Catching the Moon
By: Kame McComas
1-27-2013
I remember being so excited we got a white Christmas - I was only nine. My mom had work early in the morning, so my dad and I had to wait until she got home to open presents. It was like the presents were taunting me all day, screaming, 'open me!' Ugh! I hated it.
Late that night we got a call saying my mom got in an accident on her way home. It was ironic, why Christmas? Why ever? I was taken by surprise. When we went to visit her that night though she was tired - yet she stayed up talking to me, telling me funny rhymes and things to cheer me up: "my Marley makes me mischievous," she sang, smiling weakly. She was like the sun, so bright. She was the happy ending in a story, you never want to end. I always and positively loved her.
"You're so bright, keep up the fight," I cried, making her smile because I was trying to cheer her up. I felt deafening silence take over as she closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Look, it's a full moon Marley," she said. I smiled. We would always sit outside during a full moan. I held my thumb up towards the moon looking out the window, my mom taught me no matter where you are in the world, the moon is never bigger than your thumb. "Honey," my dad said. I looked at him, he had glossy eyes, looking down at mom who's eyes were closed.
____ ____ ____ ____ ____
I"m now ten and tonight it's Christmas, a white Christmas. I went outside, it was about seven. I wrapped my jacket tightly around me and sat on the porch. It was a full moon again this Christmas. I held my thumb up towards the moon, it felt like she was with me again. Her trick gave more meaning now, because it's like she never left, when there's a full moon - she's sitting next to me. I was touching the moon, it felt amazing.
The Delay
By: Jessica Burke
1-27-2013
Jennifer sat in
the back of the taxi cab waiting, anxiously and
impatiently. Blocking out the sounds of all the
honking cars that were also trying to
figure out what the holdup was and how to get past it. Becoming a slight bit angry, Jennifer asked the man
driving if there were back roads or ways
around to the airport, he said no. So she sat and waited a little longer until she decided that she
couldn’t wait any more. She hopped out of
the cab and grabbed her things from the trunk and threw the man a twenty dollar bill and began running
in the freezing cold snow. She heard the
wind whistling in her ear as she ran. She was a block away and could just barely see it now.
Finally she was
there and stopped in front of the doors to take a breath, and then started running
again. She rushed as fast as she could until she had to stop at the airport security. She quickly took off all the medal
she was wearing and walked through the detector
and was cleared. She
grabbed her belongings and once again began
running. Out of nowhere, a
security guard stopped her.
“Excuse me
ma’am, there is no running in the airport. You wouldn’t believe how many times I
have to tell people that in one day.” He informed her.
“I am so sorry sir, but I am late for my flight
and I can’t miss it.” She answered him as
innocently as she could.
The man just
grunted as if he didn’t even care and slowly walked away. Jennifer walked for a few
seconds and then gradually regained her speed. Finally she had made it to the door that lead out to her plane, Flight
108, but they were already closed.
“Did this flight
already take off? Did I miss it?” Jennifer asked the lady at the desk, after she
caught her breath one last time.
“No ma’am. This
flight has actually been delayed because of the snow storm,” the woman answered.
“If you would like you may wait here in one
of our lovely and comfortable chairs,” says the woman, as she pointed behind
Jennifer to the seating area.
“Great.” Jennifer
mumbles under her breath in a sarcastic tone as she turns around to go have a
seat. So Jennifer sits down and gets herself situated, then pulls out her laptop and begins to work. All of a sudden
a man sitting across from her says,
“Jenny? Jenny Macklin? Is that you?”
Jennifer looks up
and is stunned. She is like a deer in headlights, she has absolutely not motion, and no
words. He says again “Jenny, it’s me,
Andrew.”
“I...I...I know
it’s you Andrew, I just can’t believe that I am seeing you, running into you like
this. I thought my odds of every seeing you again would be like seeing a polar bear in Florida…. something extremely
rare. Oh, and I just go by Jennifer now.” She
said in a confused and strange voice.
