Linda Nelson's Blog, page 52

Friends of Choice wins NABE Pinnacle Book Award

New Ipswich, NH, November 05, 2010 –(PR.com)– NABE announced,

just recently, the winners of the Fall 2010 Pinnacle Book Award. Friends of

Choice was one of the chosen books of this coveted award.

Linda Nelson

was ecstatic when she learned she had become a chosen recipient of this award.

She published her first book “Friends of Choice” just recently with Lulu

Publishing. After she watched her own children go through the difficult task of

choosing friends, she was prompted to write a story about friendship, trust, and

consequences. This is the first book in a series of books she is planning on

writing for Tweens/Teens & Young Adults.

“Friends of Choice” is a

great book for early teens. This fast paced story follows a 16 year old girl who

is forced to move away from her friends she has known since early grade

school.

Karla is not happy with her parents when they tell her they have

sold their house and are moving away. Her parents tell her the reason why they

are moving is that her Dad has a new job.

Her parents have chosen to live

in a suburban city. While they think the move is a nice surprise for Karla, all

Karla can think about is leaving her friends behind.

Karla is forced to

make new friends.

The question is: What are Karla’s new friends

like?

Trick or Treat with Gork and Tonk

Gork's big flat feet slapped the ground while tiny pebbles squished between his hairy toes. His friend Tonk, a green eyed troll with scruffy hair on his head that reminded him of a dead bush, walked along with him. The sun was beginning to set. Not one soul was to be seen any where in the near distance.

     Houses lined the road on both sides. These were not the homes they were use to seeing. Their homes were made of boulders, sealing the dampness inside and keeping the dry heat out. One needed to be able to keep those mushrooms at the proper climate, his mom would always say to him.

     Tonk promised him this would be fun. Gork still had not seen what was suppose to be so fun about walking through the Grink to the other side. A place where only the adults were allowed to travel. They also would go through the Grink in large groups of nine or ten, not two ninko's.

     Ninko's were suppose to stay close to the home. They needed to practice their war skills before they were allowed to travel across the far lands. Gork and Tonk were only 20 years away from taking their rites of passage into the adult clans. For now they were left to their mothers for their final lessons on herbalism, butchering , and cooking.

     "Their going to find out." Gork scratched at his butt cheek. "What are these forsaken bugs? They are so annoying." He smacked a tiny bug on his hairy arm. It flattened instantly.

     Tonk snickered. "I don't know. But I think they like your green Orc blood."

     Gork rubbed the smear of green blood and bug off his arm. "Why did we come here in the first place?"

     "Because, this is the best day of the year to come to this land." Tonk grinned. The remains of a chunk of stangleweed clung between his front teeth. "It is the only day of the year we can walk here amongst the humans and they would not even know we are any different from them."

     "So you have been here before?" Gork stopped to survey the landscape. Each home had at least one metal box in front of the home. He watched a human leave their home, approach the box, open this box some how and disappear inside it. Then the strange box would move away from the home with the human hidden inside. How strange, he thought.

     "No. My brother, Angistgog, came here last year. He said he had a blast." Tonk noticed a bunch of human children in a group not far away from them. He pointed them out to Gork. The human children were busy showing off clothing items and some sort of masks.

     Tonk continued, "Angistgog said, that on this day every year the human children dress up in costumes. They pretend to be some sort of monster and walk up to each home and say the words...trick or treat. Then the human adults toss sweet food items into a sack of some sort and the human children run to the next home and repeat it all over again. By the end of the night they have a big bounty sack of sweets."

     Gork scratched the hair on his head and rubbed at the gold hoop earing in his big pointy ear. He ramed his finger inside his ear trying to reach the itch inside it. "So what make these humans not notice us on this day?"

Tonk grinned, "The costumes. When it gets dark, you will see what I mean. You did remember the sacks like I said right?"

     Gork held up two sacks he had tied to his waist belt.

