Maple, the gray squirrel, has returned for another adventure. Read her first story here. Maple’s friend, Stringy, has requested Maple’s help on an adventure. He plans on going into a house at night. Read the first part of this story here!
I gaped at my friend. “You look like a rat,” I repeated.
He nodded sadly. “It’s my tail. I look like a rat. You know how humans feel about rats.”
It’s a murky blue
One single star. It’s moving–
Oh, it’s an airplane.
The secret to robbery is stealth.
Not that I’m any expert, of course. I never steal. Mostly. That’s what I say to anybody who asks me. They say, “Maple, do you steal?”and the answer I always give is a confident “No!” But if you, a human, threaten to dig up all my hoarded pecans unless I answer honestly this question, “Maple, do you steal?” I admit that my answer will be different.
like an island it stands in a corner black scratched and worn
piled high with stuff I dont even know how it got there or why its there now
all i know is that its there Continue reading
pick it up
sniff it so it smells like something sweet and honorable
feel the spines like dragon’s scales
over fiery yellow and forest green
pineapple has false armor
and colors glow like a tree in the sun. Continue reading
Inspired by my young chicken named Trixie. This poem is for her.
When Trixie walks
Trixie waddles
With Trixie’s own
Wobbling wobbles.
Once there was a little duck. When he was a duckling his parents loved him, his brothers and sisters adored him, and all the animals in and around the pond were astonished at how cute he was. Then he grew up, and went to live in another area of the pond. The day after he moved in to his new home, he went to take a walk. But his walk proved unsatisfactory.
I am sometimes obsessed with
My grammar, being very careful with my pro-nun-ci-a-tion,
Plus I need to e-nun-ci-ate so
People can understand me and not say huh?
Jessica, Tessie, and Amy live in a place where everybody wears a color-coded tasseled identification braid from their right sleeve, signaling what they do for a living. The system works well, except for the people wearing yellow identification braids. These people sell illegal braids to those with bad reputations, so they could appear as someone better and make a living. The people wearing yellow braids are the one problem in this otherwise perfectly organized system. The three friends learn that those with yellow braids are disrupting the economy, too, but Amy has other thoughts about these people. The girls’ suspicions are aroused as Tessie and Jessica spot Amy talking to someone with a yellow braid. The don’t know what to do with this shocking discovery of their friend breaking a strict social rule. They decide to ask her about it, but only discover that their friend has gotten a job. She is wearing a yellow braid.
Are you new to this exciting story? Welcome! Make sure you catch up on the exciting twists of this short story by reviewing the previous four parts. Happy reading!
Read part one of this story here!
Read part two of this story here!
Read part three of this story here!
Read part four of this story here!
The next morning Jessica wriggled under her sheets. She was still in bed, the blanket kicked to the side, her stuffed rabbit on the floor, and the pillow completely displaced. She yawned and stretched, opened her eyes and blinked them against the morning sunshine coming through her window. She bared her feet and studied them, wiggled her toes, scratched a place on her leg. She started to sit up and then remembered the day before. Amy wearing a yellow braid. She hadn’t told her dad, she hadn’t told anybody, she hadn’t even told herself. It was too scary, like her best friend had turned to a monster. She couldn’t see Amy anymore, then. She imagined her friend camped out on the street with her tablecloth and her boxes and her false braids. She imagined her friend making a little empty circle around her in crowded spots because nobody wanted to stand with her. She imagined Amy dropping something and people all around her, and nobody would even say, “Hey…you dropped this.”
Jessica, Tessie, and Amy live in a place where everybody wears a color-coded tasseled identification braid from their right sleeve, signaling what they do for a living. The system works well, except for the people wearing yellow identification braids. These people sell illegal braids to those with bad reputations, so they could appear as someone better and make a living. The people wearing yellow braids are the one problem in this otherwise perfectly organized system. The three friends learn that those with yellow braids are disrupting the economy, too, but Amy has other thoughts about these people. The girls’ suspicions are aroused as Tessie and Jessica spot Amy talking to someone with a yellow braid. The don’t know what to do with this shocking discovery of their friend breaking a strict social rule.
Read part one of this story here!
Read part two of this story here!
Read part three of this story here!
That evening Jessica felt restless. She paced and jiggled, put her hair up and let it down again, spilled her food and dropped a bowl.
“What’s bugging you?” her dad asked as she cleaned up the pieces of the bowl she had dropped.
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