Friday, June 12th

Good morning everyone! I don't really know what to do here, but I think it's sort of like a journal, so I am just going to post whatever...

This summer, I plan on writing a screenplay for one of my favorite books, Dave at Night. I decided to do this shortly after seeing the first Percy Jackson movie. SO BAD. Logan Lerman is so much better in the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's on Netflix, you should watch it... Anyway, I also write stories, so I thought I could put one of my stories on here. Why not, right? 

The following story is one my sister and I wrote for a writing contest at my favorite bookstore, Cupboard Maker Books. It's a bookstore AND a cat shelter, so cats just run around the store while you look at books! It's AWESOME. But anyway, hope you like it!

The Very Very Bad Misadventures of: 

Annika The Reluctant Bookstore Cat

Once there was a city called Enola. In this city, there was a bookstore titled Cupboard Maker Books. Living in this bookstore was a Mama cat named Danielle. She had three kittens. The oldest was an orange and black cat named Tiger. He was the leader of the group, and always up for an adventure. The middle kitten was a yellow and brown cat named Leo. He was the clown of the siblings and loved to make mischief whenever he could. The youngest was a fluffy, black and sandy gray cat named Annika. She was quiet and a bit timid, but loyal, and very kind (Except for with her brothers of course!) 

One sunny day as the other two cats were playing around Tiger announced, “I have decided to leave the store. I have my mindset and no one can change my mind. I don't even care if anyone comes with me!” He looked at his sibling’s faces hopefully. “So, who all is going to come with me?” The other kittens just stared at him. “Leave the store? Why?” Annika asked. “There is such good food here and it is always warm!” “ Yeah!” Leo agreed. “And, I was already planning on jumping on some of our regular customers!’” He added “ Now Leo,” Danielle warned from her bed in the corner,” We NEVER jump on the customers on purpose. Right?” “ Yes, Mama.” He replied. But he didn’t sound very sincere, and just grinned when Danielle wasn’t looking.” Tiger, why would you ever want to leave the bookstore?” Danielle inquired. “It is very comfy, and the humans wait on our paw and foot! “ Well,” Tiger said. “I have been getting a little bored with the store. I”m getting curious about the outside world, and trying to jump across the bookshelves just isn’t enough excitement for me anymore.” “ Well, I’ll come!” Leo declared. “There’s got to be more people I can jump on outside!” He then glanced at his mom, glaring in the corner. “I mean, I’m getting tired of the store a little too,“ He replied sheepishly. “So Leo is coming with me. Is anyone else?” Tiger and Leo stared at Annika pointedly. “I guess I'll come.” Annika sighed. “But the minute we get too cold or too hungry, I’m going to tell you I told you so all the way home! ” She replied. “Works for me!” Tiger shrugged. “Okay, last but not least, Mama are you coming?” “ Umm…” She hesitated. “I think I’ll stay here. Just promise to stay safe and take care of each other .” “ Okay Mama, we’ll miss you, but we’ll come back,” Tiger promised. After kissing their Mama goodbye, they climbed through a window that was left open and was gone.

