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Special congratulations go out to Tommy Schirf for taking Honorable Mention in our Historical Short Story contest. Tommy was the only young person to enter the contest, competing against a field of adult writers. Tommy won a $5 gift certificate to Lazy Lion Books. Keep writing Tommy!
Secret Hat 2: The Report One day in school it was the same as usual. I am in Mrs. Spence’s third grade class and it is a Friday afternoon. We have to do another report on flying. Evan said, “I’m going to do mine on jets!” Keenan wants to do a report on helicopters. Evan and Keenan are my two best friends and these were great ideas. I decided to do my report on the Wright Brothers because they made the first flying machine. The end of school bell rang. Good. School is out for a week. I’ll have plenty of time to work on my report. Oh, my bus is here… “Hey, Tommy, guess what? When you get off the bus I’m going to beat you up. Won’t that be exciting?!” said Calvin, the bully. “No,” I muttered. Calvin is the neighborhood bully who has a gang. They are just mean and they’ve been picking on me all year. He is a very large kid and he’s a fourth grader. When I got off I ran for it but they caught up. So, I took my secret hat out of my pocket. This hat can turn me into any animal if I say it’s name, so, I said, “I wish I was a falcon.” <POOF> Then I was a falcon soaring through the sky. I’ve become a bird before, but never a falcon. I’ve never become a falcon before and I don’t know why I picked it. I just wanted something fast. It’s always a weird feeling. I always expect my arms, which are now wings, to get tired, but they never do. Calvin was getting closer so I flapped my wings faster and faster. I’d never gone this fast before, but I didn’t want him to catch me. I kept flapping as fast as I could. Then I saw numbers go past me like 2004, 2000, 1989, 1908. I accidentally went so fast I went back in time, all the way back to 1903! When I stopped I saw the Wright Brothers working on their plane. Chapter 2: Back In Time There I was, flying around Kill Devil Hill where the Wright Brothers made the first flight. This is too cool. But I did not want to be seen so I flew down and hid behind a boulder and watched for two hours. When they went in for a break I said that I want to be myself again and <POOF> I was back. I took the hat off and shoved it in my pocket as I walked over to take a look around in the hanger. I found sheet of ideas that the Wright Brothers had on the table, so I grabbed a pencil and found a clean sheet of paper so I could copy them down. After I was done, I noticed that it had gotten very dark, so I found a spot under a tree a little ways away from the hanger to sleep. I was exhausted. Flying really takes a lot of energy out of you. I fell asleep almost immediately. The next day I sneaked over to the Wright Brothers’ cabin, and after they left for the hanger I snuck in and took some food. With a piece of bacon hanging out of my mouth, I ran over to the hanger to spy on Wright brothers and write down what they said for the whole day. My fingers were tired from all the writing. So I used my hat to turn into an opossum and scurried on over to look at the plane. I took in my mouth some of the scribbled plans that were left lying on the ground and scurried back under those trees I’d slept under. They almost saw me. That was a close one. I then turned into a seagull and flew over to the hanger and found some pictures that the cameraman had left on the ground. The Wright Brothers had brought him along to record the big event. I found an empty box and put the pictures in a box and took them away. I was too scared to go back, so I just hung out under the tree and watched them walking around and talking about the plane. The rest of the time, I studies the plans and pictures I’d found. There were pictures of kites, gliders, propellers, airplane wings and engines. I didn’t have any lights to continue reading; I quickly fell asleep. The next day was Sunday, and it was the best. I shoved the box of pictures and plans into my pocket and headed back into the hanger. I found a miniature plane they’d built as a model, and took it apart to see how it works. But I then heard, “Hey, who are you?” Oh no, I was seen by the cameraman who had been looking for his lost pictures. I quickly took out my secret hat and said, “I wish I was a bird.” <POOF> Then I was a dodo! Oops! This bird can’t fly, so I quickly said, “I wish I was a different bird that can fly.” <POOF> Luckily, this time I turned into a falcon. I flew as fast as I could to get away and I accidentally went forward into time. Darn. I wanted to stay a little longer. Numbers were flying past me. I saw 1958, 1968, 1972, 1984… Hey, I could stop and see if I could find my parents so I could watch myself being born. Nah, that’d be too weird. I decided to keep flying… 1990, 1993… I slowed down a bit… 1999, 2002, 2004. And I stopped flapping, and wished to be myself. <POOF> I was back in my house. Chapter 3: Good Job I was back in my house after one wild adventure. I needed to get to my room and start writing. I wasn’t sure how long I was gone, but I knew I probably didn’t have much time to write my report. I turned the corner and my mom saw me. “Where have you been for three days?” she said. “Don’t worry mom, I’m ok,” I said. She then said, “Yeah, but I want to know where you were!” “Don’t worry,” I said back. “I’ve had enough of you just vanishing like this. You’re grounded for a month… maybe a year! Now go to bed!” I turned and ran up the stairs without saying anything and shut the door. When I got into bed I pulled the covers over my head and pulled out my flashlight I keep under my pillow to chase away monsters. I pulled out the box I’d jammed into my pocket and all the pictures and plans fell out on the sheets. I grabbed my notebook off my desk and started writing. In the morning, I had to get ready for school all by myself. I guess I was moving slow because my Mom had to drive me into school. She must be really mad at me this time because she acted like I didn’t exist. When I got into the school and into my class room I heard “Schirf, get over here!” It was my teacher. I walked over and she said, “You’re late! Now get to detention and I’ll look at your report.” I handed it over and slowly got my books and walked to the door. Just as I got there she called me back and said, “This is great!” “Yea!” I said. “This is very, very good. So good you get on detention, ok?” “Cool,” I said. That day we got no homework to do. When I got home I realized that I was grounded and couldn’t play with any of my friends. Since there’s nothing else to do, Mom told me I have to play with my sister, Mary, in the back yard. While I usually don’t like playing with Mary, it does give me some time to play with my secret hat since she knows all about it. Today, I would turn into a butterfly and Mary had to catch me in her net. If she did, then I would let her turn back into a pony for a while. But, only if she promised that this time she would turn back into Mary after I count to 100. She always wants to be a pony, and that’s not any fun for me, so I make sure I fly too high for her to catch me too much. But, if I don’t want her to cry, I have to let her catch me every once in a while. When we got hungry, we came in the house. Mom was very pleased that Mary was grinning from ear to ear after I played with her. I then remembered to tell Mom that I got a four on my report. Now she was so incredibly happy she said that I’m not grounded. She said that we can go on a big vacation to Grandma’s next Sunday. It’s going to a blast because Grandma Pat’s house is one of the most fun places on Earth to me, and my cousins live in the same town too. Because of that, I always love it. <This is not the end, my adventures are just beginning> ©2004 Tommy Schirf
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