Monthly- Archives: October 2012

October 23, 2012

DOMINIKA BRICE

Underage Swimming Competitor

“Wake up sweetheart. It’s time to eat and get ready,” my dad said while shaking me awake. I looked at my alarm clock and the time read 5:00 A.M.

“But it’s only 5 o’clock. That’s way too early for an eight-year-old,” I complained.

“Not if you are supposed to be at Cheshire at seven and it takes a long time to get there,” replied my dad.

“OK, I’ll be down in a sec.,” I told him as he left. I slumped out of bed and went downstairs. When I got to the living room, I was really shocked: there were colorful banners covering the wall. They had messages on them like “Good Luck” and “Swim Fast.” Then my parents brought me bagels with peanut butter, a bowl of pasta, grapes, and bananas. I sat on the couch, eating my breakfast, watching TV. When I finished eating, I put on my clothes and my dad and I left for Cheshire (my mom and brother were coming later since my brother was only six). The whole ride there I curled up in the back seat with my pillow-pet and slept in the back seat.

My dad woke me up later and walked me inside. When we went past the gates, there was a huge turquoise pool with nine lanes; the lane lines looked like long snakes, just waiting for their next prey. The thing that was strange was that it was twice as long as the pool I usually swim in. I went to where my team was sitting and I asked my coach why the pool was so long. “The pool that we usually swim in is 25m, but this pool is 50m. That means that when you swim your 200m butterfly, you will swim four laps instead of eight,” Coach Kurt said.

We warmed up in the pool. It was not cold and it felt really good. I took off my drag suit (a swimming suit that slows you down so you feel faster when you take it off). Then all my emotions kicked in. First I was upset that I was only swimming one event. Then I felt scared, because this was my first time swimming at a championship swim meet. Finally I started crying, and once the tears started, I couldn’t stop crying. I didn’t know what to do so I ran into the bathroom, cupped my head in my hands, and cried for a long time.

My coach was wondering where I was so he sent my friend to come and get me. When she arrived, my face was as red as a tomato and my hands were wet, (and not because I was just in the pool). My friend comforted me and asked me why I was crying. She told me that Coach Kurt was waiting for us and it was almost time for my event. I let her walk me down to the team area where my coach asked me how I was doing. “Sometimes Dominika, you’ve got to ‘take the bull by its horns,’” coach said. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I said OK anyway and he sent me up for my event. I had butterflies in my stomach, because I saw that I was the only one that was eight, everyone else was nine or ten. Right before my event, I finally realized what Coach Kurt’s saying meant; sometimes, you have to just face your fears. Now I was ready for my event.

The official called my heat and I stood onto the rough starting block, waiting on my cue to just let loose. “Take your mark,” the official said as a loud, piercing beep came and I pushed off the block as hard as I could. When I entered the water, I felt a rush going through me. I kicked to the surface and I started to swim. It felt like forever, but with my teammates cheering me on, I was determined to win. The last lap I found the power to sprint so fast that I couldn’t breathe when I finished. I was gasping for air as I congratulated the other swimmers, because it is courtesy for the winner to do so, and I got out of the water. There my brother was waiting for me and I went up to him and gave him a big wet hug. My coach and all of my friends came up to me and told me how well I did. I was very proud of myself and so was everyone else.

October 22, 2012

LARRY HO

Keats in Context

John Keats is one of the greatest poets in the Romantic Era and arguably one of the greatest poets that has ever lived. Keats was known for his neo-Elizabethan and classical style of writing and unique passion in his poems. Keats, throughout his life, was plagued with a series of problems. These difficulties, such as family issues, women troubles, and political debates, affected his writing. Was he doing the right thing and was he making the right decisions? Was it a good idea to be a writer, rather than a physician? All these questions, including the troubles Keats was facing, caused him to go in and out of depression. Keats, bombarded with all these difficulties in his life, as well as his doubts about whether he was doing the right thing, was still able to become one of the major poets of the Romantic period.

John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on October 31, 1795. His parents were Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats. His father worked at, and was expecting, full ownership through his wife, of the stables in the Swan and Hoop Inn. John had three younger siblings, George, Tom, and Fanny. John Keats attended John Clarke’s school in Enfield, which had a more liberal stance compared to other schools. There he became close friends with Charles Cowden Clarke, the son of the headmaster, John Clarke. Frances Jenning’s father (Keats’s grandfather) died soon after Thomas Keats’s death, of a skull fracture. His mother soon became sick with tuberculosis. This was when Keats first started writing his poetry, to please his dying mother.

