Lily's Flower Igloo by Natalie Wade

Lily's Cedar Tree Pillow Fort

Lily bounded into the garage in search of empty boxes.  Yesterday her parents had bought a new washer and dryer, and the boxes just might serve her purpose.

“Dad, can I have one of the boxes for the washer and dryer?” Lily asked.  “I want to make a pillow fort in the old cedar tree.”

“A what?” her dad asked as he gave her a strange look.

“A pillow fort in the hollow part of the old cedar tree next to the woods,” Lily stated.

“Oh, I guess so,” replied her dad.  “Good luck with that.”

Lily dragged the box out to the cedar tree.  When some of the bottom branches were moved, the tree had a hollow place big enough for a child to stand.  Lily thought this box would fit just fine.  It took some pushing and pulling, but Lily finally managed to move the box into the hollow place.  It fit perfectly.

Lily ran inside and grabbed scissors, markers, and crayons and took them out to the box.  First, she cut a hole in the side of the box for a doorway.  Cutting through the cardboard was hard work but she persisted until she managed to make it exactly like she wanted.

Next, she went inside the box and began to decorate her walls.  She wanted her pillow fort to be filled with colorful pictures of happy places.  This took her until sundown.  When she finished the last picture, she gathered her things and went inside for supper.  Tomorrow, she would fill the fort with the floor pillows that she had found in the garage and had saved specifically for this purpose.

The next morning after breakfast Lily headed out the back door with an armful of pillows.  When she reached the cedar tree, she stopped and stared in horror.  It had rained in the night, and the box was now warped and crumpled from getting wet.  A very sad Lily trudged back to the house.

“How’s my inventor’s pillow fort coming?” asked her mom as she came through the back door.

“It’s ruined!” wailed Lily.  “It rained and now it is all wet.  I didn’t think rain would come inside the tree.”

“Lily, look at the trees,” instructed her mother.  “See all the holes between the leaves.  Even though the tree does offer a little protection from rain, some rain still makes its way inside the tree.”

Lily went back outside to remove the ruined mess of her pillow fort.  As she threw the remains in the trashcan, she noticed an old parachute she had used for a birthday party two years ago in the garage.  Then an idea came to her.  She grabbed the parachute and some old string and ran back out to the cedar tree.

She bunched the middle of the parachute into a bubble and tied one end of the string around it.  Then she took the other end of the string and threw it over the lowest branch in the hollow place of the tree.  She pulled the string until the parachute was hanging from the branch.  Then she tied the other end of the string to another branch to hold it in place.

Then she headed back to the garage for the other box.  She pushed and pulled until she managed to get the box in place and then covered it with the parachute like a tent.  Again, she grabbed her scissors, markers, and crayons.  This time when she made the door, she cut it out to where it lifted up and held the parachute away from the opening.  Then, she redid all her wonderful happy place pictures.  By the time she was finished, it was again sundown.  She ran inside looking anxiously over her shoulder at the new pillow fort.  Would it be there in the morning?

The next morning she headed out with her armful of pillows and walked slowly in the direction of the cedar tree.  The fort was still there!  It had rained in the night, but this time the parachute protected the fort.  Lily arranged her pillows and ran inside to get her parents.

“Come see my pillow fort!” Lily said excitedly as she dragged her mom and dad to the cedar tree.

“Wow! Lily,” said her dad.  “This is a really cool hideout.”

Lily beamed as she gave her parents the grand tour.  She hoped this cedar tree pillow fort would be around for a long time.

Niko's Search

Niko held the rope that had once secured his cow to the fence.  He moaned in disgust.  Where could that cow have gone?  Niko’s family only had the one cow.  They did not have any pigs, sheep, goats, or chickens.  Just the cow.

            After gathering a few supplies, Niko set out following the cow’s tracks.  The trail led up the path of the old dormant volcano that towered over his village.  Why would the cow head up the mountain?  As he entered the dense tropical forest, he became nervous.  All of his life he had heard strange tales of this volcano.  Most of his village avoided this path.  The jungle seemed to swallow up the sunlight as he went deeper into the dense undergrowth.  Then the trail began a steeper climb.

