“There’s No Thanks In This Business”By Finn Wagstaff

Countless  times  through  her  life  people  had  called  her  May-­‐gen,  Margin,  and  on  one  occasion,  Maggot.  But  this  time  was  the  last  straw.  Megan  wanted  to  make  it  clear  to  one  of  her  buyers  that  the  ivory  that  she  was  dealing  was  the  best  of  the  best,  that  you  couldn’t  ?ind  it  better  anywhere  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  When  her  customer  responded  with  an  “okay,  Mehgine”  she  lost  it.  There  was  just  no  dignity  in  the  ivory  business.  Sobbing  in  her  Prius,  Megan  turned  the  radio  to  her  favorite  AM  radio  station  and  drove  home  listening  to  the  soothing  tones  of  Ira  Glass  investigating  the  public  school  system.  When  she  got  home,  Megan  slowly  sat  down  on  her  couch  and  thought.  She  thought  about  what  it  would  be  like  not  running  from  the  authorities  every  second  of  the  day.  And  then,  Megan  had  an  idea.

Across  town,  the  local  police  were  hard  at  work.  The  mysterious  woman  who  had  been  dealing  ivory  out  of  their  beloved  town  was  only  a  few  steps  in  front  of  them.  For  months  they  planted  spies,  grilled  witnesses,  and  attacked  the  story  from  every  angle  but  still  came  up  dry.  But  on  that  Thursday,  which  would  be  later  referred  to  as  Thursday,  a  giant  vault  of  precious  information  came  to  light.  A  hooded  man  walked  into  the  station  and  sat  down.   “Um,  sir  can  I  help  you?”  asked  Kørtney,  the  police  station’s  Norweigan  intern,  who  was  a  subject  of  much  ogling  and  unwanted  attention  by  most  of  the  male  of?icers.  “This  is  a  private  sector  of  the  police  station  and-­‐”  The  hooded  man  cut  her  off,  proceeding  to  speak  in  the  lowest  voice  Kørtney  had  ever  heard    “845  Linwood  Drive,  that  where  she’ll  be.”  Kørtney  had  no  idea  about  what  he  was  referring  to  but  she  made  herself  a  note  and  tried  to  remember  to  give  it  to  Lt.  Knobwood,  the  least  creepy  of  the  of?icers.   “Now  would  be  a  great  time  to  have  a  friend,”  Megan  sighed  as  she  packed  up  her  apartment.  It  wasn't  that  she  didn’t  have  friends,  she  chatted  online  for  about  two  hours  a  night.  But  she  didn’t  have  a  Thelma  and  Louise  type  of  relationship  that  she  always  dreamed  of.  Imagining  herself  and  a  new  friend  that  she  would  name  Tristen  

because  that  “is  the  prettiest  name  in  the  world.”  Megan  would  have  a  friend  to  talk  through  this  emotional  moment.  But,  since  she  didn’t,  Megan  just  bottled  up  her  emotions  just  like  the  Web  Therapist  told  her  to  do.  She  ?inished  the  rest  of  the  packing  and  then  said  to  goodbye  to  her  old  place.  “New  beginnings,  new  next  door  neighbors,  new  mailing  address,  SCORE!”   “I  repeat  we  cannot  rush  into  this.  We  don’t  know  anything  about  this  ‘source’  and  we  certainly  do  not  want  to  have  another  Goldbloom  situation  on  our  hands.”  Knobwood  took  a  deep  breath  and  continued  with  his  spiel.  “Does  anybody  have  any  ideas?”   “We  could  grill  Kørtney  again,”  said  Sergeant  Mulgren,  one  of  the  lonelier  police  of?icers.   Knobwood  sighed.  He  was  largely  regretting  participating  in  the  foreign  exchange  program.  “Think  of  the  tax  break,”  he  slowly  repeated  to  himself,  “think  of  the  tax  break.”     Megan  took  a  shaky  step  into  her  new  apartment.  A  big  smile  came  over  her  face.  Megan  was  free.  “If  this  isn't  swanky  living.  I  don’t  know  what  is!”  she  exclaimed  after  a  long  session  of  jumping  on  her  new  water  bed,  which  she  christened  Oprah.  She  had  gotten  a  new  identity  from  a  back-­‐alley  fake  I.D.    shop  which  she  knew  from  years  in  the  business.  It  wasn't  the  best  quality  identities  but  she  had  seven  punches  on  her  punch  card  and  with  three  more  she  could  get  a  free  I.D.  She  had  asked  for  a  new  name,  one  she  was  certain  that  no  one  could  pronounce  it  wrong.    She  chose  Tina.  Tina  Turner  had  been  her  favorite  singer  when  she  was  a  kid  and  Tina,  the  woman  formerly  referred  to  as  Megan,  had  never  heard  anyone  call  her  Teeny.  “Foolproof,”  she  giddily  thought  to  herself.  But  as  anybody  with  a  new  identity  knows,  you  need  a  background.  That  was  why  Tina  bought  a  Wisconsin  cap,    a  pair  of  sandals,  and  a  CD  copy  of  a  William  Shatner  spoken  word  album.    Life  was  great.  So  far.   After  a  consensus  vote  between  the  of?icers  which  ended  up  in  a  heated  argument  over  which  person  was  going  to  take  Kørtney  to  the  airport,  Knobwood  and  his  crew  had  made  a  plan  to  ?ind  and  capture  the  mysterious  ivory  dealer  which  they  nicknamed  “Not  As  Hot  As  Kørtney”.  (Knobwood  would  like  to  add  that  the  nickname  won  by  popular  vote,  and  not  as  the  others  would  say  by  a  100%  