In March 1810, his mother died and Keats went to live with his grandmother. “France’s death… produced many other less manageable thoughts – some of which caused Keats grave personal difficulties.” (Motion 41). After confronting the piercingly intense melancholy of losing his mother, Keats pursued medicine and was under the apprenticeship of a Dr. Hammond. Later in 1815, he attended Guy’s Hospital. He then dropped medicine and began to write full-time. He met people like Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Joseph Severn. While he was in London he fell in love with Fanny Brawne and wrote the love poem “Bright Star” for her. He contracted tuberculosis then moved to Rome. Keats died on February 23, 1821.

Keats and his two brothers were close to each other; they exchanged letters back and forth daily. Keats’s brothers however, also gave him troubles, which set back his writing career and caused him to lose valuable time, which he could have spent on his poems. Keats’s youngest brother also contracted tuberculosis and required that Keats take care of him for months. He left home in London on March 4th for Teignmout, on the coast of Devon, in southwest England, to take care of Tom. Forced to write less, Keats became frustrated and struggled with depression. Tom started to get sicker and began coughing up blood, and Keats became more worried for Tom. “Now it was obvious there was no hope for him (Motion 298).” While Tom’s sickness was occupying Keats, his other brother George and his wife had also been giving Keats stress. George planned to move to America with his wife, investing a big chunk of his money. This would take a lot of the money from the three brothers’ inheritance. If the investments failed, the brothers would have little money left.

Andrew Motion, an English poet, novelist and biographer, as well as the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009, wrote “Keats” a biography of John Keats, focusing not only on the history, but also on the social context of his life. Andrew Motion constantly relates Keats’ life with his poetry, and makes clear that the subject matter of the poems shows what he was going through in his personal life during that time.

Keats’s poem “Isabella” is a symbolic expression of his frustration with his brothers. In this poem, Isabella is love with a young clerk, Lorenzo. Her brothers find out about this and kill Lorenzo. The ghost of the young clerk comes back, telling Isabella to plant his head in a pot. The brothers discover this and dispose of the pot. “O cruelty, “To steal my Basil-pot away from me!” According to Motion, the two brothers in this poem represent Tom and George holding Keats down with their problems.

As Keats lived in London he had come to question with the role of women in his life. He generally ignored them as he focused on his writing, but he still was conflicted about what women meant to him. Keats had disapproved his friends’ relationships with their wives. Hunt and Shelley regularly went out with prostitutes and mistreated their wives. This kind of treatment angered Keats and he was determined to find his one true love and stay faithful. While Keats was questioning himself about women, he went out with women and flirted with them. Keats’s women troubles gave him a lot of stress and caused him to wonder if women were disturbing his writing. It is well known that, later, Keats fell in love with Fanny Brawne. He wrote a poem to Fanny Brawne titled “Bright Star.” In the poem Keats writes about a man with his partner and the man looks up to the sky. “Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night/ And watching with eternal lids apart” (Bright Star). This relates to Keats trying to write while thinking about Brawne. He wants to stay with her for all eternity to watch her forever.

Keats had multiple friends in London that he contacted often. When he returned to Hampstead on October 5th he was determined to get back together with his friends. These friends had different opinions about the government and the French revolution. Keats’ friends Hunt and Haydon, two famous writers and essayists, met and clashed about their own opinions. There were other clashes and debates on politics, namely, Richard Price and Edmond Burke who agued with each other about the French Revolution. Price thought that the French Revolution was a good change and brought radical ideas to the law, but Burke on the other hand, thought the revolution would destabilize France making it worse off than before; Burke thought people cannot govern themselves, that they needed a monarch to establish a civilized country. The monarchy was a guard against the revolution and all the chaos that would come with it.

Hunt and Haydon’s clashes were similar to Price and Burkes’ disagreement about the French revolution. Keats, caught between these arguments was faced with the question of whose side he should be on. Keats was a liberal in his opinions, and he once stated, “The world…has been vexed and teased by a bunch of devils” (Motion 199). This shows how liberal Keats is and his dissatisfaction of how England is run by the King; it shows Keats’ disapproval to the king. The poem Robin Hood, which was written as a response to the imprisonment of Leigh Hunt, also shows Keats’ liberalism. “Honour to bold Robin Hood/ Though their days have hurried by/ Let us two a burden try”. Robin Hood represents Hunt as he stands up for his rights and acts boldly for the people. Keats’s political views leaned towards the liberals who disapproved of the King, but still was split between his friends.

