My First "Publication"--Monday, October 18, 2010
7:18 p.m.
When I was in third grade, I had a great teacher, who really had a long lasting effect on my future endeavours to be a closet "author". Her name was Miss Karen Schmehl--she had patience, loved Snoopy, General Hospital (we had many conversations about the subject), and she LOVED Tug McGraw. She gave me my first creative writing assignment and that unleashed the monster that I am now--I learned that not only did I like using my imagination to be creative, but I was actually GOOD at it!!! She gave us the assignment because she was looking for submissions to the school newspaper--"Harry's Herald". Not a big publication, but I guess, good enough for a third grader who had dreams of becoming an author or columnist sometime down the line. So, I have decided to share my first creative writing story with you. It was inspired, again, by what I know--my cousin, Jim Jacobs' large family of siblings. We saw each other nearly everyday, so who better than to model my story after?
Jimmy Meets the Spell Twister
One sunny afternoon, Jimmy was on his way home from school and he saw a little old man, struggling to cross the street with his groceries. He walked up to the elderly man, smiled, and introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Jimmy", he said. "Can I help you across the street with your groceries?". The little old man looked Jimmy squarely in the eye, gave him a hearty glare, and yelled at him, "Leave me alone right now or I will turn your hair into a mare". Jimmy looked at him confused, for a moment. And again, the man stated "Leave me alone right now or I will turn your hair into a mare". Before giving it another thought, Jimmy turned around and ran home. He went directly into the kitchen to tell his mother, who was making dinner, what had happened. She looked at him strangely, and then hollered at him. She told him to "stop being such a fibber and go to his room without any dinner until he could learn to tell her the truth.
Being a boy, and not one to cry much, he objected at first, but then sadly went to his room. He really wished he knew how to get his mother to believe what he was saying. He thought, "maybe I can tell Dad. He might believe me". But then he thought better of it because his common sense told him that if his mother didn't believe him, then neither would his father. He fell asleep on his bed and when he woke up, he heard a noise at his bedroom door. Due to what had happened earlier in the afternoon, he was a little hesitant to go near the door because quite frankly, he was a bit frightened. When he opened the door, he looked down and there was a plate of spaghetti and bread on the floor. The shadow sneaking down the hall was that of his oldest sister, Alice. He whispered her name and he called her back to his room. "Thank you for the dinner, Alice, I am really hungry but I need to ask you a favor". He relayed to her the entire story from the afternoon, and she shook her head in disbelief. She said, "I find that story hard to believe, so I can see why mom doesn't believe you. I will go with you tomorrow and I will see what happens. If the same thing happens again, I will come home and tell mom you were telling the truth. If I am a witness to this, maybe she will lift your grounding".
So, the next afternoon, another bright and sunny day, Alice walked to the school and picked Jimmy up. They walked the same route that he had taken the day before. At about the same point, Jimmy spotted the little old man again. Again, he approached him. "Hi, remember me?", he said. "Can I help you across the street with your laundry"? Alice said, "I can carry your laundry detergent for you, as well". The man, angered once again because his walk was being interrupted, looked at Alice and Jimmy with a glare and pointed a long, bony finger at them. "Leave me alone right now", he said, "or I will turn your head into a bed!". Alice, becoming quite nervous by this point, grabbed Jimmy by the shoulder and pulled him toward home. "Let's go home and tell mom what happened right away", she said.
They ran all the way home and when they got there, their mother was cutting potatoes for dinner. "Mom, mom", Alice said. "Jimmy was telling you the truth yesterday. I went with him this afternoon and we saw that same strange little man. He told us that if we didn't leave him alone, he was going to turn our heads into beds". Their mother was not amused. In fact, she was quite angry because the nonsense and the lying was continuing. She said, "Both of you, go to your rooms. There will be no dinner for either one of you until you can learn to tell the truth. And you will be in this house everyday right after school until this nonsense stops". She dismissed them and they sadly climbed the stairs to their respective rooms. The sat on their beds, feeling defeated.
