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"Billy's Friend's Shell"
by

Brittney Augustine

Not so far from an enormous wood that had almost every shade of green you
could imagine, under the tall canopy of sap pine trees, the woods were
known as Oxville. There was a quiet little pond in the midwest of the forest,
which ran from a stream, down by the glorious little blue pond circled with
daffodils, and daisies, up to a little mud-pie castle. In the castle lived a
turtle named Billy. Billy was about 2 "5' tall, ten years old and had
bright purple eyes. He loved to explore, go on adventures, and scavenger
hunts. The most important thing on Billy's travels was to watch out for
Ralph! Ralph was the meanest, ugliest, sluggard crocodile you could ever
run into. Ralph was about 5 "3' tall with warts all over and had small, beady
red eyes. They were as red as bright red apples straight off the tree. He
was, I guess you could say, the bully of the forest.
Well, on one hot and sunny day, Billy and his best friend Squirtle, who
was another turtle, were walking along a skinny brown path. When Ralph
approached the two turtles he ordered them to move it or else!
"Or else what?" replied the two.
"Or I'll snatch your shells off the two of ya, without even knowing what
happened."
As the two sat frightened, as if in the twilight zone, no one
budged. Can you guess by now, in a little spot in the woods, Ralph was
steaming. Instead of eating them for dinner, he simply said, "You'd better
watch your backs, for I can take your precious shells at anytime, or even
when you might be sleeping."
With an unassuring gulp and shrug, they felt that they were doomed. They
were proud of themselves for not running from Ralph, which made them feel
brave and heroic.
It was about three the next morning when Squirtle awoke in his atrocious
room and realized that his shell was tragically missing. As frantic as he
could be, he ran over to Billy's country mud-pie castle to break the horrid
news.
Back at Billy's cozy house, frightened and in tears, Squirtle finds
himself lost without his shell. Billy knew right away that Ralph was the
cause for Squirtle's state of mind.
That night, Billy got some rope, masking tape, tape recorder, and a cream
pie, for he planned to attack Ralph once and for all.
Ralph was sleeping like a baby while Billy was climbing through Ralph's
window. As quiet as Billy could be, one leg through, then bang! the other
against the window. Scared that he had awakened Ralph, but there was no
movement from Ralph. In relief, Billy crept around the bed and tied Ralph's
hands and feet to the edges of the bed, while taping his mouth shut. Ralph
was awakened in astonishment. Then Billy shoved the cream pie in his hideous
jacked up face, so he couldn't see what Billy was doing.
Billy finally got tired of turning Ralph's room upside down looking for
the missing shell. This left Billy with no patience. Billy ripped off the
tape and demanded to know where he had put the shell.
Enraged with Billy, Ralph threw a temper tantrum and yelled, "How should
I know where it is? For all you know his mom could be washing it for him!"
With uncertainty and a whole lot of confusion, Billy thought to himself,
"What if Ralph's right?" Billy untied Ralph, and said, "If I find out that
you have it, then expect me to come and hunt you down."
Billy rushed to Squirtle's house to ask him to see if his mom had put his
shell in the wash. Both of them climbed down the musty staircase to the
laundry room in the basement. Hooting and hollering with happiness,
Squirtle's shell was hung on the line to dry.
Feeling bad for how Billy treated Ralph, he went back to apologize.
Billy was ashamed for blaming Ralph without giving him the benefit of the
doubt. Billy said, "Sorry. Will you come on the next adventure with me
tomorrow?"

Posted- November 15, 1999