Pendleton County Schools has released the winners of the county’s Young Writers contest.
First and second grade — Benson Harper, “The Farmer and the Wolves,” first, North Fork Elementary; Alani Shockey, “The Journey,” second, Brandywine Elementary, second; and Ben Weaver, “Snow Days,” third, BES.
Third and fourth grade — Bethany Teagarden, “The Bad Life That Gets Better,” first, BES; and Vera Selmon, “The Intruder,” second, NFES.
Fifth and sixth grade — Macie Mitchell, “Colors,” first, River Zutaut, “The Mean King,” second, and Ava Davis, “The Judges,” third, all students at BES.
Seventh and eighth grade — Ava Bowers, “The Daughter,” first, Evie Nulph, “Dancing for Mr. Moore,” second, and Lauren Williams, “Mahaska’s Story,” third, all students at Pendleton County Middle School.
Ninth and 10th grade — Dylan Eye, “Todd’s True Meaning,” first, Pendleton County High School.
The first-place winners’ story in each category will be submitted to the state competition.
Colors
By Macie Mitchell
There was once a time when the rainbow could talk. Red through Violet. Red being the oldest was always bossy. Orange as the second was quite quiet. Yellow got the smarts being the third, and Green the fourth was wild beyond comparison. Blue had the best advice even though he was the fifth. Indigo as sixth had to take care of Violet, the baby, the seventh color. They all got along until one warm summer evening.
Red was doing a color count (that’s what the colors called a headcount) before bed. At first, he only counted six colors, but after he recounted, all seven were there. Little did he know he counted Yellow twice. Red, along with all the other colors, didn’t notice Orange’s disappearance. Violet might have noticed, but all she could say was color, rainbow, and pond.
All the colors had their own cabin, in their color. Usually, after the cool nights, Red would wake Orange, Orange would wake Yellow and so on and so forth until all the colors were up. On this morning, Red didn’t wake up at his usual time, nor did the others. It was as if Orange’s leaving had a strange effect on the other colors.
For there were two rules. The first was: If one of the colors shall fall, the rest shall fall as well. The second was: Never lose sight of the wonderful prize. Red, of course, was the only one to know of the rules.
When Red finally woke up, it was the middle of a scorching summer day. He jumped up realizing he had overslept. He ran as fast as two people combined to wake Orange, but Orange was gone. He ran and got all the other colors up. He then divided them into three search parties. Red with Yellow, Green with Blue, and Indigo with Violet. Red and Yellow checked the woods, Green and Blue checked the playing areas, and Indigo just took care of Violet. When all the colors came back for a snack, they were tired, hopeless, and had given up. All were breathing heavily, and some were even crying. Then out of nowhere Violet said, “Color from rainbow at pond.” All the colors jumped up and ran to the pond, and this is what they found…
Orange was picking dazzling daises at the water’s edge. When she looked up, she was as calm as a cucumber. Then, she just casually started to yell at the others. She told them that they never realized if she was with them or not. Red was baffled, Violet was crying, and all the other colors started fighting. Red suddenly remembered the rules and told the others to stop, but they all just started yelling at him. Red knew it was the end of talking and doing everything normally, so he gathered all the colors in a great big hug. Then, POOF! They appeared in an arch in the sky.
The colors soon learned their lessons and how to get along, but they will never be turned back into their original form. For the story of the colors, was to teach us to always pay attention to our surroundings and never take anything for granted.
The Daughter
By Ava Bowers
Charlotte looked into the mirror trying to find something or anything she could remember. The girl looked back at her. It was an unrecognizable face. She was supposed to remember, but she couldn’t. Posters and pictures of places she didn’t seem to remember, and books she had never read. Charlotte didn’t know who she was like a person should know. Where was she supposed to start?
Charlotte walked into the hall from her bedroom. For a second, her head hurt dreadfully and then stopped. At the end of the hallway, there was a kitchen and a living room. There were pictures of her and possibly her family. In the kitchen, there were two girls. The one was young, and she was working on a laptop. The other woman was older and was her mom. Charlotte’s mom was upset, and told Charlotte “Dad still hasn’t showed up, and are you feeling better?” Charlotte said “yes”, but when her mom told her this Charlotte noticed her sister looked agitated. Charlotte learned her sister’s name was Bree, and she was writing a book. Around ten o’clock, Bree got a call and left. Charlotte noticed Bree rushed out of the house frantically, and she dropped a receipt to a restaurant. Charlotte decided not to tell anyone about her memory. She went to her room trying to find anything that was a hint. Charlotte wondered if her dad’s disappearance, and her memory were tied? Above the desk in Charlotte’s room was a calendar. It was very detailed and organized. Charlotte noticed today was June 17th, and she had not marked off a day since Father’s Day. There was a note to the side that said Father’s Day-taking dad to Relax & Dine. It was the same receipt that Bree dropped.