A little while later, after their parents had gone to bed, Geo heard a knock on his door. When he opened the door up, it was Alice and another older sister, Joann. Alice said, "I told Joann what happened today and she wants to help us to prove to mom that we are telling the truth. Tomorrow, she is going to come with me to meet you at school and we will prove to mom that this little man does exist!". Then, with a silent look of hope, they said good night to one another and went to bed.
The next day was very dark and rainy. But still, after school, Jimmy, Alice, and Joann made their venture as planned. They walked down the street watching for the little old man. It took them a little while, but they finally saw him dragging a large bag down the street. Jimmy, Alice, and Joann approached him with caution. "Excuse me, sir", Alice said. "Can we give you a hand with your sack. We can help you get it home quicker than it would take you to drag it down the street yourself". The man looked at them and considered for a moment. Then, he yelled, "Bah. I have told you the last two days not to bother me. Now, if you don't leave me alone, I will turn your nose into a rose!". With that, Jimmy, Alice, and Joann turned and ran away from the scary little gentleman. They didn't know how they were going to again go to their mother with this latest truth in their series of "lies". They arrived home, soaking wet from the pouring rain, and their mother was at the stove stirring something in a pot. "Mom", Jimmy and the girls hollered at once. "We saw that strange little man again. We offered to help him drag a large sack home and he threatened to turn our noses into roses if we didn't leave him alone". She stopped stirring the soup that was in the pot and looked at them. "Oh no! Not this again", she yelled. "I have had quite enough of this lying that has been going on. Now, go to your rooms without any supper and consider what you are saying. When you can tell the truth, you will be allowed out of your rooms to have dinner".
Sadly, Jimmy and his two sisters turned and went up the stairs to their rooms--Jimmy, to his, and Alice and Joann to the room that they shared. A little while later, a knock came on Jimmy's door. When he opened it, his older sister, Elizabeth stood there with a tray containing three bowls of soup--and Alice and Joann--in tow. Elizabeth was always the level-headed one so she figured that maybe, just maybe, if she went along with them all tomorrow to track down the little gentleman, she could help them prove to their mother that they were telling the truth. They all agreed to meet after school. Then, they ate their soup, looked at each other hopefully, and then went to bed with hopes that the next day would clear them of their "crimes".
The next morning, Jimmy woke up and went to school. He was very hopeful that everything would be all cleared up by that afternoon. He had trouble concentrating in class but he managed to get through the day--he did not like being accused of lying when he was really telling the truth. After school, he saw Alice, Joann, and now Elizabeth, standing underneath the big oak tree outside of the school waiting for him. He walked up to them. "Are you ready for this?", he said. "I just want to clear us and move on. Hopefully, today will let that happen". They walked on in silence until they came upon the little old man once again. This time, he was trying to walk up his front steps and he was rather wobbly on his feet. Jimmy and his sisters approached the man. "Hello, sir. I am not sure what your name is or how long you have lived here", Elizabeth said. "But we are trying to be good neighbors and help you. If you will allow us to, we would like to help you up your steps and into your house." The little old man turned to face them. He looked them up and down. Then with a scowl, he hollered at them, "Not that it is any of your business by my name is "The Spell Twister" and I have lived her for a long time, too long a time. If you don't leave me alone, I will turn your eyes into pies!". This scared Elizabeth and she turned on her heel, looked at her brother and sisters, and yelled, "Run!".
Breathlessly, they ran in the back door. Their mother, again, was in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Mom, mom", Elizabeth yelled, I went with them today. They are telling you the truth about that little old man they have been telling you about. I am really afraid. What will we do if he comes after us?". The young mother, frazzled from the days activities, considered her children. She looked from one to the other and pointed at the stairs. "Elizabeth, I can not believe you are getting yourself tied up into this mess. All of you, get out of this kitchen and get up to your rooms. You will have no supper tonight. Go think about what you have done!". Sadly, Jimmy and his sisters climbed the seemingly never ending staircase to their rooms. Later that night, Carol, yet another sister, appeared at Jimmy's door, but not before stopping to pick up her sisters from their rooms. "I guess it couldn't hurt for me to come with you tomorrow to see if we can run into this strange little man that calls himself the "Spell Twister" again. Then, maybe mom will believe ME if I confirm your stories.". So, before agreeing, they did the Jacobs handshake of agreement (or victory--whatever the situation may be), and went to bed.
