The Teenager Who Couldn't Stop Talking:
"Whatever you do, don't make a sound" my twin sisters said in unison as we pulled into the drive in theater. I had begged them to let me go to the "R" rated movie with them the whole week and they finally agreed. I loved hanging out with my older sisters, they always tried to make me feel included even though I am younger than them. The only problem is I am only 13 so I am not old enough to get into the movie without a parent present. Because of my age, my sisters had hid me in the floorboard of the backseat with a load of pillows, blankets, and snacks. I could hear the ticket booth worker talking to my sisters. They asked for my sisters' IDs and explained that they had busted over 10 underage kids trying to sneak in. They all laughed and began to make fun of the "stupid" kids who had been caught. I began to feel my heart beating out of my chest and I felt the air under blankets getting thinner. I thought about the amount of trouble I would get into if my mom was called to come get me. When I felt the car ease forward pass the ticket booth I lifted the pillows and blankets off and asked if we were in yet. This was a huge mistake. The ticket booth worker had only asked my sisters to move up to allow room for more cars in the back of the line. We had not made it in and I had blown my cover. Now they would never let me in. My sisters called our mom to come pick me up while they continued into the theater. As I waited at the ticket booth I felt embarrassed. I should have just kept my moth shut and I would have made it in.
Author's Note:
I based my story off of the Jataka Tale "The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking." In the Jataka Tale there is a talkative turtle who makes friends with two geese. When it is time for the geese to fly back home they offer to take the turtle along. The turtle however can not fly so instead they have the turtle hold on to a stick with his mouth while they hold on to both ends of the stick in their mouths. The only way for this plan to work is if the turtle doesn't talk because if he does he would fall to his death. When flying over a group of children, the turtle overheard them laughing at him and when he opened his mouth to fight back he fell and died. In my story I turned the animals into humans who happen to be sisters. I used the age requirement at the theater to represent the wings of the geese because The two older sisters were old enough but the younger one was not.
Bibliography: The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking: Ellen C. Babbitt
Clever story, Brooklynn! I don't know the truth to this story, but it really makes me wish I had older siblings. I am the oldest in my family, so I never had siblings to beg and bug for things that weren't for people of my age. In reality, I'm the one my siblings beg! Funny turn of events. The story relates identically to the turtle and the birds acted, and I'm glad that in this story you were just sent home from the movie theatre and not dropped from hundreds of feet!
ReplyDeleteSwitching the story from a turtle and some geese to three sisters was a nice touch, and I also liked that you told it from a first-person perspective. It makes the whole thing feel a bit more visceral, I guess. The only thing I can think to add would be maybe a line about the younger sister wanting to say something about not being one of those "stupid kids" - mostly to bring it more in line with the original story, but that's totally up to you. Great work either way (and I'm glad the younger sister didn't wind up falling a long distance at the end of this one!)
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