Mr.Johnson and Savanna

               When he woke up, Mr. Johnson almost cried out in joy. It was a Sunday! That meant no errands to run because the shops were closed. But it was a very special Sunday. Mr. Johnson was going to have a day with his granddaughter, Savanna, who was 11 years old. Her dad was going to drop her off, then she was all his. Mr. Johnson, who was 74 years old, hadn’t seen Savanna since she was six. He was very excited about it.

          Mr. Johnson hobbled out of bed and took a bath and brushed his teeth quickly. Then he went to the kitchen and made scrambled eggs and toast. Just then he saw the red hovercraft appear in his driveway. It was Savanna! Mr. Johnson hurried outside to greet them and when Savanna stepped out, he gasped. Savanna had golden brown hair, like a freshly baked loaf of bread. She was wearing it in a ponytail and her face looked like she had just come out of a beauty salon. She was tall and had strong legs and arms, a born athlete. She looked so different than the last time he saw her!

          “Oh, Savanna! You’ve gotten so tall since I last saw you! And you look like the girl version of Michael Jordan! Such a pretty face! You are so much like your mother...” Mr. Johnson droned on and on about how Savanna looked like. Savanna looked down bashfully.

          “Dad! Dad! Dad, you can stop now!” cried Savanna’s dad impatiently to Mr. Johnson.

          “Oh, sorry Quinn. Savanna, dear, why don’t you come inside? I made your favorite- scrambled eggs and toast!” said Mr. Johnson to Savanna. Savanna’s face lit up and she said   “Thanks Grandpa! You’re the best. Bye dad! See you tonight!” Quinn disappeared into the hovercraft and whizzed away quickly.

          “Well, Savanna, it’s just you and me now, I guess,” said Mr. Johnson

          “I guess so too,” mumbled Savanna, her mouth full of eggs and toast.

          “So what would you like to do first Savanna?” asked Mr. Johnson.

          “Well, I really wanted to go to the library today. Can we go there now?” inquired Savanna. Mr. Johnson thought it was a good idea, so he agreed that first they would go to the library, go out for Mongolian food for lunch, and then spend the rest of the day looking through various shops at the mall.

          Mr. Johnson and Savanna headed outside and decided to take the scooter instead of the hovercraft to the library because it was so nice out. They both climbed on to the scooter, Mr. Johnson put in the address for the library and off they went. They passed by the high school, which had an electric sign that was hard not to look at. It said at that moment:

Sunday, June 25, 2275

•  Come to our annual magic show and fireworks next week on Tuesday, July 4, 2275 to celebrate our country’s independence!
•  Enrollment in to high school starts in August, 9th graders!
•  Have a good summer!

Then it flashed away to different news and Mr. Johnson sped away on the scooter. They reached the library and stepped inside. The air was cool and refreshing. It was nearly empty, only a few kids checking out books and a couple of old women gossiping in the magazine section. The librarian was busily putting back returned books. Mr. Johnson and Savanna slipped past the librarian and the old women, strode over to a little couch for two, and plopped down. They talked quietly a bit, and then set out to find a book.

          Mr. Johnson suggested many books, but Savanna turned them down. Finally, Savanna found a little corner with some old books and took out a great big volume which had in bold letters Harry Potter written on it. She and Mr. Johnson settled down in the couch and opened the book to the first chapter.

          “Oh, my gosh,” breathed Savanna. The page was covered with beautiful drawings of lions, serpents, eagles and badgers. There were also strange names like Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. It also said Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. Mr. Johnson was astounded by the penmanship.

          They turned to the next page eagerly to read and find out more. The book was evidently old and very dusty, so they had to restrain from coughing. As soon as they finished the 6^th chapter, Mr. Johnson felt a sort of sucking sensation on his hand and face. He rubbed his hands together hoping it would disappear, but it just got stronger. Savanna also started doing that also.

 Suddenly, within a blink of an eye, both Johnsons were not on the couch anymore, but sitting in a hot cellar full of strange equipment. There were brooms, sticks and scrolls all over the place.

“Grandpa, where are we? I don’t think this is the library,” said a nervous Savanna.

“It’s okay Savanna. We’ll get out of here in no time,” replied Mr. Johnson, wanting to calm Savanna. They climbed out of the cellar and found themselves in the cold snow. They found snow shovels and cleared out a path to walk in. Somebody had left behind snow jackets, so they pulled them on, instantly feeling warmer.

“Hello there,” said somebody with an English accent. Mr. Johnson and Savanna whirled around to find themselves face to face with 3 teenagers, all looking about 13 years old. There was one girl and two boys.

