Snips, Snails & Puppy Dog Tales: A Children's Story Collection Read online

  Awww, man!!!!

  My Dad smacks when he eats really loudly.

  I mean it is really loud, and we know that he knows it.

  Usually, Ma makes rice, corn, and broccoli, which happen to be my favorites.

  There is often no talking at the table or wherever we happen to be eating, just thanking Ma for fixing such a great meal.

  Eating dinner like this always reminds me of the people on TV having dinner.

  © 2014 James Gordon.

  ORION AND THE GIANT SNAIL FROM SHALAMAR!

  By Kristina Blasen

  One morning Orion woke up very early, so early the sun was just a tiny pink sliver in the sky. It was so early his doggie Zena was still curled up at the foot of the bed fast asleep. First Orion str-e-tched and then he y-aw-ned. Feeling more awake, he grabbed his special keys and slid quickly out of bed. He stood for a moment and watched his doggie friend Zena as she slept. She was funny! She twitched and she smiled her doggie smile and her feet were moving just like she was pretending to run!

  She must be dreaming of chasing those silly fat bunnies, he thought, so I won't wake her up.

  But he did want to go on an adventure and there were some other friends of his who were always ready to play at night - the kitty-cats! Mosey is the black kitty-cat with shiny long hair and a big fluffy tail and his kitty friend Zsa Zsa has lots of colors and loves to play chase. Mommy calls her a "torte" kitty. Orion decided that since he was awake he'd go find the kitties and see what kind of fun and mischief they were up to at night when he was usually sleeping.

  Very slowly he opened his bedroom door and then, quick, he tippy-toed down the hallway. "Swee, swee, swee," he called the kitties just like his mommy. He snuck down the dim hallway and then he tippy-toed into the living room. "Swee, swee, swee, kitty, kitty," he whispered rather loudly. Still no kitties. Where could they be? he thought. "Swee, swee, swee," he called a little louder as tippy-toed down the stairs.

  Maybe that silly Zsa Zsa's gone to sleep on mommy's head again, he thought with a smile. Mommy always thinks that's really funny.

  But then he heard a familiar sound, galump, galump, galump it went.

  At the bottom of the stairs he looked out the window and saw the kitties playing chase across the front yard. "Whee, come and play chase with us," they called as they ran around.

  The kitties were having a grand old time chasing fireflies through the tall grass. Poor Mosey always looked resigned to playing chase with the energetic Zsa Zsa though, since all he really wanted to do was meander here and there sniffing everything as he went-rather like a dog.

  The door went cree-aak into the quiet night as Orion carefully opened it and slipped out to play. He stepped out barefoot and still in his pajamas from the night before. The grass was slippery and still wet with dew. Still clutching his special keys in his hand he gave chase to Zsa Zsa and the horde of fireflies all around the yard. Mosey was content to sit and watch. He even chewed a little grass as he watched the boy and the kitty on the hunt.

  After awhile they were tired, the sun was almost up and the fireflies had gone so they all sat together on the driveway to rest and catch their breath. Orion sat scratching Zsa Zsa's head and looking around at the world so early in the morning. He noticed that the driveway was criss-crossed with all these weird shiny trails that zig-zagged and traveled in great loping circles and off into every direction.

  I wonder what they are, he thought. He decided to go and investigate.

  Zsa Zsa followed along hoping they could play some more. Mosey just sat on his haunches, contemplating a little hoppy bug in the grass, but feeling too lazy to chase it.

  Orion walked closer to the strange trails on the driveway and as he did, a funny thing happened; his keys grew warm in his hand.

  He looked down and noticed that the orange key had little zig-zags and circles on it, just like the driveway. He rubbed the key off on his pajama top, trying to see the markings better. Swish, it made a little noise and he looked up to find himself and Zsa Zsa in a land of green grasses, loamy brown soil, shallow ponds and weeds as high as the sky.

  He wasn’t too startled at the change since he was used to seeing rather extraordinary things by now ever since he went on his first adventures with his mommy which is how he got a set of special keys in the first place.

