Today was a typical summer day. The weather outside was scorching; the sounds of lawnmowers filled my ears; the streets were empty, because no one wanted to be burned by the extreme summer heat. I was bored. Completely bored. There wasn’t much that I could do in my house. I wanted to have an adventure, which was slightly out of the question. I moped around for a few hours; sat and stared at the computer screen wondering if any of my friends would get on chat; I read a book until I realized I didn’t want to read. It came to twelve o’clock and as I was debating what I would do for the rest of the day, a sound that I had never heard with my own ears before rang from outside. It sounded as if a missile was being shot out of my backyard.
First, you heard the crumbling of the ground breaking, or being blasted away. Then came a sound like an ear piercing whistle of something rocketing into the sky. I wondered, “What’s happening? Is someone bombing us?”
I ran to the kitchen window and peered past the smudges. My jaw dropped. “No! It couldn’t be!” I cried out.
In my backyard, in the very center, stood a giant beanstalk. Squealing with delight, I threw the sliding doors open and dashed across the deck, down the steps and into the yard, which cracked beneath my feet, because of the dead grass covering the area. When I finally stopped running, I was at the base of the beanstalk. It was green and ripe. The smell emanating from it smelled like fresh green beans. My mouth watered. Leaves protruded from the stalk. I looked up, my eyes following the stalk every bit of the way. I couldn’t see it anymore as it reached into a cloud high above me. I lowered my head and investigated the roots. I ran my hand along the base and I pushed all my weight onto one of the leaves to see if it would hold me, when I realized the leaves had created a structure which seemed somewhat like a set of stairs.
My heart leapt with joy and I eagerly pounced upon the lowest leaf. Reaching for the next leaf, I used my upper body strength, which wasn’t a lot, to heave myself onto the next leaf. After about ten minutes of this tedious work, I had finally reached halfway. Glancing down towards the ground, I groaned. It seemed like the whole world was spinning beneath me. I suddenly felt extremely dizzy. Jerking my head back up and fixing my eyes on the clouds above me, I decided to continue my journey. I kept climbing and climbing until finally I reached the cool fogginess of the clouds surrounding my head and body. I was engulfed in moisture droplets and my clothes were instantly drenched. I pulled myself up the last bit and dropped onto the surprisingly hard surface of the cloud. I let out a deep breath and breathed in the sweet, sky air. After a few minutes of recuperation, I rose to my knees and crawled away from the large hole in the cloud, where the beanstalk entered.
The surface of the cloud was beautiful, but strange in many ways. A gorgeous courtyard, full of trees, flowers, hedges and elegant fountains, covered most of the cloud. As I searched more I realized that an enormous castle filled the rest of the white mass. The castle was made of white marble and rose far above my head. I leaned back and examined the rooftop. Towers coated the top of the castle, points sticking out of the tops of each tower. I gasped as I glanced at the door, which was black, trimmed with rustic gold. Slowly, I edged my way closer towards the courtyard. As I moved closer the aroma of elegance filled my nostrils. I sighed and closed my eyes, pausing in my tracks. After a few long, enjoyable seconds, I opened my eyes and remembered that I wanted to explore the great castle.
As I entered the courtyard, I was surprised to see that everything was quite large. The trees were much higher than me, in fact so were the roots. I blinked a few times, wondering what was going on here. As I swiveled and turned every which way, I came to the fact that everything in the courtyard was magnificently monstrous. Some of the flowers were nearly as big as me!
I wondered aloud, “Is this seriously like ‘Jack and the Beanstalk?’ Do giants really live here?”
Frightened, I took small steps backwards. All I wanted to do was get out of this place. Before I could reach the beanstalk ladder, my curiosity took over me and I sprinted forward, weaving my way through the courtyard. I dove through hedges and swam across fountains until finally I reached the castle door. Sighing, I gazed up at the magnificent structure. The handles were far too high for me to reach, so I used my smarts to get myself into the castle. I got on my hands and knees, searching for a small hole under the door for me to slide through. As I scanned the left side and found no opening, I started thinking, “This is stupid! I’m not going to get into this castle!”
