Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Story of Bob the Crumb: A Collaborative Work

Every once in a while, there comes a story that just needs to be told.  The following is one of those stories.  Written with siblings and young cousins with varying degrees of involvement from plot development to suggesting the word "butt" numerous times, this story follows a young crumb and his adventures in the world.

The Story of Bob the Crumb
By: E, C, K, J & B


Once upon a time there was a crumb named Bob.  Well, he wasn’t always a crumb.  He used to be part of a granola bar.  A little oatmeal, a little honey, a little granola.  Bob had all of these.  One day, as Timmy, the owner of the granola bar, tried to eat it as a snack, Bob got scared and jumped off.  He hoped for a better future on the floor.  Little did he know the trials that lay ahead…
            Bob decided to walk and try to find some other crumbs and a safe place to stay.  After what felt like hours and hours of travelling, Bob finally came across other crumbs.  But why were they running?
            “The mouse!  The mouse!” they screamed.  “The mouse is coming!”
            “The what?” Bob asked.
            “The MOUSE!”
            Although he didn’t know who or what this “mouse” was, he decided that it was best to run.  Bob ran cross the floor until he spotted a hiding place, a small hole in the wall.  He sped toward it, please with his discovery.
            “This will be the perfect place for me to hide from the mouse.”
            Bob scurried inside and wondered why none of the other crumbs were following him.  Once he looked at his surrounding, however, he realized his safe haven wasn’t so safe after all.  He saw terrified crumbs huddled in the corner, staring at him with hi worried eyes.  Some were old, and some were no more than baby crumblets, but all were terrified.  Before he could leave, he heard the pitter patter of footsteps making their way to the hole in the wall.  Bob headed into a small dark corner of the cave.
            No sooner was he out of sight then the owner of the footsteps arrived at the entrance of the hole.  Although he had never laid eyes on the creature before, he knew without a doubt who the creature of the door was: the mouse.
            “Hello my darlings,” the mouse said in a devilish British accent, “Glad to see you decided to stick around.”
            The crumbs quivered at the sound of his voice and huddled closer together.  The crumblets whimpered.
            “I have good news and bad news.  The good news is I won’t eat you now.”
            One crumb let out a sigh of relief.
            “The bad news is that you will all be in my stomach within the hour!”
            The mouse laughed an evil, maniacal laugh and exited as quickly as he had come.
            Bob knew it was only mater of minutes before the mouse returned to eat them all.  He approached the other crumbs.
            “Quick, we have to get out of here before the mouse takes a fork to us!”
            “We can’t leave,” Chester the crumb piped up, “or else the mouse will eat our king!”
            “He’s trapped the king under a cereal bowl!” another crumb whispered.
            “Well maybe we can escape and save the king!”  We’ll have to act fast,” Bob urged his fellow crumbs.  “I have a plan.”
            Bob explained his plan to the other crumbs and they put it into action immediately.
            When the mouse returned five minutes later with more little crumbs in his grasp, everything appeared the same.
            “Time for tea and crumb-pets!”
            The mouse cackled at his own lame pun.  As he moved toward the corner to gobble up the crumbs, there was a sudden SNAP!  The mouse found himself trapped in the mousetrap that the crave crumbs had found and dragged into position only moments before.
            “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed the mouse.
            “YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” screamed the crumbs.
            And off they went to go free the king from his cereal bowl prison.  And that’s just what they did.  When they found the cereal bowl, they all worked together to tip it over and free the king.
            “Who do I have to thank for my freedom?” the king asked his crumb subjects.
            ”That would be Bob, your honor,” Chester explained, pointing at the heroic crumb. “He saved all of us.”
            “Wow Bob!” said the king, “You are a true hero.  I hope that you will serve by my side and protect all the crumbs from dangers like that evil mouse.”
            As the king mentioned the mouse, Bob remembered that they had left the mouse in the trap.
            “Excuse me, I have one thing left to do.”
            Bob scurried back to the mouse’s hole.  Bob entered the hole and approached the trapped mouse cautiously.
            “What are you going to do now?” the mouse sighed sadly.
            “I’m going to free you.”
            “What?” said the mouse.
            “WHAT?” said the crumbs, who had followed Bob.
            “What?!” said the king, shocked and surprised.  “Why would you free the mouse?  He tried to hurt us all!”
            “Well,” said Bob, “That is true, but only because he was hungry.”
            “That is true,” said the mouse, “I don’t know what else to eat.”
            Bob had an idea.
            “Perhaps we can come up with a solution.  We can free the mouse if he promises to only eat cheese and leave the crumbs alone.”
            Everyone agreed to this plan, for cheese was not alive.  The crumbs were happy, the mouse was happy, and Bob was happy.  And because of Bob’s heroic, worthy and clever actions, the king awarded him the Brave and Honorable Crumb award, which came with a medal.  They placed the huge medal around Bob’s neck, but because of his small size and the medal’s large size, he was nearly crushed.
            “Take it off!  Take it off!” Bob squeaked from under the medal.  Once he was free, Bob laughed.
            “I think this will fit on my shelf better than around my neck!”
            Everyone joined in laughing.
            “And that’s why the mouse always eats cheese,” announced Chester.
            “What?” said everyone else.

THE END.

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