“My name’s Harry Potter and these are my friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger,” one boy said and motioned to the other two companions.

“Who are you?” Ron Weasley asked.

“My name is Mr. Steven Johnson, and this is my granddaughter, Savanna Johnson,” replied Mr. Johnson to the three kids. Then Savanna took over and explained how they had come there. But both Savanna and Mr. Johnson knew well enough that some phenomenon had put them inside the book. Inside, Savanna was freaking out so badly.

The trio seemed to know just what to do though, so they relied on them. Savanna and Mr. Johnson followed the trio to a large, old, bearded professor who seemed to be head of all the people on campus. His name was Professor Albus Dumbledore. He waved a stick in the air while uttering words, like he was doing magic then pointed the wand at them. A streak of blue light erupted from the tip of the wand. It hit them and nothing happened.

The professor looked puzzled, and then tried again. Nothing happened again. Then the professor looked puzzled still, and then he seemed to be remembering something.

“Harry, the spell isn’t working because Voldemort has ransacked the Ministry of Magic. He must be destroyed if these two want to go home. And you my boy,” explained Professor Dumbledore to Harry, “have to kill him. Soon.”

Hermione and Ron gasped and gaped at Harry. Savanna and Mr. Johnson didn’t get it, but the trio explained.

 If Lord Voldemort had more power, he could keep spells from working properly, since the Ministry of Magic well, controls magic. A lot of spells were tabooed or wouldn’t work at all. Also, he didn’t want anyone to escape him and his horrible wrath. Apparently, Lord Voldemort wanted to kill Harry and take over the non- Muggle world. Why he wanted to do that, they never found out.

Savanna, Mr. Johnson and the trio went to the trio’s dormitories and they packed their bags to go and find Voldemort.  Savanna tried to brighten the mood by calling Voldemort names like “Voldeemotee” and “Volde Mortipie”. Almost everyone had to crack up at that second one!

Just as they were about to head out the great oak doors, somebody ran past them screaming, “Voldemort’s here! Run for your lives! Aaaaaaah!!” a horde of people around them started waving their arms in the air, running and screaming.

The trio started heading the other way than the screaming people, so Savanna and Mr. Johnson had no choice but to follow them. It took a long time to navigate through the moving stairs and winding hallways, but finally, they exited the building.

 A pale man with no nose and a sneer on his face came in to their view. He was wearing black robes and he was bald. He was mercilessly killing people off in scores. He looked exactly as the book described it. It was Voldemort.

Savanna and Mr. Johnson hid behind some bricks that had piled up when Voldemort damaged the school.

“Voldeemotee,” whispered Savanna, clutching Mr. Johnson’s hand. Mr. Johnson had to stifle his smile in order to remain concealed from Voldemort.

“Harry Potter,” said Voldemort when he caught sight of Harry. “So nice to see you again with you little companions. Get ready to die.” taunted Voldemort. He raised his wand and yelled a spell but Harry deflected it in a split second.

 And so a long battle began, with Hermione and Ron stepping in when Harry was unprepared.

Suddenly, savanna had an idea. She picked up a rock and threw it behind Voldemort. He paid no attention, but the trio seemed to know what she was doing. Savanna threw another rock, this time a bigger one in to the same spot. Voldemort still didn’t pay attention. Then Savanna heaved a great big crimson brick into her arms and, with Mr. Johnson’s help she hurled it to the rear of Voldemort. It made a big thump and landed on Voldemort’s robes. He whirled around to see what made the sound. He realized somehow, the brick had been dropped on to his robes. His robes were tightly secured to his waist and his wand had gotten lost in the whirling action. He was trapped.  Finally, Harry killed him. Voldemort screamed and disintegrated in to nothing.

 When all traces of Voldemort vanished, so did Savanna and Mr. Johnson. They were back on the library couch as if nothing had happened. No time seemed to have passed by at all.

They slowly put away Harry Potter back and left the library. On the way to lunch, Savanna said “This has been the best day ever.”

How the Space Needle Came to Be

          “Class, I have some exciting news! Next week we will be going on a field trip to the beach to learn about sea life!” exclaimed Miss White to her keen class.

          “Yay!” cried the over-enthusiastic class. They started chattering about the field trip as soon as Miss White announced it.

Miss White was pleased that her kindergarten class was so happy to go on the field trip. She ushered the children back to their tables and handed out the permission slips to go. Then she answered questions, and soon, it was time to go home.

“Bye, children, have a good weekend! Bye!” she called to the children as they strode out the door. Miss White sank in to her squishy/soft chair at her desk. She graded papers, answered e-mails from parents and wrote in her calendar for the coming week.

