“Good morning, Tig,” says Sun. “Morning, Sun,” says Tig. “Why are you in such a hurry today?” asked Sun. “I have to get to the park before everyone else gets there.” “Why is that?” “Because I don’t like it when there are lots of other people there. It’s too busy.” “Don’t you like having lots of new people to play with?” “No,” Tig shakes her head. “How do you know if you don’t try?” asks Sun. Tig shrugs. “It’s just not for me.” “Well, I never,” says Sun, floating along in the sky next to them. “And who’s that with you?” “That’s Lomster,” says Tig. “What is Lomster?” Tig points at Lomster. “My imagination,” she says. “Is it friendly?” The Sun looks at Lomster. Lomster bares his teeth and growls. Grrrr. “Sometimes,” says Tig. “I see,” says the Sun, rising a little higher, a little more out of the way. Tig is walking the long way around the park, through the woods. “Wouldn’t it be quicker to go across the field?” asks Sun, watching them through the leaves. “No, it’s too noisy and the trees make me happy.” “What do you like about trees, Tig?” “They make a sort of swishy, friendly sound,” says Tig. “But don’t you want to see the fun fair in the park?” asks Sun. “No, thank you,” says Tig, stepping carefully over a snail. Sun was surprised. “I thought everyone liked fun fairs!” “They’re just not for me,” says Tig. “Well, I never,” says Sun. Around the corner, children are playing. Tig and Lomster stop to watch from behind a tree. “Look at all those children playing hide-and-seek! Don’t you want to join in?” “No, I just like to watch.” “Go on, Tig. Give it a try!” “No, thank you, Sun. It’s just not for me.” “Well, I never,” says Sun. Around the corner, Sun spots an ice cream stand. A lady in a yellow hat is selling ice cream cones. “Look, Tig! Don’t you want an ice cream?” asks Sun. Tig stops and looks round. Lomster pulls on his lead. “No, thank you, Sun. I don’t like talking to people much.” “Why is that, Tig?” asks Sun. “It’s just not my thing,” says Tig. “Well, I never,” says Sun. Tig and Lomster find an old oak tree in the quiet shade of the wood. They climb at the branches, one, two, three, and find the perfect place to sit. “What are you doing in the tree, Tig?” asks Sun, watching Tig line up coloring pencils and a notepad on the branch. “Writing Lomster stories,” she says. “Does Lomster like having stories written about him?” asks Sun, keeping one eye on Lomster. “Sometimes,” says Tig. “I see,” says Sun. Then Tig undoes a tin lunch box and takes out a pot of thick, orange, wiggling worms. “Why have you got a pot of worms in your lunch box, Tig?” “For Lomster,” says Tig, holding up a big, juicy one for Sun to see. “They’re his favorite. Want to try one?” Sun makes a face like a letterbox. “No, thank you, Tig.” “Don’t you like eating worms?” she asks. “NO,” says Sun. “Well, how do you know you don’t like them until you try them?” she asks. “They’re just not for me,” says Sun. “Well, I never,” says Tig.
