The Tale of the Vine Catastrophe

Illustration by Logan
Harrelson 2nd grade

           Audra the duck was playing chase on Polliwog Pond with her friends, Xavier the frog, Emerson the dragonfly, and the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison.  Audra loved playing chase as long as she could be in the water.  She was a fast swimmer, which gave her an advantage.

            After a while four of the friends became tired and decided to rest for a little while.  Audra was the only one that didn’t seem to be tired at all.  She continued to zip back and forth on the water.

            “Hey guys, come back out and play,” pleaded Audra.

            “Give us a minute,” panted Xavier.  “It’s hard work hopping from lily pad to lily pad.”

            “Yeah, give us a minute,” said Emerson.  “My wings are tired.”

            “We need a break,” said the twins together.

Illustration by Elias
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Well, hurry up then,” stated Audra.  “I’m not tired at all.  In fact, watch this”

            With that Audra zipped away across the water going as fast as she could.  She turned her head to see if her friends were looking and didn’t notice she was heading straight for a large cluster of lily pads.             

            “See guys, I’m still full of energy,” said Audra.

            Then the butterfly twins screamed, “Watch out!”

            When Audra turned her head back around, it was too late.  She plowed into the cluster of lily pads and became helplessly tangled in the underwater vines.  The more she struggled, the more tangled she became.  When she finally stopped struggling, she could barely move any part of her body.

Illustration by Marshall
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Help!” screamed Audra.

            Emerson, Summer, and Madison flew to her as fast as they could while Xavier hopped to the shore closest to her.  However, when they arrived, they just looked.  None of them had any idea how to get Audra untangled.

            “Why are you guys just standing there!” screamed Audra in frustration.  “Help me!”

            Summer looked at her friend with wide eyes and said, “I don’t know how in the world to even begin.”

            Madison flew over and landed on Audra’s back to get a better look.  “Summer, Emerson, and I can’t go underwater,” she stated plainly.  “Xavier, this one is all up to you.”

            Xavier dove into the water and swam around to assess the situation.  It was bad.  This would take a while to even figure out where to begin.

            Xavier came back up to the surface.  “It’s bad,” he said with wide eyes.  “I don’t even know where to begin to untangle that mess.”

Illustration by Jacob  Age:  8
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Audra began to cry, but she couldn’t struggle anymore.  “What am I going to do?” she wailed.  “I can’t just stay here forever.”

            “Is there any way to cut the vines so we can pull you out of the water and then untangle you?” suggested Summer.

            “Maybe we can find a sharp rock that Xavier can use to cut the vines,” added Emerson.

            This sparked everyone into action.  Emerson, Summer, and Madison all flew away in search of a sharp rock.  Before long, Emerson returned with one that would work.  Then Xavier went right to work.  He dove down close to where the vines went into the bottom and began to cut.  After he had cut three of the vines, Audra began to wiggle making Xavier’s job more difficult.

            He came to the surface and said, “Audra, you will have to be very still if you want me to finish cutting all these vines.”

            “Sorry,” said Audra regaining her composure.

Illustration by MacKenzie
Harrelson 2nd grade

            Xavier dove back under and before long, he managed to cut the rest of the vines.  Then he grabbed the vines and helped pull Audra onto the shore.  Audra lay on the shore still unable to move very much at all.  For a moment her friends simply stared at her trying to decide where to begin.

            Finally, Madison decided someone would have to take over so she grabbed a vine and started giving orders.  “Summer, grab that vine and pull it out from under this one.  Now, Emerson, grab that vine and untwist it from the vine Summer has.”

            Before long Madison had managed to untangle the mass of vines and Audra was free.  Audra stretched out her wings and danced around happily.

Illustration by Conner
Harrelson 2nd grade

            “Thanks, guys,” she said as she gave each one a hug.  “I have never been so scared in all my life.  That was awful.”

            “You’re welcome,” said all her friends together.

            “Next time you want to show us something, “ said Madison, “please look where you are going.”

            “You got it,” said Audra sheepishly.

            For the rest of the afternoon the five friends sat on the banks of Polliwog Pond and talked about their big adventure that day.  They all decided that Madison was the best puzzle solver in the world, and that Xavier deserved a medal for his diving feats that day.  It was a day they would never forget.