Landon Hall

Landon wrote the following story for a writing contest at school. We don't know yet if he won, but we think he's definitely a winner!

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Ben yawned as he woke up. He was only three inches tall. He was wandering through the house and a boy named Tyler found him. Tyler decided to put Ben in a mouse cage. He even gave him a little wheel to run on. Two days later, it was show-and-tell day at Tyler’s school. Ben thought, “Maybe, I could be show-and-tell. It would be a good idea, but I have to find a way to tell Tyler since my cage is outside. Now, how do I get inside the house? My wheel, of course! I’ll get on top of it, and climb out of the cage to get to Tyler before he finds another show-and-tell. That way, I could be his show-and-tell.”

Ben tried to get on his wheel, but of course, it kept moving so he fell and it almost ran over him. It stopped just in time. He tried again and again. Finally, he thought of a new idea. He climbed up his rock-climbing wall since he’s human and he got through the wires. Just when he had escaped the cage, he fell close the cat’s bed on the porch. The cat woke up and saw him lying there. “Oh no,” said Ben as climbed through the open window and landed on the couch right by Tyler who had just found a bouncy ball to show at school.

Ben asked, “Tyler, could you take me for show-and-tell?”

Tyler answered, “No, the potion you drank to make you small also makes you confused sometimes. I don’t want you to get lost in my giant school.”

When Tyler and Ben sat down for breakfast, Ben got stuck in the cereal box. He was looking for the toy that came in the box. Then he got an idea. The toy in the box looked kind of like him. He opened up the bag and changed places with the toy. Maybe Tyler would think he was the toy and bring Ben to school for show-and-tell instead of the toy! Of course, Tyler didn’t think he was the toy.

Tyler did decide to bring the real toy instead of the bouncy ball. So, when Tyler was about to put the toy in his backpack, Ben snuck into his backpack instead. He was on his way to school for the first time!

Ben began to explore what was inside the backpack. He found a green folder, a red folder, a blue folder and a lunch box. He hid the toy in the lunch box. He then found a bag marked “Show and Tell Bag” in the backpack. Can you guess what Ben did next? If you guessed that he snuck into the bag, you are right!

The bus came to a stop. Tyler went to his classroom and put his backpack into his locker. Now it was time to explore! “But wait,” wondered Ben, “how am I supposed to get out of here?” Mrs. Bubbles, the bubbliest teacher in the world, said, “It’s time for handwriting. Get your red folders out.” When Tyler and the rest of the class got their folders out of their lockers, they had to open their backpacks. So Ben escaped when Tyler opened his backpack.

Once Ben was in the school hallway, he heard a weird ring and then a giant door opened. A man said, “It’s about time you get here, you slow elevator!” Ben wanted to know what an elevator was, so he jumped into it before the doors closed. Suddenly they started moving down. A minute later, the doors opened and they were in the basement of the school. He almost got crushed by the elevator doors as he fell trying to get out. Ben was dizzy!

Ben followed the man through another door which led to the gymnasium. “Wow!” said Ben. If he was as tall as you and I are, you would have heard an echo. But since he was only 3 inches tall, only the man heard the small voice. When he turned to look at who or what made the sound, Ben ran under the bleachers to hide just in time. Boy was he surprised at what he saw since everything was so big to him.

Now we must go back to Tyler. It was finally time for show-and-tell. Mrs. Bubbles said, smiling, “Time to get your show-and-tell if you have one.” Tyler had already found his real toy in his lunch box at lunch time. Tyler figured out that Ben must be loose in the school because only Ben would have hidden the toy.

The man that Ben followed, who turned out to be the gym teacher, came into Tyler’s classroom. “Mr. Jonathan!” everyone seemed to say at the exact same time. Mr. Jonathan lined the students up and took them to the big gymnasium where Ben was still hiding.

Under the bleachers, Ben met a mouse named Zach. “Hello!” said Zach in a screechy voice, “What’s your name?”
Ben answered, “My name is Ben. What’s yours?”
“Zach,” answered the mouse.
Ben asked, “Hey, where is the bathroom?”
Zach answered, “Down the hall and to the left.”
Ben asked, “How do I get across the big room to get to the hallway when the big kids are playing dodge ball?”
Zach said, “Run for your life!”

