Author Archives: Doc

The Legacy of the Pitch

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The Legacy of the Pitch

B y KooKoo Boy

I was always just a normal person, except for living in the Sub-Lanes. For those who don’t understand, the Sub-Lanes is a city underneath the real world, where all of the homeless, crazy, and messed up people live.

My name’s Ryder. I was one of the homeless people who roamed around the Sub-Lanes, looking for any places to be able to sleep in or just not be with the toxic underground air, that poisons and endangers everyone who breaths it in.

Milo has been my best friend since we were around four years old. Both of us lost our parents to the guards. He’s one of the best engineers in the sublanes. One time he made a mech that could fire bolts. Even though it was only a foot tall, it was still better than most things I’ve seen anyone make before.

Anyway, I need money soon or I’m not going to be able to buy anything to survive. There’s this soccer league in the Over City, and if you win a whole bunch of games, you become a champion. It’s nearly impossible to become a champion, and only three people have ever became champions. Mr. Haddington was the first ever champion and people say he’s unbeatable, even though he’s eighty now. But also if you win, you get a grand prize of fifty million dollars, and you become famous, but I don’t really care about being famous or anything though.

I don’t really care if people say I’m bad at soccer, I just need the money. You have to win a ton of games and then win fifteen games in a row, to go to the championship match. If I lose a game, at least I tried, and I’ll still get some money.

“ Hey Milo, wanna try to compete in the big soccer league?”

“ Wait, dude you know it’s like impossible to win right?”

“ Yeah, but I don’t care. We can try and if we win we get money.”

“ Ryder, even if we did want to play we need at least eight players to complete a team. I’m not doing it. Sorry Ryder.”

“ You could become famous Milo.”

“ Are you trying to bribe me Ryder? You know I like being aknowledged for my robots and engineering skills.”

“ Come on you know you want to be known for you work.”

“ Ah, fine I’ll do it I guess, but you better make sure people try to hire me at an engineering buisness.”

“ Let’s go! I’ll make sure that you get into the best engineering company there is Milo!”

“ Ok let’s find some teammates Ryder!”

Me and Milo went to find some teammates. The first one was easy because we have a friend in the Sub-Lanes. Her name is Sarah. She really likes to study magic, because she wants to be a mage. To cast spells you need a tech staff, which can only be located in the best magic store in the Over City. Her parents used to live in the Over City, but then when a big attack happend, her parents house got destroyed, and they had to move to the Sub-Lanes. After Sarah of course said yes to joining us, we went to the Over City to recruit another friend. 

Her name is Chloe, and she works with the biggest names in the Over City. She’s kinda famous, but she just likes that she gets to help people. Her goal is to make peace with the entirety of the Sub-Lanes, since both sides sorta hate eachother. She is already getting good progress on her goal, since she’s already made some friends in the sub-lanes, and she’s made more allies too. It was hard to get Chloe on the team, since she didn’t want to be seen,” Not being professional.”, she said. After we gave her some confidence she said that she would join if it didn’t waste time.

Next, it was time for a hard one. Mini and Tall, the brothers from nowhere. You might be wondering why we call them the brothers from nowhere, but it’s because their brothers, obviously, but they aren’t really from anywhere, because they live in the Over City sometimes, and the Sub-Lanes for the rest of the time. They were born in the Sub-Lanes but they are welcomed in the Over City as well. Tiny was the easier of the two brothers to get on the team, because even though he liked working with Milo in engineering, he also liked soccer. Tall’s passion was being a guard in the Over City. He has his passion because when he was six, a tile fell from a building and was coming straight for him, but then a guard stepped in and caught the tile, saving Tall’s life. That’s the reason why Tall is determined to be a guard. Mini and Tall’s names are hilarious, because Tall is three feet tall, and Mini is a brick wall weighing a staggering three hundred and fifty pounds and being 7 feet tall. Mini joined the team right away, because he loves soccer, but Tall insisted that he kept training for being a guard.

“ Nope sorry buddy. Not doing it Ryder.”

That’s exactly what happened where I tried to get Milo to join earlier today.

“ Come on on lil bud.”

“ My names Tall, not lil bud!”

“ Ok you dont’ have to talk to me but at least talk to Milo.”

“ Fine. I’ll talk to him I guess if I have to.”

“ Hey Tall.”

“ What do ya want, Milo.”

“ You can join our team and play soccer with us.”

“ Why should I do that?”

“ Because we’ll have a lot of fun playing together.”

Milo is good with talking to people and persuading them. For some reason people just like to agree with him, like if they don’t they’re going to get beat up, which they won’t, because Milo’s to scrawny to hurt anyone, except for when he needs to.

“ Fine, Milo I’ll play on your team or whatever.”

“ Ok dude. That’s great. We’ll have so much fun on a team together!”

“ We better.”

With the hardest person down, all we have left is the triplets.

Two of the triplets are calm and loyal people, Tinker and Poppy. On the other hand, Spinner is probably the weirdest, craziest, and the most wild person you’ll ever see. 

Tinker’s a boy, and his passion is tinkering, obviously, but not that kind of tinkering like with gadgets and stuff. He wants to tinker with star dust. With people taking constant trips to the moon, people always bring star dust back to Earth with them, there’s a lot of star dust in magic shops. Sarah always goes in magic shops and tells me about the star dust. We plan to someday put together some money and buy Tinker a bag of stardust, even though a single bag of it is twenty thousand dollars.

Poppy is a girl who loves to experiment with bombs and explosions. As a kid, she would hold fire crackers, and whenever a stranger walked up to her, she would throw one in their face. Then they would run away in pain, and it brought joy to her, because she was independent and could protect herself. She’s been making bombs and hoping that she can make different explosions each time. She’s a very kind person who doesn’t like to upset people, so she always tries to help people. Her goal is to make every kind of explosion and sound of bombs that there is. 

Spinner is definetly something. Spinner likes to carry around his rusty sword that will probably give you tetanus and kill you if it stabs you. His goal is to rule the world, which he is definitely crazy and capable enough to do it. He’s not crazy strong or anything, but he is crazy enough to make anyone scared of him. Spinner cares about people more than most people, but he just doen’t show it a lot. Since Spinner was a little kid, he would always barge into random stores and buildings saying that he would take them over, while holding a little piece of wood with a nail in it that was taller than him.

Tinker and Poppy both said yes, and Spinner after almost cutting me with the tetanus blade of death, agreed to join us too.

“ Ok everyone, now that we’ve recruited everyone, let’s go sign up!”

“ Yeah let’s do it!”

“ Yeah let’s go!”

“ Woohoo!”

We took the longest way to the stadium, since we all wanted to chat. We were also eager to get to the stadium because we could be signing up to have fifty million dollars. 

“ Is this were we sign up Milo?”

“ Ryder are you dumb or something?”

“ Um rude. Why do you say that?”

“ Because we are standing right infront of the stadium, so of course this is where we are supposed to go!”

“ Ok geez dude.”

“ Hello sir, we would like to buy an entry ticket for the soccer league.”

“ And what is your name sir?”

“ My name’s Ryder.”

“ Ok Ryder, an entry ticket is five thousand dollars.”

“ Ok here you go sir.”

“ Here’s your ticket, and the hotel is that way, and the training facility is right next to the hotel on the left of it.”

“ Ok thank you sir.”

The reason that we had five thousand dollars is because when everyone joined our team they also chipped in four hundred bucks, which is a lot of money fore us. 

We were very surprised that we got to stay in a hotel, since none of us except Tall and Mini, but they were little kids when they went in one, and it wasn’t as big as this one. We all  headed over to the hotel and slept the rest of the night cause we were very tired. In the morning, we all ate and headed down to the training facility.

We’ve all played a little bit of soccer before, because right before I thought about joining the league, I played in a match on the street, because someone bet me ten bucks that I couldn’t beat them. I beat them 5-0 in three minutes, but I felt bad, so I told him it was beginner’s luck, and I let him keep the money. We all trained at the hotel for about a month before the first qualifying match was here. The qualifying match is where the winning team moves on to the stadium matches. There are occasions where if the losing team has a lot of talent, and they don’t want to waste the teams talent, they let them join the stadium matches aswell. We all became beasts at soccer, and I was the leader of the team, obviously.

“ Ok guys the day we’ve all been waiting for is here! We will win if we try our hardest, we will win this game!”

“ Everyone say,” We will win!”.”

“ WE WILL WIN! WE WILL WIN!”

“ LET”S GOOOOOOOOOOO!”

We stepped onto the pitch and met the opposing team. They’re team captain was a rich person whos name was Zack.

“ Hi, I heard your name is Zack. Nice to meet you.”

“ Hi poor kid. Haha we’re going to destroy you.”

“ That’s not very nice dude.”

“ Do you think I care what you think?”

“ You should! Rude.”

“ We will beat you poor kids.”

“ Nope, we will beat you!”

The match started and right away the other team took the ball and made a goal right away. The score was now 1-0 and we were not happy. Our team coordination was not very good, but it got better. After they scored another goal. The score was now 2-0, and we were ready to win this game.

“ Guys, there’s five minutes left until the game’s over! We need to win this!”

“ Let’s win this guys, so that we can accomplish our dreams later!”

We started the last five minutes with the ball and we made a miracle happen.

“ I’m passing to you, Ryder!”

