It’s that time of the year again…the holidays. This is a
joyous occasion for most, but for Jake and Susie, it’s met with great dangers.
See, their festive and fun-filled holiday house is surrounded. Surrounded by
what you ask? Their worst nightmares…almost too many to count.
Every year, the, young brother and older sister must make
the hard choice of which direction they will take to get to their holiday home.
If they come from the south, they
will face quicksand, a crazy hermit, and poisonous mushrooms. The north,
vampire bats, a firing range, and toxic waste may doom them. The east, a
Japanese soldier and evil spirits could end them. The west, snakes and a temple
of doom could threaten them.
After much talking back and forth,
the brother and sister decided to approach their holiday home from the south.
Surely, they could avoid the quicksand, outrun the hermit, and not ingest the
mushrooms.
As they were packing and preparing for the journey to their
holiday home, Jake began to feel uneasy about all of it.
“Is this even worth it?” He asked his sister
Susie.
“Of course it is!” Susie rebutted. “Do you not want any of
the presents left by Santa?”
“Ugh, I guess.” Jake replied.
As Jake and Susie approached the quicksand, it finally set
in that this was, once again, real. Luckily for the brother and sister, they made
their way around the large area of quicksand.
Next, the brother and sister passed through a massive field
of mushrooms. Jake (without Susie knowing) picked up some of the mushrooms and
put them in his pocket to save as a souvenir.
The two were over half way to their destination, then Jake
sees something in the corner of his eye.
“Did you see that, Susie?” asked Jake.
Before Susie could respond, a crazy hermit ran from behind a
tree, grabbed her shoulders, and began to shake her.
“Why are you here?! You will pay for this!” screamed the
hermit.
Jake, remembering that he had poisonous mushrooms, ran to
his sister’s defense. Jake forced the mushrooms into the face of the hermit. The
hermit collapsed.
“Jake, you saved me!” screamed Susie.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jake replied. “Let’s just go open some
presents.
(Holiday house. Picture information)
Jake and Susie opened the door to their holiday home. Inside
sat their presents. Next to their presents were their parents, looking very
nervous.
“Thank God you’re OK!” Their mother yelled. “That’s it, I’m
sick of this Martian tradition. I don’t care how bad global warming has gotten
on earth. We’re moving back there.”
Author's Note: While viewing Tom Gauld's cartoon, a ton of ideas came into my head. Obviously, all of the things surrounding the holiday house are dangerous. Knowing this, I was able to use my imagination and write a story I felt made sense with the cartoon.
Bibliography: "Map of the Area Surrounding our Holiday Home," a cartoon by Tom Gauld from his book ROBOTS, MONSTERS Etc. Web source.
Hi Greg,
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar at all with the Tom Gauld cartoon. Could you shed some light on this? I liked how you used your imagination and "global warming" in your story - quite funny, I must say. Do you like to write and create stories? Is Tom Gauld one of your favorite authors?
Nice job! This story was fun and creative. You did a great job at helping me picture the story as it was being told.
ReplyDeleteGreg, I enjoyed your story. I too chose Tom Gauld as my inspiration for my story in week one. There were many ideas that sprang into my head as well when i was writing my short story. I like how you gave why they had to transverse to the house meaning and how you incorporated the characters understanding of the dangers around their home. Nice short story over all.
ReplyDeleteGreg, the holidays can be dangerous for me too (mostly my weight and crazy relatives haha). I would have said "screw presents" and not went. What an interesting story! I might have to go read the original story to understand more about the background. I haven't read any stories about martians yet, so this was refreshing! I liked your use of dialogue and how the brother saved the mushrooms (I thought something bad was going to happen to him for saving them in his pocket). Overall, great story!
ReplyDelete