Benjamin and the Big Movie
by Sr Margaret Kerry August 24, 2007
Benjamin lives in a big house near the water in Florida. His favorite fun things to do are swimming, running, climbing trees and swimming. Did I say swimming twice? That is because Benjamin loves to swim most of all. One day Benjamin decided to swim. He changed into his swimming suit, grabbed a towel and headed out to the bay. It was a warm day with a slight breeze. It was a perfect day for swimming. Not a cloud in the sky and no sign of rain. It was about two in the afternoon when Benjamin decided he would go swimming.
Benjamin walked down to the water and put his foot in. The water was just right. Then he thought “I would have even more fun if there were someone to go swimming with!” He gathered up his towel and walked back to the house. “Mom, I am going to invite Nicole and Renee to come swim with me.” “Ok,” said mom. “When I go to the store we can go over to Nicole’s house and pick her up. Why don’t you call and ask her mom if that is OK.”
Picking up the phone Benjamin pushed in the numbers for Nicole’s house. “She is helping her dad at the Print Shop,” said her mom. Benjamin hung up and called the Print Shop. Nicole answered the phone. At first she said “hello!” but that was the wrong way to answer so she hung up. Benjamin dialed again. This time Nicole answered and said “The Print Shop, can we help you?” “Hi,” said Benjamin. “I would like you to print some surf boards for me.” “I am sorry but we only print on paper. However my dad can carve you a surf board if you like.” Nicole’s dad also ran a carving business outside of the Print Shop. “Hey, Nicole, it’s me, Ben!” “Oh, hi Ben,” she
responded. “That was funny.” “Would you like to go swimming with me and Renee?” “Well I am answering the phone while dad prints, I will ask him. Hold on.” Ben heard the phone rattle as Nicole put it down on the counter in the Print Shop. He could imagine her running to the back and yelling over the printing press. The press would be loud sounding like waves pounding on a boat during a giant windstorm. He waited for a few minutes. Finally Nicole returned to the phone. “Jaclyn said she would answer the phone for me.” Jaclyn is Nicole’s big sister. “Yeah!” said Ben. “We will pick you up in about a half hour.” “Ok, see you then!” sang Nicole.
Renee walked in the room eating a Popsicle. “Would you like to come swimming with Nicole and I?” asked Benjamin. “Sure,” said Renee swallowing the last of the Popsicle she ran to get her swimming suit on. In a few minutes Ben and Renee were in the car with their mom. They had their towels next to them as they slathered on suntan lotion. Soon they were at the Print Shop. Benjamin ran into the Print Shop to find Nicole. She wasn’t there. Jaclyn told him that she went to Grandma’s behind the Shop to put on her swimsuit. Benjamin ran to
Grandma’s house. Renee walked in a few minutes later followed by her mom. Nicole was all ready dressed for the beach. It was then that Ben had a brilliant idea. It just came like that without warning. If you were to ask him what led to the idea he would have said “seeing mom’s digital camera on the counter at Grandma’s.” Grandma Angela was saying to his mom, Cathy. “Thank you for lending me your camera.” She was handing it back to Cathy when Benjamin asked “Can I use it!” “At the beach?” asked his mom. “Well, yes, kind of.” “What will you do with it at the beach? Will sand get into the camera?” “No because
I will keep it in a plastic bag the whole time I am not using it.” “Ok, be careful with it.” What was Ben’s big idea? “Nicole and Renee!” he shouted as they ran into the waves. “Look at the camera!” As they did Ben started filming them. “Hey!” said Renee, “You have to ask our permission first.” “Can I film you?” he asked. “Ok,” responded Renee and Nicole together. Nicole came out of the water dripping as she approached Ben. “Ben lets make a movie!” “That is what I am doing,” said Benjamin. “I mean a BIG movie,” repeated Nicole.
“Whoa!” Benjamin looked over Nicole’s shoulder and into the Gulf of Mexico. Renee was riding a dolphin! He quickly switched on the camera to movie and filmed her as she road along the waves like a cow-girl. “Wait a minute, Ben. You have a BIG imagination,” said Nicole. “I don’t see Renee riding a dolphin. But Ben kept filming as Renee stood on the dolphin’s back and road all the way up to the shore. “Ben, what are you doing?” asked Renee as she walked up to Nicole. “He thinks you were riding on a dolphin!” laughed Nicole.