Keats’s had a tough life, and dealt with burdens: with family members dying, with women troubles and with problems with his friends. These problems caused Keats to wonder whether he did the right thing to begin to write. Ultimately, Keats’s troubles caused him to write better. The problems Keats faced made him ponder his life as a success. The poems such as Isabella and his romance poems are some of the most critically acclaimed poems of the Romantic Period, and beloved by many today.

October 11, 2012

SOPHIA GUO

Max and Cody

One night, a unicorn named Cody was walking through the woods with his friend Max, the mouse. They were talking about how they wanted to learn how to actually talk in human language, not mouse or unicorn. They were on the way to see their friend, Bear, when suddenly, out of nowhere, cold little drops of water landed on them. Within seconds, Cody put Max on his back and sprinted for shelter. They ended up in an abandoned house. They were sitting in the corner of the house when lightning struck the house!

“Ah!!! Oh my gosh! I can talk!” said Cody excitedly.

“So can I!” shouted Max.

The two friends then went wandering through the woods singing and talking. They were so happy to finally speak.

“Do you think the lightning that struck the house let us talk?” Max asked.

“Probably. Well, lets hurry and get to Bear’s house. He might be worried about us.”

Max and Cody walked side by side silently. Cody was wondering how the lightning had anything to do with talking. When the lightning hit, he had felt an electric shock going through his body. But he thought that was normal since lightning is electricity. Right after it struck, his mouth had gone numb for a few seconds. That’s probably how I can talk now, he thought. I wonder if Max went through that with me?

“Hey, Max. When we got struck by lightning, did you feel an electric shock going through your body?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“And then did you feel a numbness in your mouth for a few seconds?”

“Again, yes. But why?”

“Because I felt that too! That’s probably why we can talk now. Maybe this happened to Bear, too. If not, we’ll speak animal and explain it to him.”

When the two arrived at Bear’s house, they stopped at the front door and made sure they had their plan straight. Ding Dong!

“Coming!” Bear yelled in animal. “Oh! Hi Cody and Max.”

“Hi Bea-.” Cody tried to say.

“Ah!!!” snarled Bear. “How can you talk human?”

“Well, Max will explain it to you.”

“We were on the way to your house when it started to pour all of the sudden. So we went to find the closest shelter and we saw an old abandoned house right around the corner, and we went inside. We were huddled together in the corner and stayed until the storm ended. But, listen to this: during the storm, we got struck by lightning! We felt a shock go through our body and the next thing we knew, we could talk!”

Boom boom!

“There’s something or someone outside! Quickly, hide!” Max said nervously.

“I’m going to go out there. I’m good luck for humans apparently. So I’ll make him go away,” said Cody confidently.

As Cody walked out of Bear’s den bravely, he saw a man. He was a hunter. He had a bow and arrow or some sort of weapon in his arms. Cody walked out of the den so the hunter could see him. As the hunter saw him, he took his rifle out and shot Cody right in the chest. Bear and Max were watching from a window and they were shocked – how could a hunter shoot a unicorn? The hunter struggled to pick Cody up and soon managed, carrying him off. Bear and Max followed the hunter very quietly.

Max jumped into the trunk of the car before the hunter realized. Bear had to stay in the forest because he had nowhere to go, and he was too big to hide.

“Justin: think! Ah ha! I caught a unicorn…” the hunter said, confused. “Luckily I used the tranquilizer, not my gun. Now I’m going to take the unicorn to the lab and experiment on him.”

On the car ride to the lab, Cody woke up. His chest was red from dried blood. He examined the car and the seat he was sitting in. Cody looked behind him and saw Max. He was so relieved that his friend was with him.

“What happened?” Cody asked. “The last thing I remembered was that we were back in Bear’s den.”

“We heard something outside and you went to check on it and you got shot by a tranquilizer,” Max whispered.

“How did you get on the truck?”

“I jumped aboard before Justin the hunter put you down. Now he’s going to bring you to a lab and experiment with you.”

“Why me? What did I do?”

“Well, you are a unicorn.”

“Right. What am I suppose to do now? Oh! I’ll talk to the scientist when we get to the lab. I’ll ask him what he wants to do with me because after all, I can talk human.”

“Ok. Fine with me. But what am I going to do?”

“You can come with me, unless you want to go back. I’m fine with either way.”

“I want to come with you. This is a once-in-a-life chance! And it’s not like anything fun is going to happen in the forest.”