short story
My School, a short story by Feifei Wan, 9
Feifei Wan, 9, Portland, OR My School Feifei Wan, 9 Even though the pandemic is still here, it doesn’t stop me from going to my school every day. This Sunday, just like any other day, my mom and I decided to ride our bikes. While we were passing by a small pond near the school driveway, we saw a toad! The trick to spot a toad is to make sure the sun is out. It was a warm and sunny day. The toad whom I call Mr. Grogg was just like an old friend waiting for us to visit on the bank. Not far away from the pond, surprisingly, the cherry blossoms had bloomed a lot over the past week. Because the flowers were too beautiful to ignore, we took a lot of pictures. My favorite picture was the one where my mom and I did the photobomb. Even though my mom was in the background, I could still see her big smile. Our next stop was the grass field. There were a bunch of little daisies sparkling in the sun. I wish we could have taken more photos with the beautiful flowers, but I didn’t forget that our original plan was to get some exercise and enjoy the sun. So here we go! Our bike rides, one lap, two laps, three laps…… I felt so happy that spring was here! It was Monday, but not a normal Monday. My school was open for K-2 for the first day of hybrid learning! It was so exciting since we have been studying on a computer for a whole year. Even though I am a 3rd grader, I was so happy for the lower grades that I decided to walk to school during my lunch break. Guess what I saw? A busy school with parents picking up their kids. Teachers were giving directions to the kids to find their parents. Kids were running up to the parents and kept talking. Some people were taking pictures of their kids in front of the entrance to memorize this special day. And there was the bright yellow school bus picking up kids to go home. I felt happy and sad at the same time. I was happy because, finally, the kids were going back to their classrooms to meet friends and teachers. I was sad because I also wanted to be there in a BIG classroom with my backpack on my back. Tuesday was different. We didn’t even go to school because I went to my friend’s backyard to play in a bouncing house. But don’t worry, we caught up on Wednesday. There was no school so we got a good chance to take a window visit. It is so cool that each class has its own entrance. Teachers used chalk art and made cute arrows to guide students to keep their distance while entering the classroom. It was so kind and warm. What impressed me the most was in each classroom there were more desks and chairs than I expected. I thought it might only be a few sets since a lot of kids are still learning online like me, but surprisingly there were more than 10 almost in all the rooms we could see. It looked cool and full of hope. I could imagine myself sitting in the class and doing my math worksheet in the Fall. When we were walking back home, there were just so many plans for school days in my mind, and I wanted to say “Wait for me, my dear school!” Thursday my mom and I didn’t go to school either. We just walked around the neighborhood. It’s like all the even numbered days we don’t walk to school. Tuesday stands for 2 and Thursday stands for 4! So we had to take the school walk no matter what on Friday. It was a beautiful day outside with a few clouds, but mostly a light blue sky. On the sidewalk, I found so many dandelions! My mom told me a saying that if you make a wish and blow your dandelions in one whip, your wish will come true. So I tried my best…whoooooooooosh…all the little feathers flew into the air like little ballerinas dancing in the sky. This was not the only excitement; we met Mr. Grogg and his son in the pond! They were sitting together in the shining bright sun. Wait, was that snow falling? Oh, NO! That was just flower petals blown from cherry blossom trees. Everything is growing in spring. Kids started to come out to play in the school playground. I saw them playing on the basketball court, sliding down from the slides and swinging in the high swings. What a perfect Friday, not to mention my favorite show would be on at night. Yay! Saturday was another perfect day to go on a bike ride. Different from the weekdays, I got to go bike riding with my friends! We first started the ride around the front parking lot of our school. “Click, Click, Clack, Click, Click, Clack…” I could hear my bike chain making sounds while I was pedaling hard. The boys pretended this was a race. They went at a turbo speed to beat us, the girls. But it seemed like we didn’t care at all. While we enjoyed talking about random stuff, we finally crossed the finish line even though it wasn’t a race :). The boys decided to run a few more laps while my friend and I found something more interesting. We went onto the green grass and I watched my friend do a bunch of super gymnastics moves. We even created a cool handstand giggly wiggly dance. Everyone laughed so hard that, basically, all the kids came to join the game. This was the BEST afternoon of all time. Even though it might be a difficult time in the pandemic, if we wear a mask, and keep our distance, it will still feel like how