  He looked out across the green landscape and saw funny spiral houses in every color you could imagine. There were blue ones and red ones, yellow ones and orange ones and even brown speckly polka-dotted ones. Here and there three or four of the funny-looking houses were grouped together around clumps of weeds that stood so tall they were like skyscrapers. It was like a little neighborhood.

  As Orion stood looking around, the ever curious Zsa Zsa had already loped ahead to check out the nearest spiral house, so Orion set off after her before she could get into trouble.

  “Hello,” Orion called ahead. “Does anyone want to play with me?”

  He was standing at the bottom of a strange looking house, which was blue like the ocean on a cold day and looking for the front door when out from behind a tall stalk of grass came something strange. It was a head with two antennae with eyeballs on top.

  “What are you,” Orion asked in awe.

  “I’m a snail, what are you?” the snail asked.

  He tried to think how to address a snail properly since he knew his mommy would want him to mind his manners, but since he couldn’t think of anything better he just said exactly what he thought, “Wow, you are so cool!”

  “Thanks, I think,” the snail said. He seemed distracted with his antennae looking in two different directions and moving every which way, but then he said, “Yes, I was feeling a little cool with my head stuck outside of my shell the way it is today. I really must do something about that…”

  “Where are we?” Orion asked looking around.

  “Here?” the snail asked. “This is Shalamar, we’re famous you know.”

  “Wow,” Orion said. “Why are you famous?” he asked. But then, before the snail could answer, Orion got a little too excited and launched into a whole bunch of questions, all in a row.

  “Will you play with me?...Are all the other houses snails like you?...When is everyone going to come out and play with me?...Isn’t today a great day?”

  “Woah, young…creature…how do I know you’re not trying to eat me with this silly offer to play?” the snail asked.

  Orion snorted, and with a forthright gaze that he was known for at home and at school, he said matter-of-factly, “First, I’m much too small to eat you and second, I like juice boxes and bananas best of all, and snail just sounds -- gross!” then, “Oh, sorry,” he added thinking his friend might be insulted.

  “Hmm,” the snail thought. He thought for a long time, so long in fact, that Zsa Zsa had wandered off to play stalk-and-pounce in the grass while Orion stood waiting and hoping that his new friend would want to play.

  “If you want to play then I will play with you, but first I have to see the giant about getting a new shell. There’s no room in here at all. In fact, the only reason why I spoke to you was because I couldn’t get my head back inside my shell.” Then he added, “What if you would have been a bird? I could have been eaten!”

  The snail was right, Orion thought, trying to peek inside his shell, there was no more room in there. “You really could have been eaten,” Orion agreed.

  Then he went on, speaking in his most solemn voice, “Well, I'll go with you to find the giant and I can help you convince him to give you a new shell so you won’t get eaten.”

  “Um, by the way, where is this giant we need to see, anyway?” he asked.

  “Over there of course,” the snail replied pointing with his antennae.

  Orion looked where the snail pointed and at first he didn’t see anything but green grass, then he saw it. It was a giant snail bigger than the tallest weeds and its shell held all the colors of the rainbow! He was impressed and secretly glad they weren’t go
ing looking for a real giant.

  Trying to be friendly, Orion set off with the snail through the grass calling Zsa Zsa back from her game of stalk-and-pounce. “Swee, Swee, Swee, kitty, kitty,” he called and she came running.

  “So, what’s your name?” he asked the snail.

  “Name? I don’t think I have a name, no one’s ever called me by one…” the snail said.

  “No name, I can’t call you “snail”," Orion huffed. "I’ll call you “Blu”, like your shell,” said Orion.

  Orion looked back to make sure Zsa Zsa wasn’t getting into trouble. She was sniffing at something shiny in the grass. He noticed a long meandering line of shiny stuff was following Blu the snail wherever he went, now Orion knew the secret of the lines he’d seen on the driveway.