“ Here, Mini. Score with your power!”

Mini launches the ball at probably fifty miles an hour. “AND HE SCORES”, the announcer says.

Now it’s 2-1 with three minutes and thirty seconds left.

“ Hey poor boy.”

“ What do you want Zack? Are you scared that we are going to beat you?”

“ Shut up, no I’m not. That’s just what I expect a non- grateful Sub-Lanes person to say.”

“ Shut it rich boy. We will beat you whether you like it or not!”

They started the final minutes with the ball and they almost wreck our chances of winning.

“ Milo take the ball!”

“ I’ll try!”

Milo misses the steal and they are now twenty feet from the goal.

“ Spinner, get the ball from them!”

“ You got it Captain!”

Spinner saves us and almost gets fouled by doing it. But, he did get the ball for us and now there’s one minute left in the game. We pass down the field, scrambling for the goal.

“ Here Milo!”

“Pass to Poppy!”

“ Take the pass Tinker!”

“ Here Sarah!”

“ Pass to Chloe!”

“ Score the ball, Tall!”

Tall winds up his tiny leg, but there’s only five seconds left! 

“ Shoot the ball Tall!”

 “ THERES FIVE SECONDS, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!”, the announcer screams at the stadium.

He shoots the ball. It goes a little slow, but it throws the goalie off guard and he dives to the left. I see the one second fade to zero, but I look at the ball and hear the announcer say,“ HE SCORES WITH THE SLOW BALL! OH MY WHAT A COMEBACK! NOW IT’S 2-2 AND COULD THE SUB-LANES TEAM MAKE A COMEBACK IN OVERTIME?!”, the announcer yells to the whole stadium.

In over time, we start with the ball and it’s a fight back and forth with no goal made. Over time is coming to an end and we had the luck on our side, and by luck I mean the ball.

“ Ok guys let’s do this thing, AND WIN!”

We pass back and forth and then we are at the goal and we have a chance.

“ Here Ryder, Score the ball!!!”

I shoot and the goalie gets ready to block. I close my eyes…….and I SCORE!!!

“ We win guys. Let’s go!!!”

“ Let’s goooo!!!”

We move on to the stadium matches, and the team that we beat was apparently a good team that the rich people didn’t want their talent to go to waste, so they let them join the stadium rounds as well, but I don’t know how that’s fair, but I don’t care.

We train for months and keep winning matches. We became one of the best teams in the league. Now everybody knows who we are and the rich people and even Mr. Haddington says that we are the most favorited team in the entire league.

The day of the championship comes and we are all nervous, but excited. We get our uniforms and get ready to win this game. We all need to win this for our dreams.

We get onto the field and get ready. We find out that the other team is Zack’s team again. We aren’t that happy that we can’t play a different team but it’s fine, I guess.

“ THE MATCH WILL START IN TWENTY SECONDS!!!” the announcer yells at the champion stadium. Mr. Haddington walks up to me and starts talking to me.

“ Hi Ryder. I’ve heard that your team is pretty well known.”

“ Yeah haha we are.”

“ Well good luck out there and I hope you win. Not to be biased.”

“ Thanks. I hope we will win.”

The matches starts and for the first twenty minutes we score goals back and forth and the score is 5-5. 

“ Score the ball, Tall!”

“ You got it!”

Tall scores another goal and with forty minutes left the score is 6-5 and we are winning. So far we are all working great together as a team, but we aren’t winning by enough. We pass it back and forth a few more times until Zack scores a goal. Now the score is 6-6 and we aren’t doing as good as we need to, but we get ourselves together and with thirty five minutes left we score another goal. The score is 6-6, and were tied again.

The final stretch of the game comeswith five minutes left and we pass the ball a few times and each team scores a goal. Now the score is 7-7, and there is thirty seconds left. Neither of the teams can score, so we go into over time, but still, no one can score, so now we go into penalty kicks.

“ RYDER SCORES!!!”

“ ZACK SCORES!!”

We go on and the penalty score is 4-4 and we kick.

“ Come on Sarah, you can score!!!”

Sarah winds up and…GOOOAAALLLLLL!!!!!

“ Let’s go Sarah we did it!!! Now we just have to block them and we win the whole game!”

“ OK EVERYONE, THERE IS ONE KICK LEFT CAN THEY DO IT!!!”

“Zack shoots with Chloe in the goal and he…..MISSES THE GOAL!!! OH MY GOD THAT IS A WIN FOR RYDER AND THE SUB-LANES TEAM!!!”

“ Let’s go guys our dreams can now be reality!!!”

( 1 YEAR LATER )

“ Hi Ryder!”

“ Hey Milo! I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

“ It’s only been a week.”

“ Still now that we are interviewed all the time it’s hard to be able to see eachother all the time.”

“ Yeah, well it’s been good seeing you and i’ve been talking to everyone and it seems like we have all accomplished our goals!”

“ Yeah, bye!”

“ Bye!”

Tinker got a bag of star dust, and is now one year older. Tall became a guard. Spinner kinda rules the world. Chloe has made peace with the Sub-Lanes. Milo and Mini have gotten into the best engineering academy kinda because they’re famous. Poppy has figured out every explosion and bomb there is. Sarah became a magic conjurer. And I have made some money, and by some I mean eight million dollars, and I am now the forth champion of the pitch.

Grief-Stricken

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Grief-Stricken

By: Sofie Mintz

I love gymnastics! There’s nothing quite like the feeling of the wind rushing through my ears as I run through my routine. We have a competition coming up in a month, and we practice every day. I am especially good at the bars, but I’m also skilled at the balance beam.

My name is Ellieanna Ericson, but I prefer to go by Ellie. Although I am an only child, I consider my teammates my sisters. Right now, I’m in school, sitting in my favorite class, social studies. My teacher is discussing George Washington and how he became the first president.

Suddenly, the intercom buzzes, and Principal Jenson’s voice comes on:  

“Ellieanna Ericson, please come to the office. Ellieanna Ericson to the office.”  

I stared at my teacher, who motioned for me to come to the front.  

“Go down to the office,” Mrs. Heart, my teacher, said. “You won’t miss anything.”  I nodded and left the room, wondering if I was in trouble. I hurried down the stairs and to Principal Jenson’s office. When I arrived, Principal Jenson was standing outside her door as if she had been waiting for me.

“Come in, my dear,” Principal Jenson said, waving me into her office. I sat down in the chair across from her as she settled into her seat at the desk. “I have some troubling news for you. Your mother had to go to the hospital this morning.”

“What!?” I exclaimed, shocked. When I left for school that morning, Mom had seemed perfectly fine. “Why?”

“She was having brunch with your neighbor when she started choking. Your neighbor tried to help her, but they couldn’t dislodge the food, so she called an ambulance, and they took your mother to the hospital.”

“Will Mom be alright?” I asked anxiously.

“Yes, they’ve connected her to a breathing tube,” Principal Jenson assured me. If you’d like, I can call your father to come and pick you up to see your mother.”

“I would appreciate that,” I said, feeling relieved that Principal Jenson wouldn’t make me return to class. Principal Jenson called my father, hung up, and said, “Your father is on his way. You can get your backpack. I will inform your teacher that you won’t return today.”

“Thank you, Principal Jenson,” I said, feeling grateful. I left the office and went to my locker to grab my stuff. Dad was waiting for me when I returned to Principal Jenson’s office. He hugged me, thanked Principal Jenson, and we went outside to our car.

On the way to the hospital, I asked tentatively, “Have you seen Mom yet?”  

“No, I was going to, but something came up that I had to work on.”  

“Do you think she’ll die?” I asked.  

“No, I don’t think she will die,” Dad responded.  

For the rest of the drive to the hospital, Dad and I remained silent. When we arrived at the hospital, I was feeling very nervous. Dad noticed because he stopped, turned around, and said, “Hey, I know you’re feeling nervous, but it’s going to be alright. Mom might look a little different with all of the tubes, but inside, she is the same Mom. She still loves you.”

I took a deep breath and we walked inside. Dad talked to the lady at the front desk, and she told us to go to room 437 on the third floor. Dad opened the door when we arrived at Mom’s room, and I followed him inside. Mom was lying on her bed, and Dad was right; Mom did have a lot of tubes, but she didn’t look that different. She still had the same loving and beautiful face, but she looked weak. I went around to her side of the bed, and she smiled at me. I smiled back and brushed the back of my hand across her cheek. Mom reached up, took my hand, and pressed it to herself.

“Honey,” Mom said softly, “I love you, always remember that. I will get better, and I will be home soon.”

“I love you too, Mom,” I said, and then I broke down. I curled up beside Mom on her bed and cried. After Principal Jenson had told me that Mom was at the hospital, I felt the tears coming, but I had forced myself not to cry. Now that I had seen Mom and was at the hospital, I started crying. Mom rubbed my back as I lay there crying on her shoulder. After a while, I stopped crying, but I lay still on the bed, and Dad kept standing where he was.

Soon, Dad said, “I think it’s time to let your mother rest, Ellie. Anyway, it’s almost dinner time.” I nodded, hugged Mom one more time, and then followed Dad out, like a sad puppy. When we got home, I went to my room to practice for our competition. Four years ago, when I decided I wanted to start gymnastics, Mom and Dad bought a balance beam and a set of uneven bars. I started my routine on bars, but I kept messing up. Finally, I got up, threw myself on my bed, and started crying.

