Adventures: Episodes Nine

Star looked frantically about for someplace to hide or something with which she could defend herself.  The trees in this area of the forest were too thin.  There was not even a rock large enough for her to dive behind.  Desperately, she grabbed a fallen branch and held the bludgeon menacingly back over one shoulder.  As the thing neared her, it slowed and Star could hear it breathing heavily and snorting.  “Who’s there?” she called out with the note of falseness in her pretend bravery ringing in her ears, knowing that it was futile to hope that she would remain undetected.  “Stop right there…Don’t come any closer.”  Adrenalin coursed through her body and Star was biting her lip to hold back a scream when the thing finally became visible.  “Stew!” Star called joyfully, dropping her club.  The horse whinnied softly and ambled over.  She could hear him whooshing while she stroked his damp coat.  “How did you find me?”  As she ran her hands over the mare, she noticed that the animal was laden down with a saddle and a pair of bags filled with supplies.  Stew had not been merely wandering in the woods, she’d been sent here to find Star!  Star undid the ropes holding closed the bag nearest her.  Inside, she found a small basin.  There was also a small cache of apples and dried meat.  She tore off a strip of the meat and gnawed it hungrily.  Her meager store of supplied had been running dangerously low and she would soon have had to begin foraging, loosing precious time.  Still eating, she brought the basin to the river and filled it with water.  She stirred the water with her fingertips, murmuring the charm around a mouthful of food.  “So Stew’s found you,” came Aunt Thyme’s voice when the water stilled again.  Her aunt’s face looked at her with concern and pride from the surface of the water, albeit the image was much foggier than when they had practiced this charm between their two houses.  “I put a focus charm on her so that she would seek you out.  Don’t try to ride her yet–she will probably think she’s a dog for a few more days (one of the side effects of the charm, you know),” Aunt Thyme whispered conspiratorially.  “Once your father recovered from the shock,” she continued, “he wanted to go after you and the Bella and Andy, but I convinced him it would only put you in more danger.  Have you found them?” she asked.  “No,” Star said and then explained about the force driving the ogres and the false trail that led to the meadow.  Star was overwhelmed with the daunting task ahead of her.  “Maybe you should have sent father,” she replied despondently.  “I was arrogant to think I could do this myself.  I wish I hadn’t talked you out of coming.”  “Child,” replied Aunt Thyme, “if you needed me, I would have come; but you don’t–you have to be the one to see this through.”  “Have you seen something?” Star asked eagerly.  Her mother’s family had diviner somewhere back in their family tree and Thyme sometimes got a foretelling.  Unfortunately, when she used her future knowledge it always seemed to effect the future with horrible consequences.  “You know I can’t tell you that,” Aunt Thyme said regretfully.  “I can give you a tracking charm, though. With the charm and Stew, you can probably catch up to the ogres in no time.  I don’t think we’ll be able to ripple like this much longer.  The distance is so great that the ripples nearly fade away by the time they reach me.  That’s why I look for foggy to you.”  “I know, Aunt Thyme,” Star said, “but thank you for sending the basin anyway.”  Aunt Thyme told Star about the tracking charm and then disappeared.

Adventures: Episode Eight

Star dug her fingernails into the sides of her head and screamed in pain, struggling to block out the awful voice.  The creature’s face was so white that it was nearly green and had the shape of an inverted tear.  Black robes hung upon it so that no other part of the creature was revealed, save its long, gnarled fingers.  In horror, Star realized that she desired to hear more from the creature.  “We can help each other, you and I,” the piercing voice continued.  Star turned to run, but the creature also stood directly behind her.  “If you come with me–” the voice offered and Star, spinning around to seek an escape, discovered that the creature was blocking her path no matter which way she faced.  Understanding that the ogre trail had been a ruse, Star chose the path that would lead her back to the river and rushed at the creature.  She ran right through it, as though it were a mere apparition.

After stumbling through the forest for hours, Star arrived at the river and collapsed with a sob.  She had not only lost a day on the ogres, but the…whateveritwas that she was battling with had such powers as to be able to invade her mind.  What a fool she was to believe that she could rescue her siblings on her own.  No, worse yet–she had believed she was better suited to the task than her Aunt.  Musing on her shortcomings, Star suddenly heard  something moving in the forest.  It was coming toward her fast.

