My Dear Ellie,
You are officially a toddler, a little girl- no longer
bearing baby features or ways. You
talk in complete detailed sentences, sleep in a big girl bed and run without
wavering. You can do summersaults
and jump off the side of the pool without fear. You insist on being independent. Your latest quote is, “I can do it!” I hope you never lose that will to try
your best with any obstacle because I firmly believe (after seeing your
resolution that you can do just about anything!).
You have imaginary friends who pop out of your pocket or the
refrigerator or really any place that your creative mind can come up with. Sometimes, the pink chipmunks join us,
other times it’s Ben and Nico (your real life playmates that I assume you must
miss at home!). You pretend to
seatbelt them in the car and push them down the slide.
Your new favorite game is to play doctor (thanks to your
Mimi and Poppy introducing it to you and buying you a kit). And you do it so well, I wonder if you
really have a knack for diagnosing patients. You can take my temperature and read it in degrees
(yesterday, mine was 4 degrees- your numbers are a bit off but you definitely
get the concept!).
You call yourself Stephanie and you always ask your Dad and
I to make up names for ourselves too.
Basically Ellie, your mind is fascinating and I love that I am your mom
and I get to watch you grow and love life. You are so much fun!
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 has to 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 3
Lion hooked his paw under Ellie’s arm and his nervous fast
breaths calmed, as he felt stronger with his friend.
Ellie looked over at Lion and winked, “It’s ok Buddy. Just keep your mind focused on the
goal. We need to stop mean Trudy
from turning the children into trolls!
And in order to find Trudy, we need to find a troll.”
“Trolls are exactly what I am afraid of!” Lion said
exasperatedly, “Have you ever met a kind troll?”
“Oh Lion, you and I both know that neither of us have ever
met any kind of troll so we need to keep an open mind! But I do wonder how to find them… did
Tad, Sebastian, or Oliver say how to locate them?”
Lion shook his head and then Ellie remembered that she could
call upon her animal friends for help, “Hoot Hoot!” Ellie murmured aloud.
Lion recalled that by whispering their animal sound, they would appear.
And sure enough Oliver the Owl materialized in the branches
of the tall oak tree to Ellie’s right.
“What can I help you with Missy?”
Oliver flew down and Ellie reached in to give him a big hug.
“Well, we don’t know how to find these trolls that you speak
of. Where do we look for one?”
Ellie asked.
Oliver’s face tightened as he told Ellie, “You don’t find
them, they find you. I would guess
that at least one troll is hot on your trail,” he added as he pointed to some
green goo on the leaves of the tree that Oliver flew from.
“Thank you Oliver!
It really means a lot to know you here when we need you,”
Oliver winked at the duo and then disappeared into the thin
air. Lion and Ellie continued
walking ahead on the path hand in hand shivering slightly despite it being a
warm afternoon.
Lion needed to distract himself from the nervous dread he
was feeling in the pit of his stomach so he decided to turn his attention on
the dilemma, “I wonder why Trudy turns children into trolls?”
Ellie scrunched up her mouth and made a very perplexing face
squinting one eye, “Why does anyone take things that doesn’t belong to them?”
she mused aloud.
And then it came to her suddenly, her eyes wide, she added,
“Maybe she needs something from them!”
Lion nodded in agreement but wasn’t totally satisfied, “But
what could she possibly neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed?” he yelled as both he and Ellie fell
through a leaf covered hole.
They realized quickly that they were freefalling down a very
deep hole. Ellie knew that the
landing would be brutal so she dug into her waistband pocket and pulled out
what looked like a balloon. Lion looked at her quizzically. She put it against her lips and blew
into the red piece of rubber. In
three puffs, an inflatable windy slide popped out. Lion forgot about the scary trolls and started laughing in
excitement as they sailed fast down the curves of Ellie’s slide. They reached the bottom and flew off
with a loud thump. Lion rubbed his
behind. He was sore from that
jolt. Instinctively, Ellie hopped
up and looked around. She could
see two torches dimly giving light to this underground cavern and in the far
dark corner; she could make out a large dark green scaly creature. The beast moved toward them
slowly. Ellie reached for Lion’s
paw to give her courage.
“I’m Ellie and this is Lion. Who are you?” she asked
bravely.
“I’m Tootsie Troll.
And I am in charge of bringing you to Trudy blind-folded!” the olive
ogre snorted.
“Oh no! We
aren’t prepared to meet Trudy yet and we certainly don’t want her to know we’re
coming!” Lion panicked.
Tootsie Troll snickered and drooled through her big yellow
teeth. “Trudy will like the two of you,” she seethed, “You are very nice and
happy!”
“Tootsie, isn’t there something we can do to change your
mind? Our forest friends told us
there were many trolls and we need more time to prepare. Please don’t send us to Trudy yet,”
Ellie politely begged as she pulled a brown piece of chewy candy out of her
pocket and popped it into her mouth.
Tootsie noticed and immediately wanted that piece of deliciousness too.
“Ok,” Tootsie breathed noisily, “I’ll make a deal with
you. You give me three pieces of
your candy and answer my riddle correctly and I will put you in the direction
of the next troll. But be
forewarned, you will have to deal with Trudy sooner or later!”
Ellie shook Tootsie’s three-fingered hand and Tootsie’s long
fingernails scratched Ellie’s arm, “It’s a deal!” she said rubbing the nick and
then fishing for more candy to hand over to Tootsie.
Once Tootsie ate the candy, she began the riddle that Lion
and Ellie had to solve. She licked
her cracked lips, sucked in her breath and spat out, “What am I? The more you have of me, the less you
see.”
Lion and Ellie looked puzzled at each other. Tootsie grunted as she retreated to her
corner, “You only have three minutes or else it’s the blind-fold and off to
Trudy!” Tootsie cackled as she got
pleasure from looking at the bewildered stares from Lion and Ellie.
The torches on the wall started to dim as a gust of wind
blew through the cavern from Tootsie’s shadowy corner. Ellie wondered if there was another way
out back there.
“Oh Ellie, I
think we’re doomed!” Lion cried out.
“Not so fast Lion,” Ellie said peering around at her
surroundings, “It’s getting darker in here,” she noted aloud.
“Ellie, now is not the time to observe your surroundings!”
Lion screeched.
“There couldn’t be a more perfect time Lion! Darkness! The more darkness you have, the less you see! Darkness is the answer!” Ellie called
out as she peered over to Tootsie.
“Well done Dear,” Tootsie sneered, “I suppose I need to keep
my end of the bargain.” She led
Lion and Ellie into her corner revealing a hidden staircase that they used to
ascend back up to the forest.
Back on to solid ground, Tootsie itched her wart-covered
nose and spun Lion and Ellie around and around counting the 5 rotations but
Ellie and Lion weren’t blindfolded.
Tootsie was sending them into new direction to meet a new troll. Ellie had a fleeting thought that
spinning with Lion and Tootsie was very much like Ring Around the Rosie so she
began to hum the melody. Tootsie
shot her a nasty glare before disappearing in a whirl of fog. Lion and Ellie dropped their hands and
took in their new setting, which was nothing they had expected.
We love you to the moon and back Ellie Bean!
Love,
Mom & Mimi
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