Let Me Sleep

Written for a Storytelling & Bookmaking field trip with Ms. Ferris's 4th-grade class from St. Saviour's

5/30/06

Chincilla No-Sleep was ten years old and was having trouble sleeping. She lived in Switzerland in a little cottage she made from hay and cheese. Swiss cheese. Also in the house lived a bunch of plants that talked to her, and some rats.

Chincilla lived with her older brother, Billy Bob Joe David No-Sleep III (BBJDN-S III, for short). He was very mean to her. He had special powers that he used to make the plants talk and keep her awake. He wanted to keep her awake so she would do all the chores. He had warts all over his face, a curly musctache, and a big, heavy unibrow.

After their parents died, BBJDN-S III inherited all their money. He was supposed to share it Chincilla, but he was greedy and kept it all for himself.

One day Chincilla woke up at five in the morning, as usual, after only sleeping for three minutes, and went to scrub her brother's fingernails while washing the floor and doing the dishes at the same time. She decided the time was right to run away as soon as he fell asleep.

Because of BBJDN-S III's special powers, he had the feeling Chincilla was trying to run away. He instructed the plants to crawl all over the windows and doors to block her escape.

She ran to the door -- the vines wrapped around her feet, shot laser beams filled with lemonade (to which she was allergic), and shot a sleeping tic at her. The tic bit her in the neck. She fell asleep, but woke up two seconds later. Then she remembered the back door. She knew she had to make a quick exit, because the plants were pretty smart.

She grabbed her brother's axe from the table and ran to the back door, chopping vines as she flew. Once she was outside, she thought of ways to go to another country. She had no money for the bus but she knew where her brother had hidden the inheritance money: behind a secret door that was guarded by zombies.

She ran to the secret door. Her heart was pounding and she was scared. When she got there she discovered that she had some lemonade left over from the laser attack. She offered the zombies a cheese sandwich and some lemonade, which they accepted and dined on happily.

She went through the secret door, but -- there was nothing in there! She was just about the leave when WHAM! The door closed behind her. She noticed that the walls were starting to close in on her.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed.

And then...