“Ellie,” Dad called upstairs, “time for dinner.” I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and went downstairs for dinner. Dad probably noticed that I had been crying, but he didn’t say anything. That’s one thing I love about Dad—he respects my space and my emotions. 

The next day was Saturday, so as soon as I finished getting ready and ate breakfast, I ran upstairs to practice my routine a couple of times before I needed to leave for gymnastics practice. I messed up a few times, but unlike last night, I didn’t break down in tears. I just kept going.

Ten minutes later, I was getting out of Dad’s car when I heard someone yell my name. I waved to Dad as he drove off, then turned around just in time to see one of my best friends run up to me and give me a big bear hug. 

“I missed you so much!” Alyssa exclaimed excitedly. 

  “I missed you too!” I replied with just as much enthusiasm. “How was your vacation?” 

  “it was awesome!” Alyssa chattered about her trip to Hawaii as we got ready for practice and headed out to the mats. We had been best friends since kindergarten. 

  “Alright, girls,” Coach Lilly called, motioning for us to gather around her. “We have a big competition coming up, and we need to practice. Are any of you doing bars?” 

  I raised my hand along with a few other girls. 

  “Okay, you can go and start working on your routines, but remember, we only have two sets, so you’ll have to take turns.” 

I nodded and followed the other girls to the two sets of bars. While waiting for my turn, I put chalk on my hands. When it was my turn, I started my routine, but halfway through, I fell, landing on my hand. I clenched my teeth against the pain and started again. You might wonder, why didn’t I wait until my turn again? Coach Lilly has a rule: if you fall during your routine, you have to keep practicing it until you don’t fall. 

  Unfortunately, I fell again at the same spot. I tried over and over, but I kept falling at that same point in my routine. Eventually, I gave up and sat down on the side of one of the mats. I watched the other girls run through their routines; only a few of them fell, and if they did, it was only a couple of times, unlike my six falls.

  Eventually, Coach Lilly noticed that I wasn’t practicing and came over to see what was wrong. 

  “Hey, Ellie,” she said. “What’s wrong?” 

  “I keep messing up,” I muttered. 

  “Everyone messes up,” Coach Lilly tried to reassure me. 

   “Yeah, but I messed up at the same spot every single time.” 

“That just means you need to practice more,” Coach Lilly said. “Why don’t you go try it again?” 

“Okay,” I agreed. I got back in line and put more chalk on my hands. When it was my turn, I took a deep breath and started my routine again. This time, I didn’t fall at the same spot as before, but I did fall just over halfway through. I kept practicing my routines until it was time to leave. I hopped into the car just as Dad asked, 

“How was practice?”

“It was good,” I said, “I kept falling off the bars.”

“I’m sorry, did you keep trying?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t until I gave up, sat out a while, and tried again that I finally did better. The last time I ran through my routine before you picked me up, I had performed perfectly,” I exclaimed happily.

“Good for you!” Dad said, smiling at me. I smiled back at him. We got back home and I ran upstairs to read one of my favorite books. I lay on my stomach on my bed and started reading for, like, the fourth time.

I finished the book and sighed. I wish there were a second book, I thought. I took a drink from my water bottle that I kept in my room and put chalk on my hands. I took a deep breath and started my routine. I didn’t fall, but I messed up a couple of times. I kept practicing until Dad called me downstairs for lunch. I walked downstairs to the smell of my favorite lunch; pulled pork and green beans. Mom and Dad have always switched which days they cooked for as long as I can remember, if Mom cooked on Monday, Dad would cook on Tuesday, and they would switch off every other day.

The next morning, I was up and ready for gymnastics practice long before Dad was up. I chalked up my hands and started on my bars. I fell several times, but I didn’t let that get to me. I needed all of my enthusiasm and happiness for practice, and letting myself think about how bad I was doing was going to take that away. After I had run through my routine a couple of times, I started a new book until Dad was ready to drop me off at practice.

“Hey, where are we going?” I asked, realizing that we weren’t going toward the gymnastics studio.

“I thought we could pay a visit to your mother,” Dad said without looking up from the road. “If that’s alright with you.”

“Of course,” I said, surprised that he would think that I wouldn’t want to see my mother. “I’d love to see Mom.” We pulled into the hospital parking lot, got out, and went outside. Dad talked to the lady at the front desk, and she waved us to the hallway. Dad and I found our way to room 437, where I opened the door and went over to Mom’s side.

“Hi Mom,” I said, smiling at her.

“Hi sweetie,” Mom said weakly, but she smiled back at me. She squeezed my hand. “Are you excited for your competition? Do you think you are ready?”

“Yeah, I’m excited,” I said, adding, “I think I will be ready if I practice more.”

Dad and I stayed in Mom’s room talking to Mom until it was time for us to leave for gymnastics. I waved to Mom as we left her room, and I saw her wave back. We drove to the studio, and as I got out, I was nearly tackled to the ground. As Dad left, I wrestled myself away from Alyssa and walked with her into the studio. Coach Lilly talked to us about the competition and then she dismissed us to go work on our routines. As I waited for my turn I chalked up my hands and when it was my turn I started my routine off perfectly but then fell from the highest bar and landed on my hand. Pain shot up my fingers, up my wrist, and into my arm. I curled up into a ball and as much as I wanted to not cry, the tears flowed down my face anyway. My teammates surrounded me but they backed up when Coach Lilly told them to. She helped me stand up and walk over to the bench near the bars. When the other girls noticed that I would be alright they started practicing their routines again.

“Are you okay Ellie?” Coach Lilly asked concern filling her face.

“I will be,” I mumbled wincing in pain. “Eventually.” The tears kept flowing down my face.

“Does it hurt that bad?” Coach Lilly asked. I shook my head, took a few deep breaths, and started speaking.

“A couple of days ago my Mom went to the hospital because she was having a lot of trouble breathing. I’ve visited her twice once the day she was admitted to the hospital and then this morning. I’m scared that she won’t live long enough to go to my competition.”

“Ellie,” Coach Lilly scooted closer to me and hugged me. We stayed there until she pulled away and wiped my tears away. “Your mom is a strong and loving mother. I’m sure she will be fine, and even if she doesn’t make it, she will be in your heart.” 

I nodded and stopped crying but I still felt horrible.

“Can I see your wrist?”

I nodded and Coach Lilly gently lifted my wrist and rubbed it. I winced but stayed still.

“I’ll be back,” Coach Lilly left but was soon back with adhesive tape. She sat down next to me and wrapped my wrist with the tape. When she was done my wrist instantly felt better, but it was still sore when I rotated my wrist. “Do you think you can practice?”

I hesitated then nodded. I stood up and got back in line. While I waited my turn, I chalked up my hands. When it was my turn I took a deep breath, jumped up to the bar, and started my routine. It was perfect! I kept working on it until Dad picked me up. At home, I ran upstairs, threw myself on my bed, and started reading.

The day of the competition I was very nervous but I remembered what Coach Lilly had said a couple of weeks ago. That morning as Dad drove me to the competition he said, “I have a surprise for you, but you won’t find out until it is your turn.” I was very confused but we have a rule in our house to not guess the surprise before you find out.

When it was my turn I smiled at Coach Lilly, took a deep breath, and completed a perfect routine on the bars. I was so happy, and then I noticed a familiar face in the crowd; Mom.  I gasped and ran to hug her. I was so happy that she was out of the hospital. That night I found out that I had won the competition!

The Thunder Storm

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The Thunder Storm

By Billy Bob Joe

One day Mom, Dad, Slimmy and Kimmy were sitting on the couch watching sports games.  

When Kimmy was feeling hungry she said “ Hey Mom, I’m feeling hungry so I’m going to grab a snack really quick.”

 “ Okay, honey but be quick though.” Mom said. So Kimmy checked the pantry and it was very empty. Kimmy wanted some Takis and a Bubbler or two.

So she asked her mom and she said “Yes, in 5 minutes, let me finish watching this tennis match and then we can go.” 

“Okay.” said Kimmy. 

While the tennis match was finishing it started to sprinkle and then it progressively got harder. When the tennis match ended Kimmy came back and said, “ Mom can we go now?”

“Yes honey, we can go  .” said Mom

So they went outside and it was pouring down hard “ Let’s wait out the rain first and then we can go ok Kimmy?” said Mom

“ Ok “ said Kimmy 

So Mom and Kimmy sat down on the couch again and then Mom, Dad, Slimmy and Kimmy turned on the news channel and it said that there were going to be thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. Everyone got an emergency alert and it said TORNADO WATCH.

So after the alert everyone got up from the couch and started grabbing their emergency bags. They put them downstairs in their Bulkhead doors( Tornado shelter). Just in case there was a tornado they would be prepared. So then they went back inside. A couple minutes later Slimmy says, “ Mom it looks really dark outside.”

“ Yes it does look very, very, very dark outside.” said Mom

 After a couple of minutes Kimmy says, “ Mom, when can we go to the gas station?” 

“ I don’t know Kimmy.” said Mom

A few minutes after that everyone gets an emergency alert

 TORNADO WARNING EVERYONE TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

 So Mom, Dad, Slimmy and Kimmy went to grab a blanket and went to their Bulkhead doors( Tornado shelter). Soon after they all went to the Bulkhead doors( tornado shelter) Dad heard the town’s sirens go off and he knew it was now very serious because he knew the town sirens only went  off when a big tornado was coming straight for the town.

