This another writing assignment for the class I’m taking on The Habit (Writing with Digory). The assignment was to portray characters that are seeing something they don’t have a context for and are therefore confused.
I actually wrote this story for the grands a few months ago, but shortened it for the purposes of the assignment. The main character, Frilly, is a beanie baby that is a favorite of our granddaughter’s, so she often asks me to tell her “Frilly Stories.” Now you know!
Mr. and Mrs. StrongHorse took their filly, Frilly, to the fair, along with Frilly’s baboon friend, Cheeks. They spent a pleasant morning riding the carousel, watching Mr. StrongHorse run races, getting groomed, and eating fair food.
After lunch they strolled around the fairgrounds for a little while, enjoying the sights together. As they passed one building, they heard terrible cries and screams coming from inside. Frilly and Cheeks were frightened, but Mr. StrongHorse said, “Oh, that’s just the Hall of Tantrums – there’s nothing to fear there. Would you like to go inside? We’ll stay with you, and you’ll see some things that are very interesting.” Frilly and Cheeks were as curious as you should be.
The building inside was a hallway of videos on the wall. The sounds of screaming, wailing, crying and whining were coming from all around them, but as they stopped in front of each video, the other videos silenced automatically. The first one showed a little girl sobbing hysterically, her little face red and her eyes shut tight. “NOOOOOOO!” She was screaming. “I WANTED THE YELLOW CUP, NOT THE BLUE ONE!” And she said this over and over.
“Is she hurt?” Cheeks asked with some concern.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” chuckled Mr. StrongHorse. “No, she’s upset because someone gave her some water in a cup that she didn’t want.”
Frilly and Cheeks watched in fascination. “So, she’s not hurt at all,” said Frilly, just to make sure.
“Oh, no, she’s perfectly fine!” explained Mrs. StrongHorse.
“But what difference does it make what color the cup is?” Cheeks couldn’t help asking.
“None at all! That’s what makes it sad and a little funny at the same time,” said Mr. StrongHorse.
“Let’s keep going,” said Frilly, quite interested now to see what was on the other videos.
The next one showed a little boy who had been using a crayon when it broke. His mother offered him a different one, but he threw it across the room in a fit, wailing “IT’S ALL RUINED! I CAN’T DO IT NOW!” and with that, he swept his hands across the table throwing everything on the floor. “RUINED!” And this scene played over and over as well.
Frilly and Cheeks spent a little too much time watching that one – each time the crayon broke and the boy threw a fit, they couldn’t help giggling. They started chanting “RUINED! RUINED!” until Mr. and Mrs. StrongHorse shushed them.
As they approached the next one, they heard the most awful noise – it made them want to cover their ears! Two little ponies had been told it was time to go to bed. They stomped their hoofs and shook their heads, all the while neighing and whining “IDONWANNA IDONWANNA IDONWANNA! IDONWANNA!” The noise was so annoying that the four of them moved quickly onward. Cheeks kept elbowing Frilly and whispering, “Those ponies looked a lot like you – ha ha!”
The next video was the last one in the hallway. Two young monkeys were each given a banana. The first monkey cried, “I WANTED THAT ONE! WHY DID SHE GET IT? HERS LOOKS BETTER THAN MINE! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!” And with that, he threw his perfectly good banana on the ground and stomped on it. Frilly and Cheeks were particularly interested in the way the banana squirted out of the skin when he stomped on it. Cheeks said, “Let’s watch it again- I can’t see any difference between the bananas, can you?” But there was no difference. Frilly couldn’t resist nudging Cheeks, saying, “That monkey looks a lot like you!”
They left the Hall of Tantrums and it was time to go home. Mr. and Mrs. StrongHorse trotted ahead of the two young ones, but could still hear them laughing and shouting, “RUINED!”
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And if this post is RUINED, it’ll be thrown on the floor in the morning.
Lynniebeemuseoday 