The two friends slept the rest of the three-hour journey until they felt a jerk and the door opened. Cody acted as if he was still asleep and mouse jumped out and followed them into another world. There were potions and needles everywhere! And there were scientists with goggles on and rubber gloves testing potions and dissecting different animals. Cody secretly peeked and saw the most spectacular thing he had ever seen: a real lab. He’d wanted to see a lab but he’d never wanted to be one of the animals that were going to be tested in it and dissected. He wanted to become a scientist one day. But that would not be happening since he probably was about to be cut open.

“Here you go,” Justin said, once he delivered the unicorn to Dr. Smith.

“I asked for a horse! But a unicorn is even better. Thank you,” Dr. Smith replied.

“Wait!” Cody yelled. “Please don’t cut me open. I’m an innocent little unicorn. What did I do wrong?”

“Whoa. How can you talk?” Dr. Smith asked, surprised.

“Well, long story. Oh yeah. Um, I brought my friend with me. His name is Max and my name is Cody. Max is a rat. We have been friends for a really long time now. He can speak human too! Max!” Cody yelled.

“Oh. Hey Cody, by the way, I am a mouse.”

“Right. Why don’t you tell Dr. Smith how we learned how to talk?”

“Ok. So, on the way to our friend’s house, it started to pour all of a sudden. We went to find the closest shelter and we saw an old abandoned house right around the corner so we went in there. We huddled together in the corner and stayed there until the storm ended. During the storm, we got struck by lightning! We felt a shock go through our body and the next thing we knew, we could talk! Oh, and this happened in the forest. And then, we went to Bear’s house and told him that story. Right when we finished, we heard Justin outside so we-”

“Wait, how do you guys know my name?” Justin asked.

“We don’t have to speak human to understand human. Just pointing that out,” Max replied, arrogantly.

“Interesting…” Dr. Smith said suspiciously.

“Anyway,” Max continued, “We heard Justin outside and so Cody went outside to try to scare you off. But instead, you shot him with a tranquilizer! That’s the story,” Max finished.

“So now that you know, can you put me back in the wild?” Cody asked.

“Well, I won’t put you back in the wild, but I won’t kill you. Once I’m done with my tests, I’ll set you free. Deal? Oh yeah, and one more thing, no one can find out that you can speak human. Ok? Only Justin and I know about it. You can still speak horse or unicorn, right?” Dr. Smith asked.

“I can still speak unicorn and horse. But you promise you won’t kill me, right?”

“I will not kill you. But you might feel some jolts or pinches in the next few days. I want to try to figure out how a simple shock made you two talk. And your friend Max is going in the lab, too,” said Dr. Smith. “You guys will share a room together. You will sleep, eat and play in there. We designed it to be like the forest. If you two want anything else, ding me.”

“How do we ding you?”

“In your room, there is a button on the wall. If you press it, it will ding me and either Justin or I will assist you. If it’s anyone else, ignore them, because they can’t know you guys can talk. Got it?”

“Got it.” Cody and Max replied.

“Now, I’m going to go to sleep.” Cody replied. “I’ve been through a lot today.”

“Me too. See you in the morning, Dr. Smith.”

* * *

Ding ding. Cody was up bright and early. He thought he had a dream that he had been shot and brought to a lab. But after he woke up, he realized it wasn’t a dream.

“Yes Cody, what do you need?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Oh. I was just wondering if I could have some food. I’m starving.”

“Sure. What would you like?”

“Um, maybe a bushel of hay.”

“Sorry, we only have cooked food. But if you really want hay, Justin can go out and get it for you.”

“Yes please. Thank you.”

“It will take about 30 minutes. Would you like anything else?”

“I’ll take some water. Thank you.”

As Cody waited, he wandered around the room, which surprisingly really looked like a forest. Max was sleeping in a bed made of bamboo leaves.

“Here’s your hay Cody. And it’s fresh.” Justin said.

“Thank you. I’ll eat it now.”

As Cody chewed on the hay, he was feeling a little uncomfortable. He wanted to be at home again, in the forest.

“Are you ready for your first operation?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Yeah. Let me wake up Max.”

“No. it’s ok. Today you’re the one being tested on, not Max. He’s tomorrow.”

“Ok then.”

As they walked through the halls, Cody felt really uncomfortable. He was shaking.

“Dr. Smith, I don’t really feel comfortable letting you do operations on me. You promise they won’t hurt, right?”

“That’s right. We’ve used this technique on many animals before.”

“Yeah I know, but could any of them talk? Did you know 100% what they were thinking? You understand me since I can talk, but did you know how the other animals felt?” Cody inquired.

“Well no. But they didn’t seem hurt. If it hurts, just tell us.”