 “Are we going to die Dad?” said Slimmy 

“ No, of course not honey,” said Dad.

There was a very big thunder and it shook the Bulkhead doors( tornado shelter) and Kimmy started crying because she was scared and then they all got an Emergency alert saying EF5 TORNADO COMING STRAIGHT FOR FLORALVILL EVERYONE EVACUATE! So dad went outside and he saw a tornado forming and he knew that it was too late to evacuate.

“ EVERYONE GET IN THE CORNER NOW!” he said.

Everyone got in the corner and then even more sirens started going off so they knew something bad was coming. Dad turned on his phone and checked the news. 

“ IF YOU LIVE IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS BE PREPARED FOR WHATS COMING AND WE PRAY FOR YOU.” “ FLORAVILL, HOPEVILLE, DELICAVILL AND BLUEELA.” said the news 

So Mom was getting very worried and she thought that the house might be going down but she wasn’t sure so she didn’t say anything. 

Kimmy was crying but then she remembered that she still hadn’t gotten her Takis and Bubbler so she said “ MOM WHEN CAN I GET MY TAKIS AND BUBBLER I’M GETTING MAD!”

“ WERE GETTING A TORNADO COMING STRAIGHT FOR THE TOWN! BE QUIET AND SIT DOWN NOW!”

So Mom was very angry at this point and Kimmy was getting more and more upset and there was a big “BOOM!” Dad had to go outside and check what was going on so he looked out really quick because he knew it wasn’t safe but when he looked outside the power line was on FIRE! Dad got really worried but it was pouring down and the fire was across the bridge.

Mom saw the horrified look on Dads face and pulled him over “ What did you see i know that look on your face,” said Mom

“ There’s a fire outside.” said Dad,

“ WHAT!” said Mom loudly ,

“SHHH.”  said Dad ,

“ What’s going on Dad?” said Slimmy,

“ Nothing.” said Dad.

There started to be a lot more thunder and the tornado went through the whole town destroying every house in its way including  Robert’s house, Slimmy and Kimmy’s neighbor’s house.

So after the tornado was done Kimmy remembered about the gas station. “ Hey Mom, could we possibly go to the gas station?” said Kimmy 

“ Yes let’s go now.” said Mom 

So they went to the gas station and it was destroyed so they went home, picked up Slimmy and Dad and went to a family’s house and watched a football game and the rest of sports games that day.

Cheesy Problems

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Cheesy Problems

                     By: Cheryl Dean the 3rd

Do you cheese roll? Well hi, I’m Derek, and I’m a cheese roller. On July 15th which is tomorrow I will be going to the Summer Olympics for their first year of cheese rolling. I have been cheese rolling since I was 8. I am now 19 and I live in Albert Lea, Minnesota. I am currently staying at the 2034 Olympian Hotel in Paris. I will be going tomorrow at 7:30 am to get prepared to race at 4:30. My judge (Jill) will then weigh me, measure me, and much more. I’m going to bed at 7:30 to be prepared for the race tomorrow. It is now 7:02 and I’m going to brush my teeth, shower, and go to bed. Goodnight.

The next morning I’m going to training with my instructor (Jackson), and my coach (Owen). I’m at my warm ups but Owen is not here. Even worse, neither is Jackson. I’m starting to worry. (13 minutes go by). I know they stayed in the same hotel room. Maybe I’ll try calling them. Ring ring ring. Owen didn’t answer so I’ll try calling Jackson and if he doesn’t answer we have a problem.

I go to the front desk to talk to them. I found out their room number 304 and I got a room key since I came with them. 

Swoosh 

I go up the elevator to the 3rd floor. I found their room and I opened the door. I walk in to find them still asleep. I wake them up. 

“What are you doing in here Derek” 

I’m waking you up for training? 

“You didn’t get the email?” 

Huh?

 “It’s rescheduled for tomorrow Judge Meredith is sick”

 Ok. 

I leave. 

I guess I will check my emails for more info. Wait, I don’t have an email? Maybe it just didn’t go through. I’m going to try to email her to get more info. Oh! She emailed me back and said that she was confused. I asked her what she was confused about. 

 “I’m confused because we’re still having the race today and I’m not sick,” she said.

I go down the elevator. 

Swoosh. 

I go to room 304, use the room key, and walk in. No one is in there. So I go down to the front desk and ask them if they know anything about them or have seen them. They say

 “yeah they checked out about 30 minutes ago”. 

I am now confused because we were supposed to warm up, and they lied to me about today and told me it was tomorrow. Were they trying to make me miss it? I look out the window at the parking lot. The van was gone. I’m stuck here. No vehicle. 

I start getting hungry. I end up calling an uber. I go to Mcdonalds and there is a fight. I don’t think too much of it. Until I realize it’s my instructor fighting the chef and worker yelling “GIVE ME MY FRIES, MILKSHAKE, AND DR. PEPPER!” 

I leave.

After that I try to get an uber but it will be 35 minutes until I can. So I decided to go on a walk in Paris since I’ve never been here before. The eiffel tower was only a few blocks away. I’m sweating. I’m thirsty. I’m nervous. I don’t think I’m ready. Since my coach and instructor left, it’s just me. I decided to run a few blocks to the eiffel tower. And for extra preparation run to the hotel.

I am dripping sweat. I got ready for the race, including showering again. It is a 3:28 race that starts in one hour. I arrived at 3:34 and now they are weighing me, measuring me, and everything else. They’re are a lot of people. I’m anxious. I’m excited. I have a good feeling about this race. Even though my coach isn’t here to support me I will prove to him I’m fine without him and I’m better than ever.

“Alrighty ladies and gentlemen welcome our first contestant for cheese rolling!” 

They are about to introduce me!

 “6 ‘2’, 154 pound, male Derek Shepard!”

 Omg that’s me! 

Being announced at the olympics has always been my dream! And I am here to chase it. I am also here to chase that rolling cheese!

“And the race starts on 20, 19, 18”

 Oh my gosh I better have stretched well. 

“17, 16, 15, 14” 

It’s getting to me but nothing is stopping me.

 “5, 4” 

It’s the last few seconds! I got this and I’m more ready than ever. 

“ 3, 2, 1, GO!” 

I am running faster than ever.

 “And Derek Shpeard took the lead in 1st place!”

Ok i’m doing good. I’m almost there. I finished! Did I just win? We’re about to find out! Fingers crossed!

“Ok everybody we have our first place championship winner! Great job to…Derek Shepherd!”

Omg I just won 1st place at the olympics! I can’t believe this! Wait, are my coach and instructor in the audience? Why are they here? Well it’s kinda a good thing because I was able to prove I’m better off without them and maybe it’s a good thing they never showed up to practice. I just cannot believe they tried to convince me my big day was cancelled. I dont know whats going on with them but I don’t care because I just won 1st place at the world wide olympics!

After today I finally did some research and I would like you to meet my new instructor Alex, and my new coach Mark. They have really shown me what it looks like when people are really trying to put in their effort and help show me and tell me how I can improve and accomplish my goals.

The Second Chance

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The Second Chance 

By: Bumblebee Homie

“There Elsa goes down the rink in a zigzag motion, ready to score,” the broadcaster said on TV. “It’s only her against the goalie. She hits the puck and in the goal it goes. She scored!” 

My dream is to be on that rink with people watching me from all over the world. I am 14 and live in Churchill, Canada. By the end of this year I hope my dream will come true. 

This week is the big game that could change my life. If we win this game we will then play to be the top team in the country of Canada. The rest of the week I just have practice, but there is one more thing I like to do. I like to meditate. Everyday after practice I go home, sit on my swing, and think about what I want to happen every second of that game. Then I just breathe, getting prepared for the minute I step on that ice.

“Today at practice we will be scrimmaging against other people on our team,” said Coach Bree,“You guys need to hustle. You are as slow as snails.” 

“Coach is being tough on us today,” said my teammate.

“Yeah,” I responded,” but the big game is in two days.”

When I got home I didn’t even do my meditating, that was how tired I was. On top of the scrimmaging, coach Bree made us skate around the rink fifteen times before we could leave because she was saying we were too slow. I really don’t think it was a good idea because we will all be tired and sore before our big game. 

The next day at practice we only did a few warm up things before we meditated  as a whole team. Coach Bree let us out early and told us to all go home and get a lot of rest. I knew the whole team was nervous, the team we were playing was not only good, but physical. 

It was the day of the big game and I was feeling confident. When we got to the rink I could see that I might have been the only one that was confident. When we got on the rink and started warming up, someone from our team skated off the rink and threw up. It didn’t help anyone else on the team feel any better. 

There was one minute until the game started and Coach Bree was talking to us about strategy. 

“Ok everybody, we all know today is going to be tough, and we need to keep our heads in the game,” said Coach Bree,”All we have to do is think of strategy. Just remember your plays and it will be smooth rolling from there.” 

I was ready. All that needed to happen was my team doing their best and shake out any nerves they had. 

“WELCOME everybody to the 2024 Canada’s Best in the Country hockey game! Just a few reminders for everyone, we want to make sure everyone is safe and has good sportsmanship throughout the game,” said the announcer.