  Orion and Blu did convince the giant snail of Shalamon to give Blu a new, roomier shell and they made sure it was a nice robin’s egg blue one, in honor of his new name.

  Zsa Zsa smiled and told Orion she missed her kitty friend Mosey and Orion knew Mommy would be looking for him soon enough, so he rubbed his orange key and went home to eat his favorite breakfast, a juice box and a yummy banana!

  Now, instead of an orange key on Orion's special key ring, there hangs a little tuft of grass with a city of snails, one of every color, but the blue one’s winking and Orion likes that one best of all.

  The End

  © 2014 Kristina Blasen

  THE BIG WATERSLIDE

  By Peter W. Collier

  Charlie didn't want to slide from the top;

  It wasn't a slide, but was more like a drop;

  Ten stories down, without any stop;

  Down at the bottom, both his ears popped;

  Into the pool, on his belly he plopped;

  Across the surface he flipped and flopped;

  Skimmed all the way across, with a hop;

  Bounced past the fence, over the top;

  Past the bus stop;

  Through the gift shop;

  Smacked into the wall with a very loud pop;

  The glop left from Charlie, cleaned up with a mop.

  © 2014 Peter W. Collier

  THE THREE ELEPHANTS

  By Alan Hardy

  In a land not far from here lived three elephants, Mummy Elephant, Daddy Elephant and Baby Elephant.

  They lived in a pretty little cottage. The cottage was next to a beautiful wood and in the spring, when the weather was warm and the birds were singing, they would go for walks through the wood. They would walk slowly and lazily, gazing at the beautiful countryside around them. Baby Elephant would always follow his mother and father, curling his trunk around the tail in front of him, so that he wouldn’t get lost.

  When they got to the middle of the wood, they always stopped, because, in the middle of the wood, to the left, there were the most beautiful flowers you could hope to see. There were so many beautiful flowers stretching away into the distance, and, as Baby Elephant stood there, he would smell the flowers, the sweetest smell you could imagine, and he would be lost in his dreams. After a while they would take a last look at the flowers on their left, and turn slowly to the right, careful that their big feet didn’t trample on any of the flowers. They would then retrace their steps home.

  ***

  This day was even hotter than normal when Mummy Elephant and Baby Elephant decided to take their walk. As they trundled slowly off, they raised their heads to say goodbye to Daddy Elephant who wanted to stay at home to finish his work. He was painting the outside of their cottage. He was holding a big, big paint-brush in his trunk. His trunk already had splashes of pink all over it.

  Holding his mother’s tail as she ambled slowly off through the trees, Baby Elephant followed, looking round, as he always did, at the beautiful countryside around him.

  They got to the middle of the wood. Baby Elephant stared at the mass of flowers on his left, and the rainbow of colours. Orange, red, yellow and blue. But his favourites were the purple flowers.

  Because it had been such a lovely morning, they had left a little earlier on their trip than normal, and suddenly his mother had an idea.

  ”Let’s not go straight back home,” she said. “Let’s spend a little time walking amongst the flowers for a change. We’ll turn left, not right as we normally do. But be careful not to trample on any of the flowers.”

  Baby Elephant was thrilled and, his trunk holding on tightly to his mother’s tail, he waited for her to turn left into the flowers. As he did so, he breathed in deeply, and for a moment the beautiful scent of the flowers made him dizzy with joy.

  Then he looked down to follow his mother. But she wasn’t there! She had disappeared! He looked up at the flowers, but he still couldn’t see her. He became very scared and called out to her. There was no answer, just the sound of his nervous cry dying out in the distance. He looked to the right where the trees were quite thick, and realized his mother must have changed her mind and decided to go home, thinking he would follow.

  He decided to go home to make sure. Still very worried, he turned to the right and walked quickly back through the wood, his big body swaying from side to side.

  When he got to the cottage he could see a lot more pink paint on the walls and on his father’s trunk, but no sign of his mother.

  “Hullo. Back already? Where’s your mother?”

  “Isn’t she here?” he blurted out, almost unable to speak.

  His father looked at him sharply.