“Ok.”

As the day went on, Cody seemed to get more and more worried.

But at night, he wasn’t eating and he had trouble answering questions he knew the answer to. He also had trouble sleeping.

“Hey, Max, is it normal that I don’t feel comfortable with the scientists testing me?” Cody asked.

“Well, I’m not sure. I’ve never been through what you’ve been through, but I will after the day ends tomorrow. I’ll answer your question then.”

“Thanks.”

“One of the tests that Dr. Smith operated on me,” Cody said, “included a lot of wires. They had this weird thing stuck to the end of it so it would stick on my skin, and I saw weird squiggly lines on a computer screen. I think it had something to do with my heart. Dr. Smith was right. It didn’t hurt at all. At first all the lines were about in the same range but then, he told me to run on something called a treadmill and it started to get uneven. Afterwards, I was panting.”

“That’s it?” Max asked.

“Yeah. That was the easier test. Dr. Smith said that along the way, they will get more complicated.”

“Oh. Good to know. Good night.”

“Max, are you worried about tomorrow at all?”

“Actually no. I am looking forward to it.”

“Ok then.”

“Goodnight.”

“Good night to you, too. See you in the morning.” Cody said gently.

The next night, Max came back into their room and told Cody how his tests worked out.

“Cody, I want to go home. I don’t like it here. The tests are scary.”

“I want to go home too. But we made a deal.”

“Let’s ask Dr. Smith how much longer we need stay here.”

“Did your tests hurt?”

“Yes! They hurt like crazy! I felt like I was being eaten by a snake!”

“Oh, really? Ok. We’ll run away.”

The next night, Cody and Max tried to sneak out the back door. Right when they stepped out the door –

“Hey guys, what are you doing up so late?” Dr. Smith asked.

So close, thought Cody.

“Well, um…Max?”

“Well, we wanted to go get some fresh air.”

“Why didn’t you ding us?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Because we didn’t want to wake you up.” Cody replied confidently.

“Well, we are usually always awake. So don’t be scared to ding us even if it’s in the middle of the night.” Dr. Smith said.

As Dr. Smith walked away, Cody said, “We’ll try tomorrow night. If you can’t stand the tests, we’ll try to run away after lunch, but most likely at night. Does this sound like a plan, Max?”

“Umm… sure,” Max said nervously.

“Now, lets get some rest. We have to plan out our day.”

The next morning during breakfast, Cody dinged Dr. Smith.

“Hi Cody, and Max.”

“Hi Dr. Smith. We were just wondering why we were being tested on and I’m pretty sure it’s not because we can talk. From the first test, I was sure it wasn’t because we could talk. I know that because during all the tests, you never asked my anything about talking. You only asked me about my family and were I came from. And also, why does this have to be a secret? Now spit out the real reason behind these tests.”

“Ok. fine. I want to find out where you came from.”

“What about the rest of my questions?” Cody asked.

“And what do you want of me?” Max squeaked.

“Well I figured that if you were his friend, that you would give me more information. You know, just in case Cody doesn’t give me all the information that I need, I have you!”

“Then why do my tests hurt more than Cody’s?”

“Well, since you’re smaller, your tests hurt more.”

“Oh wow… that’s just great.”

“Why do you want to know where my family is and from? It’s kind of personal. How would you like it if I lied to you when I was really trying to find out where your family is and from?” Cody was furious.

“No not rea-”

“Exactly. All we want to do is go back home.”

“You can go home when we are done with the tests! We made a deal.”

“But we don’t like it here! We want to go! This place looks like home but doesn’t feel like home. Home is the wilderness!” Max screamed.

“I’m sorry, Max and Cody, but you’re staying here no matter what! We have very tight security and I’m going to tell them to keep a very close eye out for a horse with a horn and a mouse on its back. I would say unicorn but no one knows about you guys. Every door that could be used as an exit will be guarded. Now, you guys got me mad,” Dr. Smith yelled as he walked out their room.

“Now it’s going to be even harder to escape,” said Max, after Dr. Smith slammed the door.

“Well, now we have to make a plan, and it better be good. You heard Dr. Smith, now, the security will be tighter than ever!” Cody said loudly.

“Yeah, and our plan has to be good, and sneaky. So, lets get started.”

The two friends stayed up all night discussing what to do and make sure it would succeed. They argued back and forth, with paper flying all over the place. They didn’t agree about anything together. They kept on trying and trying to agree. They tried to escape every day but it didn’t work, running down the halls and looking over the walls. It finally took them a week before they figured out what to do.