My team got on the rink and we all got in position. The ref threw the puck in the air. I played ball from there. 

One of my teammates got hold of the puck first. She went all the way to the goal and missed. Right away, Coach Bree called our first timeout. 

Coach Bree started screaming,“Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork, you guys. I don’t just want one of you going solo down the rink one on five. If we want to win we have to work together, ok.”

“Yes, Coach Bree,” said the team in unison.

We got back on the rink. No one liked that  Coach Bree yelled at us, but we didn’t want to let her down. 

I started with the puck, passed it to one of my teammates, they passed it to another one of my teams, and by then I was right next to the goal. My teammate passed it to me. SCORE! The crowd went wild. 

For the rest of the half, it went back and forth between my team and the other. The score was 5 to 6 with the other  team in the lead. 

At the start of the second half the other team started and missed. It was our turn. One of my teammates started and it went to a few other people before it came to me. I was losing my balance as someone was on my tail. It was like a lion chasing a zebra. I quickly passed it to my teammate near the goal and I really didn’t know what happened next. 

In the mix of it, I ran into the wall and the person behind me ran into me. As the other person was walking away she took my helmet with her as it was stuck on her jersey. She pulled me down and accidentally took my helmet off before I hit the ice. In that second I was unconscious. 

The next thing I remembered was being in the hospital bed listening to Dr. Hiemberry and my mother talking. 

“Elsa has a severe concussion and possible brain bleed,” said Dr. Heimberry. ”We will have to go into surgery within the next few hours if that is alright with you.”

“That’s fine Dr. Heimberry, I will do anything to help my daughter,” my mom responded. 

Later that day I went into surgery so they could help prevent the brain bleed. The only thing I could do about the concussion was taking medications to help it heal. The worst part was I damaged my brain a little. It is the part of my brain that helps tell me how to move. There wasn’t much I could do besides work to build that memory of just simply walking. I was told walking shouldn’t be a problem, but getting back out on the ice is a different story. 

Dr. Heimberry helped me day by day recover and I had a few other surgeries for who knows what. I got up and walked around a few steps at a time with support from a walker. Each day a new family member would come visit me, and I really never felt alone. One month later, I was out of the hospital. 

When we got home for the first few days all I could do was lay down. My mom was way too worried about me and to be honest, I could have been out of the hospital a week or two before I was. The only thing holding me back was the thought of my mother. She told me I had to do 30 consecutive steps by myself before we could leave. Even Dr. Hiemberry told me I was free to go by the third week I was there. 

By the end of the week my mom told me I could watch the tape of the big game.

“Hey Elsa, Coach Bree just sent the footage of the game. Would you like to watch it,” asked my mom. 

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to watch it, but I knew I was going to see myself get hurt. I didn’t even really find out the result of that game. Did we win? Did they even finish the game? 

“Sure,” I said, questioning myself, ”I will watch the game. 

Right as I started watching the game, the doorbell rang. My mom told me I should get it, which surprised me since she really hasn’t let me walk for the last week. I paused the video and got up. I used my walker to get to the door knowing I was rusty. When I opened the door I saw my whole team stand there.

“We missed you!” they all said in unison. 

“Mind if we come to watch the game with you?” stated Coach Bree. 

“Yes, Yes, Yes,”I responded,”I would love it if you do.”

The rest of the afternoon we watched the game and hung out. There was one odd moment. It was near the part that I got hurt. While it happened we all grabbed hands and prayed like you do at the dinner table. Then it got even weirder.

“You know we will miss you on the ice,” said someone on my team.

“Yeah,” said everyone else at different times.

It was silent. Did anyone believe I could play hockey again? I did up until that moment. I started to realize that playing hockey again might not be possible for me. I didn’t want it to end that way. 

“Does no one believe I will be able to play hockey again?” I asked.

The room was once again silent.

Coach Bree finally responds,”We all wish you could play hockey again, but your mom told us your doctor said you would barely be able to run for a while let alone skate for the next few years. By then you will probably just give up on hockey.”

“I don’t want to give up on hockey, and I never will,” I said as I ran to my room as fast as I could, which was not really fast at all. 

I spent the rest of the night in my room. I really didn’t want to give up on hockey and I was determined to get back out on the ice. 

For the next three months I walked a little bit more everyday to the point where I was at a jogging pace. My mom was worried I would get hurt, but she believed me. She knew what I wanted to accomplish. 

Once I got up to a slow running pace which was another three months later, I started on the ice. I was basically back on day one. I went from using the walker for a month, to falling left and right, to acting like a really bad figure skater. It wasn’t until about a year after the accident that I got a hockey stick back in my hand. I knew if I wanted to reach this point it was going to take awhile, but it was starting to get hard. 

There were times that I just wanted to quit and times that I just wanted to be able to play hockey again. One week I just couldn’t do it anymore. I spend 80% of my time in my room and the rest in the kitchen or bathroom. Then I finally got my confidence up and got back on the ice once again. 

Once I was back to being a good skater I started my hockey journey. For weeks I practiced on my skills until I was an ok hockey player. I would have kept practicing for weeks, but I found out that they were having a rematch of the game I got hurt in. 

“I have been watching you on the ice lately and I think we can all agree that you are ready to play hockey again,” said Coach Bree. ”So we talked to the team that we played in the Best in the Country game. They agreed to a rematch. It won’t mean anything, but we want you to have your second chance.

“When is the game?” I asked. 

Coach Bree respondes,”It is this Friday, three years from the day it all happened.”

I spent hours preparing for that game. I knew I was never going to be as good as I was, but I was doing pretty good considering what happened. I went to practice with the rest of the team, and did my meditation when I got home. It was finally the day we had all been waiting for.

We got right into the game. I wasn’t starting, but Coach Bree just wanted me to get the way of the land or at least that’s what she said. I really just think my mom told her I couldn’t start. 

It was half way into the first half before I went in. It wasn’t hard for me to get right into the game. I was dominating. I passed it to my teammates left and right. Whenever I passed it to them they scored. It was like I was a good luck charm. By the beginning of the second half the score was 5-6. We were in the lead. 

I didn’t start the second half but I did seem like I needed a break. There were five minutes left in the second half, and the score was tied 7-7. I finally went in. 

It went back and forth between teams and there was thirty seconds left, score 9-9. One of my teammates passed it to me. Everyone was behind me. The only thing that was stopping me was the goalie. I went straight into the right, faked left hit in and … SCORE!!!!!! Right before the clock ran out. We won. 

After the game everyone came to celebrate at my house. 

“We are so proud of you Elsa,” said Coach Bree. ”You probably expected this, but we want you to join us for our around the world tournament. After we won the Best in the Country again, we want you to join us this time because you lost out on your chance.”

“Thank you guys!” I say really loudly,”I am so lucky to have you all.” 

We ended up getting second place in the world tournament and had a great time. By the end of the year I was 18. I ended up going to college at the University of Waterloo in Canada. By my second year I was assistant coach for the Waterloo Warriors men’s team. When I graduated I became a hockey coach for young girls that had or were having trouble getting back on their feet, just like I did.  

Five Olympic Rings: One Cross Country Team

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Five Olympic Rings One Cross Country Team     

By: Tater Tot The Smart Goober

Sarah Konalie was a 5 ‘8 , sixteen year old girl who had deep blue eyes, curly brown hair and skin that stayed tan all year around. Sarah was a very talented cross country runner who was ranked number one in  her conference. Sarah Konalia was born in Boston Massachusetts, but at the age of four, she moved to a small town in Iowa. The same year Sarah moved she started running to help take off some of the stress of joining a new school and having to make new friends. Sarah went undefeated last cross country season even going on to win state.

 Just when Sarah thought her season was over she got a call from the Olympic Cross Country team head coach Bertha Johanson. 

“Sarah I am so glad I was able to get a hold of you, you accomplished great last season, and I am excited to inform you that a spot on our Olympic team has opened up, and I would like to personally invite you to come to the meet where we will choose who our next member will be,” said Bertha

 Sarah said, “Thank you so much for this opportunity! This is a dream come true, I can’t wait!”

Bertha Johanson sighed over the phone and then said, “Sarah, I am happy to know you are excited, but you will be going against people that are almost double your age, and have been training for this their whole life. Now that being said, you do have the best time out of all of these people, but you still need to train hard and keep improving.”

“I completely understand, and, if you don’t mind me asking, who has the next best time behind me?” Sarah said.

“That is a great question and it is actually someone that is your age, and you have gone against often this past season,” Bertha said. 

“Oh, do I know them personally?” Sarah asked.

“Umm yeah you actually know them very well. It is your teammate Karen Shoop.” Bertha said.

“Oh, Karen, as in the one that in our last meet I only beat by a couple seconds?” Sarah said in a worried tone.

Betha Johanson then said, “Yes, I thought it would be a great competition, and motivation to challenge the both of you. I was talking to your coach and she said the two of you really pushed each other during the season.”

Sarah was too stunned to speak but then got the words out, “Uhh yeah something like that.”

Coach Bertha then said, “This isn’t a problem for you is it?”

“No, not at all!” Sarah quickly said.

“All right, good, I look forward to seeing you two weeks from now on Saturday.” Bertha Johanson said.

“See you in two weeks,” said sarah. “Oh and thank you so much for this opportunity!”

