by Laura S.
4th grade
Highland Park Elementary School
Beep beep! My alarm clock rang. It was 7:00. I yawned, stretched, then got
out of bed. I peeled open the curtain. It was raining. I switched on a light,
threw on my jeans and a tee shirt then joined my mom and brother at the dinning
room table.
10 minutes later I was at the bus stop with my younger brother. Soon that
big yellow monster arrives. It feels as if it is sucking us up through it's
mouth and plopping us in a seat and taking us away.
"You all need fresh air," said our teacher as she lead us
through the halls to the playground. I know rain is good, but I hate going
outside when it's raining. But as soon as we stepped outside, all the clouds
started to disappear. The sun shone brightly and all the puddles dried up. It
was like a miracle. In the bright light, we could see that our playground had a
huge addition on it! There was another swing set although this one wasn't rusty
and it was painted gold. There was another slide, except this one was the colors
of the rainbow and it almost touched the sky. And there were more monkey bars
except these had pillows under them that were as soft as marshmallows. We
couldn't believe our eyes. I just stared at it in astonishment for a moment,
then joined in with the other kids as we ran up the ladder to test the new
equipment We played and played until our teacher almost blew the whistle
but she didn't because we all saw a robber -- and an old lady running after him.
"Catch him!" she yelled. "He took all my expensive
jewelry!" Suddenly, I had an idea.
"Grab a jump rope everyone," I whispered frantically.
"Grab a jump rope and hide!" We all grabbed a jump rope and hid. The
kids hid behind the slide, in the slide, up a tree or anywhere else we could
find. When he got close, I shouted "Go!" All the kids came out from
their hiding spots and tied him up with the jump ropes. Then, we led him over to
the tree where two boys were standing with a thick rope. They then tied him to a
tree. "Now," I said, looking him in the eyes, "give me the
jewels."
"Yeah," the rest of the class echoed, "give them to us
now." The robber was too surprised to think. A bunch of fourth graders had
just tied him up to a tree. To the best of his abilities, he handed over the
jewelry.
"Now," I said "you'll need a punishment." We all
thought until we said at the same time, "I know!"
We took him by the arms and ran into the school. Our teacher followed us.
Everybody in the school was surprised to see a robber surrounded by children
running down the hallway. We stopped when we got to the principal's office. We
walked in the door.
"Hello, children," said the principal, smiling, like it was
very normal for a robber to walk into her office.
"This man right here," I began "has just stolen very
expensive jewelry from a old lady."
"Well," said the principal, "we can't have that happening,
can we? Come along sir," she said to the robber. She lead him into a room.
All the walls were covered with chalkboards. "Do you see these chalkboards
here? I want them chock full of the sentence: I will NEVER again steal ANYTHING
from ANYBODY. 'You got that?" The robber nodded. "Then get to
work!" she said. She turned to us. "Thank you, children for reporting
him to me."
We all ran back outside. There, the old lady was waiting for us. We handed
her the jewelry that was in the box. "Thank you, children!" she
said. "That was very nice of you. You deserve a reward. Close your eyes,
hold out your hands and get in line." We did as we were told. She dropped
something into the hand of the first kid in line. He opened his eyes.
"Wow!" he said. She did the same thing to all of the rest of
the kids in line. When we opened our eyes, we were too amazed to speak. It was a
one million dollar bill!
"How? What? Who?" a girl began, but she couldn't finish.
"I want to thank you children for your help."
"Thanks!!" we all said staring at our money.
"Bye-bye," said the woman as she walked back to her house.
"Alright, recess is over," said our teacher, jealous of our
money.
"NO!!!!!" cried the class.
"We'll pay you." I said.
"Yeah, we'll pay you!" said the rest of the class.
"Ten dollars," I said. "Ten dollars each and will we get
to have recess for the rest of the day?"
"More," said our teacher.
"Twenty?" I asked.
"Good." she said because even somebody as crazy as a
teacher couldn't resist three hundred dollars. So, we lined up and we each gave her
ten dollars then we went to play on the new equipment. After a while, we started
a game of kickball, and then basketball. My team won in both games.
"Time to go home kids!" our teacher called. "Line up to get
on the bus."
"The bus?" said the class.
"Yes, the bus," our teacher said, slightly confused.
"When you have one million dollars, (or at least nine hundred
ninety nine thousand nine hundred eighty) you don't take the bus," I said.
"You take your own private coach!" the rest of the class said.
"Oh all right," said our teacher. She used her cell phone to
call the coach company, and told them to bring twenty-five coaches to our
school. In about five minutes they arrived. We paid the drivers, then got on.
As we laid in bed that night, I think we all wondered, what will happen at
recess tomorrow?