Westside Story – Young Author

Here I am pushing 72 years of age and I am playing with the idea of becoming a writer.  I will admit that it is a late start, but I have always done things late.  I was born late.  I graduated from high school and college late.  I joined the Sheriff’s Department late.  I retired late.  The way I see it, if I live to be age 100, I have a little over 28 years to become an accomplished writer.  So I am reading books on writing and taking college courses to become a better writer.

My new friend, Morgan, is not like me at all.  First of all she is not 72.  She is an 8 year old 4th grader. Morgan is getting an early start as a writer.  Nothing late about Morgan.  During her last homeschool year she wrote over 200 stories.  It is obvious to me that Morgan and her family are achievers.  I just love achievers.

ast year I wrote a story about her brother, Raven titled Raven Gets A Jump On Life.  Raven, who was 11 at the time agreed to try his hand at story writing.  His story, Young Author / Pogo Stick, was published in The Suburban Times.

Now it is Morgan’s turn.  Morgan has written a series of three short stories.  I hope you enjoy them.

Big Betty

This is a story that could help you realize something.
At school, a girl named Betty got teased about her size. She was the biggest girl in her class. The other kids thought Betty was so big that she would blow up!

So, they kept their distance.

Betty’s dream was to be a great gymnast and she wanted to be in a championship competition. The big girl always practiced in the gym at school and she stayed after school a lot. But, all the kids said she would never be a gymnast.

One day Betty was working on her schoolwork in class when her chair broke and everyone started to laugh. Even the teacher was a little bit upset about the chair being broken.

Soon there was going to be a city gymnastics competition and Betty was entering. On the day of the competition she did tumbles on the mat, cartwheels on the balance beam, and flips on the uneven bars. It turns out that she won first place!

Betty proved her classmates wrong. Betty became the world’s biggest gymnast ever. In the end, the teasers ate so much that they became big, too!

What this story relates to at home is that my dad teases me about turning into a chubby ballerina. The moral of this story is that you should go after your dream no matter what other people say.

Different Life Styles

One day, my best friend Olivia and I were walking home from school. When we got to my house, we wanted to style our hair, but when I looked into the bathroom drawer, my purple brush wasn’t there. I asked my mom for a brush. She said, “Morgan, look under your bed. There is a box full of brushes.”

“Thanks, mom,” I said. Then Olivia and I pulled a gigantic box from under my bed.

“Wow,” Olivia said, opening the box. We started searching for the perfect brush. Soon, I pulled out a sparkling pink hairbrush.

“I like this one,” I said. I started to brush my hair. Five minutes later I asked, “How do I look?”

Olivia looked up and stared at me. “Your hair turned blonde!” she cried.

“What?” I thought. Olivia picked up the mirror. I looked at my reflection.

Olivia and I thought of reasons why this could have happened. Then, I let Olivia use the brush. Soon enough, her hair turned brown like mine used to be. She looked in the mirror and gasped. Then, Olivia and I made plans to switch places for one day! Soon, it was time for Oliviato go home, so I walked out the door to Olivia’s house.

When I got to Olivia’s house, her mom was in the kitchen getting dinner ready. She gave me a big hug and asked me to set the table. At least I knew where the silverware was, so I set the table quickly. After the meal at Olivia’s house, I went into her room and played with her toys.

Meanwhile, Olivia was picking up walnuts at my house, which is one of the chores my dad makes me do. My older brother was throwing walnuts at her and bugging her as he always does. Soon, she filled up a bucket and went inside to play.

Later, my dad called Olivia for dinner. Olivia was very sad she had to eat onions. Right after dinner, she made an unusual move – going to bed early on a Friday night.

The next day was Saturday and both of us were very tired of being the other girl. After breakfast, we met at the park, brushed our hair, and switched back. Don’t try to act like someone else. It’s not that easy!

Not a Loser

“Ahhhhh,” yawned Nick Andrews when he woke up. He couldn’t wait till 3:30 pm. He was competing at the city “Roller Rides Skating Contest.” At the contest, he would have to be tested in one of the five skating events. Whoever did the best tricks for each event would win the contest. Nick ran down the stairs to the kitchen.

“Hello early bird,” said Nick’s dad.

“Hi,” replied Nick, stuffing his mouth with cereal.

After breakfast he sprinted down the hallway and crashed into his fifteen-year-old sister, Lexi. “Sorry,” said Nick running to his room.

“You better be sorry because you smeared my make-up!” shouted Lexi.

“Then stop wearing so much of it,” yelled Nick in reply.

At that joke, Lexi could hear her dad snickering.

“Not funny!” scolded Lexi.

After Nick came home from school that day he got his helmet and skateboard and sat on the front porch. “Hey Dweeb! Are you competing in the contest at 3:30?” asked Billy Ruger, the bully of the whole neighborhood.

“Yeah, so what?”

“Well, I was just wondering why you need that sissy helmet?”

“Ha,hal ha,” laughed the bully’s followers.

“Humph,” thought Nick, heading inside.

At 3:15 Nick rode his skateboard to the city’s public park. “I have got to win,” said Nick to himself.

Nick watched the first four events; roller-skating, roller-blading, trick bikes, and scooters. Skateboards came last.

Finally, it was Nick’s event. He grabbed his helmet and got on his skateboard. He spotted Billy the bully and his minions in the back of the waiting line.

When it was Nick’s turn, he skated out in front of everyone and started his performance. For his first trick Nick jumped into the air and landed back on his skateboard. Then he rode up a ramp and did a flip. His third trick was skidding down a handrail to get down some steps. At that, everyone started to cheer! For his fourth trick he stood on the front of his skateboard with the back of the skateboard in the air and twirled around. For his final trick he jumped with his skateboard over a pile of twenty large bricks! Soon he had done twenty-five tricks and his turn was over. Like his dad always said, “Your is-minutes of fame is soon to come.” Except,
now it was over.

Nick watched the other contestants perform some great tricks. When Billy Ruger was up, he was good, too, but then on his final trick, sliding down the handrail, he leaned too far forward and fell off his skateboard and hit his head on the concrete.

When Billy got up, there was a big red knot on his forehead.

Soon the contest was ready to be judged. The microphone turned on and everyone heard a loud “tap, tap!” A voice said, “Testing, testing. Thank you for coming to this Roller Rides Skating Contest. I hope you enjoyed these kids’ performances. In third place is Ricky Neland.” The crowd clapped loudly.

“In second place,” said another voice, “is Lee Parker.” The crowd cheered.

“And,in first place is Nick Andrews!” said a third voice excitedly and everyone started to jump for joy!

“Hallelujah!!” cried Nick, walking onto the stage. He was now on live TV! The whole town just saw him win. He took his trophy home. He was so happy. Even though he was sorry that Billygot hurt, he was still very happy for himself.

When he got home, his whole family celebrated with pizza, cake, and sodas.

The moral of this story is that it is better to be safe than sorry. You’re not a loser if you wear a helmet!

Cheers! Yay!! Rockin’!!!

The End