            Niko struggled to maintain his footing as he continued to climb.  All along the way, he fussed at the cow swearing it had to be half billy goat to climb this trail.  Suddenly, the rocks began to slide out from under him, and he slid into a hollow just to the right of the trail.  Once he reached the bottom, he considered himself fortunate that he had not slid all the way back down to his village.  However, looking up the sides of the ravine made him reconsider his luck.  How would he climb back up to the trail?

            For a long while, Niko struggled in vain to climb the steep sides of the ravine.  Every time he reached even close to halfway up, he simply slid back down.  This was not going to work.  Just then, he noticed a palm tree growing close to the side of the ravine.  At the top, it tilted toward the trail.  If he climbed the tree, maybe he could jump back to the trail.  He decided it was worth a try.

            Niko shimmied up the tree like a monkey.  Fortunately, climbing trees was one of Niko’s specialties.  When he reached the top, he very carefully climbed out on the limb hanging closest to the trail hugging it with all of his limbs.  A gentle breeze made the fronds of the palm tree brush against his face.  They tickled like the whiskers of a cat, but Niko tried to ignore them.  The farther out onto the limb he went, the more it sagged until Niko began to fear it might break.  Deciding to go no further, Niko slowly rose to his feet and jumped with all of his might toward the trail.  As the limb sprang back into place, it actually propelled Niko farther than he could have jumped on his own.  He landed with a roll safely back on the path.

            For a moment Niko sat on the path catching his breath.  Then, he very carefully continued up the path making sure to choose his steps wisely.  The path began to wind up the side of the mountain and with every turn Niko’s heart pounded a little harder.  He didn’t like winding trails.  After a while, he came around a corner to find himself face to face with a large statue that had a horrifying mask for a face.  Niko screamed before he could stop himself.  On the other side of the path stood a statue exactly like this one.  He must be at the entrance to old abandoned palace he had heard so much about all of his life.  He tried to forget all the spooky tales he had heard about this place, but that only made him remember every single one.

            Just then he heard a noise that made him jump.  Something was just on the other side of the entrance.  Niko stood frozen in fear as he tried to decide what to do.  Then he heard the noise again, and this time it sounded remarkably like a “moo.”  Slowly, he walked between the statues into an open courtyard.  There in the middle of the courtyard was his cow happily chewing the grass that grew there.  Niko was so relieved all he could was laugh.

            “Come here you crazy cow,” Niko said as he walked over to it. 

            He placed the rope he had brought around the cow’s neck and started back for home.  The cow followed without a fuss still chewing his cud.

            “That must be some mighty fine grass to come all the way up here to get it,” Niko said to the cow as he patted his side.

            The cow looked at him and mooed as if to say, “You better believe it.”  

The Nothing Turtle

           In the middle of a dark and quiet wood lived eleven turtles in a small and shallow pond.  Life for the turtles drifted along happily for the most part.  Three of the turtles spent most of their time singing their favorite songs.  Another three spent their days exercising and building up their muscles.  Two of the turtles liked to tell and write stories, and another two spent their days taking pictures with the camera they shared between them.  One turtle, however, did nothing all day long every day.

            One day this turtle that liked to do nothing decided the rest of the turtles were disturbing his wonderful nothingness with all that singing, exercising, storytelling, and picture taking.  He decided he would have to do something about it.

            He walked up to the singing turtles and said, “The turtles that are exercising over there wanted me to come over and tell you that all this singing is throwing off their exercising rhythm.  They want you to be quiet for a while.”

            The singing turtles looked over at the exercising turtles with annoyed looks and started singing louder.  The nothing turtle sneaked away with a grin on his face and came up to the storytelling turtles.

            “The picture taking turtles are upset with you because you disturbed a butterfly they were trying to photograph,” said the nothing turtle with a gleam in his eye.  “They want you to go somewhere else to tell your stories so you won’t disturb them anymore.”

            The storytelling turtles looked over at the picture taking turtles and started telling louder and longer stories.  They were not going to go anywhere.

            Next the nothing turtle went up to the exercising turtles and said, “The storytelling turtles wanted me to tell you that all your grunting and splashing around is making them forgot where they are in their story.  They want you to stop.”

            The exercising turtles looked at the storytelling turtles and started exercising even harder making water splash everywhere.           

