by Scot McAtee
~ Pelicans Can Save a Life ~
While sitting on the back of the bus, this blonde hair and blue eyed young lady hopped on and sat right next to me. All of a sudden this nice lady said to me, “Do you like pelicans?” I didn’t know how to respond to that question really well so I replied, “Yeah, I guess”. About a minute later, she pulls this handbook out that was about pelicans. A speech came upon the young lady’s mind and she just started to blabber about how to save the pelicans. During that speech she looked straight out the window and started to cry while pointing at the sick looking pelican on the side of the pond. Everyone was so dumfounded when she started to weep. After the young lady was done crying she sat back down and waited for her stop. Few minutes later, the lady looked back and said “Have a nice day, hope all is well”. I didn’t really know what she meant by that, but I looked down to make sure she didn’t leave anything. I didn’t see anything, until I saw this little white corner of a piece of paper sticking out between the seat and the back rest. As I grabbed it I hollered at her and said, “Hey you forgot a piece of paper!” She looked back and gave me a little smirk. As I was opening it, the bus started to move forward. The nice young lady stood on the side walk and looked for me as the bus went by. She still had that smile on her face.
That note said, “Hi, my name is Madeline. I wanted to inform you about the sickness of pelicans. I feel if all of the pelicans here get well, my mother will get better too. Pelicans are her favorite animal in the world. Secondly, every Sunday when my mother was younger she and her mother would go to the parks and just sit there all day to feed the Pelicans because they all were so friendly. They gave both of them such great happiness. Also, that they were stress relieving to them. Then I have noticed when my mother got really sick with her leukemia, so did the pelicans around here. I know I needed to do absolutely anything to get her back to normal. Because of this, I thought of an idea to get a large group together on the 6th of July to go around the town of Thira, Australia and help pick up the sick pelicans. Then, we would take them to the animal center to return to normal health. I would really appreciate it if you would show up to help. Do this for me please.”
I couldn’t believe what I had just read. I knew I needed to help her. I know if I take a stand in this, it will make me a stronger person in the future. Since I am a social worker, I am going to do whatever it takes to help this lady and nothing will get in my way. I’m sticking with this all the way through. I have also had a family member die of leukemia so I know how it feels and I will not let that happen to her.
About a month later, I was heading home from work on the bus and as I looked down the aisle, I noticed a flyer. This flyer wasn’t just any flyer. It had a huge picture of a pelican and a picture of an older woman. It reminded me of that young lady named Madeline. I had one more stop until I got off but before my stop, I had to get a closer look of the flyer. As it turned out, the flyer was to help the save the pelicans on the 6th of July. Immediately after I read all the descriptions on it, I stood at the front of the bus and chanted, “Save the pelicans! Save the pelicans on July 6th at the family center at the city park in Thira at 11 a.m.!” I could see every one’s facial expression change from bored to shocked. My stop came and I had to get off.
It is now six in the morning on July 6th. I was so motivated and determined to help with this event. I had so much time until it started, that I decided to go to the donut shop and buy ten full boxes of donuts for everybody that shows up.
It was ten minutes from the time everyone was supposed to be at the park. I had all the donuts set up and everything was ready to go. I saw Madeline come over the hill. As soon as she reached me, she gave me this huge hug and said, “Thank you so much, I cannot explain how happy I am to see you here!”
A minute before 11 only a few people had shown up. Madeline said confidently, “It’s time.” Madeline was a little disappointed that there weren’t as many people she thought there would be but she did not let that get her down because this was going to help her mother. As soon as Madeline began to tell the instructions for what to do, an immense group of people walked over the hill. She burst into tears at this sight. I could not help but give her a hug and inform her that everyone is there for her and her mother.
As soon as everybody got there Madeline began to explain the instructions again. The instructions were pretty clear and precise. So right after Madeline got done, she said, “Let’s do a prayer real quick before we start this up. May God be with us today and support all of us to helping my mother get out of this horrible sickness. Be faithful. Amen. Now let’s begin.” Everybody started to run in different directions.
The clock struck 3’o’clock and everyone went back to the city park. The groups of families were totaling up all the pelicans they took to the animal center. After everyone got their totals, Madeline added them all up. She wrote it down on a piece of paper. As Madeline got everyone’s attention, she started to cry a little. “546 pelicans were helped today”, Madeline said happily. Everybody began to cheer and clap. After quite a bit of people left, Madeline was telling people that she will be sending thank you cards. I was just so excited to see that this event was such a turn out.
About two weeks later, I got this call from a strange number. Of course I answered it because it could be an emergency. The strange number turned out to be Madeline. “I have the best news to tell you! My mom just got out of one of her treatments and the doctor said she is free from leukemia! Can you believe it? My mother survived, and so did the pelicans. I wanted to especially call you because I don’t know where I would be right now if it weren’t for you”, She has said in great excitement. I told her I could believe it because we all believed in this miracle happening. I am glad I was a part of this. Being a part of this miracle will stick with me forever and ever and remind me that anything is possible.