The next day was very overcast. It actually kind of depressed Jimmy a little bit. He could only hope that all this misunderstanding could be fixed today and that his mother would finally believe what they had been trying to tell her for the past several days. After school, Jimmy met his sisters as planned. They walked in silence until they came, once again, upon the little man's house. He was nowhere to be seen, so they knocked on his front door. They waited a moment, and then the door opened up a crack and they saw a beady little eye. Before Carol could say a word, he spoke. "Why don't you pesky children just leave me alone. If you don't get off of my porch immediately, I am going to turn your ears into shears!". Carol, feeling speechless, just turned around and ran. They ran until they reached home. Into the kitchen, they loudly clamored and their mother looked at her disheveled children. "Now what is it?", she asked her children. Carol stepped forward. "I went with Jimmy, Alice, Joann, and Elizabeth to that little old man's house", she said. "He really did say all of those awful things to them AND he did it again today! He really has us scared, Mommy." Again, the mother pointed at the stairs. She no longer had to say anything--her children knew the drill. Up the stairs they went and quietly closed their bedroom doors.
Later that night, when they all should have been asleep, a knock came on his door once again. When he opened the door, there stood all of his sisters, including his youngest and last sister, Denise. She was eight but decided that she wanted to be brave. "I want to go with you all tomorrow and I will tell Mommy that you are telling the truth", Denise said. Jimmy asked her if she was sure and then she shyly nodded. It was settled. They were going to use their last chance--Denise--to prove that they were telling the truth. They went to bed and had a fitful night of sleep--from hunger and dread.
Because they hadn't slept much anyway, they were up early and ready for school earlier than normal. They discussed their plans for that afternoon around the breakfast table and agreed that the older sisters would walk to the school and pick up their younger siblings. After they finished eating their oatmeal, they left for school with a sense of dread. After school, the children met in their usual spot. They walked their usual route home from school and they came upon the little old man working in his flower garden. Denise approached the gentleman cautiously before she spoke. "Hello, sir. Your flowers are beautiful", she said in a shy voice. "May I help you plant your new flowers? I love playing in the dirt." The little man turned around and looked at her over the top of his glasses. "No, you may not!! Just leave me alone right now or I will turn your feet into beets!!". "Run", the siblings yelled. All of them began to run down the street, and Jimmy turned to look behind him. Denise wasn't there. He looked further back, and there she stood next to the little old man. She was actually talking to him. Jimmy stopped in his tracks and called to his older sisters. They cautiously walked back to retrieve their little sister.
They got to her and she refused to go with them. She was making friends with the old gentleman. During their absence, the elderly man explained to Denise that he was sorry to have treated them so badly. He had had a hard time adjusting to living his new home alone without his wife and children. She had died and the children had moved away. The other neighbors didn't try to get to know him so that when Jimmy and his sisters tried to befriend him, he didn't know how to handle it. "For all of that, I am truly sorry, children," he said, "and I would really like to be your friend". Then, Denise had a wonderful idea and she shyly asked the man, "What is your real name?". He promptly answered her, "Frederick Spellman". "Well, Mr. Spellman, all week my brother and sisters have been getting sent to bed without any dinner because my mommy didn't believe it when they told her about the things that you were saying", she explained. "Would you mind coming to my house with us and telling my mom that they were all telling the truth". "Of course, I will come home with you right now", he answered.
They arrived at the house just in time for dinner. Their mother was putting a huge feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn on the table in anticipation of their father's arrival home from work. The back door opened and her children walked in, accompanied by a strange little old man, wringing his hat in his hands. "Hello, ma'am", he said. "I just wanted to come home with your children and tell you that they were telling you the truth all week. Today, little Denise here, wouldn't leave until she made friends with me. No one has ever been that kind to me", he explained. "Now, I will be on my way.". He turned and walked to the door. "Wait, Mr. Spellman", Denise said as he opened it. "Would you like to stay and have dinner with us? We would love to have you.". A tear came to Mr. Spellman's eye at that moment and he accepted the invitation from the little girl. And from that day on, he became good friends with the Jacobs family and shared many meals with them.