Lastly, the nothing turtle went up to the picture taking turtles and said, “The singing turtles wanted me to come over and tell you that they are mad at you for taking pictures of them.  They said it makes them forget their words, and they want you to stop.”

The picture taking turtles walked up to the singing turtles and started taking pictures right in their face blinding them with the flash.  That was all it took.  In a matter of seconds, the singing turtles started yelling at the picture taking turtles.  Then the storytelling turtles started yelling at the picture taking turtles.  Then the exercising turtles started yelling at the storytelling turtles and so on and so on until everyone was yelling at everyone else except the nothing turtle.  He slipped off quietly to his spot and waited.

Before long all the turtles were so angry with each other that they all sulled up and went to different areas of the pond.  No one was speaking to anyone else and everybody was doing nothing.

“Ah,” said the nothing turtle to himself.  “Finally, I have peace and quiet.”

After a while the rest of the turtles began to feel bad about yelling at each other.  Slowly they began to congregate in their groups and apologize to each other.  As they talked they all began to realize what the nothing turtle had done.  They all decided the nothing turtle needed something to do.

All ten turtles approached the nothing turtle as he sat in his spot.  When the nothing turtle saw them approaching, he began to get nervous.

“What do you want?” the nothing turtle asked gruffly.

“We have all decided we want you to be our audience for our special night of entertainment,” they all said together.

The nothing turtle just looked at them in disbelief.  After all the mischief he had caused, they wanted him to do something.  Nobody had ever asked him to do anything before.  He didn’t know what to say.

“Well,” the nothing turtle started slowly.  “If that is really what you all want, I guess I could do that.”

It was settled.  The next night the singing turtles sang their best songs.  The storytelling turtles told their best stories.  The exercising turtles showed off their best moves, and the picture taking turtles photographed the whole event.  AND the nothing turtle found that he was now the audience turtle.  He had a place in the pond after all.

Lullabelle and the Pirate Ship

           Lullabelle the fairy along with her mouse friend, Twitch, were visiting her cousin, Annabeth.  Annabeth lived by the sea, and this was Lullabelle’s first time to see the sea as well as Twitch’s.

            Lullabelle sat on Annabeth’s front porch adding ice cubes to her drink.  The thermometer on the side of the house read 98 degrees.  Lullabelle did not think she had ever been this hot.  Annabeth had assured her that later in the afternoon the sea breeze would start to blow, and it wouldn’t feel quite so hot.  However, Lullabelle wasn’t sure at this point if that was possible.

            Suddenly, they all heard a loud explosion.  Lullabelle nearly jumped out of her skin.  “What in the world was that?” she gasped.

            “Oh, that’s just the pirates in the harbor,” sighed Annabeth.  “They must be practicing shooting cannonballs again.”

            Lullabelle looked at Twitch and nodded.  Hot or not, this was something that just had to be investigated.  She picked up Twitch and flew to the harbor. 

            As she reached the harbor, she saw the huge pirate ship anchored in the bay.  Just then, another loud boom jolted Lullabelle and Twitch, and a cannonball whizzed by them missing only by about 50 ft.  They would have to be careful.

            Lullabelle flew up to the side of the ship.  She and Twitch crawled in one of the canon holes that had been left open.  She prayed the whole time that the canon would not fire while she was that close to it, and it didn’t.  Quietly, they crept along the wall as they looked around in wonder.  Pirates were running here and there loading canons and preparing them to fire.  The pirates were far too busy to notice a tiny fairy and a mouse sneaking up the steps to the main deck.

            Once they reached the main deck, they found their way to the captain’s quarters.  It was empty except for the captain’s parrot.  He appeared to be asleep on a bird rail next to the window.  Lullabelle and Twitch carefully explored the cabin trying to be extra carefully quiet.  They did not want to wake that bird.

            Just then, Lullabelle slipped on a map that was lying on the table and caused a whole roll of maps to fall to the floor.  Quick as a flash, Lullabelle darted behind a yellow curtain with Twitch right behind her.  Twitch’s gift of camouflage kicked in, and he turned the same color as the curtain.  Lullabelle had to stifle a giggle because he looked just like a pile of mustard.  Carefully, Lullabelle peeked out of the curtain.  The bird was awake!

