Monday, April 11, 2011

It's all in the Gravy


It’

It’s All in the Gravy
Author and Illustrator
Abby M
      

















    Annie Banannie publishers April 2011
Belgrade, Serbia



Acknowledgment
For my Grandmother, Beverly M




Table of Contents
Chapter 1                                                                       Pages 5-6
Chapter 2                                                                           Page 7
Chapter 3                                                                           Page 8
Chapter 4                                                                         Pages 9-10
Chapter 5                                                                           Page 11
Chapter 6                                                                       Pages 12-13
About The Author                                                        Page 14



Chapter 1
Jimmy was alone in the field and could not find his parents. He had no food, no water, and did not know what to do or what to say, and then…. 
“Wake up Jimmy you are going to be late for school. Come down and eat your breakfast!” bellowed his mother.                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Jimmy woke up suddenly, breathing fast. He realized that it was all a dream. Jimmy ran down the stairs and told his mom all about his dream.   After he finished eating and getting dressed, Jimmy saw the bus leaving the bus stop.  He started running after the bus but it was too late. He sprinted up to his house, hopped over his low fence, and dashed to the garage that was next to his yard. Once he got in, he hopped on his bike, opened the garage, and snatched his helmet which was right on a shelf next to the door. He was struggling to get it on and his bike was swaying but he managed.  Before he knew it he was zipping around the corner. The whole time his bike was swerving and swaying. At that time he wished that he had rode his bike more often.
Jimmy made it to school right before the warning bell for class started ringing.  When he made it he sprinted to his locker trying to remember his combination. The school year had just started a week ago.  Jimmy was in sixth grade so it was all new to him. Finally, he remembered his code, 5, 16, and 43. He yanked his locker wide open and grabbed his books for math and science because those were the classes he had first. Before I tell you what happens next, you have to know that Jimmy is an abnormal child. He towers over all of the other kids, he is not good at sports, and Jimmy is a brainiac. He has always been picked on because of that.  He is the black sheep of his school.  Jimmy did not know it but the events that will happen now will affect the rest of his life.

Okay now we can get back to the story.  Once Jimmy got his books, he forgot that he needed to turn around slowly in case the bullies were behind him. He forgot all about that.  Unfortunately he he turned around really fast and the gang of bullies were right behind him standing there laughing.
The tallest one, who was coincidently the strongest one, said in a loud voice “Now what shall we do to you today? Hmmm… well it is Monday so I guess what we shall do first is a swirly and a light beating at break, very painful one at lunch, and then a wedgie. During the last break we will shove you in your locker. But let’s start out the day with this.”
     The bully knocked the books out of Jimmy’s hands, and threw a huge punch right in the middle of Jimmy’s face. He flew three feet backwards. Jimmy sat up, his nose was bleeding and he had a furious look on his face. They all noticed that this was the last straw. Jimmy hopped back up, stomped over to the bullies threw back his arm and “POW!” he hit the strongest one even harder then he hit Jimmy. All the bullies backed up a few steps as an indication that they surrendered.
Jimmy and the bullies had to go to the principal’s office. Jimmy was petrified; he had never gotten in so much trouble before. Once he got into the office he explained everything to the principal, Mrs. Becky.  It took a while but she understood because she knew Jimmy. She knew that he was reliable and he had almost never been in trouble. She also knew that the other kids were bullies. Mrs. Becky had to have many meetings with them, but Jimmy never told his teachers about being bullied. The principle gave him only one week’s detention, but for the bullies it was suspension. Detention was horrible. Just sitting there, you could hear the ticks and the tocks of the clock, and you could see the teacher staring is at everyone.
Once the week was up he was relieved. Jimmy’s parents were a bit mad at him, but they also understood why. After that week everything was better than usual because he did not always have to be careful wherever he went. It was exquisite, at least for now.  He was not afraid anymore; he thought he was safe.  He was clueless about would happen later.
The next few weeks were great.  Another glorious week later, a new girl named Bevy entered Jimmy’s math class. She was not like Jimmy at all, she was athletic, not as smart as Jimmy but she was smart, had friends, and stood up to bullies. Bevy was cool. After class the teacher told her to go to Jimmy for some tutoring because Jimmy was the smartest kid in the school, and he was in a tutoring program.
The tutoring program was instead of study hall. The kids in the program went to a special room that they tutor in. Bevy did pretty well in all classes, great in P.E., but math was her worst class. When Bevy went to tutoring with Jimmy, he made learning math fun for her. Her problem was she thought it was boring so she did not listen. Jimmy made it fun by telling jokes, rhymes and other funny things, because Bevy loves a good joke. After the awkward beginning, they became friends.  Jimmy and Bevy always ate lunch together, hung out together, and they still worked together. She had been getting much better in math.