Marissa Jennings
Once In a Life Time
On my way to Detectives Do It for You, which is my work area, today I saw this strange man walking down Bourbon Street with a big brief case. This guy wasn’t just any other business man, he was really suspicious. Long black sweatshirt with grey sunglasses and a nice suit and tie on. Here in New Orleans, Bourbon Street is the strangest and busiest street. This man was rushing through it like it was the game of Frogger. Nobody really noticed him because of how big of a rush it is on that street. The only reason why I noticed him was because he was just a black figure walking down the street. Also, he had this inhaler that had a weird smell. How did I know it smelt weird? There was a brief breeze of wind that blew towards me and the scent of inhalers liquid came to me, as he inhaled it in his throat. I wasn’t curious why he needed it because it was obvious he had asthma. With him rushing through there like that didn’t surprise me either.
About a couple of hours later, I went on my lunch break. I was really feeling some tacos so I went to Taco Bell and had myself a nice Strawberry Starburst Freeze and a Doritos Taco. On my way back from Taco Bell I saw this caution tape. I was really curious of what happened. All of a sudden I got this feeling it was involving the guy I saw earlier this morning.
Next thing I knew, I saw a black brief case lying on the ground next to this black figured body. I couldn’t believe it, it was the man from Bourbon Street. He was lying dead, not even ten feet away. I was so curious as in what happened? So I decided to ask my co-worker that was investigating this crime scene. She said, “This gentle man was just walking down the street and he just fell right to his death.”
No one understood why he just fell straight down until, this bottle of pain killers fell out of his pocket.
Soon to come was the end of my lunch break. I knew if I was late back to work, I would get in so much trouble. The reason is, is because I have my own criminal case to work on. My case didn’t even interest me anymore, not after what happened to this man from Bourbon Str
eet. Maybe I can trade with my co-worker. My co-worker is a pretty kind person.
As soon as my co-worker got back for the night, I was so eager to ask her. “Hey would you mind switching me cases just this once please.”
Her reply, “Um, sure if you really want to, then go right ahead.”
“Thank you so much, you know that person in that case I saw earlier this morning. I was so shocked because I just saw that guy about two hours ago.”
“Oh wow, that’s crazy no wonder you really want to find out what happened.” She said astonished.
It was around midnight that I knew I needed to get to bed, because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have a lot of energy to investigate everything tomorrow.
“Cockadoodal doooo,”while the rooster hollered, I was getting ready for the big day to investigate. As soon as I got to work I told my boss that my co-worker and I switch cases last night, he had no clue what to say but, “Okay, be careful doing that, you can easily get stuff mixed up from your other case.”
“I understand, this is going to be the only time we do this I promise.” I said back to my boss. Last night, I guess they brought his body back to the office already. That was pretty quick for our workers; usually they take nights to get the body back to the office. Luckily I had all my equipment in the same room he was in because it’s such a struggle to carry it all to another room.
Finally, I get all settled in. It was time to empty his pockets and undress him from his black clothing. Once I got everything off of him, I noticed there was a bulge in his pocket. What I found was an inhaler of course, like I saw earlier that morning. Then there was a wallet, with a license of the name of Harry Getz. I assumed that it was his wallet because it was in his pocket, but then after I did a DNA test from his skin. Come to found out, the guy from Bourbon Street Name was Justin Mickey. I was so confused at first. To come to think about it, he was being really suspicious that morning. That is probably the case. Justin Mickey stole someone else’s wallet. The thing I’m curious about is why he took this wallet. It had absolutely nothing in it besides an ID and a picture of Harry Getz family in it.
After finding the wallet, I was still wondering through his pockets and I find this piece of paper. The paper was a letter that said you have a free ride to Africa. This letter was allowing him to escape from the wrong doing he did.
The real question is why he took this wallet and a letter allowing him to get to Africa. Later in the day, I was inspecting this letter. All of a sudden, I saw this name on the top right hand corner. Also a phone number to call if any troubles have come up.
About an hour later, I decided to call this number and pretend that I was back up for Justin Mickey. “Hey I called to know exactly what the plan was, Justin has had something come up and he can’t make it” I said to the speaker from Africa.
“Okay, the plan is for you to come to Africa with that wallet he has taken from Harry Getz. After that I will pay you $10,000 in cash for bringing me that wallet.” The caller replied.
“So, what is this wallet going to do if I get it to you?”
“That wallet has an identity that can control the whole web world. Do you realize how much power that is?”
