Jammie, Janet, and Flora were siblings. Janet and Jammie were twins and were three years older then Flora. In this story, you will be following thirteen-year-old Flora on her time-travel adventure in Crete. She is playing her part in the ancient Cretan tradition of the festival of bulls....
*****
Flora whipped around and cried, “Ready or not, here I come!”
You might be wondering why a thirteen-year-old and two sixteen-year-olds would be playing a game of tag. Well, Jammie had said that he was the fastest runner, and then Janet retorted that she was. This resulted to a heated argument, in which Flora was the monkey in the middle. She tried everything, and eventually the trio came up with the solution of a friendly--or not so friendly, with the extremely competitive twins playing--game of tag.
Flora hid behind the base,a towering oak tree,to wait for one--or both--of the twins to spring her trap. Charlotte, Flora’s cat, would always emerge out of the cat flap in the doorway and into the fenced-in yard at this time, and jump into the shrubs nearby. When the shrubs shook, Flora’s siblings would think that she was hiding in them--at least for a moment. And, in their moment of hesitation, Flora would leap from her hiding place and tag them.
Flora heard the sound of slippery, sodden, mud-covered grass slurping underneath Jammie and Janet’s sneakers. When they came into Flora’s view, she noted that they were pushing each other. Jammie was ahead by a hair, and Janet was making up for the distance by punching her twin brother in the side and grabbing his arms and shoving him. They were both extremely determined to prove that they were the fastest.
Flora then detected the sound of the cat flap flail in the slight breeze as Charlotte emerged. Jammie and Janet were almost at the bush.
CRUNCH!
The trap had been sprung.
The twins hesitated, thinking that Flora was hiding in the bush, waiting for them to step nearer.
Flora took that moment of hesitation to leap from her spot behind the tree. Her plan hadn’t worked exactly as she had hoped, though. She jumped short, and landed about a yard away from Jammie and Janet, who would recover from their surprise any minute now.
Flora moved fast, but long-legged Janet moved faster. Janet sprung from the spot and began to dash quickly away, in the direction she had come. Jammie followed not far behind. Flora dashed, nearly treading on Jammie’s heels, close behind.
Things took a turn in Flora’s favor. Janet slipped in the soggy grass, and Jammie tripped over his twin sister. To avoid doing the same, Flora made a wide arc around them. The moment they got back on their feet, Flora was flanking them. Flora burst in between the twins and shouted gleefully, “Tag!”
Jammie moaned and Janet took up the cry. They moaned their way back to the house, feet dragging, leaving Flora feeling very happy about her victory.
*****
Flora was having a great day until...it happened. She was outside, petting Charlotte. She had debated on returning inside, but Charlotte deserved some pets for making Flora’s victory possible.
As Flora was visiting her cat, she noticed something. There was a dim glow within the oak tree’s thick trunk. Being an inquisitive and curious young girl, Flora crept forward. The glow was green and blue--like an opal gemstone.
Flora, with Charlotte sitting beside her, searched for an opening, or something glowing on the trunk, or something. But she could find no obvious thing that could be glowing. Yet the tree still shown, bright as a star.
Wait.
Was that an opening?
Yes! It was. There was a small--but still large enough to see--jagged crack in the tree. Gingerly, seeing that that was where the glow was strongest, and where it must be coming from, Flora reached in and pulled out....
Okay, so before we reveal what Flora pulled out of the crack in the oak tree, you will have to understand why. You will have to forgive her. For, what would you do if you saw a green and blue light emanating from an oak tree? You would investigate it, of course. It is an animal’s--including a human’s--nature to be curious, to explore. Flora was just doing what any of you would do if you saw a glowing tree.
So don’t blame her for what happens next.
-KittyLover8
© 2012
NOTE TO READERS: I am sorry that I haven't been on lately. v.v'
But this is only the first of the festival of bulls digital book. So I hope that you, loyal readers, enjoy this series of posts.
Also, I have been working on a clay breakfast set!! I will post it (it is a WIP, work in progress) soon. Thank you for reading! ^^
No comments:
Post a Comment