|
~ Collect - a - Book! ~
from
~ Glory Bound Books ~
Your source for
FREE
children's stories,
fables, short fairy tales, children's literature,
and educational and homeschool resources for reading!
It's children's literature at its best!
***
Glory Bound Books
presents
~ Once Upon A Twisted Tale ~
BOOK TWO
Chaos In The Clouds
by
Leah Berry and Cindy Knowlton
~ Storytellers for THE KING! ~
Copyright © 2002
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
~ A Gripping Situation! ~
***
...Where dreams come true...
They say that one man's trash is another man's treasure. And it was here, in the greatest treasure kingdom imaginable, that RaToni found himself that day... a junk yard supreme!
In the center of the yard stood an office. Well... it was little more than a shack, really... a shack of corrugated tin, turned to rust by the forces of rain, sleet and snow. Inside, old wooden pop bottle cases stuffed with yellowing papers were nailed to the wall above a dilapidated metal desk of indeterminate age. Its desktop was littered with overflowing ashtrays, half filled coffee cups, pencil stubs and an untidy array of paperwork. Paper clips lay where they had fallen on the floor around the desk, amidst small mountains of pipe ash and debris.
An old swivel chair stood in front of the desk, its metal arms and pedestal scratched, and the stuffing poking through the dozen odd cracks and cuts in the worn green leather cushion. Though no one sat in the chair right now, Old Joe was known to every pack rat around.
...Old Joe...
He wasn't a big man... just 5'3" in his stocking feet - stockings that could use a good wash and a mend! But Old Joe had a barrel chest... 54 inches of rock hard muscle, with biceps to match from years of throwing scrap iron. NOBODY fooled with Old Joe. Rats are pretty smart creatures and they knew enough to stay out of his way, too.
No sign of the treasure here, thought RaToni. Time to move on. Out in the yard, long rows of junk were laid out in streets, radiating like the spokes of a wheel from the central office building. At the beginning of each one, a metal sign was hung by chain links from a lighted iron post... naming the street for the kind of junk it contained.
Ducking for cover, RaToni ran... bobbing and weaving from street to street until he found the one whose sign read PAPER PRODUCTS. Oh, it's true that when he looked up and saw the tall bundles of paper... bound, stacked and towering above him... he nearly lost heart. But only for a moment. He shook away the feeling of despair, remembering that with GOD's help, he was 'An Army Of One'!
RaToni pulled out two of the long straight pins from his tent pack, and uncoiled the braided rope. Using these tools, he climbed the towering stacks until he reached the summit. From here he could survey the entire street. But it was clear that this was not where he would find the treasure. He wasn't strong enough to extract anything from the tightly bound, compressed bundles of paper. And it looked as if the bundles had been there for longer than the treasure had even been lost.
'But where,' he thought, 'Where would it be?' Silently he surveyed the yard. It was then that he noticed the dump site for incoming materials. 'There! The treasure will be there!'
He ran along the summit, pausing now and then to check for Old Joe and the men who worked for him. At the end of the stacks he paused to rest... a quick bite to eat and he was ready to move on.
...Sounds of danger...
RaToni peeked over the edge... Old Joe and his men! Right under his nose! 'What if they smell my cheese?! NO... I won't let them have my cheese! A rat must fight for his cheese!' he thought. But, no... it was going to be alright. Old Joe was sending them on a lunch break. That was too close. Time to move out while they're gone!
RaToni gathered his gear and repelled down the stacks, hitting the bottom hard. With a quick tug on the lines the tent poles broke free, falling to the ground. Lost in the daydream of what he would do next, he wasn't as attentive as he should have been while the poles fell... and he let out an angry squeak when one of them nicked him in the nose on its way down!
Out of sorts, angry, and sporting an enormous bandage on his nose, the little soldier marched boldly across the road and climbed onto a large pile of metal salvage where he could look down onto the pile of loose papers waiting to be bundled. But the bandage impaired his vision just enough that there was nothing to do but begin sorting through the pile, piece by piece.
...So that is what he did...
Working from the backside, he felt he was safely hidden from view and went to work. Paper flew like confetti as the little soldier feverishly went to work. The day was moving into evening when he stopped to rest. He was just taking a big bite of Maple Nut Fudge when something caught his eye... something beyond the end of his bandage... something stuck in the fence!
...Could it be?...
RaToni dropped the fudge and ran to the fence! Carefully he released the roll of bark from the fence link and slowly opened it to reveal a part of the lost treasure. He had done it! GOD had helped him and he was An Army Of One! Joy filled his little heart to think that he - RaToni The Pack Rat - could help THE KING!
Quickly he repacked his gear and moved out. RaToni was so excited that he didn't pack the treasure away, but cradled it in his arms as he walked along the fence dreaming of how happy everyone would be at the return of another letter.
But he should have paid attention. If he had, then the awful thing that happened next would not have happened at all! Around RaToni the sounds of the junk yard were increasing... but he didn't hear. So imagine the surprise and shock when a great force began to pull him, slamming him - metal backpack first - onto the great magnet! The great magnet whose job it was to pull metal into the crusher!
No! It can't be! Cubed for all eternity! RaToni began squeaking as loudly as he could... but would anyone hear over the sound of the crusher... the crusher that was waiting as the great magnet slowly pulled him to his death?
...In the sky...
A sudden movement in the air, a great shadow hovered and then dove straight for RaToni, pulling the letter from his arms! It was The Eagle Squadron! Help had arrived! Another shadow descended, clipping the vine with its razor sharp talons... the vine that bound RaToni to the backpack and the coin armor, freeing him to run safely home. VICTORY!
~ And once more
the wind's anger began to blow ~
***
~ The Tale Continues ~
CHAPTER EIGHT
A Call To Arms
***
CLICK HERE
to sign up at page bottom for
The News Flash Email Newsletter!
We'll send you an email
when each new chapter is ready!
***
~ Glory Bound Books ~
Your source for
FREE
children's stories,
fables, short fairy tales, children's literature,
and educational and homeschool resources for reading!
It's children's literature at its best!
***
Thanks for stopping by! Come again soon ~
And don't forget to turn the page!
| 
