Caroline Reid – Page 3 – Sweet Caroline's

New to Town

by Caroline Reid, February 2020

Violet was new to town. She and her two siblings and her mom and dad had just moved here. She was nervous that she did not know anybody in her new town.

One day, her mom went with her dad to a week-long business review. Violet watched her siblings, Sunny and Klaus, when they were gone. They went to the beach. It was a cloudy day. They liked it that way. If it wasn’t cloudy, the beach would be busy, and they did not like it busy.

Violet liked to skip rocks. Like most 14-year-olds, she was right-handed. Klaus liked to read books. He liked looking at animals and researching about them in books. Sunny, who was barely out of babyhood, had unusually sharp teeth that let her bite anything.

Someone was coming toward them on the beach. They did not know who it was. Since there was fog, they did not see the person. It was a man in a weird disguise. The shirt was too long, so they could not see his hands. He grabbed Sunny and Klaus by the arm and dragged them to a nearby car. He pushed them in. He came back for Violet.

Violet tried to scream but he grabbed her and put one hand over her mouth. But then she realized they were not hands at all. They were hooks! The metal was freezing against her skin.

He drove them to a house and stopped. It looked like a dismal place. It looked like the house was leaning and at the very top, there was a tower. The window was shaped like an eye.

“Let’s take you inside to meet Count Olaf!” the hook-handed man said.

Violet was already holding Sunny, so he led Violet and Klaus to the door. The hook-handed man knocked and the door opened.

None of the children wanted to look up. They looked down. This person had shoes, but he didn’t have socks. Between his pants cuff and his shoes, the children saw a tattoo of an eye.

There was another surprise on his face as they looked up. Most people had two eyebrows, but this person had one long eyebrow across his face, and his eyes were really shiny.

“My name is Count Olaf,” he said. “You are going to live here. I don’t think it is wise for three little children to stay home with no mother or father.”

“I’m 14,” Violet said in a shaky voice. “I am watching my siblings while my parents go on a business review.”

“How did you know that we were by ourselves?” asked Klaus.

“Well, my assistant here saw you at the beach and thought you should not be all by yourselves,” replied Count Olaf. “Shouldn’t your parents be there?”

“Gak!” said Sunny. That meant We shouldn’t be talking to strangers.

“Sunny, you are right. He is a stranger,” said Violet.

“Well, I am not exactly a stranger. I am one of your relatives,” Count Olaf said.

“We don’t know you. How can we be relatives?” said Klaus.

“Well, I am an actor,” said Count Olaf. “And aren’t you new to this city?”

“How can you be an actor? Your name is Count, so you must be a count too?” said Klaus.

“Well, I can be two things at once,” said Count Olaf. “And I need Violet to be in my play, The Marvelous Marriage, next week. Violet will be my bride. You other children are going to stay in your bedroom and not make any mischief.”

The kids felt a shiver go down them.

“How about you step inside my humble home?” said Count Olaf. “Don’t forget to wipe your shoes so you don’t get any mud in my house.”

When the children stepped into the house, they realized how silly that comment was. The house was messy with mud. It would not have even mattered if they had mud on their feet.

“I will show you to your room,” Count Olaf said.

The children walked up a creaky staircase after him. As they were walking, Count Olaf gave them a rule.

“You may not go in the tower room. That is forbidden,” he explained.

When they went into the bedroom, they were surprised that there was only one bed. Instead of a pile of toys, there was a pile of rocks.

During the next week, the children had to clean the whole house! The only happy point was meeting the neighbor, Justice Strauss, who talked to them whenever Count Olaf wasn’t around. She let them take books from her library.

Klaus found a book called “Natural Law” and discovered that Count Olaf was going to be truly married to Violet! Klaus told Violet this right before it was time to leave for the play.

Violet and Count Olaf piled into the car and headed to the theater. The hook-handed man put Klaus and Sunny in a room and locked the door so they wouldn’t come out and make any mischief.

At the play, Violet peeked out from the curtain when she had a white dress on. How could she get out of the situation? She did not know any of the people, and she wasn’t sure where her mom and dad were. And who is this madman named Count Olaf?

When she went on stage, she knew her only words should be “I Do.” But she had a plan. She pulled back her black hair to think before she went on stage. Maybe, just maybe, if she did her left hand instead of her right, it would work! She did the trick perfectly, and when the curtain dropped, she knew she wasn’t really married.

“Now, my bride! Let’s go back home!” said Count Olaf.

“I’m not your bride!” said Violet.

“Yes, you are,” said Count Olaf.

“I used my left hand, and I’m right-handed,” said Violet.

“Let me look in this book and see if this is true,” said Justice Strauss. “It says you have to use the hand that you write with.”

“What! Now I will never get the Baudelaire fortune!” said Count Olaf. Count Olaf must have been spying on them since they had moved there! He wanted to get their fortune.