     "Good. We will sit under that big bush over there and wait for the darkness to pool over the land. Then we will follow those humans on their journey to all these homes."

***************

     It was not long before darkness over came the landscape. Candles on poles lit themselves when the sun finished setting below the tall trees. Gork thought, how strange this land is. More candles lit themselves on the outside of the homes. Bright green colored lights shown above the entrances to these homes. The green lights reminded Gork of fairies frozen in space and time.

     They watched a group of humans approach the first home and then move on to the next. It was not long before they were followed by another group of humans.

     "Come on...lets go." Tonk led the way.

     He lumbered up to the first home while Gork followed him. Just before they approached the first home, Tonk held out his hand. "I need a sack first."

     Gork handed him his sack.

     "Follow me and do and say what I say."

     Tonk approached the door of the home. The light over head flickered when they stepped onto the steps leading to the door. "Let me do the knocking."

     Tonk closed his fist and pounded on the door.

     The door opened. Tonk smiled showing the weed still stuck between his teeth. Stangleweed was one of the hardest plants to get out of ones teeth.

     "Trick or Treat" Tonk bellowed at the human standing in the door way. A bowl of strangely packaged treats held before her.

     "Oh my...what really nice costumes." She dropped two treats from the bowl into each of their sacks. "Have a happy Halloween and watch out for the cars."

     "Thank you," Tonk said.

     "Thank you," Gork repeated.

     Tonk led Gork on to the next home and repeated the whole schrade all over again. The street was beginning to fill with human children dressed oddly in various costumes.

     Things were going great for Tonk and Gork until they reached the farside of the neighborhood. A group of small humans were stopped halfway up the street by a group of much larger humans blocking their way. Loud shouting followed by a scene of pushing and shoving by the larger humans. Bags of treats were ripped out of the hands of the small humans.

     Gork shook his head. Even Orcs did not treat their young this way. "What do you think Tonk? Do we smash them?"

     Tonk wrapped the opening of his sack closed with a piece of twine and swing it over his shoulder. "Ah... that must be the fun Angistgog was really talking about. Mmm...I think we should."

     Gork tied his sack to his waist belt. "Lets get 'im."

     They approached the group. Gork and Tonk focused on the two biggest humans. Each of them picking the human up by the front of their costume and tossing them a good five feet into a bush and a small tree.

     The younger humans cheered.

     Gork handed a sack, dropped on the ground by the larger humans who had fled, to one of the small humans. Her eyes were wet with tears washing the makeup of cat wiskers off her cheek. Gork smiled.

     "Where did you get that really cool costume?" the girl asked.

     Gork thought for a moment and replied, "My mom made it for me."

 

Copyright © October 26, 2010

Trick or Treat with Gork and Tonk

   Gork's big flat feet slapped the ground while tiny pebbles squished between his hairy toes. His friend Tonk, a green eyed troll with scruffy hair on his head that reminded him of a dead bush, walke...

Prospects and Contacts

Tuesday September 21, 2010
On this day I received a very unexpected phone call. While I was at work Mike took a phone call for me from Tim Raisor. He instructed me to call this guy back immediately on stepping in the door at home after work.
So, I called Tim Raisor back and became shocked at who the caller turned out to be.
Tim Raisor is the Casting Director and Assistant Producer for the TV Show The Balancing Act which airs at 7am on Lifetime TV. He wanted to know if I would be interested in appearing on the show during the Parent/Teachers Corner for a 5 minute Television Interview for my newly released book Friends of Choice.
Naturally I said I sure would. We did a half an hour interview over the phone and then he told me this looked very promising. He needs to run this all by his staff and he will be getting back to me soon.
I would have to fly down to Florida for the interview sometime at the end of October or the beginning of November. The show would then air during the holiday season.
So now I wait for the next step to see where this is going to go. I never expected to even be contacted in the first place, so this is extremely exciting for me and my book.
I will post more when I know more.

Mysterious Cellphone

Jada takes time out of her busy schedule to do a bit of housecleaning. While she is vacuuming her couch, she finds a cellphone which does not belong to her.