After the phone call ended Sarah couldn’t help but worry about Karen being at the race. Although Sarah had always beaten Karen, recently Karen had been getting closer and closer to beating Sarah. Even to the point of Sarah only winning by two seconds at their last meet.

That was not the only problem Sarah had with Karen. Although they would always treat each other with respect, in the second grade, Sarah’s boyfriend at the time, Mike who she had been dating since kindergarten, was playing at recess with Karen, and did not come over by Sarah when she walked outside. This was something he did everyday, so when he did not it really hurt Sarah’s feelings. After that day Sarah and Mike broke up and shortly after he started dating Karen. 

Sarah knew she needed to start training immediately to improve her time, as well as give her body some time to heal. The race was only two weeks away which is not a lot of time for her to improve her time as well as give her body the amount of rest it will need to perform at it’s best of abilities. There was no way Sarah was going to let that boyfriend stealing witch get in the way of her making the Olympic team. 

Sarah decided to make a schedule for her training. On Mondays she would run four miles at her race pace, eat a good meal, and then do arms at the gym. On Tuesdays she would do five easy miles, and then go straight to the gym where she will do legs. On Wednesday Sarah would go for a walk, and then go to a yoga class. On Thursday Sarah was going to do integrals, sprint half a mile, walk a fourth a mile, sprint a mile, walk a half mile. Sarah would do that a total of three times. On Friday Sarah is going to go on a seven mile long run, then go to the pool to relax. On Saturday Sarah will go to the gym and do a full body workout followed by yoga afterwards. On Sunday Sarah will clean, and do stuff around the house, but no workout.

Now that Sarah had already created her schedule for training, she started right away wasting no time at all. It was Saturday so that meant Sarah needed to go to the gym and do a full body workout accompanied by some yoga after words.

Sarah got dressed in her workout clothes and headed out the door to the gym. When Sarah arrived she stretched, and proceeded to grab the 20 pound weights to start with arms. Sarah did 10 shoulder presses, rest, 10 bicep curls, rest, for a total of three rounds.  

After arms, Sarah did abs because as a runner it was super important for Sarah to have a strong core. Sarah did 10 crunches, 10 sit ups, rest for 30 seconds, one minute plank, rest for 30 seconds, 15 leg raises, and repeated three times.

All that was left for Sarah to do at the gym was legs. Sarah did 10 squats, 10 left leg split squats, 10 right leg split squats, and repeated it for three rounds.

After the gym Sarah was a little sore so she was excited to go to yoga and stretch. 

When Sarah arrived at yoga she grabbed one of the mats and started stretching before the teacher arrived. When the teacher walked into the dimly lit, lavender-scented yoga room they all started to stretch together. Throughout the yoga class they proceeded to stretch, and hold poses that helped work on flexibility. Sarah loved yoga because it helped her get longer strides, and made her body feel refreshed.

After yoga, Sarah went home and prepared a steak, with potatoes, and five cut up strawberries. While Sarah was going to sit down to eat, she got a call, a very unexpected call, from Karen. Sarah answered the phone with a sweet, welcoming tone, “Hi Karen it has been so long since I have talked to you! How have you been?”

“I am doing great, I actually wanted to call and tell you that I got a call from the Olympic head coach, Bertha Johanson saying that she wants me to go to the Olympic Cross Country team tryouts, and that I have a really good chance of making the team. There is only one person with better times than me. Can you believe it? This is a dream come true!” Karen said with an excited but also arrogant tone.

“Oh, that’s great Karen, I am so happy for you!” Sarah said with excitement, even though in her head she was annoyed with the fact that Karen had called her to brag about her accomplishment.

“Oh I am glad you feel that way because I was actually calling you to ask for your help. I was wondering if you know who the person that has a better time than me could be? Coach Bertha told me that they were my age but I was too scared to ask her who,” Karen said.

Sarah smiled over the phone, barely able to keep in her excitement about how Karen was going to react when Sarah told her that the person with better times is actually her. Sarah took a deep breath and then said, “I actually do know who you are talking about, and I know them very well.”

“Oh really, that’s great Sarah! I am so happy we are able to put our past behind us, and you are willing to help me out.” Karen said excitedly. 

“Yeah no problem at all, and you actually know them too. In fact you are speaking to them over the phone right now.” Sarah said smugly. 

Karen, after being too stunned to speak, finally managed to say, “Oh that is great, I am so happy for you.”

“Yeah I am happy for you too, well I have to let you go and get back to training, and I am sure you have to do the same. So see you in two weeks!” Sarah said

“See you in two weeks.” Karen said still in shock from finding out that Sarah was going to be at the Olympic tryouts too.

After the phone call with Karen, Sarah worked hard for the next two weeks of training. During the two weeks of training there was only one problem Sarah encountered. She kept replaying the race that Karen was so close to beating her over and over in her head. Sarah would replay this moment and then get in her head and not focus on her breathing and strides. 

This problem caused Sarah to only improve her time by five seconds, opposed to the ten seconds she was planning. Although five seconds is a really good improvement in cross country, the ten seconds would have given Sarah more reassurance to be able to beat Karen.

The day of the race quickly occurred. and it was time to see if all of Sarah’s hard work was going to pay off. Before the race started Sarah stretched and then went on a slow one mile run to get her body moving. After the run Sarah stretched again and took her box at the starting line where she did stride outs.

With only one minute till the race would start. Sarah walked to her box and got ready to start. Just as the starting guy was walking to the stand, he shot his fake pistol from to signal the take off of the runners, Sarah looked to her far right and saw Karen Shoop. 

This was not good. Sarah started thinking about the race that they were neck and neck, and could not help feeling that this time it was going to be different. Before Sarah could replay that moment in her head for a second time she got interrupted by the starting guy counting down. 

“On your marks! Get set Go!” The pistol went off and so did the runners. 

Sarah was off to a great start. She was feeling the wind in her face, and she had a great adrenaline rush. Sarah had a pretty decent gap in between her and the group of people behind her, but when she looked back to double check she noticed that there was a person getting closer to her. That person was Karen. 

This time instead of letting Karen get in her head Sarah embraced the freeing feeling she got when she ran and ignored Karen behind her.

Sarah had just finished mile one of the race and her time clocked in at five minutes to be exact. This was good, but for mile two Sarah has to pick up the pace a little and try for a four minutes and fifty five seconds mile.

Sarah focussed on her breathing and strides for mile two. When Sarah finished mile two she was still feeling good and was able to run that mile at a four minute and forty five second mile pace. At the two mile marker Sarah looked behind her to see Karen holding her pace and only a few feet behind.

Sarah knew that for mile three she would have to give it all that she had left. Sarah slowly started picking her pace up and widened the gap between her and Karen. Sarah was feeling good about herself and started to focus on the trail ahead. 

After a minute Sarah looked behind her to see that Karen had gotten really close, maybe five feet behind her. Sarah knew that with only three quarters of a mile to go she would have to widen the gap before the final stretch. Karen was a great sprinter so when it came down to the final stretch between the two, Karen would have been able to sprint right past Sarah to win. 

Sarah picked up her pace even more, and with only a half mile left Karen was still behind her so close that Sarah could hear her breathing.

That’s when Sarah decided to pick up the pace. Sarah started to practically sprint; she was bound and determined to beat Karen. Sarah practically sprinted for a fourth of a mile and that gave a huge gap between her and Karen, there was at least fifteen feet between the two of them. Since Sarah was practically sprinting, she used a lot of her energy, and now she had to hold a good steady fast pace while also leaving energy for when she sprinted at the end.

Sarah was able to see the finish line now. There was still a good ten feet gap between Sarah and Karen, but Sarah knew she had to pick up the pace because when Karen started sprinting that gap would shorten drastically. Sarah took off and now there was only fifteen feet between her and the finish line, but there was also only ten feet between Sarah and Karen.

Even though Sarah was in pain she sprinted as fast as she could and that’s when she heard people cheering. They were cheering for her. Sarah had done it! She had made the Olympic Cross Country team! A dream she had since she was just a little girl. Sarah had run the best race of her life. Her old personal record was 15:55, and she ran a 15:30! 

Sarah was happy she made the Olympic team and not only that, she was happy to have learned a new lesson that she has never forgotten, and used it for the rest of her running career and everyday in her life since. Sarah learned that no one can stop you from reaching your goals except for you, and your own mindset. Not even a boyfriend-snatching, evil, backstabbing, witch!

Brace Yourself

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Brace Yourself

By: Anita Dump

5..4..3..2..1

ring ring

School’s out for the day. I head to my locker and grab my gym bag, then wait for my best friend Hailey. 

“Hey Emily, are you ready for practice? I heard we are doing a lot of running,” said Hailey, “are you sure your ankle is going to be ok?”

“Yeah,” I said, “It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to.”

Right before basketball season, I sprained my ankle during PE doing relay races. It caused me to sit out the first two games, but now I am able to play just having to wear an ankle brace. 

We headed down to the locker room and start getting ready for practice when all the sudden we hear the Weller twins, yelling everyone’s ear off per usual. This time it was about one of them getting new shoes. It finally stops when the coach comes into the locker room and yells at us to hurry up, and of course Hailey and I are the last ones in the locker room.

“Hurry up,  Coach Rachel is going to yell at us for taking so long,” Hailey complained.

“Sorry my brace takes like a million years to put on.”

