The Finale to "An Easy Pick"

From Bruce Van Patter's "The Story Kitchen"

The story "An Easy Pick" begins like this:

An Easy Pick

story & illustration © 2003 Bruce Van Patter

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	Picking apples seemed to Prince Fane to be just too simple. Where was the challenge in that?
He saw up ahead a gleam of gold against a rocky hill. As he strolled over to pick the golden apple, he thought about the contest. The king had told him if he wanted to get his own ship to sail into adventure, he had to pick three golden apples in the forest. Prince Fane would have three hours to get them. When he laughed about how easy it would be, his father, the king, added one more problem to the contest.He added a monster.

The monster would also be trying for the apples. If the monster got them first, then there would be no ship for Fane. That had troubled the prince, but only until he saw the monster. It shuffled into the throne room, and to Fane it looked like furry jester -- with three big floppy ears and bad teeth. It was strong, but was short. And to Fane it seemed very, very stupid.Now here was Fane in the woods, about to pick his first apple. He came to the rocky wall, smiled, then reached for the apple. He plucked it from the branch. It was all so easy.
Then strong hands grabbed him around his waist. He was thrown to the ground. With a thud, he landed on his back and the apple flew from his hand up into the air. It came down into the hand of the furry monster. "Fanks," it said through its crooked smile. "I'm too wittle to weach."
Then before Fane could get up, the monster ran off into the woods with his three ears bouncing with every little step.

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It's Your Story - hey, Fane, don't count your apples before they are picked!Help me write the ending. Can you think of what will happen to the other two apples? Will Fane get his ship? Will he stop being so stuck up? Can you think of a surprise ending? And... will Fane be golden to get his ship?
Have fun -- finish the story -- and be creative! I'd love you to email me your ending!

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Aaron's Story Finishes This Way....

Fane lay on the ground, stunned by what had happened.  Fane's friend, who was watching from behind a tree, came over and patted him on the back.

"That monster is smarter than you think!" Fane's friend said.

"How do you know that?" asked Fane.

"Well he mumbles to himself constantly, and I overheard him say, "and then I'll catch that prince and..." said Fane's friend.  He was going to say more, but Fane had stalked off into the forest.

As Fane walked along, he thought about what his friend had said.  He decided climbing up into a tree and grabbing an apple from up on top of the tree would be a good idea.  It worked.  The monster did not get the apple.

The monster and Prince Fane each had one apple. Who would get the winning apple?

The next tree that had the fruit was not climbable, nor was the fruit in reach.  Luckily, Prince Fane had a throwing knife.  He threw the knife at the stem of the fruit.  The knife cut the fruit off the tree, and the apple fell into Prince Fane's awaiting hands.

Meanwhile, the knife bounced between the tree branches as it slowly fell in an unpredictable pattern.  When Prince Fane turned to go, the monster jumped out of the shadows, grabbed the fruit, and tried to take it.  Just then, the knife fell from the tree and cut the apple in half.  They both fell backward with half an apple in each of their hands.

The monster and Prince Fane returned to the castle.

The king noticed that the monster and Prince Fane had the same amount of apple.  To make up for the fact, the king gave the monster and the prince canoes rather than war ships.

The End.

P.S. The prince went off on many silly adventures in his canoe.

Pineapple's Trip

Fill in the blanks below with the words called for. Then, using the words you have selected, fill in the blank spaces in the story.

1. Adjective:

2. Part of Body:

3. Singular Noun:

4. Singular Noun:

5. Plural Noun:

6. Plural Noun:

7. Plural Noun:

8. Number:

9. Singular Noun:

10. Singular Noun:

12. Singular Noun:

13. Adverb:

14. Verb:

15. Part of Body:



Pineapple. That (adjective) fruit. Have you ever wondered how they turn into a fruit and get to your (part of body)? They start out as a (singular noun). The (singular noun) grows and gains (plural noun). The (plural noun) may last a day, but new (plural noun) appear again and again. After (number) years, your pineapple is ready. It is pulled from the plant and transported in a truck, plane, or (singular noun). When it gets to a (singular noun), it is unpacked and put on a (singular noun). You may pick a pineapple up and (adverb) (verb) it, then go home and eat it. That is how a pineapple turns into a fruit and gets to your (part of body).

Missing Mommy Mystery

 

Transcript:
            

One day a snake and her mommy were out walking through the park. The sky was clear, the birds were singing in the trees (They would make a nice meal for a snake!), the day was perfect (at least for the moment). Then, a thunderstorm struck. It caught everyone by surprise. Panic broke out and between the sheets of rain, the snake couldn't see her mommy. She was lost! She found a log and curled up inside it. She fell asleep listening to rain falling on the log.

 The following day Anti was walking in the park. He saw a log and thought ants might be living in it. Unfortunately there were no ants in the log, but he did find a sleeping snake who was crying for her mommy. The snake woke and asked, "Is it done yet?!!". "What are talking about?", asked Anti, "And what is your name?". So the snake had no choice but to tell her tale to Anti who nodded reassuringly. She said her name was "Tailed". Anti said "Please to meet you, Tailed. I'm Anti!". "Can you help me find my mom, Anti?", asked Tailed. So they looked.