 

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Jada always set aside Saturday mornings to do her weekly housecleaning. It was not like she had a lot of time during the week to take care of everyday business. She traveled a lot and Sundays were her day of rest.

The housecleaning consisted of doing the mundane task of vacuuming. It had to be done. She had a long haired cat which left it's fur everywhere. It could not be avoided.

She began her task of vacuuming the rug, but then noticed how the cat had left its white furry residue all over the couch. Well that would need to be vacuumed too.

This took her awhile. Most of the fur was on the back of the couch. She guessed old Fluffball liked perching on the back of the couch while she was away. It gave him a good view out the living room window.

When she finished up the back of the couch, she decided to get the underneath and in between the cushions. Her vacuum nozzle hit something hard. Jada lifted the cushion to get a closer look.

A cell phone was lying underneath the cushion. She wondered how it got there. She could not recall having had anyone over recently. Let alone, who the phone could belong to.

Jada shut the vacuum off and took a seat on the couch. She had to take a look at the phone. Maybe the names in the contact list would give her some clue as to who it belonged to.

After clicking on the contact list, she checked the names on the list. There were no names. She thought of how strange that was.

She thought maybe there were some text messages she could check. Maybe they would hold some clue. But, there were no messages. In fact there had not been any calls on this phone at all. It did have a phone number which meant it must be active.

She pondered over this phone for almost an hour. Jada just could not recall anyone having had visited her recently.

Suddenly the phone rang. She was not sure as to what she should do. She answered it.

"Hello"

"Hey, Jada..." the caller said. "I'm glad you are finally home. I have been looking all over for my cell phone. Have you seen it?"

"Um...I think I have." She thought of how stupid a question that was, since he just called his own cell phone which she just answered."

"Oh good! I will be right over to fetch it." He hung up abruptly.

Next thing she knew her door bell was ringing. Jada answered it. The man standing at her door, she had never met before.

"Do I know you?" Jada asked.

"I'm here for my cell phone."

"Oh right." She handed the phone to him. "Can I ask...how did your cell phone get into my couch?"

"Oh...you just bought the couch two weeks ago right?"

"Yeah..."

"I almost bought that couch two weeks ago. I sat on it to try it out and my cell phone must have fallen out of my pocket. It was the only thing I could think of."

"So why did it take you this long to find your phone?"

"I went to the furniture store and they told me they had sold the couch. I said bummer and I told them about my phone. They said they could not help me. I paid a lot of money for this phone." He paused waving the phone at her. "I could not accept their answer. I waited for them to deliver the couch to your home."

"But that was two weeks ago..." she reminded him.

"When I went to get out of my car to approach your door, you left." He shifted his weight to his other leg.

"Well I do work."

"Then I was not really sure the phone was in the couch. I wanted to call the number but I was afraid of making the battery run low."

"Oh I see..." she interrupted him.

"I saw you home this morning so I thought this is my chance."

Jada could not wait for him to take his phone and leave. He was making her nervous. She thought up an excuse to get him to go.

Jada looked in the direction of her kitchen. "Oh darn, I left something cooking on the stove. I have to go or I will burn it."

Again he thanked her for his phone and finally he left.

She quickly closed the door behind him and locked the door. That was the strangest line anyone had ever used on her. She really did not believe one word of it. She decided to make sure she called a security alarm company first thing Monday morning. Jada did not want old Fluffball to have anymore visitors while she was away.

 

Copyright © August 7, 2010 by Linda Nelson

Bed Bug Ridden

Howard and Lorna just moved into their new home. They have come to learn they are not the only inhabitants of their new home.

 

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"I never would have purchased this house if I'd known that..." Howard said to his wife.

"Known what?" she asked.

"About this house being infested." He replied.

"Is that what you think the problem is?" Lorna held up her arm to examine the rash. Red marks covered her right arm and she had more of them on her right leg.

