The Curse of the Maroon Hi-Lighter: Book 1, Chapter 1

Author's note: I can't believe I found this story! I wrote it in 5th grade, and I loved it! I loved to read it to the class, who was kind enough to pay attention and act as though they loved it! I was talking to an old friend about it recently, and she said she actually remembered me reading these stories to the class!!! "And I hung my head in shame and wept". I don't know where that quote came from, but I like it. So, here's Chapter 1. Laugh, please, COMMENT! I'm dying to know what you think!

One day in the “The Hooligan Islands of the South Sea,” there was a girl named, “Waknabee.” She and her brother, “Samgono” were out in the garden looking for some ripe: tomatoes, bananas, watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, carrots, onions, radishes, and strawberries, when a little, old, short lady with a basket full of some leafy substance inside came up. Her hair was as orange as the pumpkin Samgono’s hands. Her face was as pink as the petunia in the front yard. Her skin looked like a raisin. She said in a wheezy sort of voice, “Would you children like a little present? I have a maroon hi-lighter for the little girl.”

She pulled the hi-lighter out of the basket and handed the hi-lighter to Waknabee, “And for the boy, a little bag of magic seeds. Little boy, little boy, listen to my words. There are only 35 seeds in that rabbit skin bag. Make a wish each time you plant a seed. Only about plants though. Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself!” She said with a little less wheezyness in her voice, “I am Vancanieniea of the most southern Island of the Hooligan Islands. We are known for our wheezy voices. That is how you can tell where we are from. Our wheezy voices can be high, low, medium, soft, or loud but they all have the same rhythm.”

She took the leafy green substance and threw it up in the air as she said words that wouldn’t be translated as she walked off into the rising sun.

Waknabee and Samgono watched where the little, old, short lady had disappeared from view for a long time, thinking hard about what had just happened. About the little lady, what they had been sent outside to do, what she had said, what she had given them, what she had looked like, and what would happen next.

They looked at each other and said at the same time, “Oh wow…that was strange.”