Adventures: Episode Seven

Star looked about frantically and, with confusion, noticed that behind her the evidence of her quarry had also disappeared.  The browns and yellows of the dead grasses were slowly brightening into the greens of spring and the gray and orange of the stormy sky grew blue and clear.  Hearing  the twittering of birds, she jerked her head around and found not only the birds, but their nests.  A pair of cream-colored butterflies flitted across her line of vision.  Then, Star saw her.  A figure who walked out of the past and into the present by approaching from the horizon.  “Mother!” Star called and began to run toward the woman.  She was dressed neatly in her pale blue dress with the purple apron that matched her eyes.  She swung a fistful of herbs and wildflowers in one hand and waved cheerfully at her daughter with the other.  Star could hear her laugh carried on the warm breeze that had sprung up.  Her mother swept her up in a hug when they finally reached each other and then put an arm around her.  “Are you ready to go?”  she asked.  “Go?” replied Star, confused.  “You goose!”  said Mother, “As if the Academy wasn’t the only thing you’ve been talking about for a year!  Call Andy and Bella and your father will be along with your things.”  As if summoned by the words, Star’s brother and sister appeared at the top of a nearby hill and tumbled down, giggling.  They seemed no worse for the wear for all of their adventuring and Star began to wonder if everything had not been some cruel trick.

“What a strange thing to find two wood nymphs and a pair of sprites where I expected to meet my family!”  Star whirled around to find her father leading Stew toward them with a cart that carried a trunk so large she could fit in it.  He strode merrily toward them with a sparkle in his eyes that Star had not seen in years.  He had a red beard that covered most of his face and he looked younger, somehow, than he should have.  “Da!” she cried out, using the name she had not called him since she was Andy and Bella’s age.  He, too, swept her up in his arms on reaching her and whirled her around.  When he finally set her back on her feet, he murmured, “I’m so proud of my little girl.”  The party jovially set off toward the Academy, with the morning sun at their backs.  West?  thought Star But the Academy is east of  Parselwood Clearing.

Instantly, Stew and Star’s father began to dissolve. The rest of her family and her surroundings seemed to melt away, leaving wretched beings writhing in agony before her.  “It hurts,” whimpered Bella, “make it stop.”  Andy tried in vain to push away some unseen adversary and cover his sister’s body.  Her mother’s hair was long and scraggly, her dress and apron colorless and worn to rags.  She moaned, then looked Star directly in the eye.  “Run!” she hissed, “Run now!”

Star stumbled as she turned and, looking up, saw before her the darkest creature she could imagine.  A voice that rasped liked a file on a nail came from everywhere and penetrated her skull.  “Star,” it whispered seductively, “you can yet free them.”

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Adventures: Episode Six

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Star awoke in the early dawn curled between the roots of a great oak tree. The darkness had gotten so deep that it seemed to press in on her and the flame that lighted her path. She had thought that perhaps it was not the natural darkness of evening, but some charm or enchantment from the same source that drove the ogres. Soon, even her charmed torch could not compete with the weight of the darkness and the night pressed in on it so heavily that it was extinguished, as if pinched off between two malevolent fingers. At that precise moment, Star stumbled in the darkness and landed against something rough and solid, yet moist. She pressed herself against it and, in her panic, could not remember any charms that could help her in this moment. She starred wide eyed out into the darkness as pairs of bright nocturnal eyes began to appear. They seemed to float as they came nearer and nearer in that cursed heavy darkness. Without warning, they stopped about a span away. Star’s fear combined with her exhaustion finally overcame her and she knew no more until the morning.

When she awoke, the mists were still laying low over the land. She stood and began to again track her quarry. As she stalked, she mused about the strange behavior of the nocturnal creatures. She did not understand why they had hesitated and then, more surprisingly, left her alive all night long. When pangs of hunger could be ignored no longer, Star reached into her pouch to draw out a chunk of dry bread. Her hand brushed, instead, some of the plants she had collected the previous day.  Marchthorn Root!  The ninth use was in an amulet against malignant intent.  Those who had designs to harm the bearer of such an amulet, would find the deed reflected back onto themselves.  Perhaps, in its natural state, Marchthorn root acted as more of a repellent and merely caused some sort of unpleasant sensation to those who bore ill-will toward it or its bearer.  Perhaps this property was known before and lost, mused Star,  and that is why Marchthorn root was used in the amulet in the first place.  It might just have been a coincidence, but this new property of Marchthorn root bore further study.  Finally grasping the bread she had been searching for, Star gnawed thoughtfully as she walked.  The terrain was beginning to change.  Dense forest gave way to rocky steppe.  Fields of dry grasses replaced mossy mushroom beds.  The wind picked up and Star pulled her cloak tighter about herself.  Suddenly, Star stopped.  She noticed a greater change than the environment.  The trail that she had been following ended abruptly in the middle of a field.