Benjamin turned off the camera. “I am making a movie,” he replied. Suddenly Ben saw the dolphin turn around and wave its fin goodbye. Ben waved back. Nicole and Renee turned to see who he was waving to. “Ok,” stated Ben. “In order to continue this movie we will need a script, a story board, practice sessions…” “and a real dolphin!” joked Renee. Nicole was already sitting in the sand writing a story-board with pictures of what the movie would be about. She had
already drawn two squares when Benjamin noticed. In the first square she drew Benjamin, Nicole and Renee. In the second square she drew a dolphin. She was already drawing the third square when Benjamin asked what the movie was going to be about. “It is about the King of the Dolphins who lost his golden ring. It slipped off his dorsal fin and fell into the ocean. Then Renee helps him find it and he gives her a free ride!” “Then what?” asked Renee. “Then he says you can have three wishes.” “Oh, I know what I want, I know what I want,” Renee jumped up and down on the beach. “What?” asked Benjamin. “A BIG movie!” laughed Renee. “Lots of actors
and lots of fun and lots of funny stories!” “I can do that,” said Ben. Nicole meanwhile was drawing the rest of the story board in the sand. Benjamin looked around at the beach wondering if this was the best area to have for background in the film. “What if we move down the beach a little; over there,” he pointed to their right. “Then we can catch the sunset in about three hours. That will be neat.” Nicole stood up. “I think we really need to find some dolphins. At least one.” “What is the name of the King of the Dolphins?” asked Renee. Benjamin pondered all of this. Suddenly he
thought of something. “We can make a sanddolphin! We can name the King of the Dolphins Sandy! or Dandy! Won’t that be cool?” Nicole and Renee stared at each other and then yelled – “yeah!” and started digging up sand. Soon they had a big pile and where shaping a large dolphin. While they dug they thought up the name for the Dolphin King – Slipper K. K stood for King. Slipper started taking shape and soon enough Renee sat on Slipper K’s back pretending to ride the waves. “Now we need to really think of the three wishes,” Benjamin reminded them. “The script has to be exiting. Renee thought that
Ben could scan the ocean with the camera and she and Nicole would throw buckets of water onto Slipper K to make it look like he was swimming. The only problem when they tried this was that Slipper K slipped back into a sandy beach. They padded the sand back together to get his original shape. “Three wishes like fishes,” sang Renee. “I would wish for a ride to an invisible island.” Benjamin agreed. “Another wish would be that the island is made of….” “Ice cream!” shouted Nicole. “No, cotton candy!” responded Renee. “How about if the clouds are cotton candy,” suggested Benjamin. “That is good,” said Renee. “Then the island can be ice-cream with Oreo cookie sand!” “Yum,” Benjamin licked his lips. “I think I
want to have the three wishes!” “I will wish for all of us to be on that island,” Renee generously offered. Benjamin turned the camera on: “Roll’um!” he shouted. Renee acted as if she were meeting the dolphin for the first time while Nicole poured water around the sand figure. Renee whispered into the camera – “his name is Slipper K. – King of the Dolphins.” She bent over to listen to what Slipper K. said – “Three wishes!” she shouted at the camera. Benjamin kept the camera going. The sun was going down behind them and the sky turned a beautiful pink. Renee was reciting the three wishes before Slipper K. swam back into the ocean.
Benjamin turned off the camera. The clouds above them were pink and fluffy. Nicole was eating ore cookie sand! Renee was taking scoops of ice-cream off of the shore! “Where are we!” asked Benjamin. “Where do you think?” asked Renee and Nicole, their faces covered with Oreo cookie Ice-Cream. Benjamin reached up and took a piece of pink cloud “Cotton Candy!” he exclaimed. He put the camera back in the plastic bag and said “We can eat but we have to save part of the island so we can rebuild Slipper K. We are going to need another wish to get home!”
Bible Connection 1 Corinthians 2:9
© Margaret Kerry, fsp