Tall Tales on the Edge

A collection of stories by the students of the creative writing class at Marin Montessori School.



The Spoiled Spy

by Danielle

Bam! Double kick! Five Punches!

These are all moves in the movie I was watching on the television. It was a two hour premier, and I loved spy flicks.

"Angie!" said my mom from downstairs.

"What!" I said.

"I need you to walk Buster, Duster, and Mimi." Those were my three dogs.

"Okay," I said. I walked down the three flights of stairs, got all three dog leashes, and went to get three dogs. I walked down the stone path.

Suddenly the dogs took off running. I was screaming my butt off, but sadly all the servants were on caviar break so no one could come to my rescue. As soon as Buster stopped, Mimi and Buster stopped. And then the weirdest thing happened (besides dancing at the school prom with Fartsy Martsy, who didn't get that name for nothing). Anyway, as soon as I caught my breath I walked very slowly with the dogs beacuse I didn't want them to think I wanted them to run. And then another weird thing happened. A guy about eighteen (he's only one year older than I am) popped out of a tree, fell, and got up.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said back.

"Umm, oh yeah, I am Jeff from the FBI. I have come to tell you that we would be honored to bring you to the FBI to fight on..."

"Wait, wait, wait, did you just say FBI?" I said.

"Uh, yeah," Jeff said.

"What, I can't leave.... Oh, I get it, you're a prankster from KFC Buffalo Wings, right?"

"No, I'm from the FBI," he yelled.

"Okay, okay, I believe you, so I'll go with you to the FBI," I said sarcastically.

So I walked with Jeff all the way to the white "FBI" car. While we were getting in the car I screamed. "Ahhhhh! What was that?" I said, panting.

"Oh," said Jeff. "That's just Max, my pet rat, and my pet tucan, Tulula. They like to scurry around the car floor."

The car wasn't exactly exciting. It had the regular two cup holders and its front seats could recline. The only really interesting thing was it had a doggy door for Max and Tulula on the dashboard. It had a hula girl with an Impeach Bush t-shirt on, and on the bumper it had a bumper sticker that said "Will brake for cake" and a smiley face. But it still wasn't that great.

"So," I said, "I like your hula girl."

"Thanks," he said shyly.

Suddenly I started to jerk all over the place.

"Hey, are you okay, uh, Angie?" he asked.

I stopped jerking and just stared out through the window and then looked at him. "I think Max is crawling up my leg," I said, shaking.

"Uh, okay, I really don't want to reach into your pants and get him, so you're on your own," he said.

"What? I have a rat in my pants and you can't lure him out with food or something!?" I yelled. So I got out of the car at a red light and started to shake my butt like crazy, to the left, to the right, and then I noticed that every single person was watching. There was even a bichon puppy that stopped going to the bathroom on a fire hydrant to stare at me.

"Hey, get in the car!" Jeff yelled. "It's almost a green light!" he yelled again.

So I got back in the car. The bichon started to back a lot, and then we took off so fast the hula girl's head popped off and flew out the window and hit the bichon smack on the nose. The bichon let out a squeak and put his paws over his head.

"So, what does your mom do for a living?"

"Oh, ah, she's a teacher," I said.

"What does you dad do?" he asked.

I said, "Nothing."

"What?" he asked.

"My dad doesn't do anything," I said.

"Oh, so he's a stay at home dad?" he asked.

"No, he's more of a... a... a... never mind."

"Okay," he said. "Hey, do you want some buffalo wings?" he asked.

"Did you say buffalo wings!?!"

"Uh, yeah."

"Yes, I do!! Thank you," I said calmly.

So we stopped at KFC. I got buffalo wings and mashed potatoes and a Pepsi. I was in heaven!

"So," he said, "you really, extremely, gigantically, marsupially..."

"Okay," I said, annoyed, "I get it." For some reason I felt like the hula girl's eyes had shifted right towards me. I stared back at her. She seemed to be staring right at me.

"You know, Angie, you're creeping me out. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm... I'm fine," I said, still staring at the hula girl. Max came on my lap and sat down. "Hello, little Devil," I said, staring into his beady black eyes. "You know, when you get past the dirty fur, boogery nose, and favorite hotel is a sewer, he's kinda cute," I said to the rat.

After that, I fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up and saw nothing. We were in the complete middle of nowhere.

"Where are we?" I said, yawning.