They just moved into the house on Friday. After spending the past three days in it, both of them were now covered with some sort of strange rash. The rash was itchy.

Howard ripped the sheets off the bed to expose the mattress underneath. It was clean. He then lifted the bottom of the mattress separating it from the box spring. A couple of small bugs crawled closer to the center of the mattress.

"What are they?" Lorna tried to peer closer, helping him lift the mattress higher.

"I don't know, but look there is a mess of them there in the corner." He pointed to the far corner which had slid off the box spring.

Small brown bugs which looked like small beetles clung to the corner of the mattress. Howard grabbed a can of bug spray and squirted it on them. There was no sign of them being effected by the spray.

"How do we kill them?" Lorna grabbed a Kleenex and wiped them off the corner. She missed a couple and they fell onto the floor beside the bed. They scurried away under the bed.

"I'm going to go call an exterminator and see what he says."

Howard left the room. Lorna followed him into the den where he searched through the yellow pages, searching for local exterminators. He found a couple of them and called them.

He told the exterminators of their problem with the bugs and the rashes. He tried to describe the bugs as best as he could over the phone.

"Bed bugs!" he said to the exterminators. "You say I have bed bugs?" He listened again to the exterminator.

"But how can my mattress be infested like it is? We have only been living here for three days now."

Lorna listened patiently to the one sided conversation. She began to wish they had never moved out of their home they had lived in for the past fourteen years. A bug problem, they never had a bug problem before.

"When can you come out and take care of this infestation?" Howard asked the exterminator. This was the third exterminator he called. So far they were all back logged with current clients with extermination issues.

"In two weeks? I will keep looking then. Thank you for your time." He hung up the phone and called yet another exterminator.

This exterminator was also booked up for the next month.

"This is ridiculous." Howard sat down on the sofa in the living room. He had called about ten exterminators in the area and they were all backed up for the whole month. Apparently every one was having a problem with bed bugs.

"Oh my God!" Lorna said. She noticed a bug crawling on her leg while she sat back on the sofa with Howard. "They are every where!" She smacked the bug on her leg, squishing it dead.

She lifted the cushion to the sofa and there were several bugs underneath the cushion. Lorna looked around the room. There seemed to be no where they could sit in the living room without risking being bitten by the bugs. They would not be able to sleep in their bed either.

"I can't live like this," she told her husband. He looked just as distraught as she felt.

"I know..." he replied, "I can't either."

"We should never have moved." Lorna said angrily.

"Well we are not going to deal with this problem much longer. I will take advantage of the home owners' insurance. They can pay for the removal of the bugs from this home."

"But the homeowners' insurance does not cover for infestation." Lorna stated.

"I know... That's why tomorrow I'm setting it on fire."

 

 

Copyright © July 31, 2010 by Linda Nelson

Berry Picking For Mom

This short children's story is written in honor of a K-9 search and rescue dog I once knew when she was a puppy. I hear she is now reciding in that great doggy haven in the sky. One of her great accomplishments for search and rescue was search of the World Trade Center after 9-11.

***********

Nadine loved going berry picking with her mom. They would go every weekend starting in the month of July in the woods behind their house. But on this day, Nadine wanted to surprise her mom by picking the berries for her, without her mom's help.

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Nadine put her yellow t-shirt on. It was the one that matched her bright straw colored hair. The shirt snagged a bit on her ponytails.

After finding her sneakers under her bed and putting them on, she hurried to the kitchen to find a bowl to collect the berries in. Her mom was not up yet and the bowls were up high in the cabinet. She used a chair to get one down. She smiled. The plastic blue one was in reach.

She put the chair back quietly. Her mom must not know. This was suppose to be a surprise for her.

The sun was shinning brightly. It hurt her eyes some when she stepped out the door with her bowl in hand. The wooden door slammed shut behind her. She stood still for a minute listening for sounds coming from the house, hoping her mom did not hear the slam.

