Your first professional haircut!
Hi Ellie Bean,
I know I say this all the time but I love the relationship you have with
your Mimi and Poppy- despite the distance; you are so close to them. You give your Poppy kisses through the
computer screen
and your Mimi teaches you songs (she taught you the finger song that begins with “Where is
Thumbkin?” but you chose to belt out your own version in the grocery store, “Where
is Pumpkin!”). You are now able to
use the phone and you know proper manners with it (always ending with, “Love
you. Bye!).
You are becoming such a social
butterfly (well, really only with people that you know well because you are
still crazy shy!).
And now here is our yearlong bedtime story/stories (with
many chapters to write!) for you.
So as for our weekly guidelines: I write a piece one week in
regular font, then your Mimi will write a piece in italics the next week. The only things your Mimi and I agreed
on were the characters- Ellie and a magic teapot and the setting (a forest with
trolls). Anything else is fair
game and will make our adventure a new tale. We also need to figure out an illustration to go with our
part. Our goal Ellie is to have a
beloved bedtime story for you and future generations.
And so we will continue our third piece of fiction.
Ellie and the Magic
Teapot: Into the Secret Forest Part 6
Ellie and Lion walked
further into the forest, hoping that each step was taking them closer to
Trudy’s secret cave. Getting past
three trolls was no easy feat and they knew that more were probably
hiding. As they moved forward they
kept their senses alert: listening, smelling and looking for anything out of
the ordinary. What they didn’t
know was that with every step they took, Trudy was watching them. And she was not happy that they had
outsmarted Tootsie, Hotdog and Fruity Troll.
“Humph,” she snorted
as she took off her glasses, the blue-framed ones with no lenses. Anyone who saw them would think Trudy
was trying to be cool but the reality was those eyeglasses were actually
magical. Since her eyesight was so
poor, all she had to do while wearing them was to recite the following verse ‘Find me giggles, find me laughter, and
find me those who I should go after’ and the glasses would give her sight
into all corners of the secret forest.
“Those two, the ones who call themselves Ellie and Lion, have the best
laughs I’ve heard from children in a long time. I want their laughter and I want it now!” she cackled while
stomping her foot down hard on the damp earth, shaking the ground all around
her.
It took Trudy many,
many months to create the perfect machine that would extract all the happiness
from any child who entered it. Upon
its completion she named it the Giggle Grabber. Dome shaped and made of chain-link fencing, the Giggle
Grabber had one lone swing hanging down from the ceilings center. The short thin rubbery nubs that
created its flooring and the side walls of the inside wire fencing had hundreds
of over-cooked limp spaghetti noodles tied in knots around each link and each
root. Around the outside of the
machine Trudy place four fans, one on the north side, one on the south side, one on
the east side and one on the west side.
When Trudy turned them on, air would blow to and fro creating the
noodles to dance and wiggle in all sorts of directions inside the dome. If a child was sitting on the swing and
moving back and forth, the spaghetti’s crazy motions would tickle their feet,
their tummy’s and under their chins forcing them to release all their
laughter. And to catch that
laughter Trudy placed jars strategically around the inside of the machine. Once the jars were filled, their
connected lids would snap shut and quickly seal in all their giggles forever or
at least till Trudy figured out what to do with all that happiness.
“Humph,” she snorted
again as she tromped around and around The Giggle Grabber. Trudy didn’t do anything softly. “Watching those two together tells me
that I may have to update my machine.
Either I am going to have to make the seat swing wider so they both can
sit on it at the same time or else I am going to have to make another swing and
hang them side by side since that girl and that lion don’t seem to do anything
or go anywhere without each other.
Humph! What to do, what to
do,” she grumbled to herself as she continued to circle The Giggle Grabber. After much thought (about five minutes
worth) Trudy came to a decision.
“Alright, my mind is made up!
I will lengthen the seat of the swing so that the two can sit on it
together. That should keep them
happy! Humph!” she boomed out one
last time.
Turning away from The
Giggle Grabber Trudy stomped off towards the woods behind her home in search of
a long flat board. She couldn’t
wait to turn Ellie and Lion into her new trolls. They seemed quite clever to her and with a little bit of
training Trudy was sure she could make them her best yet! But right now she had to put that
thought aside and concentrate on the task she set out to do. With each piece of wood she came upon
Trudy examined it closely then tossed it to the side hoping to find a better
one. There wasn’t much time to
waste. When she last put on her
magical eyeglasses Ellie and Lion had no idea that they were walking towards
Rocky Troll. Rocky was one of
Trudy’s more experienced trolls and she was confident that he would be the one
to successfully blindfold the pair and bring them straight to her. So with as much excitement that a
grumpy old troll can have, Trudy sang out loud and very much off-key the
magical spell that would soon turn Ellie and Lion into her new trolls.
“Giggle, giggle coo
Chuckle, chuckle hey
Give me all your
laughter
I want it today!
Once I’ve taken it
A troll you will be
The only way to break
my spell
Is to try and stop me!
The secrets in my hat
For it holds the key
That will unlock the
gate
And set you free!”
Just as Trudy finished
singing the last verse, a long wooden board appeared at her feet. Bending down and scooping it up, she
examined the board closely, pleased with her find. Walking back towards The Giggle Grabber she stopped to pick
up her magical eyeglasses.
Positioning them on her face Trudy recited its verse, ‘Find me giggles, find me laughter, and find me those who I should go
after’ and that quickly Ellie and Lion appeared inside the blue
frames. “Ahhhhh, Yesssss,” she
grumbled aloud to herself. “That’s
the right direction. Keep walking
you two. Rocky Troll will take
good care of you!” Pleased with
what she saw Trudy took off her eyeglasses and tucked them into the small
pocket located on her white apron.
She then entered The Giggle Grabber to prepare it for her new arrivals…
Love you to the moon and back Ellie!
Mom & Mimi
No comments:
Post a Comment