4 minute read
You'll never believe what happened
By Sean Mac Donald
Story 3
46
Glossary
hollow: (n.) a hole or depression in something. Juan, Nico and Jessie are great friends. They live on the same street but go to different schools. They usually get together after school. Their favorite place to meet is a little hollow under some trees in the park. One day they were there when Jessie suddenly said. "You’ll never believe what happened today at school."
‘A lady came to talk to us about parrots,’ continued Jessie. ‘And?’ asked Juan. ‘You know, parrots that live in Mexico. She was telling us about the red-crowned parrot.’ ‘The what?’ asked Nico. ‘The red crowned parrot. You know, the one that’s green with a bit of red on its head and a dark blue streak behind its eyes. They live in north eastern Mexico. Well, she brought a pair of them for us to see.’
‘Did she let you touch them?’ asked Nico. ‘No, because there wasn’t time. I mean, she took the parrots out of their cage and immediately they started screeching. They were making a terrible noise and then suddenly one flew up and out through the door. I was sitting right there Glossary so I ran into the corridor just in time to see the parrot fly out into screeching: (v.) to utter or make a harsh, the patio!’ shrill cry or sound.
‘Did it ever come back?’ asked Nico. He was interested now. ‘Well, wait to hear the story,’ said Jessie. The lady - her name was Mrs Suarez – and our teacher, Mr Baez, ran out into the patio with me. We saw the parrot was on the roof of the gymnasium. Mrs Suarez was very worried and kept calling to it: ‘Cantor! Cantor come here! Cantor!’
‘We watched as Mrs Suarez took the other parrot, Margarita, in its cage, out into the patio. Then she got some seeds out of her pocket and held them out in her open hand. Poppy and Davey were screeching noisily and then finally Cantor flew down for some seeds. Soon he was back in the cage with Margarita. It was the best day at school I’ve had for a long time!’
‘Yeah, it sounds fun,’ said Juan, as he found a more comfortable position on his branch. Now I must tell you about a funny thing that happened at my school this morning. ‘OK, tell us,’ said Jessie. ‘There was an explosion!’ ‘An explosion!’ both Nico and Jessie were impressed. ‘Yes, in the science lab!’
Bam
We were doing an experiment called exploding bags with vinegar and baking soda and coloring and suddenly Isaac and Julio’s bag exploded all over the place! They got covered in stuff! Isaac was so surprised he knocked into the bottles of vegetable dye and they fell on the floor and broke. We all rushed to see what was happening and we got dye on our shoes. Soon the floor was wet and red and green!
Glossary stuff: (n.) material, articles, or activities of indeterminate kind.
Glossary
pail: (n.) a bucket. The teacher wasn’t pleased! She sent us out to get cleaned up. Then we all had to go back to the lab with pails of water and cloths to clean up the mess. That wasn’t much fun.’ ‘Do you know why it happened?’ ‘Yes, Isaac and Julio put double quantities of everything in the bag, which made a bigger explosion.’
‘Nothing much exciting has happened at school recently,’ said Nico, ‘but something scary happened at home last night. ‘Oh. What?’ asked Jessie. ‘Well, you know there was a power cut last night,’ said Nico. Because we didn’t have any electricity, Gina and I couldn’t do our homework or watch television and Mom and Dad couldn’t do anything either. So we lit some candles and sat in the living room and started telling ghost stories.
Glossary
bang: (n.) a loud noise. Dad was telling us a story about a haunted house. The family that lived there kept seeing a figure dressed in white. It appeared and disappeared. They also heard strange noises, and they heard voices, too. Suddenly we heard a bang from upstairs. And what sounded like footsteps walking above us.
Soco was very scared and I felt a little worried too! When the noises continued Dad said he would take a look. We found the flashlight and Dad began to go up the stairs. Luckily, then the lights came on, because I think even Dad was feeling a little nervous. ‘And what was making the noise?’ asked Juan. ‘The neighbor’s cat got into the house and was knocking things over. That’s all’.
The children drank their soft drinks and then went to join some other friends in the park. They kicked a ball around for about half an hour and then slowly walked back to their homes. See you tomorrow, guys!’ said Jessie, as she went into her house. ‘Yeah. See you tomorrow, Jessie!’ said the boys, and they continued walking along the road to their homes.