Chapter 2
Once Jimmy got home, he did his homework, ate dinner, and then because he was so tired he went straight to bed. Then Jimmy started to dream.
Jimmy and Bevy where running out of the field and then they were walking for hours.  They were really thirsty and hungry they thought they were going to pass out. Then out of nowhere Bevy yelled “This is all your fault. You got me into this! Yesterday I was just hanging out and working on my math, and you know that takes me a long time, but then out of the blue I was told that you needed my help. The strange people flew me here and now I can’t even get back. Yeah, I know your parents are missing, but that is not connected with my life. Now if you want to find them you will have to do it on your own”. Then Bevy stormed away.
Bevy had just as much luck on her end as Jimmy, but unfortunately the only piece of luck they had was that they were still alive. Eventually Bevy and Jimmy came across a task and a problem. Jimmy had the physical task and Bevy got you guessed it, a very difficult math problem. Neither could solve their problem. Jimmy had to climb over a very steep wall. At the top there was a rope he had to climb to get to the top and ring a bell. That was the first step in opening the gate. The second thing you needed to complete to open the gate was the math problem Bevy got. It was a very complex question which was,
“What is the area of a right triangle with one side that is seven the other is four”? Jimmy could easily do the problem Bevy got, and Bevy could do the task Jimmy got. He knew how to do that problem. The answer was 14.
They both started thinking. They each knew that they could not do the task they received. Suddenly they both knew they need each other. They started walking and walking and walking. (It was a big gate) Eventually they found each other right in the middle of the gate and then…. Jimmy jumped out of bed.
With a massive gasp he mumbled “oh thank goodness it was just a dream…. OR WAS IT!”
Chapter 3
            Jimmy’s day at school was like any other since he did not get beaten up every day.  He stayed up a bit late. Once he went to sleep there was another dream.
 Bevy and Jimmy were climbing up a huge tower. It took a very long time, but they made it. Once they both got to the top of the massive tower they were both drenched in sweat. At the top they could see a few people inside.
              “I think we, or maybe just I know or recognize those people.” Jimmy panted
            Once they got in front of the huge doors Jimmy realized he definitely knew those people. It was his parents, and the strange people who took them. The doors slammed shut. Jimmy screamed and screamed, but no one let them in.  Bevy was surprisingly calm. She just walked around the temple and sure enough she found something important.
            Bevy found an entrance. They thought their luck was just about to change, but of course, that door also slammed shut. However this time there was something at the top. It was a combination lock.
He started shouting and shouting “How could we know that combination? I won’t be able to get to my parents! This is the end of my life!”
            Jimmy almost fainted. He mumbled “There is no end of how many numbers there are on the world! There is no hope! I have no hope!”
You might be wondering what the combination was, well that is a dream for another time.











Chapter 4
Jimmy moans “What has been going on? I have been having these weird but connected dreams for a few days.”
Jimmy just sat there and thought for a very long time, until his mother called him downstairs to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Even though he was sitting with his mother he didn’t say a word. She got a bit suspicious, but said nothing. Most days Jimmy jogs upstairs (he is a morning person) brushes his teeth and hair, gets his backpack, then gets on the bus. Today because he was so deep into thought, he walked up the stairs ever so slowly, brushed his hair with tooth paste and a tooth brush, brushed his teeth with a hair brush, and then put his backpack on upside-down, ran into the door, and walked on to the bus.
What was happening to Jimmy was very strange. It was weird but that was his first real nightmare. All his other dreams were more like real life. He was the last one off the bus.
Jimmy was ahead in school work so even though he was not listening, the teachers did not say anything. They all knew he was a good student.  Jimmy did pick up the homework, but he can do the three page of math worksheets in about five to ten minutes. He sat through all his classes thinking about his nightmares instead of the lessons.
 At lunch he started feeling a bit queasy. Jimmy thought something might have been slipped into his gravy on the mashed potatoes. The gravy was a mixture of black and brown. Once he got to his class after lunch his eyes were all glassy. It was almost like he was in a trance…. Even though he was also a bit pale, his teachers did not say anything. Well, one teacher did intervened. It was the PE teacher because PE was the only class he was horrible in. The PE teacher made him do twenty pushups for not paying attention and for just standing with a rude smirk on his face. Jimmy could do the pushup which was strange. It was like a powerful urge came upon him.
You might be asking your self were was Bevy during all of this. Well she was in the same classes but there was a seating plan. At lunch even thought they always sat with each other she could see that he was not feeling well. In PE class she did not really want to be with him because he looked like he was not in the mood to talk to anyone.  That school day she just kept her distance from Jimmy.
When Jimmy got home he was still in a trance like state and his parents noticed. They confronted him because he went to the garage grabbed some rope and two blind folds. He stormed back inside and tied his parents up. (he was very strong at that point) Because he was so tall and people would not think he was under age, he tossed them into the car and drove to a field. Once he got there he gave them to five people in suits. The strange men put his parents into the big black van. Once they started driving off Jimmy popped out of his trance.
Jimmy begged ”NO COME BACK! GIVE ME MY PARENTS! NOW MY DREAM IS COMING TRUE! My parents are gone and I am in the middle of this field all alone. This explains all the dreams I had. Like when I dreamt that I would get straight A’s and then I did, or when I dreamt that I went to Rome to the Coliseum. Guess what I was surprised with the next day? A trip to Rome.
            “All this time I thought that it was Just a dream. All this time I didn’t know what was going to happen.” Jimmy cried.
“Now what do I do? I am lost with nothing. Wait just one minute!” Jimmy shouted with glee “Bevy is coming! Oh, but that could be in days. Also can’t the future be changed……”