When Justice Strauss realized that Count Olaf had tried to really marry Violet and that he was just a bad man wanting their fortune, she took Violet, Sunny, and Klaus back to their own home. It was raining. Just then, their mom and dad came home. They ran to their children.

“One of us will stay home with you next time!” said their mother.

The End

Brickzomia: Diary of a Colonist

May 1

Today I explored our new home. Brickzomia has three moons and flying spiders everywhere! When it snows, the snow makes snowballs on the ground. I was playing around and then it started snowing. It was freezing! I tried finding my way back but the wind was too hard so I couldn’t get home. Someone was behind the tree.

“Are you lost?” she said.

“Yes!” I said. She helped me get back to the mine where we stay if it gets too snowy. My parents were really worried, but they were glad to have me back home.

May 2

I couldn’t leave the mine today. It was still snowing, and it looked like some of the air was freezing outside. People worked all day in the mine to find jewels. I played with my friends in the tunnels. It was really fun, even though it was cold.

May 3

We went outside today. Snow was everywhere. Some of the houses were blocked. We couldn’t get in because there was so much snow. But by lunchtime, the snow had all melted. I couldn’t say if I am happy or sad. Snow is too cold, but now it will be too hot. Brickzomia is very weird.

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Once upon a time, there were two knights who lived on opposite sides of a deep valley. They were the best of friends until the day a beautiful princess moved into a large castle that lay deep in the valley below them.

*The two knights became more and more competitive.*

One day, the two knights rode to the castle donning their finest armor in a bid to win the princess’s favor and affections.

“Pick me! Pick me!” said the dark-haired knight. “My glittering armor is strong and silent, and I will hold your hand quietly forever.”

“Pick me! Pick me!” said the red-haired knight. “I’m the king’s champion jouster and will always protect you from harm!”

But the princess just couldn’t make up her mind. The two knights became more and more competitive with each other until Princess Sally was fed up.

*Princess Sally visited her mermaid friend Kasey.*

She went over to the river that winded up to the ocean, where her mermaid friend Kasey lived. When Kasey arrived up at the surface of the water, Sally told her about the problem.

Kasey gave Sally a shell. Inside was a glittering heart jewel.

*Kasey gave Sally the shell with the glittering heart jewel.*

“This will help you on your journey,” said Kasey. “Over on the other side of the valley is a knight that is the wisest of them all. But you must make sure to be careful of the fire-breathing dragon who guards the gates. When you throw the jewel by the gates, a secret passageway will form so you can get past the dragon.”

The next day, Sally set off to go to the mountain to seek the wise knight. She climbed up the mountain. When she was about 10 feet away from the dragon, she threw the jewel into the dirt on the ground and a hole formed, just big enough for Sally to jump through.

When she got in, she followed the dirt path to the castle, where the wise knight was. Sally told him her name and they went back to Sally’s castle and lived happily ever after.

Moral: Don’t fight or you won’t be chosen.

The End

Note: The text in pink was the extended story started written by the teacher. Caroline got to finish the story!

A Night in the Museum

Creak! Screak! Rattle! Crack!

“What is that terrible noise? Where is everybody? Where am I? The last thing I remember is being on a bus. We were going on a boring field trip to a museum. I must have fallen asleep. Had they gone home without me?”

It is nearly dark and I am locked in the museum. The museum doesn’t open again until tomorrow morning. The sound I heard sounds like it came from around the corner.

*The ancient Egyptian with an arrow looks different.*…

I creep around the corner. I know it is the ancient Egyptian exhibit because before I fell asleep, I looked at the map of the museum and saw the picture. But the life-sized model of the ancient Egyptian with an arrow looks different. Suddenly, it blinks at me.

I give a “yelp!” I try sprinting away, but the ancient Egyptian shoots an arrow at the rock-covered ceiling. Blocks fall down from the ceiling. I am trapped in the room now.

“That isn’t a pretend Egyptian! That is a real person!” I think.

I try climbing over the hard rubble. But the scary man whistles and a light-brown dog with a black patch over his eye comes running through a museum door nearby that I did not notice before because it was brown like the walls. The dog has a red-blinking control on his back. The man takes off his ancient Egyptian helmet. He has scraggly brown hair and his eyes are covered with black sunglasses. It is not an Egyptian after all!

I know it is a robber because under the pretend ancient Egyptian clothes he is wearing white and grey striped clothes. He must have escaped from jail.

I do not know where to go. The dog is growling at me like a tiger, so I can’t escape through the door into the forest exhibit. The robber points his brown pokey arrow at me now! Now I see it is actually home-made. He is using a sword for the arrow part! He could shoot at any minute.

