The Tale of the Boring Afternoon

Illustration by Nick  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

          Emerson the dragonfly sat on a cattail next to Polliwog Pond.  He was bored.  He wished his friends would come to Polliwog Pond so that he could play with them, but they were nowhere in sight. 

            Finally after sitting and waiting longer than he could stand, he set out in search of his friends.  He found the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison, in the clearing.  They were making flower headbands.

Illustration by Amelia  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            “Hey guys,” Emerson called.  “What are you doing?”

            “We’re making flower headbands for Audra’s birthday party tomorrow,” said Summer.  “She wants everyone at the party to have one.”

            “Oh,” sighed Emerson.  He figured they would be too busy to play with him.

            “Have you seen Hayden and Xavier?” asked Emerson hopefully.

            “We saw them a couple of hours ago,” said Madison.  “They said something about pretending to be pirates.  Hayden was going to be the ship, and they were going over to the other side of the pond to look for buried treasure.”

            “Oh,” signed Emerson.  He really didn’t want to fly all the way across the pond and going around would take too long.

            “Well I guess I’ll leave you guys to your work,” said Emerson as he flew back to the pond. 

Illustration by Neely  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            He landed on the same cattail he had been sitting on before.   He sighed.  Then he started getting angry with his friends for being gone or being busy.  Then he started feeling sorry for himself because he was so bored.  He sighed again.

            After he could stand it no longer, he decided he would fly around.  At least it was better than sitting and pouting.  He flew over the tall grass hoping to find something interesting, but all he saw were rocks, grass, and dirt.  He landed on a rock and sighed again.  He went through the same thoughts he had had on the cattail, but it didn’t make him any less bored.

Illustration by Brooke  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            As he sat there going through all the reasons his friends had abandoned him, he began to notice the rock under him.  It reminded him of a tower on a castle.  Then he remembered all the rocks he had seen as he flew over the tall grass, and an idea began to form.  He flew back to the tall grass and began to bring rocks to the tower rock.  He carefully placed them to make walls.  He placed some in such a way that they formed a gate.  He worked and worked until he had made a rock castle fortress.  When he was satisfied with his new creation, he flew back to Polliwog Pond to see if Hayden and Xavier had returned from the other side of the pond.

Illustration by Presieya  Age:  7
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            As he reached the banks, he saw Hayden with Xavier riding on his back swimming toward him.  They had all kinds of rocks and other treasures that they had found on the other side.

            “Har! Maties!” called Xavier when he saw Emerson.  “Who goes there!”

            “Hey guys,” said Emerson excitedly.  “I’m so glad you are back.  Come see the rock fortress I made this afternoon.”

Illustration by Jamaree  Age:  8
Ms. Ashley James 2nd grade class

            Xavier climbed down from Hayden’s shell when they reached the shore.  Then the two friends followed Emerson.  When they reached the rock castle fortress, Hayden and Xavier just stood there with their mouths open for a few minutes.

            “Did you make this all by yourself?” exclaimed Xavier obviously impressed.

            “This is the coolest castle I have ever seen!” said Hayden as he stared in wonder at Emerson’s creation.

            “Hey, why don’t you guys put your treasure in the castle, and we can pretend we are defending it against invaders,” suggested Emerson.

            Hayden and Xavier liked that idea a lot.  The boys went into the castle and defended it from invaders for the rest of the afternoon.  That castle became one of their favorite places to play.  Emerson was so proud that he had made it all by himself.