Fence Jumper

On a boring summer afternoon Eliot Potter was sitting on a basketball in his backyard. His mom, Serena had kicked him out there because he had broken yet another very expensive lamp. Eliot the 11 year-old has blue eyes, neatly combed hair, and a slightly high voice: he seems like an innocent boy… he was not. Eliot was a very naughty kid! Every school he goes to, expels him for mean and cruel pranks, so his mom has to homeschool Eliot. His dad is dead, so he lives alone with his mom.

Eliot had many things in his backyard that he loved playing with: he had a basketball that he liked to sit on, a hula-hoop that was given to him as a Christmas present, a worn out plastic baseball bat, and a dozen plastic baseballs. But Eliot Potter was not using any of them now, he was thinking of things he could do in his backyard that would break some rules: I need to look around this neighborhood, I think I should explore the neighbors’ yards, he thought to himself. So he did. 

Before jumping into Mr. Ryan’s yard he peeked at his driveway as he said to himself, I hope that his car isn’t there. There was no car and as Eliot noticed that his energy was flaring, he was excited to do something he had never done before. He quickly jumped, then scrambled up the right fence to Mr. Ryan’s backyard. Right when he landed, on the yard right of him, Mrs. Florence saw what he did. 

“Hey, what are you doing in Mr. Ryan’s backyard?” 

Eliot quickly emptied his brain for a lie that would get him out of this first obstacle; he responded to her in a soft tone saying that he was playing basketball and the ball went over the fence and he was just retrieving it. Mrs. Florence slowly nodded her head and walked back into her house, saying that she had to go somewhere. Suddenly Eliot got an idea. He thought to himself: what if I jumped into Mrs. Florence’s yard? He jumped into her backyard, but Mrs. Florence’s neighbor, a Chinese man named Zhihao, saw him jump the fence.

“Why are you jumping the fence?” Eliot jumped when Zhihao’s abrupt and accented voice interrupted him, this time it was easier to think of a lie than at first, so he responded with another dirty one.

“I was playing with my friend and he threw my hula hoop over here. I am simply getting it.”

Zhihao nodded and walked away. Next, Eliot Potter jumped into Zhihao’s yard. Zhihao’s neighbor, a little girl named Kate with a very high voice, asked what Eliot was doing, but Eliot lied once again.

 “I was playing baseball and my prized bat slipped out of my hand, and landed here. I am so glad it didn’t hit anybody.”

 The little girl said “oh okay,” and walked back into her house. Finally, Eliot jumped into Kate’s yard. 

Kate’s mom walked out of her house and asked, “What are you doing in my yard?” in a loud voice. Eliot responded with another lie, saying, “I hit twelve balls over into your yard, I was just retrieving them.” Kate’s mom said that she understood and walked away. 

Eliot eventually got bored and tired of jumping into people’s yards so he jumped fences back to his own. But when he got back, to his surprise his basketball, his hula-hoop, his baseball bat, and his baseballs were gone! Where did they go? he asked himself. “What do I do?” he said in a low voice only he could hear. Suddenly out of thin air a man appeared. He was wearing a blue robe and hat with stars. He had an incredibly long beard that reached his feet. Mesmerizing sparkles surrounded him. Eliot Potter said “Who are you?” in a high voice. To this, the mysterious man said:

I am a wizard, creator of lies

I am strong powerful wise

You have used my lies in a wrong way

That is why I am here on this summer’s day

You can use lies as manners

The way you used it called upon enchanters

I have stolen all your stuff

The path to get them back is very rough

And I will give your stuff back to you

Say sorry to all the people you have lied to

Say sorry to the people you’ve trespassed in their yard

You’ll find that it is not that hard

And with that he disappeared. Eliot was confused – who was this man? If he followed his instructions, would he really get his stuff back? He decided to do what the wizard said. First he said sorry to Mr. Ryan for jumping into his yard, next he said sorry to Mrs. Florence for lying and going into her yard, and after that he said sorry to Zhihao, then finally Kate and Kate’s mom. Then he walked home and found that all of his stuff was in his backyard in the exact places he had left them.   

THE END