            Lullabelle’s mind raced as she tried to figure out how they could get passed the parrot and to the door.  Then Twitch leaned back against the window and it moved slightly.  The window was open!  Very slowly and carefully, Lullabelle and Twitch opened the window until they could both squeeze out.  They were free!

            With Twitch in her arms, Lullabelle hightailed it back to Annabeth’s house.  Behind them they could hear the loud boom of the pirate’s canons firing, but they were safely out of range.  Visiting a pirate’s ship had been exciting, but they both agreed that they had had enough adventure for one day. 

Madison and the Playroom

             Madison and Marie stood in the doorway of the playroom looking at the huge mess that stood between them and the slumber party they wanted to have on Saturday.  Mom had said that the playroom had to be clean or there would be no slumber party.

            “Well, we better get started,” said Marie with a sigh.  “If we don’t, we will never get done.”

            “I don’t even know where to begin,” said Madison looking around at the mess.  “I can’t even see the floor.”

            “You’re right,” said Marie.  “We need an attack plan.  Why don’t you start over in that corner and I’ll start over here in this corner.  We’ll meet in the middle.”

            Madison trudged over to her corner.  It had piles of art supplies that they used to make things.  She started with the crayons and put them all back in their containers.  Then she put them back in the art desk on the other side of the room.  Next she attacked the piles of different packages of construction paper.  She stacked them neatly, and then, tried to pick up the entire stack.  As she tried to turn to make her way to the art desk, she dropped all of it on her big toe.

            “Oww!” cried Madison as she hopped around trying to hold her injured toe.

            “What happened?” asked Marie rushing over to see what was wrong.

            “I dropped a stack of construction paper on my toe,” said Madison as she sat down and inspected her toe.

            “Oh, you will live,” said Marie matter-of-factly.  “Now don’t try to take it all at once this time.”

            Madison picked up part of the construction paper and limped over to the art desk.  She opened the drawer where the construction paper was supposed to go and disturbed a moth taking a nap.  The moth buzzed by her face making Madison scream and drop the construction paper, which scattered all over the top of the art desk.

            “What happened this time,” asked Marie starting to get aggravated with her sister.

            “A bug flew in my face,” said Madison as she shivered in disgust.  “I hate bugs!!”

            “Get back to work,” said Marie as she rolled her eyes.

            It took Madison some time to pick up all the scattered construction paper and put it in the drawer.  Before long, however, she finished putting all the art supplies in their rightful place and could start on the next pile.  This pile consisted of dirty dishes and glasses they had left in the playroom when they had their last party.  Madison wanted to touch those as little as possible so she went to the kitchen to get a big bowl.  She would put them in the bowl and then take the bowl to the kitchen.  When she picked up the last plate, she noticed a puddle of red goo on the floor.

            “Oh yuck!” exclaimed Madison.  “I think I might hurl.”

            “What now!” yelled Marie as she went over to see what Madison had found.  Marie grabbed a scrap piece of paper, wiped up the red goo, and carefully smelled of it.

            “Oh, it’s just strawberry jam that came off of one of the plates,” said Marie.  “Now get back to work.”

            Madison and Marie worked in silence for quite a while until suddenly Madison jumped up in excitement.  “I found it! I found it!” she cried.

            “What did you find?” asked Marie not even looking up.

            “Look, I found my missing piece to the zoo puzzle,” Madison said excitedly.  “I have been looking for this forever.  Now, my gray elephant will finally be complete.”

            Madison went over to the puzzle boxes and put the piece back in the zoo puzzle box.  While she was there she decided to straighten up the puzzle boxes and games.  When she moved one of the game boxes, she found an old birthday candle shoved into the corner.

            “What do I do with this?” asked Madison holding up the birthday candle.

            “Just throw it away,” said Marie.

            Madison went over to the garbage can to throw it away.   When she turned around, she noticed how close they were to being done.

            “Wow,” said Madison.  “I can see the floor now.  We are almost done.”

            Marie stood up and stretched.  “You’re right.  We are almost done.  Wow, that was much easier than I thought it would be.”

            “We are the greatest picker-uppers in the world,” said Madison as she made a muscle.

            This made Marie giggle.  The two girls finished the final items and stood together surveying their work.