Not a sound came from the house. Nadine ran to the hill and began to climb it. It was grass covered and slightly steep with large rocks imbedded in the ground. These were great for holding on to.

She found the berry patch almost immediately and began to pick. The ground was covered with small blueberry bushes which her small nimble fingers found easy to pick.

It took her a while to pick enough berries to fill the bowl. She had no idea how much time had passed. The sun was now high in the sky.

Nadine began walking in the directions she thought she had come. The trees suddenly did not look like the ones she remembered. She turned around and began walking toward where she had just come from. The berry bushes were gone. She was afraid she might be lost and again turned and started walking in another direction.

A tree branch cracked behind her. She stopped to listen. Some thing or somebody was following her in the woods. She hoped it was not a big animal like a fox or bear. Nadine called out, "Who's there?"

No answer, just the sound of branches and leaves crunching under foot. Nadine called out again. "Mommy?"

No answer, the sound was getting closer. Nadine felt scared. She did not know what it was, what she did know was that she was lost and her mom would be very mad at her.

She began to run from the sound.

A tree branch caught her right foot and she went down on the ground. The bowl of berries flew out of her hand and spilled all over the ground.

She did not hear any more sounds behind her. Nadine spent the next few moments picking up her spilled berries. When she was done, only half the bowl was full. She was hungry so she ate them while she picked them off the ground.

The sound of foot steps in the woods began again behind her. But this time there seemed to be more of them. Voices...she heard voices coming with them.

"Nadine!" One of the voices called.

"Nadine!" Another voice called.

Nadine answered. "Yea! Over here!"

The foot steps sounded like several people running toward her.

"Coming baby!" That was the sound of her mom.

She watched the woods in the direction she had come from, there in the trees she saw her mom followed by a police man and a woman with a German Sheppard.. It wore an orange vest.

The dog spotted her and ran right for her.

It stopped before her and began sniffing her pant leg. It's tail was wagging. The dog began trying to lick her face.

"Good girl, Bobby!" The woman said to the dog.

She was so happy to see her mom. The police man picked Nadine up and handed her to her mom

"Nadine, we have been looking for you all day!" Her mom said.

Nadine showed the bowl of berries to her mom. "I picked these for you...for breakfast."

Her mom held her tight. "Thank you Nadine. But little girls like you should not go into the woods alone. You had me so worried."

"Okay," Nadine said reluctantly. "Can I when I'm seven?"

"No, that is still too little." Her mom replied. "Maybe when you are ten. But five year old little girls should never go in the woods alone."

"Okay, Mommy."

Nadine held tight to her bowl of berries all the way home.

 

 

Copyright © July 24, 2010 by Linda Nelson

The Bee Dance

The local boys started their own little baseball team of their own. They receive dance lessons from one of their outfielders.

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Mitch and his friends love to play baseball in the field across from his house. They would gather every Saturday to hold a neighborhood game. Mitch always got to pitch.

Allen was the catcher. The short kid with the crew cut who alway had trouble running the bases. One time, this one kid hit the ball and he just stood there watching the ball fly through the sky. Everyone yelled at him to run the bases, but he just stood there dumb founded.

It was a good thing the outfield dropped the ball, while Jay ran to where Allen stood and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him toward the next base. After a few steps, Allen began running on his own.

The game went on for two hours until Harvey, the outfielder began his dance. He moved way out into the center outfield. Paul always hit the ball far, so he wanted to make sure he caught the ball this time.

That is when he saw the can on the ground. Just an old soda can. The words had faded on the can making them illegible unless you knew the brand logo.

Harvey just could not resist. He aimed his foot carefully. He looked at the home plate. The players were too busy arguing on who was going to be up at bat next.

He focused on the can again with all his attention and kicked it as hard as he could. The can went flying but that was not all that went flying.

The air was suddenly full of bees.

Mitch turned to look out into the outfield before pitching his next pitch. He saw Harvey out in the field. His arms were waving this way and that.

