The kids are bringing home folders full of their year's schoolwork as we approach summer vacation, and I have especially enjoyed perusing their writing.
Here's my favorite of Madeleine's fiction stories, with my thoughts in footnotes:
The Puppy in the Window
by Madeleine Rowe
Once upon a time, a beautiful baby girl was born. She had strawberry blonde hair in a nice wavy style, and eyes as green as freshly mowed grass. With the smoothest skin on Earth, this little girl was called Caroline. Caroline Aquamarine Frayer.
Growing up, Caroline made incredible accomplishments. When she turned only one year old, she learned how to not only walk, but also run, skip, slide, gallop, tiptoe, and march. When she was just three, she could pump on a swing higher than the teenager next door. And when Caroline was just five, she taught herself how to drive a limousine!!! Just kidding. That's illegal.
One day, on Friday the thirteenth, October, a burst of joy filled Caroline's room with sunlight. She checked her calendar. "Huh!" Caroline gasped. "I'm ten today!"1 She did a cheerful dance, and let out a "Yay!!" that sounded more like a "Bark!" Caroline stopped. How strange. Caroline thought to herself. But she just shrugged and said, "Oh well." Then skipped downstairs to the kitchen.
"Happy birthday, Caroline!" cried Eviana, Caroline's mother. "Double digits! I can't believe it!" She smiled and handed Caroline a pancake on a plate with a chocolate drizzle on top spelling out the word DECADE. "Very clever. Mmm-an dewisous! Thank you!" said Caroline, taking a bite. Suddenly, her originally lemon pancake morphed into a lemon-and-chocolate-chip pancake with syrup on it. "Uh...d-do you mi-ind if I-I take thi-is u-up to my-y ro-om?" Caroline stuttered.
"Not at all." Eviana said. "It's your birthday. Do what you want." Lucas, Caroline's father, added. So she went back to her bedroom, plate in hand.
Caroline sat down on her bed. "Okay." she said to herself. Since it was Friday the thirteenth, October, there was school. But she didn't want to go. So she focused real hard on big, heavy but fluffy clouds, and suddenly the sky darkened and the radio burst out, "Well, Tod, looks like all the schools in the area are snowed in." "Quite unexpected, am I right, Ken? Well the schools closed for the storm include Emily Dickinson High, Albert Einstein School of Science and Engineering, Franklin Roosevelt Middle School, Rosalind Franklin Elementary, and Winterscreek Elementary."2 Winterscreek Elementary! That was HER school!!! Caroline looked down at her hands. They were glowing gold! A thought popped into her head. "Am I...a...witch?" And as soon as she said that, Caroline Aquamarine Frayer transformed into a chihuahua puppy with fur the same color as her hair. She had the same green eyes, but wider. "Bark?" she barked, which meant "Witch?" and she turned back. Just then, Caroline heard footsteps and the doorknob began to turn. "Witch!" she whisper-cried. And with that, she transformed back into a puppy and hopped into the window. "Caroline? Caroline, honey, where are you?" It was Eviana. Caroline froze. She stuck her tongue out and smiled, just like a real dog decoration. "Oh, a new window sticker, Caroline? I like it. You do have a thing for animals." She took one last look around the room and sighed. "Well, I guess I'll leave you be in your closet."3 She left the room.
Caroline watched all the action outside, thinking about how foolish she'd been to jump in there, waiting, thinking about the consequences. Snow fell, leaves rustled, wind blew. Children played outside. Icicles formed. Outside the pool, she saw a girl's hair freeze. Then, out of the blue - was that a mermaid at the beach? Was that a fairy flying in the air? Was that a pink, fluffy unicorn dancing on rainbows? Was that a unicorn with fairy wings and mermaid tail?! Caroling was so curious to see that she literally forced open the window, which shattered into a million pieces, shouted "WITCH!" and she back into her normal self again.