            “We do make a great team, don’t we?” said Marie as she gave her sister a playful shove.  Madison looked at her sister with a great big smile on her face.  The party was on after all.           

Dylan and the Beetle

           Dylan leaned against his broom and wiped the sweat from his face.  This was hard work.  He really regretted knocking that baseball into the neighbor’s window now, but he couldn’t undo it.  His father had given him the option of cleaning the furniture store over mowing the neighbor’s lawn for a month.  He now decided neither option was easy even though this option would only take one day.

            He had already cleaned the upstairs showroom and office.  Now he had to clean the huge showroom on the main floor.  As he scanned the room, it looked like a sea of furniture as far as the eye could see.  He would have to sweep around all that furniture before he could call it a day.

            Just then a big, fat insect buzzed by his head and landed on the floor next to a loveseat.  For a moment, Dylan stared at the bug.  It must have been some sort of beetle with blue and red streaks on a field of black.  He had never seen a bug like it.  His first instinct was to catch the bug and put it in a jar.  That would make a cool show and tell for science class next week.

            Dylan had seen some mason jars in the upstairs office.  He laid down his broom and quickly went upstairs to grab a jar.  The jars did not have any lids so he grabbed a piece of paper and a rubber band for an improvised lid.  Then he went back to the showroom to see if the bug was still there.  It was.

            Slowly, he crept toward the bug.  He planned to grab it with his hand and quickly stuff it in the jar.  As he made his way toward it, he wondered if this was a pinching beetle.  Just as he was debating whether or not grabbing the beetle with his hand was a good idea, the beetle flew up and nearly hit him between the eyes.  Dylan shrieked as he dodged the bug.  Now it was personal.

            Dylan no longer cared if he kept the bug alive.  A squished bug in his jar would be just as good.  He picked up his broom and started chasing the bug around the room.  After nearly sending a lamp crashing to the floor, Dylan decided that maybe his attack plan needed some work even though he thought that was the ugliest lamp he had ever seen.  It reminded him of a walrus.  He started shooing the bug into a more open place.  The beetle just would not cooperate.  Finally it landed on an old upright piano his father kept in the corner.  Tired of the chase, Dylan sat on the bench and began to plunk on the keys.

            Suddenly, Dylan heard a commotion outside and ran out the front door to see a parade of motorcycles coming around the block.  They proceeded down Main Street and just kept coming around the corner.  There must have been hundreds of motorcycles.  The smell of exhaust nearly knocked Dylan down, but he didn’t care.  He had never seen that many motorcycles together at one time.

            As the last motorcycle disappeared from sight, Dylan turned and walked back into the store.  There on the floor next to his broom sat his friend, the beetle.  Dylan decided the beetle had earned the right to live and left it alone.  After all that excitement, he still had to sweep the big showroom and maybe the beetle could keep him company.  With that, he picked up his broom and set to work.

Trevor's First Day

            Trevor stretched as he crawled out of bed.  He had never wakened in the complete dark before, but today was his first day of his very own paper route.  Quickly, he dressed and went into the kitchen to find his papers sitting in bundles on the kitchen table.  His dad was up, too.

            “Good morning,” said his dad cheerily.  “Grab some breakfast and then you need to insert the ads in the papers and roll them.”

            Suddenly, Trevor noticed different kinds of stacks.  He thought the papers would arrive ready to go.  He had no idea that HE would have to put the papers together and roll them.  This took some of his exuberance out of him, but still this was his first step to becoming the richest 10 year old on the block.  It was just a bump in the road.

            After grabbing a toasted pastry, he set to working on the business of inserting the ads.  His dad let him try it on his own for a little while, and then showed him how to do it in a way that was much faster.  Soon he had a rhythm going.  “This isn’t half bad,” he thought to himself.

            Before long he had the papers inserted.  Next, he had to roll all the throws and fold all the papers going into boxes.  He looked at his list.  He had 37 throws and 13 boxes.  As he counted out his throws and boxes, he noticed he had 2 extra papers.  He asked his dad, “What are the extras for?”

            “Those are in case you make mistakes or get one of your papers wet or dirty,” his dad replied.

            “Oh,” said Trevor.  That thought had never occurred to him.