So, there you have it, folks. My first story that I ever wrote. Of course, it is not verbatim of what I wrote when I was a wee third grader, but it is the same idea. I also made a couple of improvements, I hope, on the story. Enjoy!!!
P.S. You remember this one, Mom???
Jimmy Meets the Spell Twister
One sunny afternoon, Jimmy was on his way home from school and he saw a little old man, struggling to cross the street with his groceries. He walked up to the elderly man, smiled, and introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Jimmy", he said. "Can I help you across the street with your groceries?". The little old man looked Jimmy squarely in the eye, gave him a hearty glare, and yelled at him, "Leave me alone right now or I will turn your hair into a mare". Jimmy looked at him confused, for a moment. And again, the man stated "Leave me alone right now or I will turn your hair into a mare". Before giving it another thought, Jimmy turned around and ran home. He went directly into the kitchen to tell his mother, who was making dinner, what had happened. She looked at him strangely, and then hollered at him. She told him to "stop being such a fibber and go to his room without any dinner until he could learn to tell her the truth.
Being a boy, and not one to cry much, he objected at first, but then sadly went to his room. He really wished he knew how to get his mother to believe what he was saying. He thought, "maybe I can tell Dad. He might believe me". But then he thought better of it because his common sense told him that if his mother didn't believe him, then neither would his father. He fell asleep on his bed and when he woke up, he heard a noise at his bedroom door. Due to what had happened earlier in the afternoon, he was a little hesitant to go near the door because quite frankly, he was a bit frightened. When he opened the door, he looked down and there was a plate of spaghetti and bread on the floor. The shadow sneaking down the hall was that of his oldest sister, Alice. He whispered her name and he called her back to his room. "Thank you for the dinner, Alice, I am really hungry but I need to ask you a favor". He relayed to her the entire story from the afternoon, and she shook her head in disbelief. She said, "I find that story hard to believe, so I can see why mom doesn't believe you. I will go with you tomorrow and I will see what happens. If the same thing happens again, I will come home and tell mom you were telling the truth. If I am a witness to this, maybe she will lift your grounding".
So, the next afternoon, another bright and sunny day, Alice walked to the school and picked Jimmy up. They walked the same route that he had taken the day before. At about the same point, Jimmy spotted the little old man again. Again, he approached him. "Hi, remember me?", he said. "Can I help you across the street with your laundry"? Alice said, "I can carry your laundry detergent for you, as well". The man, angered once again because his walk was being interrupted, looked at Alice and Jimmy with a glare and pointed a long, bony finger at them. "Leave me alone right now", he said, "or I will turn your head into a bed!". Alice, becoming quite nervous by this point, grabbed Jimmy by the shoulder and pulled him toward home. "Let's go home and tell mom what happened right away", she said.
They ran all the way home and when they got there, their mother was cutting potatoes for dinner. "Mom, mom", Alice said. "Jimmy was telling you the truth yesterday. I went with him this afternoon and we saw that same strange little man. He told us that if we didn't leave him alone, he was going to turn our heads into beds". Their mother was not amused. In fact, she was quite angry because the nonsense and the lying was continuing. She said, "Both of you, go to your rooms. There will be no dinner for either one of you until you can learn to tell the truth. And you will be in this house everyday right after school until this nonsense stops". She dismissed them and they sadly climbed the stairs to their respective rooms. The sat on their beds, feeling defeated.
A little while later, after their parents had gone to bed, Geo heard a knock on his door. When he opened the door up, it was Alice and another older sister, Joann. Alice said, "I told Joann what happened today and she wants to help us to prove to mom that we are telling the truth. Tomorrow, she is going to come with me to meet you at school and we will prove to mom that this little man does exist!". Then, with a silent look of hope, they said good night to one another and went to bed.