The kittens squinted in the sunlight. “ There is a LOT more light out here than in the bookstore!” Annika whined. “Can we go home now?” “If you’re going to complain the entire time, you might as well go back”. Tiger scolded. Annika mumbled in response but still kept up with the group. They had been walking for a little while when the kitten’s stomachs started to grumble. “ I’m hungry.” Annika grouched. “When’s lunch?” “ We can eat when we find food!” Tiger said annoyed. “ For now, keep an eye out and sniff around a bit. The kittens had walked down the road a little more when they saw the huge sign in the sky. “ Dair-ry Queen?” Annika read. (Living in a bookstore all her life allows her to know how to read!) “ Sounds like a castle for cows or something.” Leo guessed. “ Whatever it is, I think I smell food!” Tiger exclaimed. They walked around the restaurant until they saw a white blob, melting on the hot blacktop. “ What is it?” Annika asked. “ I’m not sure,” said Leo. “ But it kinda smells like milk!” “I say we try it!” Tiger decided. “It smells good, and we’re all so hungry!” Annika sniffed the sticky mass before licking it hesitantly. “It tastes all right.” She told her brothers. “ Kind of cold, like ice or snow!” “ Then we should call it ice milk!” Tiger declared, after tasting a bit for himself. “ Try it!” He told Leo. “ It’s really good!” “ Okay.” He said. He slurped up a huge chunk and succeeded in getting it all over his nose and whiskers. “ Eww! Leo!” Annika whined. “ Now you’re going to be sticky!” “ I don’t think he’ll be sticky for long,” Tiger said, as he looked up, noticing a few gray clouds. “ We should find a place to stay before the rain starts.” He said. The kittens hurried in after an unsuspecting customer and inside. They walked around unnoticed and snuck behind the front counter. “ There’s even more ice milk in here!” Leo observed. “ There is enough food here to last us for years!” “ It’s really cold though, and I want to go to bed,” Annika complained. “ Aww, what adorable kittens!” Jenna, one of the employees exclaimed. They can get rid of all the mice in my attic!” Miss Jenna picked up the kittens and brought them home. “You’ll be very comfortable up here!” Jenna said after she took the kittens to the attic. “ And there is plenty of yummy mice for you to eat!” She left the kittens to look around. “ It’s very dark in here!” Leo said. “ There should be a light switch somewhere!” Annika replied. “ Here it is!” Tiger said. He flipped the switch and the room filled with the warm light. “AAAAA!” Leo screamed. He had come face to face with an antique doll with large eyes and a painted-on smile. “ What is it? “Annika asked as she hid under a blanket, quite afraid of the toy. “ Whatever it is, I don’t like it at all.” Leo decided. “Let’s cover it up with one of these blankets,” Annika suggested. The kittens quickly took a blanket and put over the doll. Hiss. Hisss. “What was that? “ Leo asked. Suddenly, a huge rat snuck out of the shadows. “ What do we do?” Annika whispered-shouted. “Hide?” Leo suggested. “ For now,” Tiger replied. “ Then we can stay safe while we make a plan.” The kittens hurried to the corner and looked around for something useful. “ Ouch! I just stepped on something sharp!” Annika yelped after finding a sewing needle in her paw. “ That could help!” Tiger said. “Got any more?” “ Yeah, here’s a whole box!” Annika said. They picked up the sewing needles and stepped out of the corner. “You know, I’m surprised that the rat didn’t do anything while we were making a plan in the corner back there.” Leo noticed. “We were there for at least five minutes and he didn’t do anything.” “ We’re in a story, it doesn’t have to make much sense.” Annika pointed out. “ANYWAY… can we get back to the whole ‘not being eaten by a giant rat’ thing?” Tiger asked. “ Sure, why not?” Leo replied. “ CHAARRRGE!” The kittens ran towards the rat, sewing needles at the ready. “WAIT! STOP!” a raspy voice yelled. “ Huh? Who said that?” The kittens looked around for the speaker but saw no one except the rat. “ Excuse me, but why are you trying to attack me?” the rats asked. “Because we thought that you wanted to attack us!” The kittens said, clearly very confused.“I only got angry because when you were afraid of the doll, the brown one sat on my tail, and scratched my arm!” “Oh, sorry! I thought your tail was a wire or something and that your arm was a pillow!” Leo said. “ Very soft fur by the way!” “ Thanks!” the rat said. “But can you guys not kill me?” He asked. “Um, yeah, sure.” the kittens replied. “ I didn’t want to kill something anyway…” Annika admitted. “ I don’t think I could go through with it.” “ Me either,” Leo said. “ Why don’t we just try again and be friends!” 

“Sure!” The rat exclaimed. “My name is Ratatouille von CheeseBall.” He said. “ But you can call me 

Mr. CheeseBall for short.” “ Okay!” The kittens said. “ Do you know a way out Mr. CheeseBall?” Annika asked. “ This place is giving me the creeps!” “ Of course! Jenna keeps forgetting to fix the hole in the wall down the hall.” Mr. CheeseBall explained. “ We can use the hole to get out! The rain must have stopped by now.” The kittens and Mr. CheeseBall leaped down the stairs and crawled out of the hole. They were gone!

THE END 

(For now!)

I think I stop there for today...Let me know what you think about the story! I think I might write stories for CheeseBall and the other cats! 😊