            His mom had made him a canvas sling to put over his shoulders.  This would hold his throws.  His dad had attached a basket on the back of his bike.  This would hold the papers going into boxes. Trevor loaded up his sling and his basket, grabbed his list, and set off on his first day as a paper carrier.

            Trevor had memorized the first few stops on his list, but after that, he had to consult his list after every stop.  Before he left, he was convinced that it would only take him 30 minutes to finish a measly 50 papers.  Now it had been 30 minutes and he had only delivered 10 papers.  This might take a while.

            As he rounded a curve to start another street, his bike tire slipped on a stick in the road.  Trevor had been too busy trying to read his list to notice it.  His bike slid sideways throwing him off.  His papers spilled all over the street.  Trevor had worn a helmet, but not kneepads and elbow pads.  When he hit the street, his right elbow received a nasty skin.  His jeans saved his knees from more than bruises.  Trevor sat in the street watching red blood trickle down his right arm.  He needed a way to stop the bleeding and keep the blood from getting on his papers.  He decided to take off one of his socks and wrap it around his injury.  Then he picked up all his papers, dusted them off, placed them all back where they belonged, and set off once more.

            After delivering another 10 papers, a drop of water hit Trevor right in the middle of the forehead.  He only had 15 more papers to deliver, but it was starting to rain.  Frantically, he stuffed all his papers in his sling trying to save them from getting wet.  Then he peddled with all his might for home.  He needed an umbrella or something. 

            When he reached his house, he went into the garage and found all old umbrella and some duck tape.  He was trying to attach the umbrella to his handlebars when his dad walked out to him.

            “Son, what are doing?” his dad asked.

            “It’s starting to rain.  I need something to keep the papers dry,” explained Trevor as he worked furiously to attach the umbrella.

            “How are you going to keep them dry once you throw them?” asked his dad.

            Trevor stopped.  He hadn’t even considered how to keep them dry once he threw them.  He looked at his dad hopelessly and slumped to the ground.

            His dad walked over to a box in the corner and pulled out plastic bags.  “Fortunately, your boss did think of that.  These are for just such an occasion.  Let’s bag all the throws you have left, and I will help you finish your route in the car,” explained his dad.

            Trevor smiled and stood up.  In just a few minutes, Trevor and his dad had bagged all the rest of the papers.  In no time, the route was finished thanks to his dad and a car.

            When they came back into the house after they were done, Trevor’s mom properly bandaged his injured elbow, and gave them both cups of hot chocolate.  As he drank his hot chocolate Trevor thought about his first day as a route carrier.  This might be more work than he thought, but still it hadn’t been half bad.  Plus, he sure would have some story to tell his friends about the perils of having a job.

Lily's Castle Float

           This story is now in production to become a book with AuthorHouse Publishing, Inc!!!!!!!!!

Cobalt's Quest for Victory

            Coltyne and his younger sister had gone to summer camp for the week.  Every year at this time, the toys from their bedrooms always had a competition to see who was the best.  This year Cobalt the robot was in charge of Coltyne’s team for the first time.  A doll named Bella was in charge of Coltyne’s sister’s team.  Bella was last year’s champion and Cobalt was determined to not let her do it again.

            The competition involved a game of “capture the flag.”  Each team put up their flag at one end of the hallway.  The teams then divided into defenders and invaders.  The defenders guarded the flag and the invaders tried to break through to the other team’s flag.  Bella took her job very seriously.  Cobalt would have to really be creative to outsmart her.

            Cobalt’s plan involved a toy helicopter, a parachute, and himself.  While his defenders and other invaders kept the other team busy, he was going to drop in behind enemy lines and get their flag.  He would have to make sure his helicopter took off and dropped him before the other team figured out what he was doing or this would not work.  It was a daring plan that could go very wrong, and that made Cobalt really nervous.

            The toys from both rooms had worked hard to prepare the bridge that would divide the hallway in half.  They had used the connecting blocks from Coltyne’s room to make it.  It would span the entire width of the hallway and would mark the spot where each team’s territory began.  Each team would have to cross the bridge in order to enter the other team’s territory.  Most of the contest for the invaders was spent trying to make it over the bridge.

