Raya and the Missing Raspberries

Anna Stearns

Age 10

Raya and the Missing Raspberries

Chapter 1

Tweet tweet. “Coming, Blissey.” Hi, I am Raya, and I am a fairy without wings. I didn’t lose them, I was just born without them. For a fairy, this is very bad because wings are how a fairy gets around, so on top of having no wings, getting around is harder for me. This really bums me out. But I still have ways of getting around, even without wings. Now, you probably wonder who Blissey is, and why she was tweeting at me. Don’t worry. I am about to get to that. First of all, Blissey is my friend bluebird, my best friend bluebird to be exact. You see, when Blissey was a young bluebird, she crashed into a tree. I found her and took care of her until she got better. Since then, we have been the best of friends. I give her the food, water, shelter, and grooming she needs to stay alive. But back to the story. I am sleeping, and Blissey is trying to wake me up, so I wake up and open the shutters of my acorn house and say hello. Then, I close the shutters and get dressed. Most fairies wear classic leaves and petal dresses, but I wear a crop top with skinny jeans. After that, I go to the window and say, “Ready?” Then, I jumped out the window.

Chapter 2

It might seem really strange and dangerous to jump out a window. And it is! Unless you have been doing it for a few years like me. So I jumped out the window and landed on Blissey’s back. Then, she flies me down to the ground, and I start to take off running. I see a river up ahead, but I still keep running. I take this path every day, so I know that it’s very deep water. But I also know how to get by it without stopping. When I am a few centimeters away from the river, I jump into the air and swing from a blade of grass across the river. When I hit the ground, I just keep running. Finally, after a while, I got to my destination. My destination is the big kitchen that was built in the middle of the great raspberry bush. The great raspberry bush is the fairies’ main source of food! There are a lot of baking fairies, so you always see activity. But when I step inside, I see a bunch of fairies freaking out! I go up to one and ask, “What is going on?”

“We had all just been starting our day, and then all of a sudden, Savanna shouted to us that the raspberries were missing. We all thought she was joking, but we had to get raspberries to bake with, so we went over to get the raspberries. But they were all gone!”

Chapter 3

“The raspberries are gone! You must be kidding! I have to see for myself. Could you please point me in the direction of the raspberry storage?” The fairy points me in the direction of the raspberry storage, so I go that way, and when I get there, I peek inside and see that the fairy is not joking! The raspberries are gone! I decided to investigate. I look around the room but don’t see anything. I am about to give up, but then I see a tuft of caramel-colored fur with a tad of white on it! I take the fur then decide to sit down and figure out what animal it belongs to. The reason I am sitting down is because I have a field guide on every animal I have ever seen in the forest. I always try to take a bit of a feather or some fur to put in my field guide. I also add diagrams if possible. I have a whole three pages on bluebirds because of Blissey. Finally, I found a page with an animal that looks similar to this fur sample! A squirrel! That’s what the creature must be! But wait, in the diagram and fur sample, I notice that it does not have a white bit of fur! Meaning, it can’t be a squirrel! So, I guess I have to keep looking. I flip to the next page, and look! It’s a chipmunk! The diagram shows that a chipmunk has a stripe down its back, and the fur sample shows caramel fur with a bit of white just like this sample I just got! OK, but now I have to stop the chipmunk from doing it again. Wait, I think I have an idea!

Chapter 4

OK, so here’s the plan. Tonight, I am going to hide in one of the cupboards in this room and peek out. I will watch, and when I see the chipmunk, I am going to jump out and lock the door. Then, I will see if I can bribe it away with some raspberries. Then, I will talk to the baking fairies, and if they agree, get a smaller door, so the chipmunk can’t get in again. I decided to tell the baking fairies about my plan now, so the door can be made, and we can just shrink the space where the door goes and put in the door tomorrow. So, I am now rock climbing down from the raspberries storage. I am rock climbing because you are supposed to fly up there but I can’t. Now, I am on the floor and walking up to the baking fairies. I tell them my idea and who did it, and they agree to my plan of action. This will be over by tonight.

Chapter 5

It’s night now, and I am hiding in a cupboard, waiting for the chipmunk. I brought a watch, and it says it’s ten minutes to midnight. I am really tired and just want to go to bed. I am noticing myself drift off but decide not to do anything about it. I am about to fall asleep but what’s that?!? There’s scratching at the door. I am instantly awake. I know the chipmunk is about to come in. I move into a crouching position and wait. Then, all of a sudden, it appears! It is almost as big as this room! I am so shocked that I almost forget what to do! But then I saw that the chipmunk looks disappointed and remembered that there are no raspberries left in this room, so the chipmunk probably won’t stay long. All of a sudden, I jump out from inside the cupboard and run to close the door. I am almost too late to close the door because the chipmunk starts to try to leave! But I get the door closed just in time.

Chapter 6

When I get the door closed, I turn to look at the chipmunk. At first I am scared, what if that thing attacks me when I try to get it out the door? But then I remember that hidden inside the clock is a bit of raspberry. If I open the secret space in the clock, the chipmunk should follow me out! So, I unlock the door and put my hand on it. With the other hand, I put my finger on the hidden latch that opens the secret space in the clock. Then, I open the door and the secret space in the clock at the same time. The chipmunk immediately snaps to attention and lunges at me, but I am too fast. I run out of the room and race to the ledge that you would fly off of. I turn around and start to rock climb down until there is now rock beneath me. Then, I jump down and land on my feet. I run out the front door and the chipmunk follows. I run into the forest and climb high into a tree. The chipmunk is gaining on me, so I throw the seed as far as I can. The chipmunk sees me do this and runs down the tree. Then, it runs in the direction of the raspberry pieces. I relax when it runs away. Now, we no longer have to worry about our food being stolen. The mystery is solved, and the case is closed.

Aftermath

Over the next few days, all was well, and everything had settled down. The new door had been installed the day after I led the squirrel away. It was smaller and stronger, so now the chipmunk could not break in again. Many people thanked me for leading away the chipmunk, but I said it was

no big deal. I am now just curling up in my cottage, reading a good book by the fireplace. That was quite a mystery that happened! And there are probably more around the corner. After all, I am different, and different people are special!

The End