Junior Journalists

These are the fourth grade Junior Journalist stories. The Junior Journalist Club is a partnership between the Citrus County School District and the Citrus Times to promote excellence in writing.

A Rustling Outside

One moonlit night in summer, I was camping in my family's pasture with my best friend, Jessie. We were playing "war" with one of my many decks of cards.

We are startled by a rustling that we hear outside the tent. We can't figure out what it is. I'm scared a little, and I can tell by the look in Jessie's eyes that she's scared, too.

"What was that?" I whine, mostly to myself.

"Probably just a snake!" she jokes nervously. She knows that I hate snakes. (I almost stepped on one once! Actually, it was just a tiny snake with a ring around its neck.) I hope it's not a snake.

"Oh, come on, I was only kidding!" Jessie scolds gently.

"I know!? I lie. My mind goes wild with horrible ideas of what it could be. Could it be a bear? If it is, it could be hungry and looking for food. It may smell our food! I glance at our knapsacks, which I know contain tomorrow's breakfast. I'm imagining a huge black bear. I hope it doesn't eat people!

My mind is twisting around inside my head like a tornado! It could be a coyote. It may be rabid! Vicious and foaming at the mouth, jaw-rigid! Snarling and ready to bite! I wish my mom and dad could be here. Jessie and I are really scared!

I wonder if coyotes or bears stink? Because the smell I smell is awful and musty. Wait! I've smelled this smell before! Jessie and I nod at each other, we hold our noses and open the tent flap. Something with a black body and a white stripe down its back waddles away from our stinking tent. A skunk! It must have been startled by our tent and sprayed it. P.U.! I guess we'll be going back to the house early!

-- EMILY SPILIOS, Pleasant Grove Elementary School

The Dream Bus

Last year I went to a boring school in a boring bus with nothing to do, but this year ... I won't. There is one bus, not a bus with a number, instead its name is a dream bus! There are three rooms, four, including the seat part. There is Al, A2, and A3.

Wow! What a dream. In room A1, it has a kitchen! As soon as I get on the bus I sprinted down the aisle. "Don't run!" yelled Mr. Jones, my bus driver. "Thud." I hit the wall. I slowly opened the door like they do on those corny TV shows. The room should have been called the cupboard room. I quickly opened each one, from top to bottom to left to right. They were full of food!

I grabbed at the cupboard labeled, "fruits." "Yum!" I thought in my mind. I opened it. Palmagrams! Cherries! Coconuts! Pineapples! All my favorite fruits!

I jabbed at the pile of coconuts. Okay, I have the coconut now. "How do I open it?", I thought. Then there was a drawer I never noticed before. "Things to eat food with." I opened it, it had seasonings and utensils in it. I looked at an odd contraption with a plastic seal, labeled "coconut cutter." I opened it and "crack, crack," went the coconut and finally, after a great deal of struggling, "pop." I opened it. I drank the milk inside. "Gulp." I was eating so fast without knowing it I was already done with the first half.

"School!" yelled Mr. Jones. I grabbed my book bag and ran out of Room A1. The funny thing I noticed was there were only five other passengers. "Thanks!" I yelled, after jumping off the bus.

I couldn't stop thinking of my bus and its rooms all day. I just stared off into space. I was staring at my teacher, Mrs. Becker, just so she'd think I was paying attention.

The next day I leaped on the bus. Slowly I walked down the aisle so Mr. Jones wouldn't yell. I opened the white door to room A2. "A BIG Screen TV!" I choked out. I was surprised when I sat down. I saw a box under the TV table. I pulled it out, all these boxes were attached by string! X-box, Playstation2, Playstation, Super Nintendo, everything! It had every game you could think of. I played Jax and Doxter on Playstation2.

I rode on the bus eating pineapple in front of the big screen. As soon as Mr. Jones said stop No. 1, I grabbed my book bag and skipped off the bus.

I stayed up that night. I was writing to my friend in Hawaii. I told her about my bus and that it's the only bus like that. She sent me back a letter. She told me how she was stunned at my good fortune. I did my homework and went to bed dreaming of my bus and room A3. Maybe it would have animals, or maybe it was full of board games or something.

I woke up the next morning and ran to the bus stop, I jumped on the bus, ran to room A3, not listening to my bus driver. I opened 20 cupboards with my eyes closed. I opened them very hesitantly. "Jelly beans!" I opened the rest of the cupboards, they were full of candy. I took a Butterfinger and a bunch of jelly beans. I quickly ran to room A1, took a few palmagrams, and went to room A2 to watch a movie. I put in Ice Age. Just on the good part my bus driver told us to go to school. With that I leaped off my bus and ran to homeroom. I finished watching Ice Age on my way home on the bus.

That day my bus broke down. The next day my bus didn't say Dream Bus, instead it was 200-31. I asked Mr. Jones what happened, he said the bus broke down and they don't know how to fix it.

From that day on, my bus was never the Dream Bus again. That night my mom woke me up. I told her about my bus and she just shook her head and said no. She told me she went on my bus to examine it and it wasn't like that. I found out it really was a dream. But my bus driver's name really is Mr. Jones.

-- MASUMI PALHOF, Crystal River Primary School

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