"We're almost there," he said. We drove over a bridge that smelled like old cheese. It was brown, creaking, and shaking, and about twenty-seven feet above water.

"Are you sure this bridge can hold us?" I asked nervously.

"Sure it can," he said sarcastically.

"Hey, you said that sarcastically," I said.

"No, I did not," he said.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"You so did," I said. We were moving slower and suddenly I heard a creak.

"What was that?" I asked nervously.

"You might want to go into crash position, or you might get freaked out," he said.

"Why?" I said with a slight shake in my voice. Now that I looked out the windshield I saw that there was no more bridge! It was merely floating in the air. I could not speak. In fact, I was talking gibberish. It sounded like this: Ooo hi ee ou eeey siack. I sounded like a dying cow/octopus. And then we... dropped so fast I think my heart dropped to my stomach. Then we stopped falling and seemed to be floating in an orange bubble.

"Hey Angie, come on," he said. It looked as if he was going to... jump.

"Ah, I'm allergic to jumping in thirty-foot holes," I said.

"Okay, suit yourself." And he jumped down the hole that was below us.

I stayed still for a couple minutes and then grabbed Max and Tulula and jumped down too. When I jumped down I felt as if I only fell two feet instead of thirty. I dropped down into a nice lobby. It even had a latte machine.

"Are you sure we're in the FBI or Heaven!" I said.

"I'm sure we're in the FBI, because here's my dorm," Jeff said. As he walked into his dorm my jaw dropped.

"This is your dorm," I said in awe.

"Yes," he said in a normal tone.

The dormroom had a 70's feel to it. It had lava lamps all over, a full bar and kitchen. The bathroom had a sauna and a massage table.

"Are you like super-deduper rich or something?" I said in awe again.

"No, I just know the right people," he said. Suddenly the pot on the stove started to sizzle and bubble. "Oh no, my pasta!" he yelled. He leaped like a pole vaulter over to the pot and clamped a top down on it. "Sorry," he said, panting.

"You like to cook?" I asked.

"Sorta," he said shyly. "Well, you're the only one who knows, I like to bake."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's fun. Want to try?" he asked.

"Sure. What are we going to bake?" I asked.

"Um, why don't we start out with something easy, like cake."

"Okay, what do we do first?" I asked.

"Get the milk, eggs, flour, and icing."

"Okay." So I wnet to go get all that stuff. I laid out our ingredients on the counter and we started to cook. First we turned on the stove, and then I said, "Actually, I don't want to."

"What, you don't want to? Okay, fine. What do you want to do?" he said.

"Show me around?" I asked.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Magical Cat

by Kai

Once there was a cat named KK. He smelled sweet cat food. He ran to the kitchen immediately.

When he was sitting he was thinking about an adventure in his head. How about if I go to ancient Egypt?

After he ate he time-traveled to ancient Egypt. He saw a tomb. He went inside. It was damp and dark. He was scared. There were spiders everywhere. He saw a huge spider.

He finally found jewels, but it was booby-trapped all over the place. He walked slowly to the jewels. The booby traps went off. He ran. He looked behind him. He saw a mummy! He hurried out of of the tomb. Happily, he had grabbed the jewels just in time. The jewels were the color green.

But he felt something was tickling him. He looked behind him. It was the mummy. He thought the mummy must have camouflaged itself. He was a really smart and intelligent cat, but he had to get up and run. He could imagine his little cat sarcophagus in his head. He felt terrified, but he thought hard, really hard, about getting home.

POOF

He was found lying on his little bed. He sighed. He ran to the kitchen.

He yelled, "Mom, do we have milk?"

"Yes," said his mom.

So he opened the refrigerator door.

"BOO!"

His friend jake popped out.

"Aaa! How did you get in my house?"

"Well, the backdoor was open, so I decided to check if you were okay."

"You don't just come in."

"But I am a street cat. And you drank all the milk."

"So what?" said KK.

"So what do you do in this dump?"

"It's not a dump. You live in a dump, Jake."

"So? I don't have a home."

"If you don't get out in a second I will call the police."

"Okay, okay, I'll get out."

Jake left.

KK time-traveled to Rome! When he got there he made a mistake and he was in the war. He was wearing an army hat and army clothes.

The boss said, "You in the cat costume, do 100 pushups for me."

"Meow."

"Stop playing around with me, soldier."

