Dear Sweet Pea,
You have been making spring time so much fun! We spend hours outside…
and when we
finally come inside, you are completely drained!
And now here is our yearlong bedtime story/stories (with
many chapters to write!) for you.
So as for our weekly guidelines… we need to be honest. We have stuck to most of the rules
except the time limit. We are
having so much writing these fictional pieces that your Mimi and I have gone
way past our 45 and 90 minute allotments!
So from now on, we will write until we want to stop- no time clock
(although I don’t think we ever honored it anyway!). So here are the revised rules: I will write a piece, then
your Mimi has to finish it and we will do this every week (your Mimi’s part is
in italics and mine is in regular font).
The only things your Mimi and I agreed on were the characters- Ellie and
a magic teapot. Anything else is
fair game. We also need to figure
out an illustration to go with our part.
Our goal Ellie is to have a beloved bedtime tale for you and future
generations.
And before we continue our story, I wanted to share a picture of you and Lion (it warms my heart that you love Kyle's stuffed animal so much. I feel like you have such a connection with your brother even though you never met him). Just like in the story your Mimi and I are writing to you, you really do go on adventures with Lion as he comes most places with us!
Ellie and the Magic
Teapot: Off to the Park Part 7
“March Red Team, ah never mind, make that RUN!” bossed
Skeeter.
“Where are we running to?” asked a confused Slyguy.
They heard another crack of a bat in the near distance and
Slugger knew exactly where they were headed as he struggled to keep up with
Skeeter’s sprinting pace.
“The gold and black baseball cap!” Shortstop exclaimed as he
too caught on.
Speedy nodded that he understood too but couldn’t form any
words as he was panting for air as they raced toward the baseball diamond. Sweat dripped off of him and he
couldn’t help but wish that he were on the Pink Team having more fun.
Slugger looked over knowingly and gave him an encouraging
wink.
Fortunately the baseball diamond wasn’t far (The Hill was
right behind center field). But
within minutes of approaching the backstop, the ants came to a screeching halt
as they took in all of the spectators upon their arrival. There were people everywhere- parents
in the stands cheering, players in the dugout waiting their turn, and then all
the players in the field standing at attention.
Speedy whispered, “You know I hate crowds of people
Skeeter.”
“Don’t be a wimp Speedy, you won’t get trampled on if you
watch where you are going. And you
don’t have to whisper. Humans
can’t hear you!” Skeeter scoffed.
Slyguy patted Speedy on the back, “Don’t worry Buddy, we’ll
be out of here quick!” And he gave
him another wink.
Skeeter saw him and wondered what he was thinking, “You have
an idea?” His eyes trailed toward
Slyguy’s gaze and they rested on the pitcher. All of the ants already noticed on their run in that the
players in the field were wearing gold and black caps.
“I think we should climb up to the pitcher’s head, tip off
his hat as he pitches the ball to a strong hitter, and as the ball (with the
hat attached) sails to the batter, he will hit the ball (and the hat) in the
direction of The Hill which is behind centerfield,” Slyguy announced proudly.
“Hmmmm… not such a bad plan,” Skeeter said getting more
excited as he thought about the possibilities.
“But how are we going to know who can hit that far?” Slugger
asked.
“Well, I bet size has something to do with it,” Slyguy said
as he set his sight on the batter warming up.
“Look who’s next,” pointed Shortstop seeing the huge
teenager swinging his bat around in slow motion.
“I think we have our man gentlemen! But we need to get moving! I think it will take three of us to
maneuver the hat off the pitcher’s head.
Slyguy and Shortstop, you come with me. Speedy and Slugger, you head off into centerfield and follow
that ball and cap as it gets hit.
We’ll meet you where it lands,” Skeeter said as he took off toward the
pitcher without allowing for questions.
The other ants shrugged and did as they were told. As Slyguy tried to dodge all the infielders
on his way out to the center of the diamond, he muttered under his breath,
“You’re so bossy Skeeter!” At
least that took his mind off of his fear of a lot of humans and being stepped
on!
Just as Skeeter, Slyguy, and Shortstop got to the pitcher’s
mound, they heard the umpire yell, “Strike two!”
“Hurry! He only
needs one more strike and our big batter will be up,” Skeeter yelled.
They all scurried onto the pitcher’s metal cleats, up his
gold socks, onto his striped baseball pants, up his black jersey, and then they
stopped to make some decisions.