“Ok. So, lets refresh our heads,” Cody said. “Max, you’re going to distract however many scientists as you can by screaming, in human language so everyone will stare at you and no one will pay attention to anything else. Then I’ll sneak out.”

“Hey! What about me!” Max yelled.

“Don’t worry! When I slip out, I’ll leave a little opening through the door so you can run out. It’s easier for you to escape than me. I’ll be waiting for you outside. Once you get outside, turn right and sprint to the first bush you see. I’ll be waiting for you there, and then we will run off,” Cody said.

The next day, Max started to scream when he was on the way to his tests. He was screaming ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’. Everyone stopped and stared. Cody was very careful and sneaked out. When Max realized Cody was nowhere to be found, he made a run for it. He ran in circles than in zigzags and finally out the door into the bushes. When the coast was clear, Max jumped up Cody’s leg and onto his back and they rode off into the sunset.

Once Cody and Max were home, they made their way to Bear’s house, but when they knocked on the door, there was no response.

“It’s probably because of Justin and the incident that happened a couple weeks ago.” Max said.

“Yeah, Bear!! Don’t worry!! It’s Cody and Max!!!” Cody screamed.

Just after Cody yelled that, the door opened a crack, and Bear’s eyes popped out.

“Max! Cody! You’re back! And alive. What did they do to you! Did you get tested on??? Did you get hurt??? Tell me EVERYTHING!” Bear said excitedly.

“Ok ok…” Max said.

So Cody and Max told Bear everything.

“Well that’s about it! Well, Dr. Smith and Justin will have good luck, because they’ve seen me, and even though they trapped us and wouldn’t let us go, they’ll be luckier than most. I know we made a deal but I mean seriously, I’m a unicorn! And they shouldn’t be able to just capture animals. Uh… Well, I guess Dr. Smith learned his lesson: never mess with a unicorn,” Cody said.

“And his best friend!” Max squeaked.

October 9, 2012

SEBASTIAN B

The Hijinks at the Petlympics

“Kaploosh! Kapow! Boom!” went the fireworks of the Petlympics (Olympics for super powered pets). The Petlympics were held in lush Green Bay, Wisconsin, in a giant hamster cage the size of a house.

The rules were simple:

No using super powers
You’re paired in groups of two
NO CHEATING!

TopazLionSquirrel

Bob, a peanut-sized magenta gerbil with super strength, was paired up with Mr. Chippers, a topaz lion-squirrel, who had the head and legs of a lion, and the rest a squirrel with the abilities mixed; he was someone who can summon lightning.

“Let’s win this!” said Mr. Chippers.

“Let’s,” said Bob. Bob and Mr. Chippers easily won the javelin throw, swimming, gymnastics, and trampolining. Then it was time for the hammer throw. A pair of parakeets were trying to lift up a hammer when they were set ablaze! The crowd gasped. The only thing you heard was the fire crackling. Who would do such a thing?! Then they heard a maniacal laugh in the distance. The next fire shot was to Bob. But Bob bounced the fire away with his hammer to where it had come from.

“Who art thou to deflect my fatal blow!” a voice boomed. Suddenly Hemmingsworth, a fluorescent green muscly fox with muscle tails flexing, emerged out of nowhere. In the palm of his hand was a wisp of fire that was put out by an official and the official said, “No cheating!” A muscle tail stopped flexing and choked the official to death. Alarms were blaring. Everyone was evacuating. Hemmingsworth killed whoever he could get his tails on. The Petlimpic stadium was set on fire. Everyone alive came out coughing and wheezing. No one saw Bob and Mr. Chippers.

“I knew this was a bad idea! There’s rat poop everywhere!” said Bob, disgusted. Our heroes were climbing through the air vents. Smoke was gaining on them. They made it out just when the air vents exploded. In the parking lot, everyone cheered, seeing their champions were alive.

“Rat poop debris is in my fur!” said Bob. There was dead silence because of the silly statement. Someone sneezed, and someone else said,” Bless you!”

The sneezer replied, “Thanks.”

Mr. Chippers said, “What are we going to do now? The stadium is on fire, there’s a blood-thirsty murder-fox out for everyone and half of the participants are dead, and some pets have no home.”

Someone mimicked Bob saying, “I’ve got rat poop in my fur, blahaha blahaha!” Bob replied sarcastically, “Ha ha ha, everyone’s yucking.” Then everyone started laughing randomly.

One of the officials said,” We have to find this renegade fox and attack him the hard way.” Then Bob and Mr. Chippers stood up and said simultaneously, “WE will find him and ATTACK him viciously like there’s no tomorrow!”