Charlotte walked to the living room, and her mom and sister were on the couch. Bree explained to them that their dad had to go on a trip to finish his book. Charlotte didn’t know if she could believe this or not. She went to her room and started going through pictures. Charlotte’s last picture was a selfie. It was at a restaurant. In the picture was Charlotte, Bree, and their dad. To Charlotte, the picture seemed odd. Then she remembered that they were at the restaurant and Bree sounded frantic telling her to go to the car. Charlotte had walked out of the restaurant while her dad and Bree walked out the back entrance. Charlotte was suspicious while she was waiting in the car, so she walked to the back of the restaurant. Charlotte didn’t hear much, but a man was saying “I read your book. Why are you stealing my ideas?”
Charlotte’s mind was disoriented. Charlotte began to find herself walking to Bree’s room. Charlotte started searching the room like a mad person. She noticed a book. On the back of the book was a picture of Bree, the author. The summary of the book was a girl hiding her dad in a basement, and living a life in another country. Charlotte leaned on the bookshelf, and it started to open. It led to a dark, eerie staircase. Charlotte began to walk down the stairs using her flashlight on her phone as a source of light.
Charlotte was petrified to what she saw next. Charlotte’s dad was tied up to the chair. When he saw Charlotte, there was a sense of relief that filled his face. “Go back upstairs, Charlotte”, her dad begged. “I will when you start giving me answers’, said Charlotte and untied him. Dad said, “Bree got to the point where she started to plagiarize work because I told her she needed more practice writing. She started making threats to me. I brought Bree to the back of the restaurant because I was worried about her. I, eventually, knew that Bree was struggling, and she is a lunatic. At the back of the restaurant, I told her I wanted to help her. You came up from the back of the restaurant, and it scared you. When you realized I saw you, you hit your head hard. Bree put you in your room and me here. She’s not okay”.
Bree started walking down the stairs while Charlotte hid around the corner. When Bree got to the bottom, Charlotte knocked her out with the chair.
They went upstairs, and Charlotte’s mom was eager to see them all. Charlotte’s mom had no idea about what happened to Bree, and they all decided to keep Bree in the basement. Charlotte’s father was grateful to be with his family, and wrote his next book titled “The Psycho Daughter”. They decided to never tell anyone about Bree. She was a very dangerous, jealous girl that couldn’t hurt anyone.
Todd’s True Meaning
By Dylan Eye
What is the meaning of life? This is a question Todd pondered for many years. Todd was a mathematician. He believed that every question on this Earth had its own unique answer. If this was true, then finding the answer to life should be simple. Even still, Todd had a lot of questions. Does life have a single answer? Could it have no meaning at all? He didn’t know. However, this only fueled his search for the answer even more.
Todd asked many people, coming from many diverse backgrounds, but no one had the same answer. There was one common answer, and that was the joy of raising a child. Unfortunately, Huntington’s disease ran in Todd’s family. He had seen how it can not only destroy the person with it, but how it can devastate families for generations. Todd didn’t have it, but he knew that it would be given to his child if he had one. He couldn’t bear the thought of bringing a child into this world, knowing that child was going to die from something other than old age. For this reason, he decided that he would never have a child.
These answers frustrated Todd. He couldn’t understand that something as simple as being alive could be so difficult to solve. It infuriated him that he couldn’t find an answer. Todd knew that he couldn’t work angry, so he took a walk down the street to clear his head of anger.
While walking down the street, he stumbled upon something promising. There was a little girl, sitting on the sidewalk. She looked no older than nine, and her appearance suggested that she had been homeless for years. She was wearing an old, tattered dress, with muddy sneakers that looked older than her. She was so skinny that it seemed as though the breeze could carry her away. Her name was Alice, and she had lost her parents around a month ago. Todd pitied her and decided that she could help him find his answer. For this reason, he decided to take her in as his own.
What started as a purely professional relationship became much like the bond between a father and a daughter. Todd stopped working so much to make time to teach Alice all that he knew. He would take her to the park, where they would play for hours. They would play tag, swing, go down the slides, and eat ice cream until they felt sick. Every evening, they would come home laughing and smiling, having the best time of their lives. He started to forget his mission to find the meaning to life. It seemed like he had completely forgotten until he had a revelation.
Todd was sitting in his office one day, working out some equations to ease his mind. Alice came up to him and gave him a drawing. It was him and her standing on a grassy hill, with a sun in the corner of the page. She had even labeled their names above their heads. Above her head was her name excellently written in pink marker. Above Todd’s head was a word that he had feared but had wanted to hear for so long – written in big bold letters was dad.
Todd felt joy he didn’t know he could even experience. He had solved his problem. The meaning to life didn’t have one single answer, but many different answers to different people. Later that month, they celebrated her birthday. Todd and Alice would play at the park all day and watch movies until they fell asleep every night. Todd was living his dream of being a father, and Alice was ecstatic about having a father who loved and took care of her.
Todd was so happy while spending time with his new daughter that he didn’t even notice what was wrong with Alice at first. To start, she would run out of breath quickly when they chased each other around the park. Eventually, she could barely run for more than a few minutes. She became sluggish. She started to become frail and would get sick much more often. Todd came home one day to find her collapsed on the floor, unconscious. He rushed her to the hospital as fast as he could. He feared that his daughter, his meaning, could be fading away.