Then she drove back to her comfy home to settle in and look at the pictures her class drew during free time. Tomorrow, I will go to the beach and check it out, thought Miss White as she went to bed, yawning generously. And then she drifted off to sleep noiselessly.

The next day, Miss White awoke to a fresh start. She had definitely woken up on the right side of the bed. She made French toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and then dressed to go to the beach. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining like it usually did in cloudy Seattle.

Miss White drove through the fog into wonderful rays of sunshine that beat down on her car. She smiled, for it had been days since it was sunny. Miss White drove down the steep slope past Mukilteo Elementary, where she taught kindergarten. 

There was a sign that said:

Miss White drove down farther and she finally reached Mukilteo Lighthouse & Ferry beach. She climbed out of her car and sucked in the salty ocean air. But there was something wrong with it. Miss White had smelled ocean air many times before, but it had never smelled like this. She was surprised. It almost smelled like concrete and gasoline. Miss White frowned, and then went to investigate.

She walked past the billboard and a bunch of teens playing volley ball in the sand. And there in the field where children played and ate, was a gigantic hole! Miss White gasped. Trucks were coming in, dumping liquid concrete in to it, and then leaving to get more.

Miss White went up to one of the truck drivers and asked what they were doing.

“Ma’am, we are building the foundation for what will be the tallest thing west of the Mississippi River! It is gonna be the tallest skyscraper you will have ever seen! Trust me; you will definitely wanna see this after it’s done next week. ‘The Man’ calls it the ‘Space Needle’.” said the bulky man to Miss White with a toothy smile. Miss White thanked him and went away to sit on a bench and sort out her thoughts.

She was planning for her class to eat lunch on the field, but that was entirely out of the question. And she certainly didn’t want her students to come to the beach and be more interested in the skyscraper than sea life. She had to do something about it before Wednesday, the day of the field trip.

Then she remembered something. The man she had talked to said something about a guy called “The Man”. Miss White wondered who that could be. She went up to ask one of the men and they said it was their manager, Mr. Walter Rich. Apparently, he was a very wealthy man.

So, Miss White went home and looked up “Walter Rich” in her Yellowpages book. He was in it and she got his address and phone number. Miss White called him up and made an appointment with him for that afternoon, but was careful not to say why.

That afternoon she drove up to the place where Mr. Rich had promised to meet her. It was a big empty lot with patches of grass here and there. Miss White thought it was horrid. Then she had an idea. Mr. Rich could build the Space Needle here!  It would become a popular tourist destination, the best in Washington State!

Just as Miss White was making plans, a glossy, jet black limo drove up. It was really long and it stopped when the middle was what was facing Miss White. The window rolled down and a handsome man that looked a little older that Miss White appeared. He had sunglasses on and his hair stood straight and stiff.

“Are you Miss White, ma’am? Why don’t we go for a ride?” said Mr. Rich. Miss White stepped inside the limo silently and took a seat. The inside of the limo was dimmed so the sun didn’t get in your eyes. There was a built in cooler with sodas in it next to Miss White. She was thirsty and eyed to cooler warily, but she didn’t say anything.

“Take one, Miss White; my treat,” said Mr. Rich, reading Miss White’s eyes. She took a Coca-Cola from the cooler, opened it with a pop, and savored a tiny sip of it.

“Hello, Mr. Rich. Nice to meet you,” Miss White finally built up the courage to speak and held out her hand to Mr. Rich. He shook her hand.

“So, Miss White, why have you called me here today?” questioned Mr. Rich. And so Miss White started her explanation of her upcoming field trip, Mr. Rich’s men telling her about the Space Needle, and everything else. Mr. Rich listened quietly, at times looking thoughtful.

“And so, I’ve been thinking that you could move the Space Needle to the place where you promised to meet me today. It is a hideous place, and it would be good if somebody fixed it up and put something nice there instead of leaving it to rot. Leave the beach. It’s almost the only thing that is actually perfect in our world,” Miss White finished her speech. Mr. Rich was dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief and he said “That was very touching, Miss White. The ocean should be left alone,” Mr. Rich sat up straight.

“I will order my workers to change sites immediately,” Mr. Rich whisked out his note-pad to make a note to tell his workers to change sites without saying another word. They arrived at the lot and Miss White stepped out of the limo and waved to Mr. Rich as the limo drove away. Then Miss White drove home, satisfied with her speech.

The next day, Miss White went to the ocean to check if Mr. Rich had betrayed her. He hadn’t. The giant hole was covered with dirt and fertilizer.

Miss White was content. She walked over to one of the park benches and read her book, enjoying the delightful rays of sunshine that sparkled in the ocean.