It’s Not An Island?

She was enjoying the conversation and companionship of her classmates while loading her school things into her shoulder bag when her attention was caught by the young man to her left. “Did you just say that you drove here?” Angel asked him. “Aren’t you from, like, Alaska?”

“That must’ve taken forever!” commented another student.

“Nah…you can make it in a couple days if you have someone take turns with.”

“So what did you do? Drive through the ocean?” she mocked. The rest of the students turned to look at her like her hair had just turned another three shades blonder.

“No…” he replied, “I drove through Canada.”

“After you took a ferry?”

“Uh…no. Alaska’s on the mainland.”

Angel was not entirely convinced until she was shown a globe. “But when you see a map of the United States, it’s always in a little box next to Hawaii!” she protested, wanting to prove that her theory didn’t make her a complete idiot, “No one ever told me any different!”

“Didn’t the straight line down one side give you a hint?”

“A lot of states have straight lines!” You know that feeling where you have just said something that you know is completely ridiculous and you want to reach out and pluck the words from the air before they reach the ears of others? That’s exactly how Angel felt at that moment.

It just goes to show that it is better to stop talking and let others think you a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it.

Why Water is One of the Basic Needs

We recently did an activity where my students analyzed the preamble to the constitution and they discovered that the constitution makes six promises:

1.  Have a better government than England (”in order to form a more perfect union”)

2. Fair laws for everyone (”establish justice”)

3. Everyone can feel safe (”ensure domestic tranquility”)

4. Everyone gets protection (”provide for the common defense”)

5. Everyone gets what they need (”Promote the general welfare”) and

6. Freedom for everyone (”secure the blessings of liberty”)

So, we decided to make posters and hang them up in our classroom that showed these promises.  To show that everyone gets what they need, one group drew food, water, clothing, and shelter (earlier discussed as the basic needs).  In explaining their drawings, a student from this group explained why water was one of the basic needs.  “So, you know how when you get lots of sugar, it runs through your body and you get really hyper?” he said while demonstrating with a sweep of his hand across his body.  “Well,” he continued, “you have to drink water to wash away the hyper…oh, and you need it to live, too.”

Grocery Store Philosophers

With one hand clutching the top of the shopping cart’s wire basket and both feet precariously pressed against the metal rod on which the wheels were mounted.  She leaned out as far as should could, then grabbed frantically at the cart when it began to tip over.  She giggled with delight and looked at the baby in the cart’s seat to be sure that her sister wouldn’t tell on her.  Angel had been as surprised as her sister when the cart began to tip; but she was giggling as well.  The cart was stopped in front of the dairy case in Albertson’s and the girls’ mother was far enough down the isle that she didn’t notice the near mishap.

“Tatie,” Angel asked, “how come there’s brown eggs and then there’s white ones?”

Katie, taking her role as her sister’s instructor very seriously, rubbed her hand on her chin and looked at the rows and rows of egg cartons consideringly.  She took note of the pictures that appeared on various cartons.  Then, very confidently, she replied, “‘Cause the brown ones still gots baby chickens in them, that’s why.”

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Shoelaces

While I have never been a fan of “what they’re showing,” a recent fad in my classroom has driven me to distraction.  I speak of skater shoes.  (I am not sure of the terminology–as I said, I’m not a fashion buff.)  These are the current, over sized footwear of choice for the male in crowd.  It wouldn’t bother me so much if half of my second grade class had not each received a pair for Christmas.  Second graders cannot handle shoes that you purposely do not tie.  Without tying the laces, they can’t seem to remember that their feet should remain shod while at school.  No teacher should have to say, “Shoes on feet!” every fifteen minutes.  I was quite proud of myself when I came up with a solution to the problem.  I just told my students that if I caught them with their shoes off, I’d tie the laces for them!