Her Leukemia was advanced. Todd would have never expected her to have a disease like this. He felt that it was his fault for not catching this earlier, knowing that she could’ve been saved back then. Even still, he was frantically searching for answers, knowing that there was absolutely nothing he could do to save Alice. Todd was lost. His life’s whole meaning was slipping away before his eyes.
Alice could see that he was distraught, but strangely enough, she was calm. She had accepted what was going to happen. She hugged Todd, who she only knew as dad, and soothed him. Todd felt tremendous sadness, but he did his best to be strong for Alice. Even still, he couldn’t hold his tears back when Alice said to him “I love you dad, and I always will”.
Alice passed away the next morning at the age of ten, around a week after her birthday. Todd loved her with all his heart. Even though she was gone now, Todd felt a way that he never had before. He knew now what he wanted to live for. He decided to make a foundation for children with cancer, so he could try to prevent what had happened to Alice. He thanked God for the chance to raise her as a daughter, and thanked Alice for showing him that there was more meaning to life than answers.
The Bad Life That Gets Better
By Bethany Teagarden
It was 1 A.M. and the Iris family were struggling to wake up. First Aunt Rita and Uncle Bonco woke up. When they got to their kids room, Aunt Rita opened the door, yawned, and said “wake up.” Uncle Bonco drowsily pulled the blankets off both children. Lily squinted. “Mom, where are we going?” Lily said sleepily. “To the orphanage, the one that your cousin Katie is at.” Poor Katie had been at the orphanage since her parents died in a car accident last month. “Hurry, get ready, we don’t want to get there any later than necessary.” declared Uncle Bonco. So they all prepared to leave and darted into the car. “Alright, is everyone ready to go?” Uncle Bonco said, hearing the fourth door shut. “Yes.” everyone replied. “Then we’re off.” said Uncle Bonco as he zoomed down the road.
The trip took longer than expected. They finally arrived at the orphanage the next day at 1:17 A.M. The Iris family watched as a stout old lady scampered out of the orphanage. Once she got close to the car, Uncle Bonco rolled down the window as she stopped to catch her breath and then said “Hello my name is Mrs. Wood.” “Are you in charge of the orphanage?” asked Aunt Rita. “Yes indeed! Would you be the Jonson family?” “No, we’re the Iris family.” Uncle Bonco grumpily corrected. “Oh yes and you would be here for” Mrs. Wood paused for a second “oh right Katie. Could you come inside for a minute to fill out some paperwork?” “Sure I’ll go.” volunteered Aunt Rita. They returned with Katie, who said goodbye to Mrs. Wood. “Now we have to get a hotel room, and drive home tomorrow.” complained Uncle Bonco. The next morning, the family quickly checked out and headed home. When they finally arrived, they showed Katie her room and headed to bed. The next day Lily and Duncan decided to blame Katie for everything wrong because they didn’t want Katie to have all the attention. Later, when the kids played, Lily ran to Aunt Rita and said “Mom Katie pulled my hair!” “I’ll handle this.” Uncle Bonco said. “Katie!” he yelled “I can’t believe you pulled Lily’s hair!” Before Katie could reply Uncle Bonco grounded her for three weeks! So Katie went to her room. Lily and Duncan kept lying about Katie. Then she would go to her room with a big frown.
One morning, the Irises woke up and smelled breakfast. Uncle Bonco looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Aunt Rita, so who was making breakfast? The family went downstairs and found Katie making breakfast. “Oh thanks Katie.” said Uncle Bonco. “Dad,” said Lily. “I have something to say. Duncan and I have been lying about Katie.” “I’m very unimpressed.” said Aunt Rita “You owe Katie a big apology.” The kids apologized. Uncle Bonco apologized for not letting her explain. From that day on, Katie was treated nicely and was super happy.
The Farmer And the Wolves
By Benson Harper
One sunny day in the spring on a farm three cows were eating grass. The farmer came with a black bull. The farmer put it in a green pen. The bull was not happy. The bull stomped and kicked the farmer. The farmer let the bull out. The three cows were scared at first but the cows got to know him. At night the cows and the bull were sleeping. The next day, the farmer went to feed the animals and he saw it. A cow was dead in the grass. A pack of wolves scratched, and bit her. A tear trickled down the farmer’s cheek and the farmer fell to his knees and cried. After five minutes of crying the farmer went to the barn. He grabbed an old rusty shovel and headed back to the field. After digging a hole for the dead cow, the farmer drug the cow to the hole and buried it. Once the farmer buried the cow he headed back to the barn. He thought about what he would do to prevent the wolves from attacking again. Later that evening the farmer set traps around the farm for the wolves. After setting the last trap the farmer heard some rustling in the bushes. He lifted his gun and waited for the strange animal to come out. Once it came out of the bushes he saw that it was a black wolf. The farmer pulled the trigger and wounded the wolf. The wolf walked over to the farmer, he picked the wolf up and took him back to the house to help him out. After fixing the wolf up he let the wolf go and the farmer never had any more problems with the wolf pack again.