What will be lost if Mr. Chippers and Bob don’t save the day?

The next day, Bob and Mr. Chippers went to grab delicious coffee to drink and guess who showed up! Too bad I’ll spoil it: it was Hemmingsworth. Bob had needed to go to the john and on the way he saw Hemmingsworth.

“Hey, hey Hemmingsworth! Why are you on a bloody rampage?”

Hemmingsworth, enraged, put him in a two-fingered chokehold. Bob ripped Hemmingsworth’s arms off, escaping the chokehold. Hemmingsworth quickly grew back his arms, but suddenly, frozen in a ball of lightning, he heard Mr. Chippers ask, “Why were you attacking random animals at the Petlimpics?”

So Hemmingsworth relaxed and told them this story: “I grew up on the Planet Jim’s Gym. All of my relatives were killed, because of a rival family named the TimeTwisters. The TimeTwisters can bend time, and my family always seemed to win at family competitions like in swimming, weight-lifting, and much more, and we did not allow time to be manipulated. But the TimeTwisters did manipulate time, and one of my uncles tried to pry into a time vortex, but he was sucked into it and I have been searching for the TimeTwisters my entire life.”

Suddenly a TimeTwister walked in. His nametag said, “Sam TimeTwister”. He worked at Wal-Mart and he was a burly ferret. Hemmingsworth watched in rage as Sam ordered a latte, extra cream. Hemmingsworth yelled, “Let me go and kill him!” So they let him go from the force field and Hemmingsworth killed him quickly with another chokehold, but before Sam died, Hemmingsworth asked, “Where is your family?” Sam stuttered quietly: “Holiday Inn.” Then Sam died quietly. Hemmingsworth was quickly kicked out of the coffee shop. Mr. Chippers said, “What if we can’t defeat Hemmingsworth before he kills the rest of the TimeTwisters? Did you see how quickly he killed Sam? I think we’re next if he defeats the TimeTwisters.”

“Let’s get some more rest. I’m tired,” said Bob.

In Bob’s dream he was flying on a burrito and screaming, “Tacos are in the past, burritos are the future!” In Mr. Chippers’s dream it was sort of like Bob’s dream but instead of riding a flying burrito, Mr. Chippers rode a flying donut and screamed, “Munchkins are in the past, donuts are the future!”

The next day, Bob and Mr. Chippers set off for the only Holiday Inn in town, on 1234 Lane Lane. Hemmingsworth had checked what room the TimeTwisters were staying in, and entered the elevator finding Bob and Mr. Chippers. On the next floor, when an old woman entered, she saw a bleeding Bob, a knotted Hemmingsworth, and a handcuffed Mr. Chippers.

On the next floor, an old, wrinkly man entered with a baby in his arms, and in that elevator was still a bleeding Bob, a knotted Mr. Chippers, a handcuffed Hemmingsworth, and a dead old woman. On the next floor a navy seal entered a fright-fest elevator filled with Bob trying to stop his bleeding with a baby blanket, an out-cold Hemmingsworth, a panting Mr. Chippers, two dead old people, and a dancing baby. On the top floor Bob and Mr. Chippers dragged out a still out-cold Hemmingsworth, unconscious from pressure points.

“Uhh, why does he have to be so heavy! He weighs like 2 tons,” said Bob.

“Stop moping and pull harder! You pull like a baby,” said Mr. Chippers.

The baby went to sleep and the navy seal curled up next to him, falling asleep as well. Then Bob and Mr. Chippers dumped Hemmingsworth down the trash chute and sleep-hypnotized the baby and navy seal to attack Hemmingsworth when they heard the word “shmoodled”.

Since Hemmingsworth was related to a cat, he had one third of a cat’s lifespan. He already had wasted a life in the hotel; therefore he had to be very smart about his last two lives. Hemmingsworth thought, “Hmmm, I should humiliate them in front of a big crowd. I know! A game is at the Lambeau Field in two days. I will crush them at half-time. Muahahahahahahaha! I love being evil!”

Mr. Chippers and Bob were huge Packers fans. Hemmingsworth got tickets two rows behind the protagonists and when it was half time the Packers were winning against the Vikings 21 – 7, and Brianna got up on stage, so Hemmingsworth thought, “This is the perfect time to kill them!” So Hemmingsworth got up and put the supermen into super-tight choke holds (he loved choke holds). When Bob broke free, he climbed up Hemmingsworth’s back and quickly twisted his head, so the fox fainted. Then Mr. Chippers and Bob threw him onto the stage right next to Brianna, and while the security guards dragged Hemmingsworth into the trash bin, the football game continued.