Chapter 5
            Now Jimmy had a lot of time to think. He started to figure out how all of this happened. For example, how did he even get his parents to the field? How did he knew where to go, and why doesn’t know how to get back? Maybe he could not remember, but there was a GPS in the car.
“No….”I would have remembered that.”Jimmy whines. “Oh wait I got it,” Jimmy exclaimed. “My mashed potatoes tasted really weird I bet someone put something in them to get me to do these things. But why me…..”
            Jimmy was strolling through the field and did not have any food or water, so he had to save his energy. Then, out of nowhere a helicopter swooped down and dropped something next to him. That something was Bevy. Bevy was okay because she knew how to land (she had to know that since she loved to play sports.)
 “Hey… What’s up?”Bevy grumbled.
 “Not much. You?”  Jimmy replied
Bevy laughs, “Oh, just got dropped in some random field, so it is like any other normal day.”
                        Jimmy starts to tell Bevy about how his parents were kidnapped, how he got hypnotized, and how he cannot find an exit. They both just started walking around and trying to figure out where the exit was. The whole time they were both not saying anything. Jimmy was still in shock. Bevy thought she saw something in the distance, but sadly it was only a bird. Jimmy also thought he saw something, but it was a rat.
            After about one hour Bevy started to get angry like in the dream. Just like in the dream she shouted;
“This is all your fault. You got me into this!  Yesterday I was just hanging out and working on my math, and you know that takes me a long time! Then out of the blue I was told that you needed my help! The strange people flew me here and now I can’t even get back out. Yeah, I know your parents are missing but that is not connected with my life! If you want to find them you will have to do it on your own!”.
 Bevy left Jimmy alone with no food, water, or shelter. Jimmy was getting a bit tired so he just sat down to rest for a moment.
 Now Jimmy thought “Okay, I will be fine. Bevy will come back, it happened in my dream so it must happen now. Well I might as well walk and hopefully I will find that huge gate where I will meet Bevy again in the middle of it.”



Chapter 6
          At last they found each other in the middle of the gate. Then they just started walking and walking
            They both shouted together “There is something over there that can open the gate but I cannot do it but I know you can!”
            Then they both just ran off in the direction to the puzzles that were practically made for them. This time Jimmy chose the task of the difficult math problem. He solved it in five seconds. Bevy hopped the big wall easily and got up the 40 feet high rope in forty seconds flat.
            One after another they ran to the middle of the gate and slowly but steadily it opened. Once there was enough space they sprinted through it. They walked about a mile. While they were limping through that mile they both were thinking that there was absolutely no hope. Just when their hope was at the lowest, they saw the massive temple. With their last bits of energy, they sprinted up to it. They knew that they needed to climb up it.
 “Would it hurt them to put an elevator in here?” Jimmy cried

            They both crawled up the tower and of course Bevy was ahead of him. Once they finally got up the huge tower they were both drenched in sweat.  Jimmy was so relieved to see a water fountain he even beat Bevy to it. The other thing he was excited about was that there was a large OPEN door. Sadly, once they got to it, it slammed shut. Jimmy just collapsed because of the scary thought that he would never see his parents again and that  he would never be home again  or go back to the school that he got free from the bullies!
            Bevy ran around the corner and with their luck turning, she found another door. They do not quiet have enough luck yet because it was closed. This time however there was a combination lock in the middle of it.
Like in the dream, Jimmy shouted “There is no limit to how many numbers there are!”
            Jimmy started thinking and thinking. Finally he thought this might be about him, and it could be his birth date. No, that was too obvious. Maybe it was his locker combination.
Jimmy shouted with glee “That’s it! That’s it! I know the code! I will see my family again! Oh wait, I can’t quiet remember it. I mean a lot of things have happened; I just need a minute to thin. After a moment Jimmy remembered-- it was 5, 16, and 43.”
            As soon as they typed the combination in the door flew open. The bad news was that  the strange people were there. However there is some good news, they let Jimmy and Bevy inside. In the middle of the room were his parents. Suddenly somebody tackled him and Bevy. They tied up Bevy but they were talking to Jimmy. They told him that for years they had been trying to track him down, and now they finally had.
 “Now why would you want to tell me that?” Jimmy questioned.
They replied “ Because of this!”

All of a sudden they pricked him with an immense needle. They did that because they wanted his gift of dreams that he looked at as a curse.
Jimmy screamed “I know what you just did, and I don’t care. I do not want to know my future, I like surprises!”
One of the men grumbled “I don’t care. Get your little friend and your parents and leave.”
And that is exactly what he did.






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