor.  She had seen that cat before.  He belonged to the town doctor, and he was a mean one.  The cat had already spied Lullabelle, and he licked his chops as he pondered how to get to her. 

Lullabelle frantically looked around her to see if she could find anything to free her from the nail.  She noticed a crack in the wall just above where her feet were hanging.  She tried to get the heel of her foot into the crack to lift herself off the nail, but each time her foot slipped from the crack when she tried to lift herself up.

Meanwhile, the cat had jumped onto the tapestry and was slowly climbing up to where Lullabelle was hanging.  He was already halfway to her, when a small mouse climbed down the wall to Lullabelle’s position.  The mouse began to chew on Lullabelle’s dress at the point where it was caught on the nail.

“Oh, please hurry, dear sweet mouse,” exclaimed Lullabelle.

The cat saw the mouse as well and began to climb faster.  The cat was nearly upon them when the mouse finally freed Lullabelle’s dress from the nail.  Lullabelle sprang from the wall and scooped up the mouse just as the cat launched at them.  Lullabelle cradled the mouse as she flew them both to safety leaving the cat wailing in defeat.

When they reached the outside of the castle, Lullabelle set the mouse down on the ground and said, “You saved my life.  What can I give you in exchange for such a kindness?”

The mouse simply looked at Lullabelle with its small eyes and wiggled its little nose.

“I know,” said Lullabelle as she bent down and touched the mouse on the nose as she flapped her wings.  “I give you the gift of camouflage.  Whenever you are in danger, you will have the ability to blend in with your surroundings.”

The mouse crawled away, and Lullabelle flew toward her home.  From that day on the mouse and Lullabelle were the best of friends.  She still visited the old castle, but always made sure her friend, the mouse, was close to keep an eye out for that old tabby cat.            

The Desert Display

          Summer the cardinal felt like her wings were going to fall off.  She and her family were flying to Texas to visit some old friends.  They had left Melody Meadow three days ago and still had one more day of flying to get there.  All she could see for miles and miles was nothing but dirt, grass, and a few sad looking trees.  She already missed the greenness of Melody Meadow and wondered why anyone would live in such a drab place.

            For the rest of that day, the scenery changed little.  Summer thought she might go insane with boredom.  Ever since they crossed the Mississippi River, the land had become flatter than she thought possible.  That night she and her family rested in one of the few trees to be found.  Summer did not like this trip already.

            The next morning came much sooner than Summer wanted.  Her dreams had taken her back to Melody Meadow, and she was greatly dismayed to wake up in the flat nothingness of Texas.

            “Come on, Honey,” her dad said.  “We’re almost there.  Soon you will be playing with Anne Marie.”

            Summer had not seen her friend, Anne Marie the scissortail flycatcher, in over a year.  When Anne Marie’s family had come to Melody Meadow last year to visit, the two of them had a wonderful time playing together.  Maybe seeing Anne Marie would make everything better.

            As the day progressed, huge storm clouds began to develop in the western sky.  It was hard to tell just how far away they were because of the flatness of the land.  Summer and her family were about an hour from Anne Marie’s family’s home.  Her dad looked with concern at the building storm and urged his family to fly a little faster.

            “Come on, guys,” he said to the family.  “We don’t want to get caught in that storm.  It’s not much further.  Let’s see how fast we can get there.”

            Everyone groaned, but everyone put on as much speed as possible.  Summer looked at the building storm and began to get nervous.  That actually made it a little easier for her to crank up the speed.  She had never seen such huge storm clouds before.  The wind began to pick up, and Summer had to let her mom break the wind for her.  Thunder rolled out over the open plains.  That scared Summer and made her even more nervous.  Now even she urged her family to fly faster.

            Finally her dad spotted the tree where the scissortail flycatchers lived.  “Come on, guys,” he called.  “There it is!”

            With one final burst of speed Summer and her family made it to the tree where their friends were waiting for them.  As soon as they were inside, the rain began to fall in torrents.  Summer breathed a sigh of relief, as everyone sat down to a supper of insects their friends had prepared for them.