All at once, thunder boomed and lightning cracked, while an evil looking man appeared from up above in the clouds. He had dark, messy hair and hazel eyes. His glasses were rectangular.4 "I AM GEORGE THE EVIL WIZARD!" he screamed. "Come, come to your true land. The land of Magic and Mysteries!" "If you're an evil wizard, why would I want to live where you live?" said Caroline matter-of-factly. "Uh, well...um-er-" Caroline cut him off. "Hey, what is this Land of Magic and Mysteries you're talking about?" "Why, you do not know where you were born? Well, I shall just have to tell you then. For it is where your parents grew up. They are of the magical kind! But since you do not have all the information, I should probably tell you about the pros!" And with that, George threw his hands out in front of him and blasted wicked purple lightning at Caroline. But Caroline was a quick reactor, and she fought back with her beautiful green sparkles the color of her eyes. "HA HA HA HA!!!" George shrieked with laughter, pointing out that his magic was far more powerful than Caroline's. "YOU SEE, CAROLINE AQUAMARINE FRAYER? I AM MUCH STRONGER THAN YOU! I CAN DESTROY YOU!!!!!" Caroline was starting to feel weak. "AFTER YOU COMES YOUR PARENTS! YOU PATHETIC, LITTLE GIRL! YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING! NO GIRLS CAN!!!!!" Caroline opened her eyes and glared meaner than she ever had before in her life. "Nobody," she told George angrily, her veins popping out, "calls me a pathetic little girl."5 A burst of strength surged through her. Caroline put all the strength she had into her final blasts of magic. "AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed. "AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" George yelped. Caroline thought of the happiest moments of her life, like her sixth birthday, which was really awesome, and when she climbed Mount Everest on their trip to Asia.6 She though of her best friend Addison and...her parents. They were in danger!!! If she didn't stop George the Evil Wizard soon, he would destroy them. "NO!" cried Caroline, and she hit George on the head with her, from then on she called, Super Sparkles, and he fell off the window panel and flew down...down...down...to the ground. But strangely, George didn't hit the ground; he began to disassemble. He slowly formed into a strange, whispy and black shadow, and raced away back into the now white and fluffy clouds.
"Caroline!" Eviana called from the hall. Caroline realized that there were still other people in the world who would want to know what was going on.
"Mom! Dad! Um-er, uh, so, yeah..." said Caroline.
"We know. It is time for you to live where you truly belong." Eviana waved her hand, and a huge grandfather clock appeared. "Figure out the hand arrangement and the barrier shall break. Fail and disaster shall strike." Her voice hand changed to sound more wise, but Caroline could tell it was her true one. "But-how do I-" Caroline tried to ask, but the words wouldn't come out. "We trust you, Caroline. You are an amazing, incredible little witch." As soon as Lucas said the word witch, he transformed into a blue poison dart frog. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" he cried, which probably meant, "Don't touch me! I'm poisonous!"
"Witch!" said Eviana, and she turned into a beautiful red fox.
"Witch!" Caroline joined her family as she morphed into a chihuahua puppy.
"WITCH!!!" the family yelled, and they all turned back to humans, laughing.
"Well, Caroline, we leave you here. The adventure for you shall continue. In other words, see ya on the other side!!" Eviana grabbed Lucas' arm and they disappeared.7
Caroline stared at the clock. "How am I supposed to do this?!? Just guess?!" She threw her arms out in the air. Then she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a glimmering shard of the window she'd jumped into. She picked it up. It reminded her of nice memories. Like this morning. And when she thought about that, at first her day seemed terrible, but then it seemed like...the best day of her life. Caroline threw the shard at the magnificent grandfather clock, just because she felt like it. It hit the hour hand, which bonked into the minute hand and...A wormhole appeared n the middle of the room. Caroline knew it would get her where she needed to go, she could just sense it. So she took a deep breath, backed up, sprinted forward...and jumped in.
Caroline was no longer standing in her room, trying to figure out the secret code to the barrier. She was in a big, pretty, fluffy cloud. And standing next to her were both of her parents, and all of her other relatives. And there was one girl who looked extremely familiar..."Rebecca!!!!!!!" Caroline ran forward and hugged her long lost best friend.8 "Caroline!!!!!!!!" Rebecca squealed. She and Caroline let go of each other. Caroline's whole entire family came over to the two girls. Eviana and Lucas put their hands on her shoulders. "You've learned an important lesson, Caroline." they said together, as if they had rehearsed. Caroline thought about the lesson. Then she knew. "There's nothing more powerful than family." She hugged Rebecca again, and all her family members individually. Caroline was having her happiest moment. She knew the Land of Magic and Mysteries was truly where she belonged. And it was all thanks to the puppy in the window.
1 She only just now realized it's her birthday??
2 I guess the schools are only named after massively famous historical figures...except for Caroline's. What happened to naming schools after important local figures?
3 Wow, her mom seems really concerned about her missing daughter. And is it a normal thing for Caroline to be sitting in her closet?
4 Is he Ethan?
5 Girl power!!
6 It seems like one of those events is a lot more epic than the other.
7 Eviana is definitely Mother of the Year.
8 What happened to Addison??
Meanwhile, Julia's writing folder contained a series of poems about the Black Death. So...that's morbid.
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