And looked, and looked, and looked. The mommy snake wasn't at home, the store, somewhere in the park, or at the police office. Where could she be?!! They literally looked everywhere, well almost everywhere. They did not look around or in a strange, private lake that was owned by an old bunny who claimed to be a wizard but was considered insane. They didn't look there because of the mysterious sawing noise and the screams of pain. "Wow, I don't want to be cut in half! It might hurt a lot!" said Tailed, wincing. "I agree!" exclaimed Anti.

Luckily, Anti liked to build robots that took the form of animals, from antelopes to zebras. He built a tiny frog to scout out the lake and look for a creature of the mommy snake's description. The frog scouted out the lake and it was the same as any other lake except it was red. The frog did not find the mommy snake because its battery mysteriously failed. Now knowing that nothing was going to 'happen' to them, such as being cut in half or eaten, made Tailed and Anti feel a lot better, but Anti was still worried about what happened to the robot frog. "What if the same thing happened to us?" he reasoned. "How would it happen? We don't have a battery." said Tailed. Anti said, "I guess you're right, Tailed.". So, off they went in search of the missing mommy snake.

At that moment the mommy snake was trapped in a cave that had scary pictures in it. The pictures were of lots and lots of…Owls! Poor snake.

Anti and Tailed were listening to scared hissing sounds coming from a cave covered in rocks. Suddenly Tailed exclaimed, "That's my mom!". "That's your mom in there! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" said Anti, "To the house!". "Why the house, Anti?" asked Tailed. "So I can get my inflatable bulldozer, of course!" said Anti. After they had gotten the bulldozer they went back to the covered cave and moved the rocks covering the entrance to the cave. After the rocks were removed, a snake looked up, shocked to find that her daughter was with an anteater with a bulldozer. The mommy snake said, "I've been waiting for a long time for somebody to save me from this cave full of owl pictures, but was not expecting you two to save me!". "Momma!" cried Tailed "We looked all over for you!". The snake said "Who is that with you, Tailed?". Tailed said "It's Anti, Momma!". "Hello, Anti. Pleased to meet you." said the mommy snake. Anti, Tailed, and the mommy snake ran or slithered into the sunset, laughing about what had happened to them after they had been separated. The End

My Wheelchair

My wheelchair goes really fast! I found that out at the MDA Clinic. 

While I was zooming about a room that could fit four elephants in it and happily saying "Yay!", Sarah decided that it might be a good idea to chase me around a exercise box that might cut my flesh like an alligator if I ran into it. We ran happily around while playing a fast game of Catch The Thief. I was the thief and Sarah was the police woman. Driving my wheelchair was like driving a racecar!

I mischievously was still planning my escape when I crashed into a punching bag. I was confused. "Oops! Who put that there!", I said to myself. Sarah laughed so much she fell on the floor. "I guess I wasn't paying attention!"I said. Sarah laughed even more. When I was ready to drive again Sarah chased me around with the punching bag in her arms. She was  now a police woman with a bomb! She said "I'm gonna get you!" I said "No you're not!". We chased each other until we had to leave the clinic. 

While I was in the wheelchair and Sarah was chasing me, I felt like my terrible, no good, bad disease had gone away. Do you know how it felt? If not, imagine yourself dying. Now, imagine yourself healing in a second. That's how it felt! We left the MDA Clinic laughing hysterically. 

Ya' know, wheelchairs are pretty nice once you've been in one. I mean, it's kind of like an electric car for kids!

Crayfish

Crayfish are small and have an interesting way of life. They look like tiny lobsters but live in fresh water. They come in many colors, are 4-6 inches long on average, and have an exoskeleton. 

They eat plankton, brine shrimp, plants, and fish. Like humans, crayfish have favorite foods that may be in your garden or local store like green beans, raisins, spinach, zucchini, carrots, squash, sweet potato, and leaf lettuce.

Crayfish are mostly nocturnal, but will move around during the day. In my tank my crayfish feeds during the night, because every morning there's something missing from my tank.

I see crayfish near my house at Gallup Park and the Botanical Gardens, but they also live around the world in clean, freshwater rivers. If you would like to see a crayfish, I would suggest going to Louisiana where the Mississippi River delta is and the people there eat lots of crayfish. 

A number of animals eat crayfish like humans, otters, and herons. One way humans eat crayfish is by boiling them and sucking the heads while pinching the tails.

 There are many reasons why you might want a crayfish in your fish tank. I wanted a crayfish in my tank because they dig holes and valleys and eat things (plants, snails) allowing me to count death tolls each morning which is fun. Me and my crayfish are excellent friends. We build things together and laugh about how silly our creations look.

Note: This is a cat with a crayfish. Not a catfish!

Me and My Dragon

Here is me with my chinese dragon.

Here is a side view of my dragon.

And here is lego me and my lego chinese dragon.

How to Build a tiny lego T-Rex

First, go to the store and get these parts:

Go back home and lay out all 18 parts. Use 2 circles and 4 1x2 plates to make legs. They should look like this:

Now, put them aside. Next, take the brick with headlights all over it, a brick with headlights on two sides on it, a flat 1x2 piece, and a 1x1 plate. Build a body with these parts.  It will look like this:

Now set that with the legs.  Next, build the head using a flat 1x1 plate, and angle piece and two pieces with headlights on the front of them.  It should look like this:

Now set that aside with the legs and body.  Next, make the tail with the cone and the connector pieces.  It should look like this:

Now connect the pieces to create a T-Rex.  Your T-Rex should look like this:

Give he or she a home and something to do.  They are very easy to take care of.  If you are allergic to dogs and cats, or have a severe rat problem, this animal will be great for you.