"What the hell is Harvey doing?" Mitch asked the other infield players. "He looks like he is doing the Macarena."

All the infield players turned their head to look to where Mitch was pointing. They saw Harvey flinging his arms about him and slapping his chest and legs. Allen began copying him. They all thought he was being funny until the bees began stinging them on their arms and legs.

Harvey was running. Running past the home base and then past the duggout. "Bees!" He yelled as he passed the rest of the team players. He was followed by the rest of his team players doing the Bee Dance.

Copyright © 2010 by Linda Nelson

 

My Hedges

 My fictional neighbors who live next door are always bringing home exotic pets.

Now what have they brought home?

 

 

 

 

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Nick and Patty have been my neighbors for a long time now. They are always getting new pets. Ordinary pets like dogs and cats I can handle. But, when they go out of their way to give a home to some of these creatures; well, I just don't know how much more I can take.

Last Friday was the tip of the iceberg for me. Ya I lost my cool with those people. I said to my dog Pete, "Enough is enough! This has got to stop NOW!"

I was sitting in my living room trying to enjoy my afternoon when I saw it from my living room window. I was reading a nice simple mystery book when I looked up to see it. That great big gray body was standing in front of my picture window.

Pete's head came up off his paws too, just in time to see the blocked window. I thought someone had rolled a boulder in front of my window. I said, "What the hell! Pete, what the hell are those people doing now?"

Pete tipped his head when he looked at me. I guess he didn't know what was up with the window either. I moved to the window to see what the object was, but I couldn't see a beginning or an end to the object. The thing was right up against my window.

I put my book down on the table and headed out my front door. Pete was right on my heels, barking excitedly the whole time. I walked around the corner and to my amazement there it was, sitting up against my house. Its long trunk was gathering my shrubs and shoving the greens right into its mouth.

"My bushes! Scat! Go Get! Get out of my yard you monster!" I yelled.

Pete ran up to it and barked. It raised its trunk and Pete ran back to me, hiding behind me. I wanted to run up to it and push it out of the way, but I thought twice about it.

Looking around at the damage the thing done to my yard big foot prints smashed my flower beds. My Marigold now flat and covered with dirt. My swimming pool in the middle of my yard was now drained. Hugh puddle covered what was left of my lawn.

"That's it, Pete!" I grabbed my pitchfork and made my way over to Nick and Patty's house. My hedge fence was now gone. The bushes were nowhere to be seen. All there was left of them was the huge gaping holes in the ground where they had stood.

I made my way up to their front door. I knocked once. No answer...I rapped twice...No answer...I Banged and shouted, "Nick! Patty! You better get out here NOW!"

Nick came from around the other side of the house. Patty threw open her kitchen window.

 

"What seems to be the problem Ted" they chorused.

"Just look at my yard and that thing sitting against my house. You really have to take better care of your pets. I trust you will be paying for all this damage." I yelled.

"OMG! Patty, get the phone and call that number from the TV news crew…That's the escaped elephant from the circus. It escaped last night. Don't you ever watch the new? There is a reward for its return."

"I called the number! The news crew and the circus people are on their way over right now to claim their property." Patty informed us.

It didn't take long for the news crew to show up. Cameras were flashing and microphones were shoved in front of our faces. I watched as the crew from the circus rounded up the elephant and loaded it into their truck.

Just before they were about to drive away I asked one of the crew members, "What about my property damage?"

He reached into his pocket and produced three tickets. "Here come enjoy the show." He slammed his truck door shut before I could say anything else.

I stood there holding the three tickets with my mouth wide open, watching the truck leave with the destructive creature.

"Ted, you were saying earlier?" Nick questioned me.

"Nothing! Here take these." Defeated I headed back into my house with my dog at my heels.

 

Copyright © 2010 by Linda Nelson

The Swimming Hole

Alex and his friends have found a swimming hole to cool off in on this hot summer day. Nothing can go wrong, right?