  “What’s happened?” he asked.

  When Baby Elephant had explained everything, his father quickly decided what to do.

  “Take me back to where you last saw her. We’ll find her. She’s just got lost, that’s all. Hold tight to my tail.”

  Tossing his paint-brush aside, his father moved off, and Baby Elephant followed, trying to keep up with his father’s steps, sometimes bumping into him as he almost ran after him. Breathing hard, he guided his father so that they retraced the steps followed earlier by himself and his mother.

  When they got to the middle of the wood, he told his father to stop by the flowers.

  “What happened next?” his father asked.

  “She turned left into the flowers, instead of turning right and going back to the cottage.”

  “OK,” his father said slowly and calmly. “We’ll do the same. Then we’ll find her.”

  Baby Elephant had such confidence in his father that he no longer felt worried, and knew everything would be all right. He turned to look at the flowers, and once again all the yellows and blues and purples, and their magic smell, seemed to put him into a trance, just for a moment.

  Shaking his head, like shaking off sleep, he looked down to follow his father. But his father wasn’t there! He had disappeared! Baby Elephant’s heart missed a beat and he wanted to cry. He looked quickly to see if his father was walking among the flowers, but he couldn’t see anybody.

  “Daddy! Daddy!” he called out, but a stony silence answered him. He tried to call out again, but he was so scared the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

  He nearly panicked, and would have begun to run here and there without any purpose, and got lost, if he hadn’t remembered his parents’ advice. They had told him never to lose his head if something went wrong, and always go home if he got separated from them and found himself alone. Perhaps his father had seen his mother somewhere in the wood, and had gone off to join her, thinking Baby Elephant would follow him. Yes, he was sure that was it. Then they must have gone home, always thinking he was following them. Of course! That was it! They were probably both in the cottage now.

  Baby Elephant walked quickly through the wood, sure he would find them, but the rustling sound of his feet on the grass and twigs made him feel so alone.

  As he approached the cottage he could see its walls half-painted in pink, and the paint-brush on the ground where his father had dropped it, but nothing else. He didn’t have the courage to call out. Once inside the cottage, he looked into each room. The
y were all empty. He burst into tears. He was on his own, and he was scared!

  Trying to be a big elephant, he wiped the tears from his eyes with his trunk, and thought and thought. What must he do? What would his father do?

  Then he realized there was only one thing he could do. He would have to return to the middle of the wood where the flowers were. If his parents weren’t at home, then they had to be somewhere in the wood.

  He slowly retraced his steps. Try as he might to walk fast, his legs felt wobbly and weak. How he wished he had a tail in front of him to keep hold of and guide him safely along the way!

  When he got back to the flowers, he stopped and listened. There was total silence. There was nobody to be seen. What could he do?

  He realized he had to go where his father and mother had gone. He had to turn left into the flowers.

  As he turned left, he looked at the flowers and once more caught a whiff of their sweetness.

  Then, stirring himself, he looked down at the ground in front of him. His heart missed a beat. He couldn’t see his feet! He looked at where his trunk should have been, but there was nothing there! He had disappeared!

  He was frantic! Unable to think, he found himself retracing the path back to the cottage. When he got near, he looked up. But he wasn’t there! There was nobody there, neither outside nor inside.

  His heart beating louder and louder, he found himself rushing off once again through the wood. What could he do other than retrace and retrace his steps forever and ever?

  He arrived at the flowers again, totally puzzled. There was only silence and emptiness.

  And then it came to him. He must turn right and return to the cottage. He mustn’t turn left into the flowers! It was so simple. So obvious.

  As soon as he turned right he could see his big feet stepping out ahead of him and his trunk swaying before his eyes. He was back again!

  Feeling so happy, he rushed through the wood, no longer worried. As he approached the beautiful cottage he looked up. His mother and father were standing outside and looking at the totally pink walls with big smiles, his father holding the paint-brush in his totally pink trunk. They turned round as they heard him coming. He rushed towards them, his eyes full of tears of joy.