Going Viral, a short story by Ender Ippolito, 9
Ender Ippolito, 9, Portland, OR Going Viral Ender Ippolito, 9 Hello, my name is Sam Flu. You might not know me personally, but I’m pretty sure you know my kind. Right now I am going to school. I am on the school bus (water droplet) with my best friend Eric Coronavirus and his buddy Meg Polio. Eric is very nice and likes to be mischievous. Meg likes to eat protein. She gets 14 extra servings at lunch. She is pretty but not nice. I don’t like her. She also likes Eric, I mean likes. We are buckled up in the middle of the water droplet. Inside the droplet we feel safe and protected by an impeccable force field. The inside of the bus is completely clear and transparent, which is why we can see that we’re heading towards a cut in the human’s belly button to enter the body. Our destination is Third Grade A, Room 9, which is a mucous cell in the small intestine. Once we go through the skin, it becomes very dark. We bounce and bob in the body fluids and head to Room 9. The bus parks right next to our classroom. We climb off and squeeze through small holes in the cell membrane to get inside the cell. We realize immediately something is wrong. “No one is here,” I say to Eric. I look around the room at the teacher’s desk, located at the nucleus, and his chair that’s empty. “Maybe it’s a surprise party,” Eric answers. “Are you sure?” Meg asks. “Nope.” He shrugs. “Oh no!” I exclaim when I see the clock shows 7:00am not 8:00am. We are early, very early. No one else is here. Only the three of us. We sit down on centrosome chairs and look around at the walls that are covered in last year’s paintings. Most of them show circular art – a picture with circles glued on to it. But there’s also a copy of a really, really ancient painting with viruses attacking cells. It always makes me so happy and proud when I see that picture. Next to that picture is a poster of all the class rules: In a matter of seconds, Eric starts to tap noisily on his desk. I give him a look that means “cut it out.” Eric gives me the “do you know what I am thinking?” face. I know what he wants to do; he wants to break rules. The only question is which ones and how many. “Well we cou—,” Eric starts to say. “Don’t even think about it,” I interrupt. “Why not? No one is here,” Eric says. “Just because nobody’s here doesn’t mean we should break the rules!” I sigh. “I agree with Eric,” Meg says. “See, I told you!” Eric says. I ignore Meg. I’ve never liked her and wish Eric felt the same. “Let’s leave out Mr. Goody-Goody. Which rules should we break Eric?” Meg says and grins at him. I groan. “Fine! I’ll do it. Just as long as it doesn’t include making a mess,” I say, not wanting to be left out. “I want to infect cells! Let’s do that!” Meg jumps up and spins around in the cytoplasm. “Ummm, well I guess we could do that, but is it fun enough?” Eric says. “I think it’s too much fun,” I warn. Why couldn’t she have picked an easier rule to break? “Just enough fun,” Meg says. Eric nods. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I say. “Stop wasting time. It’s already 7:20!” Meg skips to a doorway. “Two out of three so we are going to infect cells.” Meg smirks at us. “Follow me.” We squeeze out of the mucous cell through the gaps in the membrane and enter a different mucous cell that has not been inhabited or infected by our Virus School District. Immediately after we enter, an alarm sounds. “What is that?” Meg screams and hides behind Eric. “Go back! Go back to the classroom!” I yell and we quickly slide out of the cell into the tissue fluid. An army of white blood cells are waiting for us, blocking our path to our classroom. There are hundreds of white blood cells waiting to attack. They look like a twenty-foot thick crowd of round white jelly blobs. They also look mad and have tanks with ammo. The alarm gets louder. “This is your fault,” I say to Meg. “Me? Why me?” “This human probably had a polio vaccine.” “It could be your fault then. Flu shot,” she huffs. I know that Meg knows she is screwed if she can’t get back into the safety of our classroom. She will not survive if she stays out in the tissue fluid. Eric, on the other hand, is likely safe from the white blood cells. Vaccines for Covid are not common yet. And me? I have a 50% chance depending on if this kid had the Flu shot already. I’m hoping he didn’t. White blood cells march toward Meg, ignoring Eric and me. Alright, lucky for me and Eric the kid only got the polio vaccine. Of course, not so lucky for Meg. She runs away, darting behind other cells. She finally lands on a blood cell and tries to hide on it. But the white blood cells recognize her. They’ve been trained by the vaccine to spot polios. She’s surrounded and Eric and I watch the white blood cells put antibody ammo into guns. Guns raised, they start shooting at her. She’s dodging, but I know Meg can’t dodge the antibodies forever. “Sam, we need to help Meg,” Eric says. He rushes in before I can stop him. I wait because I don’t want to help her. It’s her fault we’re in this mess. But when the white blood cells go after Eric, I know I have to help him. He’s my best friend and he’s in trouble. I see another mucous cell drift by and race inside
