A Short Story: The Great Escape

‘Are they leaving me again? Where are they going? Am I going with them?’ Those thoughts rushed through my head as I watched my family prepare to go on a trip. “Rosie!” I heard my two sisters, Nicole and Sadie, calling my name. “Come here!” I ran over to see what they wanted.

“Good girl.” Sadie said. She stroked my fur as I sat and waited patiently for Nicole to grab my leash from the cupboard and attached it to my collar. They grabbed their flip flops, and we headed out the door to go on a walk, one of my favorite activities! As we strolled around the neighborhood, on the third of July, I could not help but wonder where my family was going and why they were leaving.

When we arrived home from our walk, the car was packed and my family was ready to leave on vacation. I was making my way inside the house, but surprisingly, my mom called me over and told me to hop into the car! I gleefully ran over and hopped in the car. ‘Was I going with them?’ I thought. My dad started up the car and we were ready for vacation, but after about fifteen seconds of driving, we slowed down and pulled into a driveway. I did not know what was happening. Everybody was getting out of the car! Nicole even grabbed the leash, which was still attached to me, and picked me up, out of the car. I reluctantly let her carry me to the front door. My dad rang the doorbell and a woman with short, brown hair and kind eyes came to the door, opened it, greeted us, and gestured for us to come inside her house. I suddenly realized that I have stayed at this house on a different occasion. I squirmed free of Nicole’s tight grasp and got re-aquatinted with the smells of this house. After a few minutes of exploring, I went back to the front door to get back into the car with my family, to go on vacation with them, but they were not there! I ran around the house and searched for hours (or what seemed like hours), but they were nowhere to be found. That night, I went to sleep feeling alone, but ready to make the most of my vacation.

The next day I woke up with so much energy! My vacation was off to a great start. My day consisted of mainly sleeping, playing outside, and even going on a walk! Since the people I was staying with saw how much I loved the outdoors, they decided to keep me in their fenced-in backyard when they left to go someplace for the evening. I was having a great time playing in their yard, but suddenly, partway through the evening, just as it was starting to get dark, I heard loud noises, sounding like something was blowing up, and colorful flashes appeared in the sky. I did not know what to do, and I admit, was a little scared. Different scenarios raced through my mind as I thought about what the loud noises and colorful flashes represented. ‘Maybe it’s evil cats taking over earth, or maybe it’s the dog food factory blowing up, or maybe it’s–’ another loud noise and colorful flash interrupted my thought. Now, I was really scared and looking for an escape hatch or tunnel of some sort. Then, I thought of a brilliant idea: I could jump over the fence! I looked it over, then took a step back from the fence, which was about 5 feet tall in human measurements, and braced myself for my great escape. I lunged forward, unsure if this was legal or not, jumped, and sailed through the air. The next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the fence. I made sure I was still alive, then rushed to my home, which was just around the corner, raced up to the steps, sat, and waited for my family to come home. After a few hours, a car pulled up the driveway. It was the other people I stayed with while my family was on vacation! They called my name a few times, but I refused to go with them. I was determined to stay where I was and wait for my family. Then again, I did not know how long they were going to be gone and what might happen if I was to stay out here by myself, so I reluctantly got into the car with them and let them take me to their house, where I could stay until my family came back from vacation.

The next day of waiting for my family seemed to drag along so slowly, I probably could have ran around the world five times! The doorbell rang a couple times, and each time I got up and ran to the door to see if it was my family, but it was only the mailman with a package and Girl Scouts selling cookies. No activity excited me, so I decided to lie down and take a nap.

My nap must have gone longer than I thought because when I woke up I heard “Good morning!” “How did you sleep?” and other typical morning greetings. I ran over, jumped on the couch, and looked out the window to see if it was really morning. It was indeed morning and hopefully the day my family comes home. A few hours into the day, the doorbell rang. I did not think it was my family, so I stayed where I was to save myself a trip to and from the front door. Then I heard a familiar voice. It was my mom! I bolted over as fast as I could and leaped up into my mom’s arms and smothered her with kisses. “Rosie!” Nicole and Sadie pried me out of Mom’s arms and hugged me really tight. I could not describe how great is was to be reunited with my family. They gathered my bone, bed, and leftover food and we all piled into the car to go home.  