They chose to climb up the pitcher’s hair instead of up his face so he
wouldn’t feel ticklish pricks and possibly wipe them off. As they clung desperately to clumps of
sweaty slippery hair, they heard the umpire yell, “Strike three, you’re outta
here! Next batter up!”
“Uh-oh! Hurry,”
Skeeter cried out. They scrambled
up and grabbed the edge of the cap.
They could see the giant batter coming to the plate and taking a
practice swing. The pitcher winded
up but the ants weren’t in place yet.
Luckily, the batter let that one sail by him to see what kind of pitches
the pitcher could throw. “Strike
one!” the umpire called out.
“Ok boys, now on the count of three, plant your legs against
the pitcher’s head for leverage and push the hat forward. Make sure it’s with enough force that
it will flip over the pitcher’s head!” Skeeter shouted.
They could feel the pitcher winding up for his second pitch
and Skeeter screamed, “ONE, TWO, THREE!”
The baseball cap fell forward, bounced off the bridge of the
pitcher’s nose and landed onto the newly released ball that the pitcher had let
go of. The ball and the newly
attached cap arched perfectly toward the batter who swung and made
contact. The ants heard the crack
of the bat and the whistle of air as the ball (and hat) flew over their
heads. Skeeter didn’t give the
ants time to bask in their success; instead he rushed them down and took off
toward centerfield.
“I know we are going to beat the Pink Team on this one!” he
sung out happily as he approached Speedy and Slugger who were now with the
baseball cap. They were all really
proud of their accomplishment. Not
only was the hit a homerun, the ball (along with the cap) sailed out past
centerfield right at the base of the Hill.
Skeeter just instructed his team to lift the hat up to make
the climb up The Hill, the Pink Team whizzed by him with a container of…, “What
the? What is that? That can’t be right! That’s cheating!” yelled Skeeter
dropping his part of the baseball cap.
“Skeeter, forget about them! Let’s just get this to the top of The Hill,” said a
struggling Slugger who was now lifting twice as much since Skeeter let go.
Fortunately for the Red Team, Skeeter’s rage made him
stronger and he lifted the hat easily and led his group to the top of The Hill
where he confronted the Pink Team.
“You should all be disqualified!” he yelled at them. …..
“Disqualified? “ Shouted
Alfy, “Skeeter, our container has Honey it! Nowhere in the rules does it say that it has to be the
drippy gooey sticky kind. Just
because we made it back to The Hill first doesn’t give you the right to accuse
us of not playing fair!” Alfy continued.
“That’s right
Skeeter. Each team still has four
more items to scavenge. It looks
like it’s going to be a closer race than you expected, so don’t be a poor
sport!” Ajax anxiously added, “We
found this container fair and square…. well, actually plastic and round would
be a better description, but still…!”
And they did. Fair and square that is. When the Pink Team first started
out, they were pretty sure the chicken bone would be their next easiest item to
find. So they had marched over to
the pavilion but were quickly dismayed, as all the picnic tables were void of picnickers. Even with antennas at full alert, not
one of the three ants could pick up the scent of chicken anywhere within the parameters
of the park.
Abner heaved a heavy
sigh, “Now what are we going to do?
We’ve been doing great up till now!”
Lion looked at Ellie
for an answer. “El, any
suggestions?”
“As a matter of fact
yyyyyyyye…no,” she shrugged.
“Oh great,” Abner
pouted, “This was the first time that Alfy, Ajax and I had the lead in a game
against Skeeter and his boys. And
now we are going to lose, all because we can’t find a chicken bone!”
“Wait!” Alfy interrupted, “Why are we focusing on just the
chicken bone? Did everyone forget
that we still have four other items to find besides that one? Let’s worry about the chicken bone
later. Right now we have to change
tactics! Who’s got an idea?” he
encouraged.
“Oh Alfy, you are
brilliant! How silly of us all to
get fixated on this one item,” Ellie chimed in., “OK… let’s refocus and scout
the area for other possibilities.”
So they climbed to the
highest point (which was the splintered picnic table) and each team member cupped
their own hand and placed it over their own brow, searching the park grounds
for other options.
“Look! Over there!” Ajax yelled as he pointed to the parks entrance. A Mommy who was slinging an overflowing
diaper bag on one arm, talking on a pink cell phone with the other hand and
pushing a baby stroller with her hips while guiding it with her elbows was
walking down the path straight towards them.
“It looks like the
baby in the stroller is sound asleep… let’s wait to see if the Mommy is
planning on coming to the pavilion to take a break. It would be a lot easier on us if she does, then we don’t
have to chase her all around the park to see if she has anything on our list to
scavenge!” Lion stated excitedly.