The next day was very dark and rainy. But still, after school, Jimmy, Alice, and Joann made their venture as planned. They walked down the street watching for the little old man. It took them a little while, but they finally saw him dragging a large bag down the street. Jimmy, Alice, and Joann approached him with caution. "Excuse me, sir", Alice said. "Can we give you a hand with your sack. We can help you get it home quicker than it would take you to drag it down the street yourself". The man looked at them and considered for a moment. Then, he yelled, "Bah. I have told you the last two days not to bother me. Now, if you don't leave me alone, I will turn your nose into a rose!". With that, Jimmy, Alice, and Joann turned and ran away from the scary little gentleman. They didn't know how they were going to again go to their mother with this latest truth in their series of "lies". They arrived home, soaking wet from the pouring rain, and their mother was at the stove stirring something in a pot. "Mom", Jimmy and the girls hollered at once. "We saw that strange little man again. We offered to help him drag a large sack home and he threatened to turn our noses into roses if we didn't leave him alone". She stopped stirring the soup that was in the pot and looked at them. "Oh no! Not this again", she yelled. "I have had quite enough of this lying that has been going on. Now, go to your rooms without any supper and consider what you are saying. When you can tell the truth, you will be allowed out of your rooms to have dinner".
Sadly, Jimmy and his two sisters turned and went up the stairs to their rooms--Jimmy, to his, and Alice and Joann to the room that they shared. A little while later, a knock came on Jimmy's door. When he opened it, his older sister, Elizabeth stood there with a tray containing three bowls of soup--and Alice and Joann--in tow. Elizabeth was always the level-headed one so she figured that maybe, just maybe, if she went along with them all tomorrow to track down the little gentleman, she could help them prove to their mother that they were telling the truth. They all agreed to meet after school. Then, they ate their soup, looked at each other hopefully, and then went to bed with hopes that the next day would clear them of their "crimes".
The next morning, Jimmy woke up and went to school. He was very hopeful that everything would be all cleared up by that afternoon. He had trouble concentrating in class but he managed to get through the day--he did not like being accused of lying when he was really telling the truth. After school, he saw Alice, Joann, and now Elizabeth, standing underneath the big oak tree outside of the school waiting for him. He walked up to them. "Are you ready for this?", he said. "I just want to clear us and move on. Hopefully, today will let that happen". They walked on in silence until they came upon the little old man once again. This time, he was trying to walk up his front steps and he was rather wobbly on his feet. Jimmy and his sisters approached the man. "Hello, sir. I am not sure what your name is or how long you have lived here", Elizabeth said. "But we are trying to be good neighbors and help you. If you will allow us to, we would like to help you up your steps and into your house." The little old man turned to face them. He looked them up and down. Then with a scowl, he hollered at them, "Not that it is any of your business by my name is "The Spell Twister" and I have lived her for a long time, too long a time. If you don't leave me alone, I will turn your eyes into pies!". This scared Elizabeth and she turned on her heel, looked at her brother and sisters, and yelled, "Run!".
Breathlessly, they ran in the back door. Their mother, again, was in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Mom, mom", Elizabeth yelled, I went with them today. They are telling you the truth about that little old man they have been telling you about. I am really afraid. What will we do if he comes after us?". The young mother, frazzled from the days activities, considered her children. She looked from one to the other and pointed at the stairs. "Elizabeth, I can not believe you are getting yourself tied up into this mess. All of you, get out of this kitchen and get up to your rooms. You will have no supper tonight. Go think about what you have done!". Sadly, Jimmy and his sisters climbed the seemingly never ending staircase to their rooms. Later that night, Carol, yet another sister, appeared at Jimmy's door, but not before stopping to pick up her sisters from their rooms. "I guess it couldn't hurt for me to come with you tomorrow to see if we can run into this strange little man that calls himself the "Spell Twister" again. Then, maybe mom will believe ME if I confirm your stories.". So, before agreeing, they did the Jacobs handshake of agreement (or victory--whatever the situation may be), and went to bed.