            Anne Marie’s family lived in one of the last trees before the landscape turned to mostly desert.  Their nest was built into a hollow in the tree, which protected them from the heat of the day and from the strong storms that occurred in that part of the country.  Summer was so glad their nest wasn’t just in a branch.  She had never seen such a storm before.  After supper she settled down next to her friend, Anne Marie, and fell fast asleep.

            The next morning Summer woke up in a strange place.  For a moment she forgot where she was.  Then she realized she was in Texas with her friend, Anne Marie.  She liked Anne Marie, but she didn’t like Texas and wanted more than anything to be home.

            Suddenly Anne Marie called to her, “Hey, Summer, come look at this.”

            Summer stood in the doorway of Anne Marie’s nest and looked out at the landscape.  Overnight, the world had bloomed with color.  Everywhere she looked something had bloomed.  Even the cacti had flowers on them.

            Summer looked at Anne Marie bewildered and then asked, “What happened?”

            “This is what happens when it rains in the desert.  It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it is beautiful,” said Anne Marie.

            Summer stood next to her friend and stared in awe at the change in the landscape.  Yesterday everything had been some shade of brown or yellow.  Now she could see every color of the rainbow.  Maybe Texas wasn’t that bad after all.

Madison and the Dragon Kite

           Madison followed her sister, Marie, into the backyard.  Marie carried their kite, their very special dragon kite, in her hands.  Madison looked up at the beautiful blue sky and then at the trees swaying in the strong March wind.  This was a perfect day to fly a kite.

            Madison and Marie had worked for two days on their very special dragon kite.  They managed to use every single color in their box of 48 crayons somewhere on the kite.  The tail of the dragon had nine different layers to it.  It was truly a sight to behold.  Madison had worked especially hard on the head of the dragon.  She wanted it to look ferocious.

            When they reached the clearing in the backyard, Marie handed the string to Madison while she held the kite.  “Now you hold onto that string and don’t you let go for anything,” commanded Marie.  “I’ll run behind holding the kite up while you run with the string.  We don’t want it to drag the ground.”

            Madison wrapped the end of the string around her wrist a couple of times and then firmly grasped the coil of string in both hands.  When Marie gave the command to run, both girls took off.  For a while nothing happened.  Then Marie held the kite up a little higher, and it suddenly caught wind.

            “Unwind some string!” Marie called to Madison. 

Madison started unwinding string as fast as she could, but the wind was too strong for her.  The coil of string flew out of her hands and started unwinding at will.  Before long the string was at full extension.  The only thing that kept the kite from flying away was the string that was wrapped around Madison’s wrist.

Madison tried to control the kite, but before long she found that the kite was dragging her along at a run.  Madison fought to control the kite and unfortunately did not notice that she was heading straight for the muddy place right in front of the blackberry vines.  When her feet hit the mud, they slipped out from under her leaving her sliding on her bottom straight for the blackberry briers.  Desperately, she tried to unwrap the string from her wrist before she hit the briers.  Too late.  The string came off of her wrist after she became completely tangled.

“Marie!!!!” screamed Madison, but Marie was already there, trying to gently pull the briers off of her sister.  It took several minutes to free Madison and not before the briers scratched her in more places than she cared to count.

“Where’s our beautiful dragon kite?” Madison cried.

“It’s in a tree over in the neighbor’s yard,” said Marie pitifully.  “Don’t look.  It’s bad.”

Marie gently helped her sister to her feet and walked with her back to the house.  Madison hurt everywhere.  When they reached the house, Marie called for their mom and helped her nurse all of Madison’s wounds.  When they were through, Madison looked like one big bandage.  Mom let Madison put on her pajamas early because they were soft and would not hurt her scratches.  Then she fixed the girls some hot chocolate to drink while she went next door to fetch the kite.

When she walked through the door with the kite, both girls gasped.  “Our kite,” cried Marie.  “It’s ruined.”

“Oh girls,” signed Mom, “I am so sorry.  But you know, you made it once.  You could make it again.”

Madison looked at Marie.  Marie looked at Madison.  “I guess we could,” said Marie.

“Just not today,” said Madison as both girls began to giggle.