"Meow, meow."

"Now you earned a sleep in the fuel lot for the army cars!"

KK put the sad and cute cat face on.

"You little cutie patootie, but you are going to be the first one out for war!"

"Meow!"

"Now go to the cannon."

POOF, off KK went. KK went so far he went to space and he saw all the way down to earth down below. There was a spiky mountain. And then he fell.

But luckily, a huge bird came out of nowhere and they flew all the way to to a little cardboard box that said "The Animal Savers." He thought it was a dream, but it was not.

When they got to the ground the bird said, "My name is Turk, and who are you?"

"I'm KK, and thank you for saving me."

"You're so cool, and this is animal saver's headquarters, and do you want some soup?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Wait a second. Here is your soup."

"Thanks."

When KK took a sip he said, "Eww, what is in this nasty soup? Eww, mashed-up worms and dirty water. Did you hear what I said? Soup!"

"Oh, so you want more soup."

"No."

"Okay, okay, I'll find a bed for you. The only thing we have left is the master bedroom."

"I'll take it."

"Okay, come with me."

When he got there there was a big screen TV and a whole kitchen full of food. But he shortly noticed it was actually a hotel. "Wow," said KK.

"Sir, would you like a big bed too?"

"Yes, I would."

"Come this way. Okay, here is your room."

"Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome."

When he got in he jumped up on the bed, and then he looked in the snack bar. Yummy fish. "Yum, this is so good," he said. He picked up a pickle.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Other Dimension

by Ben

PROLOGUE


A Hero is Born




It had been raining for the past few days. It seemed like it would never stop. Even the weather forecasters were stumped.

One of the biggest buildings was the Charles Gibson Hospital. It had been there for eighty-seven years and never needed repair.

Angelina Garfield and her husband John were in hospital room number 13 because Angelina was having a baby. It was 2:23 am. The window was at the end of the room. John was sitting in a dark blue chair near the door and was leaning on the bed and looking out the window. When he looked, there was a big flash of light. In an instant, the townspeople disappeared and John's mind went black. His memory had been erased.

John walked out of the door and his eyes were dull.

"Where are you going, Mr. Garfield?" the nurse asked.

John did not respond. It seemed as though he was a mindless servant. He walked into the street and almost tripped over a bump in the street. There was another flash of light and John disappeared.

The nurse walked over to Angelina. She gasped. A head popped out. She didn't notice anything strange. Yet.

She walked over to the telephone that was next to Angelina. She quickly dialed the number. "Hello, this is Sasha speaking. Is Dr. Jones there?"

Instead of the doctor there was a deep voice. "Earth must be completlely evacuated in twenty-four hours!" said the voice.

Sasha was so scared that she listened to the voice. "Sorry, Angelina, you're going to have to get the baby out yourself," Sasha said.

Angelina pushed as hard as she could. She tried and tried and, finally, the baby popped out.

"Mama," the baby said. That was his first word.

"I think I will call you Michael," Angelina said very softly.

"Mama," the baby said again. Then Angelina passed out.

The baby got up and paused to look around for a second. He smiled and crawled onto the sheet and tripped. He wasn't used to this environment. He saw it in a different way. It smelled different. It looked different. It even tasted different.

It looked bright.

Anyway, he fell down head first. There was a big scar on his cheek. He started to cry. He swept away the tears and walked over to the window.

There was a very, very big spaceship outside. It had a symbol on it with a spiral and a dot in the middle. He looked at it curiously. What a day. He tripped, he got a scar, he was born, and now, he saw a spaceship.

The spaceship was led by a race called Karths. Karths were reptilian-like creatures who were five feet tall and, like snakes, smelled with their tongues. They destroyed anything in their path. On their ship they had radar so they could track down the humans. And on their radar they had tracked down two humans: Angelina and Michael.

Their ship landed on the street that the hospital was on. A metal platform darted out and a door opened. There was smoke for a second, and then it cleared. There were about 600 karths. The invasion had begun.


CHAPTER 1

PURE EVIL

They were all raiding the hospital. And when they got to the room Angelina and Michael were in, they smashed open the door and there were bits of the door all over the room.

"We told you to evacuate this planet!" said the leader of the karths. But this karth was different. Unlike other karths, this one has a steel mask on. "Now prepare to face the consequences!" he said. The karth then said in a deep voice, "My name is Vultron!"