So that’s just what Ben did. He ran until he could run no farther and fell right in front of the kids. Then a big ball flew in the air and landed beside Ben. “Augh! Help me!” screamed Ben. More and more balls flew above Ben’s head. Finally, he got up and dodged all the balls. Right, then left. He was dizzy! He was so dizzy he decided to slide on his back all the way to the bleachers across the room. He made it. “Finally!” said Ben. But there was still one problem. He couldn’t get through the doors because they were too heavy for him to open.

Back with Tyler’s class, the game of dodge ball had ended. A girl named Martha had to go to the bathroom. When she opened the gym door to go to the bathroom, Ben got through . . . just in time! “What did Zach say again?” asked Ben out loud. He couldn’t remember. He thought he was following Martha to the bathroom, but he followed another girl to the science lab instead.

When he entered the science lab, it was like a different world! On one counter there was a dish with green bubbles going up and down inside the test tube. There was another test tube with yellow bubbles shooting fireworks. Ben was curious about the yellow fireworks. Just as he managed to climb up on the counter, the yellow fireworks exploded and he fell off the counter into a purple solution. Splash!

Suddenly, Ben started to grow! and grow! and grow! He had to get out of the science lab before anyone noticed a kid that they didn’t know who was growing and growing and growing. By now, he was a foot long so he could open the lab door to escape. When he walked outside of the school, he stopped growing and was normal size! “Finally!” said Ben, smiling proudly. “I always wanted to be a normal boy.”

He didn’t know the way home. He knew that his street had a sign that said, “F-e-r-g-u-s-o-n.” He wished he knew what that spelled. He decided to take a bus which let him off right by his house. When he knocked on the door of Tyler’s house, Mrs. Shaw (Tyler’s mom) came to the door.

“How did you get big, Ben?” she asked him. Ben told her the story of show-and-tell, how he got into the gymnasium, how he got into the science lab, grew big and took a bus home. “Oh my cow!” said Mrs. Shaw.

The Shaws decided to adopt Ben and they sent him to kindergarten since he was 6. Tyler liked having a brother who went to school with him. One day, a piece of paper came home in Ben’s folder. It said, “Dodge Ball Tournament: Kindergarten against 1st Grade! See who will be the best dodge ball player!”

“Mom, can I sign up, please?” asked Ben.
Tyler said, “Yeah, I’ll play against you and beat you!”
“None of that,” said Mom. “Okay, you can play, just play nice.”

A week later it was time for the tournament. Ben and Tyler were excited and a little afraid of losing. Ben had a lot more dodge ball experience when he was small so he just pretended he was small again and was running for his life. In the final round there were ten first graders including Tyler and five kindergarteners including Ben. Ben threw a ball at Tyler but blocked the ball with a ball in his hand. The blocked ball went the other direction and got a kindergartener out.

When there was only two left in kindergarten, including Ben, and six left in first grade, including Tyler, everyone on the first grade team threw their balls at Ben at the same time. But Ben knew what to do! He didn’t duck. He jumped, landed on his hands, caught one ball with his feet, and blocked all of the other balls. It was amazing! He got all of the first graders out except Tyler. Tyler got the last kindergartener out except Ben, so now it was just the two of them!

Tyler and Ben each had one ball. Ben dropped his ball and most of the kindergarteners thought their team was going to loose. Tyler threw the ball at Ben and, at the last second, Ben caught Tyler’s ball. Tyler was out and Ben was the winner!

The Shaws were so proud of their two sons for getting first and second place in the tournament. Whenever they went home, a bird crashed into the family room window. The family went outside to find the bird lying on the ground in pain. Next to him laid Zach the Mouse because the bird was carrying Zach as his supper when he crashed into the window. The family decided to bury the bird when he died but they kept Zach as their pet mouse. He got to live in the cage that Ben used to live in. Zach didn’t like the wheel much, but he loved the rock climbing wall.
At first they didn’t know what to name the mouse. Even though Zach could talk, no one in the family could hear him except Ben because he was used to mouse talk. He could hear the tiniest sound. “Zach!” said Ben all of a sudden.

Ben was so happy that Zach was his pet mouse. Ben told his family about how Zach helped him in the school when he was still three inches “short.” When his dad starting talking for a long time about how God’s plans work, Ben wasn’t listening because he was thanking God for his new life.

The End!