The next day was very overcast. It actually kind of depressed Jimmy a little bit. He could only hope that all this misunderstanding could be fixed today and that his mother would finally believe what they had been trying to tell her for the past several days. After school, Jimmy met his sisters as planned. They walked in silence until they came, once again, upon the little man's house. He was nowhere to be seen, so they knocked on his front door. They waited a moment, and then the door opened up a crack and they saw a beady little eye. Before Carol could say a word, he spoke. "Why don't you pesky children just leave me alone. If you don't get off of my porch immediately, I am going to turn your ears into shears!". Carol, feeling speechless, just turned around and ran. They ran until they reached home. Into the kitchen, they loudly clamored and their mother looked at her disheveled children. "Now what is it?", she asked her children. Carol stepped forward. "I went with Jimmy, Alice, Joann, and Elizabeth to that little old man's house", she said. "He really did say all of those awful things to them AND he did it again today! He really has us scared, Mommy." Again, the mother pointed at the stairs. She no longer had to say anything--her children knew the drill. Up the stairs they went and quietly closed their bedroom doors.
Later that night, when they all should have been asleep, a knock came on his door once again. When he opened the door, there stood all of his sisters, including his youngest and last sister, Denise. She was eight but decided that she wanted to be brave. "I want to go with you all tomorrow and I will tell Mommy that you are telling the truth", Denise said. Jimmy asked her if she was sure and then she shyly nodded. It was settled. They were going to use their last chance--Denise--to prove that they were telling the truth. They went to bed and had a fitful night of sleep--from hunger and dread.
Because they hadn't slept much anyway, they were up early and ready for school earlier than normal. They discussed their plans for that afternoon around the breakfast table and agreed that the older sisters would walk to the school and pick up their younger siblings. After they finished eating their oatmeal, they left for school with a sense of dread. After school, the children met in their usual spot. They walked their usual route home from school and they came upon the little old man working in his flower garden. Denise approached the gentleman cautiously before she spoke. "Hello, sir. Your flowers are beautiful", she said in a shy voice. "May I help you plant your new flowers? I love playing in the dirt." The little man turned around and looked at her over the top of his glasses. "No, you may not!! Just leave me alone right now or I will turn your feet into beets!!". "Run", the siblings yelled. All of them began to run down the street, and Jimmy turned to look behind him. Denise wasn't there. He looked further back, and there she stood next to the little old man. She was actually talking to him. Jimmy stopped in his tracks and called to his older sisters. They cautiously walked back to retrieve their little sister.
They got to her and she refused to go with them. She was making friends with the old gentleman. During their absence, the elderly man explained to Denise that he was sorry to have treated them so badly. He had had a hard time adjusting to living his new home alone without his wife and children. She had died and the children had moved away. The other neighbors didn't try to get to know him so that when Jimmy and his sisters tried to befriend him, he didn't know how to handle it. "For all of that, I am truly sorry, children," he said, "and I would really like to be your friend". Then, Denise had a wonderful idea and she shyly asked the man, "What is your real name?". He promptly answered her, "Frederick Spellman". "Well, Mr. Spellman, all week my brother and sisters have been getting sent to bed without any dinner because my mommy didn't believe it when they told her about the things that you were saying", she explained. "Would you mind coming to my house with us and telling my mom that they were all telling the truth". "Of course, I will come home with you right now", he answered.
They arrived at the house just in time for dinner. Their mother was putting a huge feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn on the table in anticipation of their father's arrival home from work. The back door opened and her children walked in, accompanied by a strange little old man, wringing his hat in his hands. "Hello, ma'am", he said. "I just wanted to come home with your children and tell you that they were telling you the truth all week. Today, little Denise here, wouldn't leave until she made friends with me. No one has ever been that kind to me", he explained. "Now, I will be on my way.". He turned and walked to the door. "Wait, Mr. Spellman", Denise said as he opened it. "Would you like to stay and have dinner with us? We would love to have you.". A tear came to Mr. Spellman's eye at that moment and he accepted the invitation from the little girl. And from that day on, he became good friends with the Jacobs family and shared many meals with them.
So, there you have it, folks. My first story that I ever wrote. Of course, it is not verbatim of what I wrote when I was a wee third grader, but it is the same idea. I also made a couple of improvements, I hope, on the story. Enjoy!!!
P.S. You remember this one, Mom???
