Dear Ellie,
I am really enjoying my time with you at home! Working part-time has been the best
decision I’ve made in a long time.
You and I get three full days a week together… and let me tell you, you
have an imagination that won’t stop!
Your latest make believe scenario is switching roles where you are the
Mama and I’m Ellie! We also do creative
activities too- like bringing the snow inside when it was too cold to play outside
and lots of arts and crafts.
You
help me cook and you’re learning a lot about numbers in the process. Of course, reading and playing babies
are always on our daily list too! I
will cherish this time I have with you always!
And now back to our story…
So as for our weekly guidelines: I write a piece one week in
regular font, and 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
(an aquarium). 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 fourth piece of fiction.
Ellie and the Magic
Teapot: Off to the Aquarium- Part 5
Ellie and Lion approached the giant shipwreck
cautiously. They had no idea what
or who was waiting inside. As they
looked around the side of the large ship for an entrance, they noticed a
circular window was propped open above their heads. Before they could peek through, they were stopped in their
tracks by what they heard first.
“Why are pirates called pirates?” they heard a silly voice
say. Ellie looked at Lion with
knowing and suspecting eyes but before she could say anything the voice
continued, “They just arghhhhh!”
Lion couldn’t help but smile at the joke he just heard, despite now
knowing who probably took the treasure chest.
“Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?”
the voice began again. Lion looked
at Ellie perplexed by the questions and then he craned his neck to listen to
the answer, “because they spend years at sea (C)!” the voice chuckled.
This time Lion couldn’t help himself and started laughing
hysterically loud.
“Hey, who’s there?” an orange and white striped fish with
white face paint poked out of the circular window, looked down, and swam right
up to Ellie and Lion.
“Do you mind?
This act is supposed to be a surprise and I need time to rehearse!” the
fish muttered. Ellie noticed that
the fish was in costume. He had
red paint around his lips, a fake red rubber nose, and a red polka dotted
bowtie strung around his neck.
Lion was still giggling at the joke so Ellie elbowed him
gently in the ribs to pull it together as she introduced herself and Lion
politely. “And who are you?” she asked the annoyed fish who seemed to soften as
he realized Lion really enjoyed his jokes.
“I’m Collywobbles the Clown Fish, I like to make people
laugh!” he said as he gazed at Lion. Once a week I host a comedy show down by
the giant seashells. I rehearse my bits here so that I have privacy as I
prepare. You’re not here to steal
my jokes are you?” he narrowed his eyes as he accused Ellie and Lion.
“Interesting that he chose to use the word steal,” Ellie
thought ironically before she said aloud, “we’re here looking for information
on the missing pirates’ treasure chest.
Do you happen to know anything?”
Ellie took out her notepad and again started jotting down some notes.
Collywobbles seemed baffled as he gestured for Ellie and
Lion to follow him in through the circular window to chat further. “Welcome to my office,” he said. Ellie and Lion looked around. He had set up some wooden beams in the
large open room to look like benches that faced a staged platform.
“No I didn’t even realize that it was stolen,” he looked
sullen and perplexed as he went back to the question.
“Why do you look so grim?” Lion asked Collywobbles.
“Well, my whole act this week centers around the theme of
pirates because of that new exhibit.
It won’t make any sense if there’s no pirate chest,” he said as he bit
his lip dejectedly. “My
performance is tonight. It doesn’t
give me much time to prepare new material. I suppose I’ll have to cancel.”
Ellie realized that he was telling the truth and she
suddenly felt sorry for the clown fish, as he was so obviously passionate about
his job. She tried to cheer him
up. “How about you tell us one of
your most famous jokes?” she proposed and Collywobbles’ eyes lit up. He took Ellie and Lion to a bench to
sit as he took the stage.
“Why are fish so smart,” Collywobbles began with a
wink. Lion shrugged his furry
shoulders and Collywobbles continued, “because they live in schools!”
Lion and Ellie couldn’t help but join him in his
laughter. “That was a good one,”
admitted Ellie as soon as she could catch her breath between fits of
giggles. She started to hic-cup
sending many bubbles through her breathing machine, which made her laugh even
more.
The clown fish then remembered that he might have to redo or
cancel his skit and became gloomy again. “Don’t worry Collywobbles, we will
solve the mystery of the missing pirates’ treasure chest really soon so by the
time you do your comedy routine tonight, it will be right back where it ought
to be,” Lion encouraged.
Ellie recalled something she had in her pocket that would perk
up the Clown Fish so she stuck her hand in and dug around. Finally with a firm tug, she
pulled out a large black microphone.
“Here Collywobbles, why don’t you hold onto this for me? Your jokes are so funny that I think
all the fish in the sea should hear you,” Ellie prompted.
“You’re giving him your beloved microphone Ellie? But you love singing into that thing!”
Lion gasped in disbelief as Collywobbles gleefully started playing with the
device.
“Not giving, just sharing. Besides, I’m not singing right now, am I? We have a job to do! And now we are on a time limit. We have to find that treasure by this
evening. Collywobbles, do you have any idea of where we should go next for
clues?”
“Oh sure! You
know when I was up on deck earlier I did spy something weird at the Helm. Why don’t you swim on up and see for yourself?” And as Collywobbles explained a bit
further, Lion and Ellie knew where their next stop would be….
Until next week!
I love you Ellie!
Love,
Mom
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