            The night before the big contest, Cobalt met with his team to make the final plans.  “Ok, guys,” said Cobalt as he tried to rally his troops.  “Remember, our game plan is to keep the other team busy while I prepare the helicopter for take-off.  Once I am in the air, everyone will try to keep the other team’s invaders from running back to their own flag.”

            “What if they break through our lines and try for our flag?” asked a shark toy.

            “Our defenders will just have to stand their ground until I reach the other team’s flag,” said Cobalt confidently.

            When the meeting was over, Cobalt checked his parachute to make sure it was packed correctly and went to bed.  He would need a good night’s sleep to be at his best the next day.

            The next morning both teams assembled in the hallway and brought out the dividing bridge that was in Coltyne’s room.  Then each team placed their flags at their end of the hall and surrounded it with the defenders.  The invaders took their positions on their side of the bridge and waited for the horn to blow. 

Bella’s team had war paint on their faces making them look fierce.  Coltyne’s team shifted nervously as they waited for the beginning horn.  Cobalt wondered what kind of game plan Bella had but then turned his attention to his own plan.  He must stay focused.

When the horn sounded, Cobalt threw on his parachute and ran to the toy helicopter.  The helicopter lifted up into the air with Cobalt hanging onto the bottom rails.  It then flew over the bridge and over all the other team’s defenders.  When he reached the other team’s flag, he let go of the rails and deployed his parachute.  That is when disaster struck.  His parachute tangled up in the helicopter’s rotors, and Cobalt along with the helicopter came crashing to the ground right in front of the flag defenders.

When Cobalt managed to crawl out from under his parachute, he was surrounded by a group of fierce-looking Barbies in army fatiques.  Each Barbie held a toy fork in Cobalt’s direction.  Cobalt just sighed in disgust.  He had failed.

Just then, he noticed a streak of blue run behind the line of Barbies.  Then he heard the shark toy yell, “We win.”  Sure enough, the shark toy had managed to sneak behind enemy lines while everyone watched Cobalt fly over.  When the Barbies surrounded Cobalt as he crashed, the shark toy had made his dash for the flag.  Cobalt’s team had won!

Even though his plan had failed miserably, Cobalt was so glad the shark toy had made up his own plan just in case.  It didn’t matter how they won.  What mattered is that they worked as a team to get there.

The Beach Safari

           Alan sat on his mat looking out at the waves gently crashing on the shore.  This was his very first time to be on a real beach.  He could smell the saltiness in the air.  The sea gulls swooped and dived at the water all around him as they squawked at one another.  He grabbed handfuls of sand and let it sift through his fingers.

            After a while, he decided he would go exploring.  Surely, he could find some really interesting stuff on a real beach.  Before he had gone very far, he spotted half of a coconut shell.  He picked it up and felt the rough shell.  Then he smelled the inside.  Sure enough, it smelled like a coconut.   He dropped it back on the sand and kept going.

            The next thing to catch his eye was a cup of fruit someone had left on the beach.  He walked up to it and squatted next to it.  For a moment, he simply looked inside the cup.  The fruit seemed to be moving.  Then he realized the fruit was covered with little bugs.  “Ugh!” he thought to himself and moved on to something else.

            He found lots of interesting shells along the way.  Some of these he put in his pockets.  He also found sand dollars and even a sea star, but he left that alone.  He couldn’t remember if the sea star would sting him or not.  He did come across a crab or two.  He watched those from a distance.  Those pincers looked like they might hurt.

            When he decided that maybe he had gone far enough from his mat, he spotted a red and white umbrella lying next to a rock.  He walked over to it and picked it up.  The umbrella had a cartoon goose on it.  The goose had on sunglasses and was riding a surfboard.  Alan really liked the picture of the goose.  He tried to open the umbrella, and then realized why it had been lying next to the rock.  Several of the metal rods in it were broken, and it would not open properly.  However, he decided he would keep it because he really liked the picture of the goose.  Maybe his dad might be able to fix it.

            He tucked the umbrella under his arm and set off in search of his mat.  Wow, he had gone much further than he thought.  When he finally found his mat, he was ready for a rest.  He sat down and pulled out all the treasures he had brought back from his exploring.   He carefully piled them up next to his mat and started watching the waves again.  Maybe he would go on safari again tomorrow, but for now he was satisfied with his plunder. 

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.