Andrew and Jennifer
continued talking for a while, and eventually Jennifer became more relaxed and calm about seeing
Andrew, until he brought up the romantic
phase of their history together. Jennifer and Andrew were high school sweethearts. Like in a typical movie, Andrew was
the captain and quarterback of the football
team, most popular guy in school, and the
prom king. Jennifer was the captain of the cheerleading squad, most popular girl in school, and of course, the
prom queen. Their relationship was almost
perfect, right until Jennifer broke it off to move to New Jersey.
“Do you remember
prom night?” he asked her while he gazed off into the air as if he were imagining it.
“The blue sea theme, the white strobe lights, your beautiful blue dress that matched the entire place, as always you
looked gorgeous!” and he started to smile and
laugh a bit.
Suddenly everything became awkward and silent
again. She told him about the security guard stopping her; she said he is a
grumpy monster with no feeling. Changing
the subject as quickly as possible once again, because Andrew had not responded to her, Jennifer asks him
what he is doing as a profession.
“I am actually an
online blogger.” He told her, proud of his job.
Jennifer’s eyes widened, she smiled so wide,
and she began giggling. Wondering what was so funny about that, Andrew asked
Jennifer, “What? Why are you smiling so
big? Why is that so good?”
She just kept
smiling and then finally said, “You know it would be hilarious if you were “Dreamer.”
Then Andrew’s eyes widened. “I am.” He replied.”Wait
a minute! Don’t tell me that you are ‘Jz1D?”
“I am….” She said
extremely shocked “I love typing the top topics of today’s life thrills.”
“Dreamer” and “Jz1D” were the two most popular and well known bloggers in New Jersey. They were becoming
so popular that their fans declared a
blogging war. “Dreamer” and “Jz1D” had been trying to figure out who the other blogger was but they
couldn’t. All real names are secretive in
the blogging world. “This is so horribly-perfect!!! Now I know who “Dreamer” is but... I just can’t believe it’s
you, Andrew.” Jennifer stated to him.
Both were still
just sitting there in shock when the front desk lady came on the intercom and announced
that the doors for Flight 108 would now be opening,
and plane will be ready for departure in 15 minutes.
So, Jennifer stood up and once again grabbed
all of her belongings. “Goodbye Andrew. This was actually kind of fun.” And she
walked away without another word. She wanted to turn around but just couldn’t, she wanted to
stay and talk to Andrew but just couldn’t, so
she kept walking. She made her way back
up to the desk and started talking to the woman again, this time calmer and nicer. Jennifer had asked her where
she had gotten her scarf from. “Oh, wow!
I just love your scarf, some of the styles you see nowadays just make a person want to barf!” The woman
laughed and thanked Jennifer.
Out of nowhere
they heard a man screaming, “Wait! Wait! Wait! You can’t leave! Wait!” Jennifer
turned around and saw Andrew screaming and running after her. He made it to her and said, “I can’t just
let you slip out of my hands again.
Please take me back.” There life was always like a romance movie, perfect jobs, perfect love, and perfect life.
But not this time, this time there was no
happy ending to the story.
She gave him a
small, quick smile and with the entire airport staring that them she said, “No.”
All the people gasped. “I will not come back to you.” Before he could even get another word out she turned around and
boarded her plane. He couldn’t even speak, he
was so embarrassed. His face was red, and
his heart was shattered. He just stood there, stunned. Finally he turned back around with his head hanging
low, and walked back to his seat where he
plopped down and began writing to his blogger fans about his past love “Jz1D.” He wrote of their first
date, their prom date, their break up,
and their airport run in. But not once did he mention that his past love was the blogger “Jz1D”. When
Jennifer got home she sat down and read
his latest post. She couldn’t believe he had told all of their fans about it. Then, she realized it might help
them both and she told all of their fans
through a post that she was the woman that
“Dreamer” had
been talking about in his last post.