*I sprint past the brown dog to the open door and into the forest preserve exhibit.*

Then I realize I have one more chance to do something. The dog is smaller than me. I sprint past the brown dog to the open door and into the forest preserve exhibit. I run through the trees. It feels like it is midnight because I am yawning all over. The pretend trees and grass I run by are nice and comfy. But I cannot stop. I keep running. I run and run until I get to the museum office. I know no one is in there. But the door is unlocked. I go inside. There is no key, but I shut the door and put a chair next to the door so it cannot be opened.

Soon, I hear banging. I know the robber is there. The door can’t hold much longer. There is a clock in the room. I see that it is already 5:00 in the morning. The museum will open at 5:30 a.m. The banging has stopped. I think the robber must have gone because he must have seen the time and run away.

There is a chance he could be there but I decided to take the chance. I open the door. No one is there. I see cars coming in to the parking lot. One of the cars is a police car. Well, now I know what happened to the robber!

The museum is about to open. My teacher and parents might be here soon looking for me, when the museum opens at 6:00 a.m. for visitors.

I made it through the whole night in the museum.

The End

Dr. Mazzle’s Invention

Some of Dr. Mazzle’s experiments in her lab.

Dr. Mizzy Mazzle is a scientist and inventor who loves to create new, unexpected inventions to help people.

Today, she made a Sweep-a-nator to help people sweep, so they never have to sweep by themselves again.

Dr. Mazzle works on her Sweep-a-nator in her laboratory.

But accidentally, she put water in the liquid that makes the machine go alive. When Dr. Mazzle was looking away, the machine crawled up the wall and jumped out of the door into the outside level of the underground lab. It was loose in the streets!

When Dr. Mazzle looked back, the Sweep-a-nator was gone! Dr. Mazzle decided to look around town. Since she was underground, she had to take the long elevator ride. It was the only invention that she could fix that didn’t cause trouble. But since she had to fix the elevator, it was really slow.

When she finally got outside, the Sweep-a-nator had already gone around town.

The Sweep-a-nator was sweeping over everything, even cars. One girl just stared at it. She rolled backward on her skateboard and rolled over a rock.

*One girl rolled backward on her skateboard and rolled over a rock.*

Suddenly the invention began to slow down. As the Sweep-a-nator stopped, Dr. Mazzle zoomed around the corner.

“Ah, there you are!” she said to the Sweep-a-nator. Then she looked around. It would be like $100 to fix everything.

Dr. Mazzle got a shovel from the construction workers in the corner and banged on the top of the Sweep-a-nator until it turned off. The Sweep-a-nator had water within the live liquid. Dr. Mazzle took a glass jar from her pocket and scooped up the water from inside. She would throw it away when she got home. She dragged the Sweep-a-nator home. It was not broken. She could still fix it. She just needed new liquid in it.

As she walked up to her bedroom, she heard people shouting “Yay! Hooray!” She looked out the window and saw that people were gathered around her door holding out money.

“Thank you for saving us!” they said. All that money together was enough to fix the city.

The End

A Campfire Tale

For the city children Kerri and Doug, visiting the countryside and sitting around a campfire was just a dream. In their city there were no exciting wild animals, and the city lights obscured the stars in the night sky.

Now that they were camping in the countryside with their parents, the sky had no limit and the night was very dark. The stars were shining brightly, and tiny creepy crawlies scuttled around in the darkness as Kerri and Doug huddled around the campfire.

The marshmallows tasted delicious to Kerri and Doug. They had never had gooey and delicious marshmallows cooked over a campfire. The campfire smelled all smoky, like usual.

It was getting dark and the fire was going low. Kerri and Doug put their hands over the flames to feel the heat before they went into the tent for bed.

When they were going to bed, Kerri said, “I heard something!”

Doug said, “I’ll bet it was just your imagination.”

But Kerri said, “No, I really heard something! I’m going out to see what it was.”

Doug had to follow her. She couldn’t be out there in the dark, dark night! When he stepped outside, he could barely see anything. It was only darkness.

“I can’t see anything!” said Kerri, right next to him.

When Doug’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, he saw the sparkling stars and the rustling tree branches. Then he saw, on one of the tree branches, a chocolate colored, feathery owl.

“Whoo! Whoo!” it said loudly.

“Ouch!” said Kerri as she clapped her hands over her ears.

“See?” Doug said. “It was only an owl.”

“Oh!” said Kerri. “Let’s go back to bed.”

They went back to bed. When Kerri and Doug fell asleep, they dreamed whole night and morning about of the adventure they had had. When they went back to the noisy city, they never forgot the noisy, noisy owl.

The End

The Old Man’s Gift

“Thank you for helping me cross the street,” said the old man all dressed in black.

Sally was already running late for school. The old man insisted that she wait a little longer.

“Now I must do something for you in return,” he continued. “Take this magic fish and these golden crystals with you to school, and I guarantee that something magical will happen. Everything will be different.”

