Choose Your Own Adventure

Today’s post is part of a Choose Your Own Adventure Storywritten and hosted by T. Isenhoff and M. Isenhoff on their Storyboys blog. T. is in 3rdgrade, and M. is in 6th grade. This story was their winter homeschool project. Travel over to their blog to start at the beginning. Have fun!(Here’s the permalink to the boys’ first post, if it didn’t come through on the hyperlink above: http://wp.me/p2bspO-5A)

TONY
 Tony flung open the wooden door. They stepped into a cavernous room richly decorated with wooden panels etched in gold. Tapestries hung from the walls. Heavy wooden beams held up the ceiling high above. A single window perched beneath the peak of the roof. It was large and round and made of stained glass. The colored sunlight filtered into the room and settled on heaps and heaps of treasure.The glittering piles were contained in open trunks. Rubies, emeralds, diamonds, gold and silver ornaments, coins. Trunk after trunk lay open in rows, sparkling in the sunlight. The boys were dazzled by the sight. Another roar snapped them out of the spell. Tony said, “Grab as much as you can and run!”Pockets bulging, they raced to the far side of the room. “There’s no way out!” Ed cried.Tony tripped over the end of a trunk and slammed into the wall. One of the panels slid away. “Over here!” Behind the wall, Tony pointed into a dark hole in the floor with the top of a ladder protruding from it. “Climb down, quickly!”They had no choice. The colored light grew dim. The ladder ended at a narrow passage. Made of stone, it ran in only one direction. Ducking their heads, the boys plodded on. They heard the ladder scrape against stone behind them and then the sound of loping footsteps.“Our friend is right behind us,” Ed warned. The passage dead-ended at another ladder. Climbing quickly, Tony pushed against the ceiling. A trap door opened. They climbed into a tiny, dark room. Ed clicked on a flashlight. The beam landed on shelves of skeletons wrapped in fine cloth. “Um, Tony? I think we’re in a mausoleum.”“Oh, gross!” Tony exclaimed. They pushed against the door but it wouldn’t budge.The zombie’s head popped up through the floor. He took off his cowboy hat. “Friends?” he growled. “Dance?” A grotesque smile showed a few teeth still hanging in the mouth behind the beard.“He’s friendly!” said Ed.“Can you get us out of here?” asked Tony.The zombie gave the door a mighty push. They exited into a graveyard and the zombie led them back into the mansion’s ballroom. “Dance?” he asked again and did a few steps of his linedance.“I can dance,” Ed said, joining him.“You know,” Tony said to the monster. “with all that treasure in there, you could afford to hire live music and put on a real party.”The zombie grinned and nodded. “Dance!” he said.The next weekend, Ed and Tony rode to the mansion in their jeans and cowboy boots. The suits of armor had done a fine job of decorating. They followed the sounds of electric guitars and found Luke Bryan singing in the ballroom with his band. The boys joined the armor, the ghosts, and the zombie and linedanced until morning.The End