“Yes I do, I will get that to you as soon as possible, sir.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as I got that information from the guy from Africa, I hurried to call the police and had them locate that phone number and tell them that this guy is a thief. That was the first thing I needed to do in this situation because he was still alive. Unlike, the other person that is was not able help. Next thing I did was to get Justin Mickey cleaned up and everything.
Finally, it was to the point of the end of this investigation. Justin Mickey was the man walking down Bourbon Street the other morning. He was a thieve of a wallet that belonged to this guy that could control the world web. On Justin’s way to give Harrys’ wallet to this guy in Africa, Justin died of a drug overdose.
Once I got this whole story figured out, I went and told my boss. “I’m done.” He was so surprised that I determined this crime scene out already. My boss was so proud, that he gave me a five dollar raise. I couldn’t believe it; that was the first raise I have ever gotten here during my investigation job. I was so stoked that I took my boss and my co-workers out to eat.
The next month at work, everything was so different for some reason. A lot of things I did, I didn’t mind doing. Usually I complain about some stuff I have to do at work. I don’t know what it was but ever since I figured out that case and got a raise, everything changed. So did my views on everything else.
Marissa Jennings
The Dead Killer
One October night, Gracie was brushing through my long blonde hair while I was getting ready for a good night’s rest. Just as I snuggled under the soft down comforter, I heard a noise. I quickly darted out of my bed and crept toward the door. As I slowly turned the knob and gently pushed the door open, I shrieked with horror when I saw, my black, fat cat, Dreamer, staring right at me while lying down in the top of the couch. I was still curious of what that noise was though. I continued to look around to find something that had fallen. As soon as I took one step into my kitchen there was a box of “Boo Berry cereal” lying on the floor. It was probably just my stupid cat trying to get to her food in the cabinet behind all the cereal. So I went back to bed hoping I could still get a long night of rest in.
Morning came and I woke up to my new roommate moving all of her stuff in. Her name was Fiona. Fiona has just moved here from Monticello, Indiana. The reason why she moved here was because her parents has just died in a very tragic car accident. Fiona didn’t talk that much. I thought I scared her a little when I woke up with my bed head. My bed head is very alarming to others. “Hi, my name is Fiona. I am so thankful that you let me stay here. If you have any problems or questions just go ahead and tell me, I’ll try to change or answer them as best as I can”, as she said smiling. Surprisingly, she just came up to me and just started talking. Usually it has to be the owner of the house to step up and say something.
It has been a couple of days after Fiona has moved in. I have noticed some weird habits that she has, and I am a little grossed out by most of them. A couple of them are leaving her hair in the drain of the shower, eating with her mouth open, and the worst one of all is leaving her trash where ever she last uses it. It is so disgusting. The thing is, after like a day the trash starts to smell horrible and, have to pick it up myself.
Today was the day, I told myself I needed to tell Fiona that she needs to pick up after herself more. Fiona gets off work around 12:00 p.m. today. I was actually really scared to tell her because of how she reacts to being told what to do. The other day there was this old man across the road and he told her that she needs to keep her music down when coming home because people are sleeping. Fiona flipped out and got so mad that she made her dart board into a knife throwing target. At that moment it hit me, my roommate was chaotic.
Fiona came in the apartment and sat right down in front of the television, threw her shoes to the side of the couch. Then grabbed a big bag of potato chips and started to chow down. I stood up from the chair next to her and exclaimed, “Fiona you need to get your stuff together and be organized! I can’t take it anymore!” As soon as I got done saying what I had to say, she got up and went straight to her room. I thought it was a little odd because I assumed she was going to go flip ape on me. Instead she went to actually clean her room.
Next day I went to see if Fiona was okay because she had missed her bus to get to work. I knocked and there was no answer. So I opened the door really slowly. The first thing I saw was a full table of chemicals as in acid and a lot more I couldn’t even tell what they were, that were not there yesterday. There was no sign of Fiona; I was paranoid but I said to myself that she is a big girl. She can take care of herself. Right when I turned around, to walk out
of her bedroom she comes around the corner from the kitchen. I didn’t want her to see me so I closed her door really fast and ran across the hall to the bathroom; Pretending that I was just about to get out of there from using the restroom. Thank God she didn’t see me. She probably would of flipped out on me for just touching her door.
I was a little concerned about what she was trying to do in her room the other day. About an hour later, after she got home from work the next day, I asked her what she was doing in her room the other day because I heard something explode. She said, “Oh it was just my pop can being opened. Why did you go in my room or something?” I stopped and just sat there blankly because I could of sworn she knew I went in there. I started to stutter, “I-I-I went in there just to make sure everything was okay because you had missed your bus yesterday.”