I was so happy when we all arrived home, safe and sound. I listened to all their stories about the vacation and it sounded like they had a great time. Even though I do not like to be separated from my family, I know they will always come back for me no matter what happens.

 – By Kate Wetherall

A Biography: The Life of Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott, about age 25

The classic and popular book, Little Women, is made even richer by learning more about the life of the author, Louisa May Alcott. She was an avid writer, and her passion for writing grew increasingly throughout her life.

Louisa was born in 1832 and died at the age of fifty-five in 1888. In her spare time, she liked to write stories and plays for her and her sisters to dramatize. She had three sisters: Anna, the oldest, Elizabeth, the second youngest, and May, the youngest. Louisa based the sisters of Little Women on her own sisters.

Louisa and her sisters received the majority of their schooling through their father at home. In addition, they received education through close family friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Poverty forced Louisa and her sisters into the work force at a young age. Some of her work included being a teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper, and writer. She did these roles in many different locations, because her family moved multiple times.

The Alcott family moved to a home in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1840. There, Louisa adapted many stories and childhood memories she had with her sisters and used them in her book, Little Women. The Alcotts finally purchased and settled in a different home in Concord, which they named “Hillside.” Similar to the story-line in the book, Louisa’s younger sister, Elizabeth, died from scarlet fever, and Louisa’s older sister, Anna, married and moved away from their family. At this time, Louisa felt a strong breaking of their sisterhood. With these changes, Louisa had to work more to support the rest of her family.

One thing she did to support her family was serve in the American Civil War. This contrasts with the book, Little Women, in which the fictional father served in the war. Louisa served as a nurse in the Union Hospital for six weeks. Her letters to home were revised, published, and titled Hospital Sketches. She published many other stories and novels, often under the pen name A. M. Barnard, but Louisa used her real name in her book Little Women.

At age twenty, Louisa May Alcott published Little Women, which has become a classic and popular novel. Each of the fictional characters in the book had different traits taken from her family and friends. Louisa portrayed her passion for writing through her main character, Jo. Although, many events which occur in the book mirror the author’s life, some events which happened in Little Women never happened in Louisa’s life. For example, Louisa never married and had not planned for Jo to get married either, but her editor insisted that Jo marry.

In conclusion, Little Women is more than just a classic, fiction book. It has the Alcott family history intertwined throughout many events of the book. Understanding Louisa May Alcott’s personal life helps bring real life aspects to her fiction book. Though Louisa loved to write, her true passion was for her family and friends and the impact they made on her life.

– By Kate Wetherall

A Review: Number the Stars

I enjoyed reading the historical fiction book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This book revolves around Jewish people in Denmark, during World War II, trying to escape the Nazis. There was one particular part in the book that really stood out to me. In this part, the Johansen family and Uncle Henrick risk their lives to smuggle Jews out of Denmark. 

 
The Jews of Denmark were suffering from German persecution and were trying to escape to Sweden. Many people, including the Johansens, were helping the Jews depart. One night, many Jews secretly arrived at Uncle Henrick’s home to mourn for the loss of Great Aunt Birte. Everything is quiet when there is a sudden knock at the door. It is the Nazis demanding to know why all these people are gathered in the middle of the night. They reach to open the casket when Mrs. Johansen boldly steps forward. She tells them the doctor suggests it would not be a good idea to open the casket because Great Aunt Birte died of typhus and it may still be contagious. After much argument, the Nazis end up leaving, and then the casket is opened. There is no Great Aunt Birte, but instead there are coats and blankets for the Jews in the room. They all bundle up and head out to Uncle Henrick’s boat to make their escape.

Their escape to safety made me feel like I was actually there with the characters. I was worried these Jews would not make it to safety. The details of their escape were suspenseful and adventuresome. Even though these were only fictional characters, events like this really happened. This helped me understand more about World War II and the how difficult the life was of the Jews going through it.

I recommend this book to people who like to learn more about the history of Danish Jews of World War II. The author of this book makes you feel like you are there with the characters experiencing the struggles of persecution by the Nazis of World War II. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed it.

– By Kate Wetherall