Finally we get into the gym to warm up, and  Coach gives us a firm look so I just hang my head.  She l calls us in and gives us a lecture about taking too long in the locker room and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me including Coach Rachel. Once she is done lecturing us she tells us what we are doing in practice today.

“Since you guys lost your last game we are going to do conditioning today”Coach Rachel said.

You could just hear the groans throughout all the girls, then the excuses started.

“But we have a game tomorrow, we will play worse because we are soar,” said one of the twins. 

“Well, maybe it will teach you guys not to slack off while playing,” said Coach Rachel, “and as a matter of fact every complaint or excuse I hear is one down and back.”

We started the conditioning and on the first drill with running I hurt my ankle and fell to the floor. 

“Emily, are you ok!” said Hailey in a worried tone.

Then the Coach came over.

“What hurts?” said Coach 

“My ankle,” I said  while trying to stay calm

After that Coach Rachel called my mom and I went home early. On the car ride home my mom told me I should probably sit out on our next game.

“No I can’t sit out, I have already missed two games this season, I can’t miss another one.” 

“I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for the morning. We will see what he says,”my mom said.

After we got back from the doctor, he said I was fine to play. I just had to be careful considering my ankle is weak. I got to school an hour late just in time for second period with Hailey.

“So can you play today?” Hailey said in a nervous voice.

“Yeah, the doctor said I just need to take it easy.”

The rest of the day went by slowly but when the final bell rang I was ready for our game. We got to the locker room and put our uniform on and shoes then I looked in my bag and realized, I forgot my brace! This causes me to get really nervous, so I started to overthink everything. After all this is the first game I am playing, and everyone has already played two. What if I am absolutely terrible and the coach doesn’t even play me, or worse she tries playing me and I make us lose. 

We got on the court and started to warm up and I didn’t miss a single shot which really boosted my confidence. Once warmup was over she sent the starters out on the court. I saw Hailey was starting like usual and it made me kind of sad I wasn’t out there with her this year. The game was going smoothly and half way through the first quarter I was in the game and right off the bat I made a shot and forgot all about that I am not wearing my brace and should take it easy. I decided to guard the biggest girl on the court, she was rough. She pushed me over which caused me to fall then stepped on my ankle.The pain was excruciating.

“Emily, are you ok!?” said the Coach.

I tried to respond but I couldn’t get a word out of my mouth. I saw my mom rush over. She picked me up and took me to the car and drove me to the hospital. At this point I am terrified because I am in urgent care. I am in extreme pain, I am brought to the hospital bed and a doctor comes to the room. 

“By the looks of it, I think that’s broken,” the doctor said, “but we will go ahead and take some x-rays.”

He was right, it is broken and I will be on crutches and have to wear a cast for three weeks. He also said I will probably be out for the whole season because I need to rest, which breaks my heart because this is the first year I can play school basketball. The doctor also mentioned that my injury might lead to later problems down the road and that my ankle might never fully recover.

The three dreaded weeks are finally over and I am going to go back to the doctor to see how I am healing and take off my cast. It has been miserable sitting around while I know all my friends are playing basketball, but Hailey has made sure to tell me everything that happens when I am not there to see it for myself.

“And then number 45 started to get mad and threw the ball at the ref just for calling a foul!” 

Though Hailey made sure I didn’t feel left out, part of me was still really sad. So that is why today is important. It could either be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. We showed up at the doctor and got in to my appointment.

“Let’s take this cast off and see what we are dealing with.”

How could he say that so calmly this could determine my future.

“Well there is certainly still quite a bit of swelling.” Not what I wanted to hear. “But you should be fine to play basketball in a couple weeks.”

That was great news! I am so excited that I am able to play this season and trust me I will always remember to bring my brace, maybe even a backup.

Cheese Boy Champion

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“Cheese Boy Champion”

By Purple Grape

Tom is the number one cheese roller in the state. He is a five-time Olympian champion and he is only 21 years old. “Tom started when he was 16 and is still going on to win the title of the 6th-time champion. The competition for qualifying for the Olympics is Saturday. He goes on a five-mile run but goes easy for the first 4, then goes hard on the last one to train. The competition starts at 7 am and at 5pm he goes on a 3-mile run at the local park. Then he goes to his local bagel bar and gets a very protein-loaded bagel to ensure he gets the protein for his competition. Then, the first whistle blows and he starts running and then he starts rolling and then all of a sudden he is in the hospital. 

Then the doctors tell him that he has hurt his neck and broken his leg so badly that he needs surgery on his leg. He goes into surgery a day after and it all comes out good. The day after that he just rests and thinks about the day and then realizes that they did not make him sign a consent to say that the damages are against him. Then the next day he calls his lawyer and they talk for a while

“Hi, how is your day going?” Tom Said

“Hi, What can I help you with?” Mr Williams Said

“I was wondering if you were busy next week, I was thinking about entering a case to the courthouse.” said, Tom

“I should be free, just tell me what time,” said Mr Williams.

“ Ok, thanks,” Said Tom

“ No problem”, said Mr. Williams

Tom sued the competition and is going into trial in three days, so he must get to business. He is now on trial and is pleading his case to try and win the case. Two hours later, he is done and has been rewarded $536,000. He was awarded this much because of the hospital bill and then was awarded an extra $500,000.

That year he was awarded this much money and is hoping to go to the Olympics next year. That next day he decided that he was going to run 5 miles every day to get ready to win the Olympics the next year because the Olympics were canceled due to weather conditions. These weather conditions ruined the track and took off the paint that was supposed to mark how far they ran or threw. He goes on a run on a cold Sunday morning and all of a sudden he runs into someone and apparently blacked out and then when he woke up he was in the hospital again. He ran into a tree and did not know where he was so they took him to the hospital.

His qualifying match is only a week away. Now instead of 5 miles, he is running 8 miles everyday to get into the body he wants to race in and the body he feels good in. Now the race is tomorrow and he is running 6 miles today.  He is very tired but is gonna pull through. He is done running and it is 9 am so he is going to a bagel shop to get a protein-filled bagel. He has plans to go out with some friends for lunch at 12. At lunch, he eats wings because he thinks he needs to get his carbs in for the day. Then he goes to bed early because he has to wake up early to make it to the competition. 

The next morning he wakes up at 5 and then goes on a 3-mile run at 5:30 am to prepare for the day ahead of him. He then goes to the bagel shop and gets the same thing he got the previous day. Next, he goes home, changes into his race clothes, and then starts driving to the competition because it starts at 9 and it is 6 and it is an hour and 30-minute drive to the competition. He is ready to go at the start line at 8:45 because he wants one of the front spots. Then the race is over he figures out that he and another person are tied for first.

He gets a call. He answers it, it is the person from the competition.

“Hi, this is Mrs Rodriguez.”

“Hi, this is Tom,”

“We are from the competition that you were in last weekend, we have some news for you,” said Mrs Rodriguez

“So what is this news?,” said Tom

“So you know how there was a tie for first place, Well after watching the tape, we saw that you crossed it first so you won the competition, and are going to the Olympics! ” Said Mrs Rodriguez

“Thank you so much for this great news!”  Said Tom

He goes to the Olympics and competes twice and he won both of the rounds. He is now on the podium and gets  the gold medal and is now a 6-time Olympic gold medalist. 

Making it Pro

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Making it Pro

By Scarful

Hello there you should read my story. It’s about my life. I really recommend it.My name is Tanner Rock. I am a 15 year old male. My dreams are to make it pro in the NBA but I’m not very good at basketball. I recently moved to Nevada with my mom. My dad passed away when I was younger. And I wanted to make him proud and make my dream come true. But my mom is living in rough conditions. We moved so my mom could get a better job. 

On the first day of school I met a really nice kid. His name is Oliver. His dreams were also to make it pro in the NBA. But he was 10x better than me. And he said he could give me some pointers on my ball handling and shooting. After school he gave me his number to text him. I  went to his house later in the day to practice my basketball skills. We practiced for around

2 hours and his mom said,

 “Hey do you wanna stay over and have some dinner?”.

 After I ate I walked home. It wasn’t a very far walk to my house. When I arrived home I told my mom what I had done at Oliver’s house. She was really happy that I made a friend. At my old school I didn’t have that many friends. Oliver and I tried out for the high school team. We both made the team.

After my freshman year I didn’t start that much and I still wasn’t a shooter, I was more of a passer. I only scored around 30 points the whole season. But my sophomore year I scored a lot more points than I did the year before. I was averaging 19.3 points a game. My junior year I was on varsity so I didn’t play a whole bunch but I was still averaging 17.6 points a game. But my friend Oliver was doing very well; he was averaging 25.0 points a game. And in our senior year I was averaging 26.1 points a game. My last game there was a college scout and this was my chance to make a college team. I was playing really well; this game I had 23 points in the 3rd quarter and I finished out the game with 36 points. And the college scout came up to me and we were talking for a while. I made the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Oliver on the other hand he did make a college team, but he’s on the Iowa State Cyclones. We both did pretty well; our freshman year he averaged 22.4 points a game and I averaged 23.2 points a game. And through the rest of my college years I decided to go in the NBA draft.I didn’t get drafted till the 5th round. I got on the Houston Rockets.