And sure enough, the Mommy
rolled the baby stroller right into the pavilion. She eased it in between two picnics tables, plunked all her
belongings down on one of the wooden tabletops, then sat down on the weathered
bench as she continued to chat away on her cell phone oblivious to the five
tiny members that were quietly descending upon her ‘stuff.’
As they rummaged in
and about the stroller, Alfy came upon an interesting item that sat squarely in
the middle of the food tray. So he
climbed up its side and peered over its edge, “Hey everybody, check this
out! A pool! And it has oodles of floating
rafts! I’m hot…. Anybody care to
take a dip with me?” Ellie glanced
over to see what Alfy was talking about, but before she could stop him he
gracefully bounced off its ledge creating the perfect swan dive. SPLASH, GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE…
Lion, Abner and Ajax
came running when they heard all the ruckus and stood next to Ellie. They all tried not to giggle but they
couldn’t help themselves. Alfy didn’t dive into a swimming pool of
floating rafts but rather a tiny plastic bowl of soggy cereal in a quarter cup
of milk! And his chubby little
body was snuggly centered in one of the many floating cheerios. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Help me! Help me! I’m stuck! Don’t let me drown!
Please! Uuuuuuuuuu… yum… yum, yum, yummy! Oooooooooooo, everybody… this is scrumptious. Come on! Why don’t you all ump in and join me!” Alfy said between heavenly
crunches and chews.
Just as Abner and Ajax
were ready to take a dive, Lion and Ellie held them back. “There’s no time for that. We’ve got to stay focused on The
Scavenger Hunt Game or we’re going to lose,” the two said in unison.
Then Ellie took
control of the situation, “Alfy, kick your feet and paddle as fast as you can
to this side. Abner, Ajax and Lion, on the count of three let’s jump up and
down together with the hopes of creating the bowl to tilt and ridding it of its
liquid so that Alfy can wiggle out of the cheerio and crawl out of the plastic
container. Ready…. One, two,
three!” Within moments, Alfy was
standing next to the group.
Ellie’s plan worked. “Now
that the container is a lot lighter, everyone grab a side. We need to heave it over the side of
the baby stroller and hope that it stays upright with the few cheerios that are
left in it. Since the baby is
still sleeping, when he wakes I don’t think he’ll notice nor care that the
container holding his cereal is missing since most of its contents is all over
the strollers tray. He’ll have way
more fun playing in that mess.
Trust me, I know!” And with
one heave together they threw the plastic container overboard not dropping any
of its contents!
Abner was confused, “I
don’t get it Ellie. What good is a
container of cheerios to us?
That’s not on the list.”
“Ahhhhhhhhh…. But what
if those cheerios are ‘HONEY’nut cheerios?” purred Lion.
“You two are geniuses!”
Praised a no longer shy Abner.
“No, actually Alfy is
the genius for finding the cereal,” credited Ellie, “If he didn’t dive into it
and need to be rescued, I would never have known that the cheerios were made of
honeynut! I smelled its sweet
honey scent as soon as Alfy kicked up the bowl’s contents!”
“Well, it’s awfully
nice to pat each other on the back but if we don’t stop talking and get this
container out of here quick, we’re going to get caught. Look, the Mommy is putting her cell
phone down!” Ajax commented
nervously.
“El, by chance do you
have another gadget hidden in that tutu of yours that will help us get out of
here quickly?” prayed Lion.
Ellie flashed him a
big bright white smile! “As a
matter of fact Lion I do!” Right
below the waistband of her pink tutu was a very small pocket. She slid her right hand inside and quickly
pulled out a tiny flat metallic oval shaped rock. With three slaps to the heel of her foot, the miniature
object expanded lengthwise while four spinning wheels popped out of its
bottom.
“Cool! A skateboard!” Lion roared with
laughter.
“No time to ogle Lion. Everybody, lift and put the container
on the board’s middle section.
Then hop on and do as I do.”
Ellie directed while she took her place at the back of the
skateboard. With one foot planted
firmly on the board Ellie used her other foot to push off of the ground
propelling the skateboard into motion, “See… push, glide, push, glide. Give it a try Pink Team, I know you can
do it!”
Lion, Alfy, Abner and
Ajax got the hang of it right away.
With everyone in sync, they sped off towards The Hill faster than
lightening. They also whizzed by
the Red Team, beating them by only inches, to drop off their latest scavenged
item; a container of honey… Honeynut Cheerios that is…
We love you Ellie!
More next week!
Mom & Mimi
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