The old man laughed and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

When Sally arrived at school, she waited in the hallway, right in front of her classroom door.

“I bet I can put the crystals in my pocket, but I can’t go in there holding this golden fish.” Sally thought. “My teacher will wonder why I have a fish in my hands. But since I’m late for school, I might as well go in there.”

She put the crystals in her pocket and went into the room. Surprisingly, the teacher just said, “Hello, Sally. Welcome to a new day of school.” She didn’t even ask Sally why she was holding a fish.

Then Sally realized something. The old man had said everything would be different. The teacher couldn’t see the fish. This must be the difference!

Sally sat down.

When it was time to go home, she walked out and surprisingly she was in the woods. She saw a person sitting there.

The person stood up and said, “Hello. I am a spy. I have been watching you, Sally. My name is Charlotte. You helped the old man, and you got gifts. The fish will help you never get hungry again. The crystal means that you will always have light, even without a flashlight.”

“Cool!” Sally said. Charlotte disappeared. Then Sally looked around. She was back in the city, in front of her school again.

Now that she knew what the magic was, she was excited to use it when she needed to.

The End

Fay and Roger’s Wish to Paris

Fay and her dog Roger walked home from her friend’s house one Friday afternoon through the woods. Suddenly, Fay tripped on a gray stone. As she tripped, she looked up and saw a large brown box bolted to the ground with a chain. The box seemed like it was vibrating a little.

“What in the world is in that box?” said Fay. Roger barked.

Fay went over to the box to see if she could open it. She tried the chain. The chain fell off with a “chink” sound. Fay thought it was just rusty, and that’s why it fell off. She pulled off the lid of the box and found a little silver crystal about the size of her thumb. She wanted to take it, but she wondered if it was somebody else’s.

Roger barked again. Roger wanted to take it, so he did, grabbing it in his teeth.

Fay gave in and took it from his teeth. Anyway, why would anyone leave a strange box in the woods? She put it in her pocket for later. Once it was in her pocket, it began vibrating and shining.

Then a tiny voice from her pocket spoke.

“Where do you want to go? You can go wherever you want for two whole days!”

Fay was surprised. She looked in her pocket. On the top of the crystal was a happy face that had talked!

Fay thought for a minute. “I don’t think I want to go anywhere,” she said. “I like where I live.”

The tiny voice said, “You can wish for anything too!”

Fay thought again. “Now that I think of it, I do kind of want to see Paris some day.”

Before she could take her words back, a huge ray of light blinded her.

When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t in the woods walking home from her friend’s house anymore! Roger was still there with her. But when she looked around her, she saw that she was in Paris!

“This must be my wish,” she said.

But then she worried. “I hope no time will have passed when I do go back.”

Then Fay realized something again. “How will I go back?”

She started to walk around Paris. She saw the Eiffel Tower, and she saw a lot of people speaking in a different language.

“How will I ask people where in Paris I am if I don’t know the language?” she thought in her mind.

The magical crystal said, “Maybe you should find a place to stay while you are here.”

Roger barked at a stray cat in the alley. The cat scurried away. Fay looked at the alley. It looked okay. It had a pile of some leaves and branches. “I don’t know what I’ll do with the branches but the leaves will be okay to sleep on. Maybe the sticks can be for fetch for Roger.” Fay made the pile of leaves bigger and softer for her to sleep on. Then she got moss and made a soft bed for Roger with the moss.

At dinner time, she wondered about food. She felt in her pocket. She had a wallet with her. But when she went to get food for her and Roger, the money was Paris money!

“I wonder who did that?” Fay thought to herself while they ate. Then Fay went to the alley and she and Roger went to sleep.

The next morning, she woke up and remembered everything. She remembered how to get home too! She had a breakfast of crepes and strawberries and syrup.

Then when she went back to the alley and said, “I want to go back to the woods now!”

The same bright light blinded her and when she opened her eyes, she was in the woods. She looked at her watch. It was Friday again, at the exact same time that she had wished she had gone to Paris.

As she stood there, it was getting later and later. So she started to run home, with Roger at her heels.

When she got home, she felt in her pocket. The shiny crystal was gone!

“It must have fallen out when I was running,” she thought. “Oh well, I didn’t really need it anyway.”

The End

Submarines

Usually submarines go under the water and are medium sized. But the one I saw was humongous!! I saw it at the Museum with Dad. It is a real submarine from a long time ago. It was used for a war. On one side I could see bullet holes, real ones! The fighters on the submarine used torpedoes! I saw a black and white video of someone fighting the Americans on the submarine. It was in the water. The people who built the museum built it around the submarine when it was on the land. Now everyone can go see it without going on the water. I walked inside of the submarine. I don’t think I want to stay on it in the water because it is old and it has bullet holes and it might sink.