When Hemmingsworth awoke for the second and last time, he needed to think big, and he thought really big. He climbed out of the dumpster, looked around, and saw that he was outside a looming nuclear power plant. From all the Japanese horror movies he had watched, he reflected that the nuclear waste made monsters grow. So he went up the nuclear dome, dove in, and started drinking the radioactive fluid.

* * * * * * *

The next morning, Bob and Mr. Chippers were enjoying a mouth-watering mocha latté when the news appeared on the 27 flat screens, blaring, “Everyone evacuate! There’s a monster coming towards town!” Alarms were blaring everywhere. People were evacuating. Bob and Mr. Chippers went outside and they saw…

HEMMINGSWORTH!

“How is Hemmingsworth so gosh dang big?” asked Bob. Then the 27 flat screens blared, “Someone took all the nuclear reactor fluids! I think it was that monster but the smarty-farty scientists say it evaporated. People always blame the Earth! It gets hotter each day because we’re eroding the ozone layer! It’s not disintegrating; it’s being destroyed by our carelessness! Now to the weather lady.”

“All I can see is a GIANT FOOT!” she screamed, “AAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Thanks for the info. Now everyone RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!”

The TVs turned black. There was dead silence. Our heroes knew the stakes: defeat Hemmingsworth, save world. Get defeated: whole world destroyed. So they put on their super springy shoes, their oil slick ray guns and their one of a kind, rare, and lucky kopanaqua keychain (no one knew what it was but it was made out of wood). They heard some screaming nearby so they sprung into action, (pun intended). The screaming and shrieking was from little girl: the world’s biggest gumball, which belonged to her, was being smushed by Hemmingsworth like it was air. The little girl ran to her parents, so it was time for Mr. Chippers and Bob to fight.

First they came out strong, shooting out an enormous oil slick. Hemmingsworth fell flat on his face and got a huge scar because he fell on a sword shop. He was so enraged that he flicked our heroes into a boulder, but Mr. Chippers bounced back with the spring shoes while Bob crashed into the boulder. The kopanaqua smashed, revealing a secret wisp that filled Bob and Mr. Chippers with berserk destruction dance-rage. They filled up with anger like a balloon and got so enraged that they double hi-jump kicked Hemmingsworth so hard he slammed into nine skyscrapers. After that, Bob and Mr. Chippers started dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. Hemmingsworth sprinted towards them like an enraged cheetah and kicked them like they were tiny soccer balls. Bob screeched, “You’re about to get shmoodled!” The word shmoodled echoed a mile away to the baby and his assistant, the navy seal, and they suited up for the final battle.

The two helpers hopped into a chopper, crashed through the roof, paid for the damages, and set off. They were at the battle scene in a blink of an eye. The baby jumped out, tossed a mini-trampoline under him, pulled his diaper parachute strap, pulled out his machine guns, and started shooting like crazy. The Navy Seal was getting ready to fire his missiles while Bob and Mr. Chippers recovered from the kick. When Bob and Mr. Chippers recovered, they started beating Hemmingsworth senseless. “bat! Bat! BAT!!!!” Every blow was harder then the previous. Hemmingsworth started to get his fur-ious. He crashed the helicopter with a fatal slice and destroyed the trampoline with his pinkie-toe. The four good guys welled up with so much anger that they went to the store, bought some varmint-killer and sprayed him like there was no tomorrow. They shrunk him down to Bob’s size with the enormous amount of varmint-killer and Bob dislocated his shoulders, pinned him to the ground, slammed him into the earth 10 feet below the surface, and before Bob belly-slammed him Hemmingsworth felt a passion in his heart to join them… and so Hemmingsworth asked, “Can I join you? I’m so sorry I was so rude. I was just so obsessed over finding the TimeTwisters that I forgot how nice I used to be. Please turn me good again.” The three discussed (the baby was excluded because he couldn’t talk). The first decision was “No” because the three thought Hemmingsworth would be a backstabber, but then they looked into their hearts just as Hemmingsworth had, and then said, “Yes.”

“Oh thank goodness. I will repair everything that I destroyed,” Hemmingsworth panted.

“Even the boulder that you threw Mr. Chippers and Bob into?” questioned the navy seal.

“Even the boulder,” said Hemmingsworth.

“Don’t worry, we’re a team now. We’ll help you,” said Bob confidently. And they went off to repair the city.

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