As I finished this statement, my eyes locked on a small door, my size! I made a beeline for it and threw myself at it. It was like an ordinary door, hinge and all! Examining, the door, I located a small brass knob lower to the ground. Crouching down, I grasped the knob and slowly turned it, anticipating every move. The knob stopped as I reached how far it would turn. Sweat was trickling down my face as I pulled, holding my breath. The door creaked open. As I exhaled, I stepped through, leaving the door wide open behind me. The hall was gorgeous! Massive floorboards, slick and shiny, coated the floor. The walls were an great shade of mahogany, bringing the foyer together. Slowly, I moved forward, drinking in as much of the beauty as I could. After I took a few steps, everything started to shake. A scream pierced the air and I shielded my ears, attempting but failing to block out the sound. “SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Spider?!” I shouted back, forgetting the fact that no one could hear me.
The tremors were getting louder and louder, shaking everything. It felt as if I was bouncing in a moon bounce, but I wasn’t using any muscles and instead of landing on the squishy padding, I slammed into the hard, wood floor every time I came down. I muttered a sarcastic thanks to gravity as I got the wind knocked out of me every few seconds. The screaming finally stopped, but the pounding, which I realized later were footsteps, came closer and closer. I was soon flying four feet into the air with each pound. As I moaned and groaned from pain and agony, a spider larger than me dashed across the wood floor and out the door, which I had mistakenly left open. The pounding stopped. It was over and I ached in every square inch of my body. My body stopped shaking and I finally controlled myself.
I stood in one place, just staring down the foyer. Then the screaming started again; and the pounding. I grumbled and tried to make it to the door before I started flying again. I had always dreamed of it, but now was not the time I wanted that dream to come true. Before I could do anything a small, young boy, my age dashed across the foyer, a giant tailing him. As the boy ran, he called out to me, “Get out of here!”
I was trying to follow his commands, but I couldn’t stop flailing and screaming. I watched how he was withstanding the bouncing, and I started to do the same; move my lags rapidly each time I touched the ground to gain speed and momentum to push me towards the door. I soon took control and was having the time of my lifetime! I flew through the door, quickly being followed by the boy. I landed in a heap in the entrance to the courtyard, getting the wind knocked out of me (for about the seventy-fifth time in one day) by the boy landing directly on my stomach. I cried out in pain and shoved him off of me.
“Well, that was fun!” He laughed and grinned gleefully.
“Fun?!” I cried, “That’s you’re idea of fun! I could’ve died in there!”
“But you wouldn’t of,” he responded, sure of himself.
“How do you know, smarty pants?” I questioned angrily.
“Well, because, I visit this place all the time!” He stated proudly.
“How should I believe you?” I asked, suspicious.
“You mean….you’ve never heard of me? You’ve never heard my story? About me and the beanstalk?” He asked slyly.
“You don’t mean….you’re…?” I said, shocked and utterly surprised.
“Jack? Of course I am! Nice to meet you by the way.”
“I can’t believe it! I’m standing in the presence of a true hero!” I muttered to myself.
“A hero? Well….maybe, but I can also be counted as a friend.”
“Oh yeah! Sure! A best friend! I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” I tried to make up my insults.
“I’m also known as an advisor and I advise….YOU GET OUT OF HERE AND DOWN THAT BEANSTALK!”
“What? But this stuff is awesome! I wouldn’t want to leave you to all the fun.” I complained.
“I’m stuck up here. I don’t have a lot of fun. This is the most fun I’ve had in months! I mean, another kid, my age, here….it’s a lot.”
“But…couldn’t you just go home?”
“No…it’s not possible.” Jack sighed, on the verge of tears.
“But….how?”
“Every beanstalk dies.”
Realization dawned on me. I smiled and said, “Thanks for helping me. I wish I could help you….but there’s not much I can do.”
“Thank you, for letting me have some fun. Now, you better hurry and get back home!”
“Right.”
I dashed back through the courtyard and to my beanstalk, not looking back once. I leapt down onto the closest leave and hurried my way onto safe, solid earth. Although no one else believes me, I’ll never forget Jack and my adventures on the cloud.
I wasn't sure if I had posted this before or not, but I figured I'd just throw it up here anyway. This is another assignment from a writing class this last fall. This was one of my favorite papers that year. I could've gone on much longer, but we had a seven page limit, so I had to cut it short...:p
God Bless.
Kayla