 

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Alex ran down the school steps to grab his bike from the bike rack. It is so hot out! I'm glad it's the last week of school. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. Spotting Markus, he swung his leg over the bar of his bike.

"Markus, ya wanna go swimming with me?" Alex invited, catching up to Markus on his bike. The walkers blocked his way on the sidewalk. He rode his bike off the sidewalk and onto the road.

"Yea! Stop at my house so I can get a towel." Markus answered, pulling into his driveway, he threw his bike down and ran into the house.

Alex watched as the walkers passed the driveway. Raising his hand to flag Jeff down while he past by. Alex watched as Jeff spun around with his bike.

"Hey Jeff! Were going swimming. Wanna come? Markus is getting his towel." Alex stood in the driveway straddling his bike. This is gonna be awesome!

 

"Yea. Wait for me. I'll be right back." Jeff called over his shoulder, quickly pulling into his driveway to toss his bike down onto the ground. Jeff sprinted into his house.

"Where'd Jeff go?" Markus asked, picking up his bike with a towel slung over his shoulder. He stuffed a soda bottle into the bottle holder on his bike.

"Said he'd be right back." Alex let his eye follow the walkers by the house. I hope he hurries, I'm hot!

 

"All right. Got one too." Jeff stated with his towel tied around his waist. His bike still plastered with mud from the fun they had yesterday.

"Alex, have you ever gone swimming here?" Markus called over to him as they neared their destination. Their bikes bounced over the rough trail.

"Na… but it's hot out and I really need to cool off."

Jeff flashed past Alex as they neared the pond. They rushed down a steep embankment to stop on a small beach. Alex raced to keep up with Jeff.

"Last one in is a rotten egg." Alex yelled dropping his bike and kicking off his shoes. He raced across the beach into the water.

"Alex, you not gonna take off your clothes?" Markus looked surprised to see Alex already in the water.

"Na…this is good enough." Alex splashed the water all around him. He dove underwater and resurfacing quickly. The water felt good, but the muddy bottom did not. Yuck!

 

"Is the water cold?" Jeff asked, unsure whether to jump right into the water like Alex did.

"Na… it's great. Come on guys!" Alex called to them. He flipped this way and that way in the water.

Alex saw Markus dive into the water with a splash. Then he saw the movement from the corner of his eye.

"Woo ho!" Alex pointed to a log floating near by where they swam.

"Aw Man, look at that turtle!" Jeff shouted spotting the turtle sitting on the log.

"Its huge!" Markus carefully moved away from the log.

"Isn't that a snapper?" Jeff asked moving behind Alex.

"Get that stick for me!" Alex called to Markus.

"What are ya gonna do man?" Jeff sounded fearful of the turtle's sharp beak.

Markus made his way closer to the shore. He picked up the thick stick and swam back to Alex. Handing it to him, he moved out of the way.

"Check this out!" Alex shoved the stick toward the turtle's mouth. The sharp jaws latched onto the stick. The stick snapped in half.

"Oh wow, did you see that?" Markus shouted excitedly. He had moved closer to the shore.

"Yea! It snapped that stick right in half!" Alex smiled. Look at those puppies run from a little old turtle! Alex found his friends amusing.

"I don't think I wanna swim in here with that thing! I'm getting out." Markus stated as he made his way onto the shore.

"Yea! Me too!" Jeff agreed, quickly following Markus.

"Aw come on guys, don't let that turtle scare you!" Alex wined. They are such sissies!

 

"E uw …what's that all over you?" Jeff pointed to Markus's back.

"Leaches!" Markus screamed looking over his shoulder. "Ah! Get 'em off me!"

"Arg! Their on me too!" Jeff panicked. His legs covered with the squirmy black things.

"Alex, get out of the water. It's loaded with bloodsuckers!" Markus yelled as he plucked the squiggles off him.

"Bloodsuckers! Ahh! Their all inside my clothes" Alex screamed, quickly running out of the water while yanking off his clothes.

　

Copyright © November 2009 by Linda Nelson