Michael just looked at the karths curiously. Vultron pulled out a strange looking device. It was a rectangular device with a small screen with numbers on it.

Two karths charged ina dn quickly went over to the bed that Angelica was in and grabbed her. Right as they were leaving, Vultron noticed Michael and pulled out the device again. He pressed a button and aimed it at Mike. Blue rings shot out of the device and there was smoke.

"Hmph," Vultron grunted. "He'll be eighty-five by the time he leaves this hospital."

He turned his head back to see if the smoke had cleared. It hadn't. He turned his head back to its normal position.

The karths and Vultron headed back to the ship.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Adventures of Gorgen

by Nicolas

Gorgen was a magical wizard who had a long beard and dressed in a tall, pointed hat and robe, blue with stars and moons on them. He was going to make a potion that cures all diseases. He opened the ingredients cupboard in his two-story house made of oak trees.

"Oh no, I'm all out of newts' legs from the medieval ages," he said. Gorgon went down a long list of ingredients for his potion. "I must travel through time to the medieval ages to get newts' legs," exclaimed Gorgen. "So I'm in the 19th Century London on 777 Magic Lane, so if I make for 990 years ago I'll be there," said Gorgen.

Boom!!! He was gone. Whoosh!!! He whizzed through time.

"90, 93, 96, 99, 70, 80, 200, 300, 900, 990 years ago. Good, I'm in the medieval ages now," said Gorgon. "Now where am I?" wondered Gorgen. As he looked down he frowned.

He saw he was on top of a very tall tower where an extremely longhaired princess was being kept. She was at the second window up and a prince was climbing up the tower even though her hair touched the ground. And then he fell off.

"Okay, now how to get off this tower," said Gorgen in a western accent.

"Uh, Gorgon," said a voice in his pocket, "LET ME OUT!!!"

"Huh, what was that?" said Gorgen.

"I SAID, LET ME OUT!!!"

"Oh, it's my pet shapeshifter," said Gorgen.

He pulled it out of his pocket just as it changed into a parrot. The parrot said, "Gorgen, try that trap door over there."

"Thanks Gedir," said Gorgen. He walked to the trap door and pulled on the handle. "It's locked," said Gorgen.

Then Gedir turned into a key and opened the trap door.

"ROAR!"

"That trap door opens in a pit of golems!!!" said Gorgen.

"Uh, what's a golem?" said Gedir.

"Oh, it's a giant with two eyes and another eye socket."

"Oh.... Where's the third eye?"

"Uh, the wizard who controls it keeps the eye so he can control the golum."

"Oh.... Now how do we get off this tower?"

Meanwhile, the already closed and locked trapdoor was almost busting the crossbeam into the air. Then it did. A giant head popped up.

"ROAR!!" growled the golum.

"AHHH!!" screamed Gorgen and Gedir.

"ROAR!!"

"AHHH!!"

"ROAR!!"

"AHHH!!"

"ROAR!!"

"Ahh!"

"ROAR!"

"Ah."

"Okay," said the golum in a girly voice, "um... SHUT UP!"

"Why?!" said Gorgen.

"Because... WE NEED OUR BEAUTY REST!!!" said another golum.

"No," said Gorgen.

"Argh!" said the golum as he and his partner started throwing rocks that were conveniently placed next to the trap door at Gorgen and Gedir.

"Ouch, eh, ahh, oh ow," said Gorgen.

"What, this isn't effective," said one of the golums. Then he picked up both Gedir and Gorgen and threw them off the tower.

"Ahhhh!!!" screamed Gorgen and Gedir as they flew into a grove of pine trees.

"Well, at least we got off that tower," said Gedir as they hung in the branches of a tree.


To Be Continued...

The Adventures of Slimy

by Cor

One day a lizard was sunning himself on a branch. He reached out for a fly, but he fell into a river. It looked clean. It was slow.

In a few hours he climbed out. He had passed out and couldn't remember the trip. As he climbed out he wondered where he was. Then he saw a big bunch of trees. He was hungry, so he climbed a tree to find food. Halfway up, he heard a loud hiss. He looked up and saw a snake. The snake was red. It was looking at him. He climbed down the tree. The snake came after him. The lizard ran. Then he climbed another tree.

He was in the tree for a day. He watched out for the snake. He was thinking of home. He was sad. He saw the snake....

(to be continued)