Creative Writing #2: Barder and the Flying Turban

The little boy's name is Tommy and his dog's name is Barder. Tommy stays at his grandparent's house during the weekends. His grandfather used to be an explorer. He went all over the world, and brought back unique things to remind him of his adventures. Tommy would sit for hours with Barder listening to his stories. Stories of finding treasure, rescuing princesses/princes from their dooms, having tea with the Prime Minister of Indonesia, swinging from tree tops, sword fighting and much more. In his attic he kept all his souvenirs from all his adventures. Tommy wanted to be just like his grandfather.

So one rainy day, Tommy was exploring his grandfather's attic, hoping to find his own adventure. As Barder slept on some old sheets, Tommy was looking through his grandfather's old chest. In the chest there was old black and white photographs, journals, unique pieces of jewelry, tribal stuff, and near the very bottom was this orange turban. Tommy had always seen a turban on T.V. and movies but never in real life. Tucked in one of the folds of the orange turban was a folded photograph. Tommy pulled it out and unfolded the old black and white photograph, in it was his grandfather (who was very young, like in his 20's) standing next to a dark, small boy who was wearing the turban. He stared at the photograph for a little bit studying every detail, then he folded it back up and tucked it back into the fold of the orange turban. Tommy then stood up stretched and closed the lid of the chest. He walked over to his grandmother's old wooden full length mirror, place the turban on his head and stared at his reflection. Barder was now awake from Tommy's stirring and was sitting next to the mirror looking at him. Tommy smiles and asks," What do you think, boy?" Barder looks at him as if he could understand and reply, wags his tail.

Then all of a sudden a small draft filled the attic, Tommy looks around to see if any of the small windows were open. But then he remembered that grandfather had nailed them shut before he was born. He turns back to face his reflection, Barder starts to get anxious for some reason. Tommy just stares at him and notices that he feels a little different for some reason. Then he turns back to the mirror, to his surprise his reflection is floating about a foot off the ground! Barder starts to whine and paces back and forth between Tommy and the mirror. Tommy is awe stricken by what he is witnessing. In a slight panic he calls for Barder to come to him. He wraps his arms around Barder's chest, but to both of their surprise they both started to float above the ground. Tommy is filled with delight, and guides Barder and himself around the attic.

Now maybe I can have my own adventures too, thought Tommy. He started to think about his favorite story that his grandfather told him about a million times. About how he rode camels with his friends Ishmael in the Inida's desert. Then all of a sudden the room started to rumble and everything around him was shaking. He buried his face into Barder's soft fur coat. When he didn't hear any more of the rumbling, he slowly brought his head up. They weren't in the attic anymore, all around them was dark but it was light by the stars and the moon. Tommy looked down and all he could see was the ocean. He could feel the soft ocean breeze and smell the fresh ocean air. Then the ocean turned into sand, palm trees, and camels, the air became warm and dry. Tommy was filled with excitement, he was in India! The same place his grandfather was many years ago and had his adventures with Ishmael.

Tommy and Barder were having so much fun flying around and having their own adventures in India. Tommy soon fell asleep buried in Barder's fur. He then was awaken by something warm touching his face, he slowly opened his eyes. But to only see that he was back in his room, in his pajamas, and the turban not to be found. His heart sank, was that really a dream, he thought. Barder was laying at the foot of his bed looking up at him, Tommy slide off the side of his bed. He accidentally knocked one of his shoes over and out spilled warm tan sand. He jumped with delight, picked up his shoe and ran down stairs to tell his grandfather about his very own adventure in India.

Vocab List #1

1. Flourish - to be in a vigorous state; or to thrive.

~ After the huge forest fire, the park rangers were afraid that the forest would never be the same but a little over a year later the whole forest was flourishing with life



2. Guerrilla - a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment.

~ The American troops wanted to do a surprise attack on the British soldiers, so they decided to follow guerrilla style warfare.

3. Renegade - a person who deserts a party or cause for another.
~ To escape the German Nazi's many Jewish people
renegaded to neighboring countries and the United States.


4. Repose - the state of reopening or being at rest; sleep.
~ After a long day at work or school many people like to repose in the comfort of their homes.
5. Stereotype - one that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.
~ Many people take the first impression of someone else and stereotype them to one category.



6. Symbiosis - a relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.
~ The small fish that attack to sharks is a symbiosis bond, the small fish gets protection and the shark doesn't have to deal with all the bacteria on their skin.
7. Tariff - an official list of the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports.
~ Many countries hate having to pay tariffs to sell their product in another country
8. Tempo - rate or rhythm of activity; a pace.
~ When playing an instrument it's important to follow the tempo of the music.
9. Tranquility - quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity.
~ The sound of the ocean has a tranquility affect on some people.
10.Tumult- violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob; uproar.
~ When the factories add more hours to the long hours of workers, they usually tumult against the boss.

11. Tundra- on of the vast, treeless plains of the arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America.
~ The vast tundra seemed very empty and lifeless.
12. Unanimous- of one mind; in complete agreement; agreed.
~ To make a decision in a group, they usually result in an unanimous vote.

Creative Writing #1: Reverse Writing

His name is Joe Smith, he lives with his wife Margaret in a small apartment. Their apartment looks like it was clipped out of a magazine from the 70’s and it smells like old rose petals. Their apartment bring back memories of when they were first married back in the early 70’s when having 8-track player, a harvest gold refrigerator, green shag carpet, macramé, and gold floral wall paper were the coolest things to have. Joe everyday would get up, take the subway to Central Park to play chess with his old friend Frank Willis. They go way back to when Joe first came to New York when he was only in his early 20’s. And when he started his new “big” time office job , they were office neighbors. Thanks to Frank, Joe would have never met his wife, Margaret of 40 plus years. They met at this house warming party for a fellow employee and Frank brought his girlfriend and her best friend Margaret. Neither of them had any intensions of finding love at the party, love just found them. I guess you can call it love at first sight and it’s just lasted for 40.

While he rode the subway he would read the newspaper to get this fill of what’s going on in the rest of the world. But on this particular day, he was lost in thought about his daughter. His daughter Sarah, who was going through a rough divorce, and Joe didn’t know what to do to help her. So instead of going to the park to play chess with old Frank, he was going to visit his daughter and spend sometime with his grandchildren. Maybe take them out for ice cream and go to the park, so Sarah could go to a meeting with some lawyers.

As he boards the subway, Joe remembers the long summer days when his “little girl” begged him to run through the sprinklers with her, take those long city walks to the ice cream parlor after softball practice, the nights when she would beg him to read just one more story before she went to sleep, and being her hero when she fell and scrapped her knee. All of Sarah’s early years Joe was able to fix anything in his daughter’s life with a kiss or a band-aid. But now that she’s all grown up, Joe can’t find a way to help her fix them. The thought of her husband leaving his “little girl” behind with their kids makes him upset and feeling helpless. You can’t fix that with a kiss or a band-aid.