And so did my friend Oliver. We finally got reunited. I got the starting center position at 6’8 and my friend Oliver got the starting point guard position. He’s only 6’3 but he can do everything he can drive down hill. He can shoot three pointers really well. And he’s the best at his mid range shots. We were 24 games into the season and we were doing good.

Then Oliver tore his ACL. He was out for the season and the thing that sucks is it was his rookie season. He was on pace to get rookie of the year. He was averaging 22.3 points a game more than any rookie this season. I’m only averaging 19.8 points but I was averaging 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The very next game after Oliver got injured he got my first triple double. I had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. When we were getting to the end of the season. I actually got rookie of the year with averaging 23.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 9.0 assists. 

The thing I was the best at was tip offs. I won almost all of my tip offs besides one and I only lost because I slipped when I jumped. After the season me and Oliver would train every day with our private trainer. When the next season arrived, me and Oliver both got 21 points in our first game of the season. 

Week 8 of the season we had to go against the boston celtics they were 7-0 and we were 5-2 not off to a bad start but we didn’t have the best start to the game we were down 10 points at the end of the first quader. The score was 29 to 19. I had 3 of those points with a lay up and 0ne made free throw but Olliver didn’t have any points so he was really discouraged but when we were on the bench I had to give him a little speech so he didn’t feel down on himself. 

After that when we went in halfway through the second i gave it to Oliver on the give and go and he got his first points. After that he got hyped up and got 10 points after and at halftime the score was 56-55 we were up by 1 point. During halftime our coach gave us a pep talk. I only had 7 points so I was kind of mad. But after half i got 14 points in 4 minutes. I had 21 points going into the 4th. We were up by 5 points with 2 minutes left in the game. Then they got a lay up and a three pointer with 20 seconds left and it was 120 to 120 and then they got a layup in 5 seconds so we had 15 seconds to either get a three pointer or a layup and we gave it to Oliver then he gave it to me in the post and i passed it to Oliver in the corner for a three and he MADE IT!!! To win the game. The only team to beat the Boston Celtics was us so far. 

  At the end of the last game of the regular season I had 45 points, the most I’ve ever scored. In the off season I was working out with Oliver and I was doing squats and I tore my quad. But luckily it was right after the season was over. So I had enough time to heal. It’s gonna take around a month for my quad to heal. After the offseason was over I was all healed up and ready for my 3rd season. On the first game of the season I jumped up for a rebound and got injured. After the game I went to the hospital and I found out from the doctor that I won’t be able to play for the rest of the season. And Oliver was having the best season of his career. 48 games into the season he was averaging 25.6 points a game. After the season they ended up 72-12 and won the championship. But gladly I got a ring. 

My 4th season on my first game I didn’t do any good. I was still a little hurt from the previous season. I had 0 points in my first game. And I didn’t get too many in the first 10 games. So the Houston Rockets decided to trade me. They traded me to the pistons. I wasn’t a starter for the Pistons and barely got any playing time. And when I got in the game I wasn’t doing anything. Then the Pistons traded me the next season. Then every team that traded for me would trade me a season later then my last shot to prove I’m still good. The last game of the season I was playing for the Lakers and I got injured again. I knew my career was most likely over. And I got cut a week later and no team wanted to pick me up so I had to retire early. And Oliver went on to win 5 more championship games and be known as the GOAT.  

65 Roses (2019)

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January 17

With time tight on a Friday, I found another documentary short film to watch this morning. This one I found on a website called Shortverse and it was from 2019. The title of the film was 65 Roses.

65 Roses is a symbol adopted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for their organization. It is based on a story of a kid who could not pronounce the name of his disease and would call it 65 Roses.

This doc featured a 14-year old girl named Yllka Leti, who lived in Prishtina, Kosovo and she had cystic fibrosis. The doc looked at the things she had to do to manage her illness and her positive attitude overall about everything. She was very uch like a 14-year old girl who had to learn about and deal with this insidious illness.

The film spoke about how she would paint and sell her paintings to help fund the medicine that she needed to take. I wish there was more about this aspect of Yllka’s life in the doc. I would have liked to have seen more of the creative flow that the young girl had because selling paintings is not an easy thing to do and if she was able to do it to a significance of helping the costs of her medicine, that is an inspirational story. All of this is here, it just was not the main focus of the doc.

I have not had much experience with the illness of cystic fibrosis. The only exposure I had to it was the character of Emma on Bates Motel, who did have cystic fibrosis. Docs like this help to provide important information to help those of use who may not know as much as we should.

Shortverse had a ton of short docs available to watch, with a variety of topics for just about anything.

Bigfoot: Fear in the Woods (2020)

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January 16

There are a ton of documentaries about the existence of or lack thereof of the legendary creature known as Bigfoot. I have seen several docs on the topic. Being a Bigfoot aficionado, I enjoy the docs and shows of the creature. So this Genre-ary, I found a doc on HBO MAX called Bigfoot: Fear in the Woods, a part of a doc series called Shock Docs, and I wanted to put it on the list.

I do believe in the existence of Bigfoot, but there are some way out there theories about the cryptid. Some of those theories were given some mention on this doc, but, the ideas that were more odd were not given much depth. The idea that Bigfoot is an alien from outer space or were violent cannibalistic animals that live in caves beneath the earth’s surface is mentioned, but there is not a ton of details presented to support such bizarre ideas.

However, there are some cool things in the doc that are much more possible. I did enjoy the discussion on the first plaster casts that were made in Bluff Creek, California by a man named Ray Wallace. Some of this section was a fascinating piece of this documentary.

Even more intriguing was the information about 300 elongated skulls that had been discovered in a grave in Paracus, Peru in 1928. It was initially believed that the skulls came from tribal head binding, but the absence of the sagittal suture, “a dense, fibrous connective tissue joint between the two parietal bones of the skull.” (Wikipedia), have made some wonder what the true nature of these skulls were. This whole section about the Peru skulls was very interesting and made some sense.

Of course, I do not know what the doc may have left out, detail wise, in order to make their narrative fit. Still, this was a neat concept that I had not heard of before.

In the end, this doc did not provide anything startlingly new or mind blowing, but it did keep the concept of Bigfoot alive and well, even if there is no true evidence that such a creature ever existed.

Goosebumps: The Vanishing S1 E3

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Spoilers

“The Haunted Car”

I watched the third episode of Goosebumps: The Vanishing series on Disney +. I will admit that I did not like this one anywhere near the first couple. Still, this was entertaining enough and still does have moments that I really enjoyed.

I was not a fan of the whole haunted car bit during this episode and the character of Alex has not been the one that I have embraced at this point. Since this was a major part of the episode, that pulled down the episode itself.

Everything with David Schwimmer as Anthony and Sam McCarthy as Devin with the mysterious plant/animal creature and the vines was great. I do wish that they would just talk to each other. That is a horror film trope that I wish would not be here in this series. Hopefully, it will not be too many episodes because if they get together, they may be able to have more success than they are having separately.

Trey is back. Not a fan of this character, but I was not supposed to love him. He seems like he has been through it and Anthony’s discovery of and caring of the boy when he did showed a strong side to Anthony. It will probably lead to them bonding at some point.

So while I still liked this episode, it is definitely my least favorite of the season so far. I hope it continues to elevate the Anthony story since the haunted car took a header into the water.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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January 15

Another week where I do not have the complete books to choose from as the books coming from Diamond did not arrive because of a snowstorm in the Memphis area. That meant that there would be no Marvel or many of the smaller companies. However, the big news of the week was Diamond declaring bankruptcy, throwing everything into question about how the comics are dispersed moving forward. There are huge questions facing the industry now.

Yet, I do have several books this week (and some from last week too) and I have enough for three medalists once again. And all three are Cover A’s.

Bronze Medalist

Juvenile #2

Cover art by Jesus Orellana

Another cover similar to the first issue, with the falling drugs and more around the character’s face. The white background is again a personal favorite.

Silver Medalist

Challengers of the Unknown #2

Cover art by Sean Izaakse & Romulo Fajaroo

The Challengers under water and the blue is beautiful. Oh, and there is Batman.

Gold Medalist

Knights vs. Samurai #4

Cover art by Gianenrico Bonacorsi & Bjorn Barends

A beautifully brutal cover with what looks like someone coming out from the inside of a dragon, along with some intestines and a skull. This one really stands out and shows how some horror can be lovely.

The Rocket on the Roof (2016)

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January 15

It is Wednesday, which is always one of the busiest days of the week for me (NEW COMIC BOOK DAY) and so with the Genre-ary, it is time for another documentary short. I found this one on YouTube entitled The Rocket on the Roof and it was wild.

A doc crew investigates a rocket that is on the roof of a building that no one seems to know or care about. It is a large red rocket with USA on it, and the questions about how it got there or why it is there abound.

Thing is, our lead face of the doc, Wesley, is anything but outgoing. He would seem to be quite timid at times and has not been able to overcome his own fears and uncertainties to try and answer the nagging questions about the rocket.

When Wesley comes across the former manager of the building, Harry, things seem to take a weird turn. The manager had his own suspicions about the rocket and felt like a very sketchy individual.

The meeting with Harry was the incentive for Wesley to climb the fire escape and finally get a close up view of the rocket.

The doc’s theme of unanswered questions and the challenges of human nature speak through clearly in this doc short. It is just over thirteen minutes long, but it is a fun, crazy ride. The end may feel like a letdown, but I do think that is part of the point.