Few days later, Fiona came out of her room with this big smile on her face for some odd reason. I was a little freaked out. Then all of a sudden she got into the refrigerator and grabbed this pineapple upside down cake. Fiona said, “Here try this. It’s my first time attempting to bake; I really hope it’s good.” About an hour after Fiona left for grocery, I started to feel a little light headed. So I went to my room to lay down, with a cup of water.
All I heard was Fiona yelling my name really loud. “Gracie! Gracie! Are you okay? Can you hear me? We need to get you to the hospital as soon as possible.”
October 31st was the night Gracie died. That pineapple upside down cake had poison in it. The case behind this incident was, Fiona and her dead mother’s spirit had a connection of getting back at Gracie for trying to tell Fiona what to do. Fiona just had an idea to put glue on one of the chairs and ruin a pair of her pants. Instead Fiona’s mother took control. Fiona’s mother asked Fiona if she would help make this cake. Fiona was a little confused to why her mother couldn’t do it herself, but anyways she did help her. When Fiona wasn’t watching at one point in time, her mother slipped in a tablespoon of Phenol, which is a poison that the Nazis used in WWII, inside the mixture of the batter of the cake mix. This report was coming all from Fiona and her mind. The real question is, how Does Fiona have communication with her dead mother…..?
Maya Garringer
Off the Trails
“Em, did you hear about the bike trails?” my older sister, Faith, asked me.
“No, what bike trails?”
“They are only two blocks away!” she answered excitedly.
“Really? Where are our bikes?” I asked
“I’m not sure. Go ask Dad.”
We just moved in to our new house. It isn’t much, but it’ll do. It is a mess right now; we haven’t unpacked much because our dad’s been busy with his new job.
I found my dad unpacking dishes in the kitchen. “Hey Dad, where are our bikes?” I questioned him.
“I don’t know, sorry Pumpkin,” he said right before his phone began to ring, and I started to leave so he could talk alone. “Emma!” he yelled when I made it to the other room.
“Yes?”
“I have to go to work real quick. Can you finish unpacking these, please?”
“Sure,” I said disappointed. “When I’m done, can Faith and I go to the bike trails anyway?”
“Just remember to lock the door! There is a spare key on the counter,” he answered.
“Thank you!” I said before he rushed out of the door.
Fifteen minutes later, I ran up to get Faith. “Dad said we can go to the bike trails!”
“Where are our bikes?”
“He doesn’t know, but let’s just walk there instead,” I suggested.
“Okay, let’s go!”
It was late October and the trees around the trails were beautiful at this time a year. The trails looked like new. We walked the trails, examining the wonderful scenery. We passed running streams and sloping hills. We walked for hours, studying the trails and their turns and what they led to. We walked until we were exhausted, and we decided to go home.
On the walk home, our dad called Faith to see where we were.
“We are on our way home from the trails,” she answered.
“Okay, hurry. I brought home a pizza! It will be our first dinner together in a while,” he said excitedly.
“We will,” she giggled.
While we ate dinner, we told him all about the trails.
“They sound awesome!”
“Mom would have loved them,” Faith said.
“Yeah, I bet she would have,” he answered solemnly.
My mom died about 3 months ago due to a shooter on the street. My dad had to get a new job to support us, so we moved here. He hates his new, demanding job; it is owned by the government, just like everything now. He never has time for anything else, and he can’t trust anyone there.
“Maybe you could come with us sometime,” I said breaking the silence.
“I would love to! The next chance I get, I’ll go. I’ll try my hardest to get some time off,” he responded sincerely.
Faith and I went straight to bed after dinner because we were tired from the day’s hike. The next day, after we were done with our homework, we decided to go back. After about ten minutes of walking again, I noticed a creek that curved around to where we couldn’t see. “Where do you think that leads to?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Wanna go check it out?”
“It’s off the trail, though.”
“I know,” she answered directly.
“Okay,” I said thrilled she wanted to see as well.
Cautiously we followed the tiny stream. The forest got even more stunning as we went. We saw tiny fish in the stream, birds in the trees, and squirrels merrily hopping around in the layer of dead leaves on the ground. There were a few trees that fell down over the stream, so we could go from one side to the other, or we could walk across the larger rocks in the creek. We took rests along the long walk and skipped rocks or looked around.
“We should start heading back,” I said.
“Okay. Are you hungry?” Faith asked.
“Starving!”
“Sometime we should eat here, like a picnic!” she suggested.
“Good idea! We can do it this weekend.”
As we walked home, we made our plan. We looked around for a cool spot to eat, and then finally found the perfect spot. There was a cliff on the side of a gigantic hill overlooking the main trail. The hill went all along the trails and you can’t see over it anywhere. The cliff’s two sides are steep, but not enough to make it so we couldn’t climb. The very tip of the cliff has a large tree, and then it drops straight down in the front. The tree’s roots intertwine the entire cliff.
“That’s the spot!” I said.
“It’s perfect,” she agreed.