The fans loved
the idea of a blogging romance, but it never happened. Andrew continued blogging
about Jennifer and calling her and tried anything
he possibly could to get her back, she kept saying no. When she finished her post, she closed her laptop and went into
her living room to help her newly wedded
husband with their newborn baby boy, Andrew.
Molly Ray Sunshine
By: Elijah Swartzfager
1-27-2013
One sunny, spring morning, I was climbing country cat's cages - then climbing out of my dream and out of bed. I found Molly laying on the end of my bed. We went to the front of the house and turned on the TV and played my X-Box. Molly was the best dog I ever had; she was a yellow lab with a soft, furry coat, and dark brown eyes. She was the nicest dog ever and she never barked, never bit, never hurt anyone . . . unless they tried to hurt me or my family.
Then, one dark day, me and Molly were eating lunch and I wanted to go for a walk. I didn't put her on a leash, which wasn't the first time, because she didn't need one. We were walking to the park when a dog barked, wanting to play fetch with her and her favorite stick. Molly was like a sibling to me. She was more beautiful than any other dog I've ever seen, more beautiful than a starry night sky.
We were at the park and I got her stick out and played fetch. We played for a few hours, before we headed home. We were just crossing the road, when everyone around me seemed to know something that I didn't . . . and then it happened . . . Crack! Bump! Bump! Molly Ray Sunshine was hit by a truck.
It's been a while since my dog died. I finally got the courage to go downstairs and eat something. When I was eating, I realized something . . . It's time to go. I grabbed my jacket and my bible and ran to Molly's grace. I read her stories and prayed everyday when I got home from school. I wish, I just wish, I could go back in time and do it all over again - but I can't, so until we meet again, "I'll always miss you, goodbye Molly Ray Sunshine."
My Dog is an Evil Cat
By: Frank Smith
1-27-2013
My dog, Cerberus, is most likely an evil cat because he did something evil almost a year ago. I was sitting on my couch, just enjoying my soda and the afternoon's warming glow. Then, Cerberus, who has feet like a ninja, walked gingerly from the kitchen to the living room. He then began to whine like the puppy he is. After he stopped whining to my mom and walked up to me and looked at the bottle with giant, broad, ears and interest in his eyes; but Cerberus, being as crafty as a cat, I knew he wanted the soda bottle.
Cerberus can't catch cats, so I knew he couldn't catch the fly that was making that irritating buzzing noise near his triangular shaped ears. After the fly went away, I got up and Cerberus got on the couch and sat down where I was just sitting. Now, I finished the soda, and Cerberus being the puppy he is (which is weird, because he's half as tall as me) kept looking at the bottle.Then I could assume that his cute puppyish face hid his true identity, an evil cat.
I knew because when he made his ears broad it gave him away. He actually got closer, only paying attention to the bottle and sat down like a person and looked with seriousness. But, I really wanted him to go away, or join some fray. Instead, he just sat there and I thought, "what is this evil cat creature going to do?"
The only reason I was thinking it was because he looked ready enough to pounce and bite the bottle right out of my hand. He then began to launch his attack. I never thought this would happen, but Ceberus was totally having a silent-scream. He pounced and bit and used his claws to get the bottle, hurting me in the process. He would stop for a few minutes and continue attacking me. This actually occurred in short and long periods of time. Eventually he slowed down and became lazy and then stopped.
Soon he would follow the bottle while while I sat on the floor because he took my spot on the couch and hogged all the space. So, I started to rethink about not giving him the bottle and started to think about actually letting him have it. But, my thoughts kept getting disrupted by Cerberus trying to bite at the bottle and getting my hand each time instead, making me bleed a little. So, I made a compromise and put the bottle behind me so he couldn't get it, but he ended up digging his long claws in my shoulder and it really hurt for a while. So, I gave Cerberus the bottle and he enjoyed it for a little bit, but my aunt's dog, that is staying with us, tried to take it from him. They ended up fighting over it and hurt me in the process. It went on for minutes; they growled, they threw themselves on the floor, and for some weird reason Ceberus started meowing like the evil cat he is.
