By 5th Grade Students at Nordstrom Elementary
May 2018
The dragon guarded his cave. Jeff, the spider, watched. It was James the Dragon! Once upon a time they have been friends–but no more! Jeff knew that James guarded a stack of Cheez-its that came from a unicorn. Jeff just had to eat them. If he did, he would turn into a unicorn himself! Finally, he would be big! And he would gain all that lovely unicorn magic. Best of all, he would live forever!
James was pretty huge–as big as a tomcat. Whereas Jeff was light blue, James was black and yellow. Even his belly was black and yellow. As usual, James had a boombox blaring rap music. It was his jam.
Jeff was a bit scared about approaching James to sneak into the cave. The last time he touched James was terrifying. When he touched him, he felt a shock. He gasped and froze and had a dreamlike flashback into their past. Then Jeff remembered James being really mean to him when they were young.
Jeff could not forgive him. That was the last time he saw James until now, and he still could not forgive him. And yet, James smelled leg-licking good! Just like Kentucky- fried chicken with all the sides. Including mashed potatoes and mac n cheese. Jeff imagined stealing and eating the Cheez-its, turning into a unicorn, and then being big enough to eat James all up–Yum!
Like always, James kept yelling, “Esskeetit” over and over. It was his favorite word. Jeff was so annoyed by his yelling. What did Esskeetit even mean?
It was time for Jeff to sneak into the cave, but he needed to distract James. He went to his web where he had caught a small bird. He dragged her to a spot where she could be seen by James. He left her there for the dragon to investigate. It worked! James lumbered off towards the bird, yelling, “Esskeetit” the whole way!
Jeff scurried to the cave entrance!
“Hey,” cried James. “I smell you, Jeff!” James pivoted and started back to the cave!
Jeff rushed for the stack of Cheez-its and hid behind them.
“Wait a sec!” he gasped.
Abug was already there, eating the Cheez-its! Not cool! Someone else was trying to become a unicorn in his place by eating all the Cheez-its?! Before Jeff could stop it, the bug ate the last Cheez-it.
POOF! SHAZAM! POW!
Suddenly when there had been a little bug, there was a beautiful unicorn.
“ROAR!” yelled James who had entered the cave. “How dare you eat my Cheez-its, Jeff!” Meanwhile, Jeff hid in the dark corner.
James lunged at the bug-unicorn. It was an epic battle–they both were great warriors–but in the end, the unicorn collapsed and the dragon dragged it to a cage. Jeff had no reason to stay. He scurried out of the cave. As he reached the edges of the nearby forests, he ran into another unicorn. The unicorn had just dropped a stack of Cheez-its. Hurrah! Jeff got to work stuffing himself with them.
POOF! SHAZAM! POW!
Woot! Woot! He was a unicorn too! He turned back toward the cave.
He had to go back! First, because he felt obligated to save the bug-unicorn. Second, he wanted James to know that he was wrong. That Jeff was not that unicorn, but this unicorn. He used his unicorn telepathy to reach the bug-unicorn in the cave.
“Pretend you are me-Jeff the spider! Do not reveal that you once were a bug.” “Okay,” the bug unicorn said in Jeff’s head. Jeff went to the cave. He believed the dragon would greet him with the respect befitting a unicorn.
“Hello,” he said at the cave entrance. It was obvious that James had fought the bug-unicorn and won!
“Whoa!” said James. “I thought this unicorn was my old friend Jeff, but I was wrong. I can tell that you are Jeff.”
“And now we shall fight!” said Jeff.
“No!” cried James. “When I vanquished this unicorn, believing him to be you, I felt so very sad. I do not want to fight you anymore. Let us be friends!”
“It’s not easy for me to forgive you,” Jeff said. “We have too much history, but I will think on it. Give me a couple of days to decide.”
Something rumbled and then cracked. The ground shifted and jerked, then moved and heaved.
“Earthquake!” yelled the bug-unicorn.
Boulders tumbled, crashing down on them all.
“Oh no!” yelled Jeff. “we must hurry,” he called to James. But James was under a large rock.
Jeff galloped to him. He touched him with his hoof. “Are you okay?” That was when he realized that, this time, he didn’t get shocked or frozen or have a flashback by touching James.
“Whoa,” he said. But there was no time to process this information. Boulders kept tumbling. They have to get out of here!
The “Cliffhanger” Ending…
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