majority.)  One  thing  they  could  all  agree  on  was  that  they  had  to  put  their  plan  in  action  A.S.A.P.   Tina  was,  for  the  ?irst  time  in  her  life,  genuinely  happy.  As  she  was  leaving,  she  got  a  great  idea.  She  would  leave  herself  a  note  of  people’s  names  (pretend,  of  course)  so  she  could  make  believe  that  she  was  hosting  a  really  fancy  dinner  party  and  she  had  a  list  of  the  people  who  could  attend  her  uh-­‐mah-­‐zing  party.  She  wrote  the  note,  grabbed  her  satchel  and  went  out  the  door.  After  getting  her  groceries  and  dry-­‐cleaning,  Tina  went  to  the  park  to  re?lect  on  her  (perfect)  life.  Suddenly,  at  the  absolute  worst  time,  Tina  stood  up.  A  lacrosse  ball  came  whizzing  at  her  head  and  with  a  solid  THUNK  found  a  target.   “Oh  my  gosh,  I  am  so,  so,  SO  sorry  ma’am.  I  hope  that  didn’t  hurt,”  questioned  a  huge  eyed  boy  with  a  lacrosse  stick.  “Are  you  okay?”   Tina  had  a  slight  headache  but  nothing  very  serious.  “Oh  yes  I’ll  be  ?ine.  Thank  you  for  asking.”     Lt.  Knobwood  was  listening  to  Erykah  Badu,  a  guilty  pleasure  normally  reserved  for  the  ride  home.  But  since  his  colleagues  were  taking  Kørtney  out  for  one  last  session  of  harassment,  or  as  they  liked  to  call  it,  dinner  he  decided  that  now  was  a  great  time  to  catch  the  ivory  dealer.  He  got  to  Linwood  Drive,  checked  the  address,  and  ran  up  to  the  door.  “POLICE!  OPEN  THE  DOOR!”  he  shouted,  secretly  admiring  himself  for  that  macho  yell.  Slowly,  the  door  opened.   Tina’s  head  was  throbbing.  The  lights  were  too  bright.  Four  Aspirins  and  two  Tums  later,  Tina  still  wasn't  sure  whether  or  not  the  pounding  was  coming  from  the  door  or  the  massive  headache  that  she  was  trying  to  endure.  Figuring  out  that  some  of  the  pounding  was  coming  from  the  door,  she  opened  it  and  a  seemingly  friendly  man  with  a  gun  came  in.  The  dull  thump  was  getting  louder  and  louder.  Her  apartment  was  getting  enveloped  in  a  shatteringly  bright  light.  Then  it  came  to  a  crashing  halt.  The  world  went  black  around  Tina  and  the  last  thing  she  heard  before  she  faded  out  was  the  nice  man  shouting  “Oh  my  god,  911,  quickly,  I  think  she’s  dead.”    Kørtney  was  crying.  Not  just  because  all  of  the  of?icers  had  drank  way  too  many  daiquiris  and  were  trying  to  get  her  to  play  the  

kissing  game  or  she  was  homesick  for  Norway  but  because  the  person  that  they  had  worked  so  hard  to  capture  was  dead.     “She  died  of  hemorrhaging,”  Lt.  Knobwood  told  his  team  solemnly,  “I  didn’t  even  have  a  chance  to  talk  to  her.  However,”  he  had  an  impish  grin  and  held  up  the  note  that  he  found  on  Tina’s  desk.  “Boys,  we  got  a  list  of  other  dealers  and  we  have  no  time  to  waste.”    

“The Third Penny”By Brian Toby

Prologue: Two Years Ago “Well, keep looking,” growled the shadowy figure, “we don’t have all night!” Lightning flashed, momentarily illuminating the small group. Thunder roared, seeming to shake the very ground. One of the group nervously looked around. “Are you afraid of a little storm?” said the figure. The one who had reacted shook his head hurriedly.

“Boss, look here,” exclaimed one of the group members, who up to a moment ago had been digging. The figure strode forward. Another lightning flash lit up the figure’s face revealing him to be a tall man with graying hair and stark features. He grabbed the object that the person had been holding.

“Excellent,” he said, “This will work!” * * * “Get back here now!” screamed an elderly woman in a soaking gray coat. “Oh, you poor little kitten,” she said to a scarred, vicious looking cat known to her as Fluffy, but to the rest of the neighborhood as “The Destroyer.” “You get back here!” she shouted ineffectively at the two retreating figures. She took a step forward and heard a click. She looked downwards in time to see a rapidly rising water balloon speeding towards her face. There was a ragged meow as Fluffy/The Destroyer decided it was going to make a hasty exit and hopefully find someone foolish enough to leave furniture outside. “That was great!” said Tyler Miller. He was wearing his dark blue jacket that he never appeared without, even during the summer. “Did you see the look on her face?” he exclaimed to his companion who remained silent. “It was priceless!” he announced, “And did you hear what she said?” In a sarcastic tone, Tyler said “Oh, my poor little kitten.” “I still think this was a bad idea,” said John Arelly. He was a quiet person, with a small stature and very shy. One of the only things really noticeable about him was when you talked to him, he looked as though he was really listening and making notes

instead of thinking about what he would say next like most people.

“Don’t be so nervous all the time, it ruins the fun,” Tyler said sternly. “Anyway, have you seen...” John sighed, knowing that Tyler would continue talking for long time. “...And then he was like,” Tyler stopped suddenly.

“Now, we are in trouble,” said John under his breath. “Where have you two been?” Jacob Courgeth said

angrily, “I turn my back for one second and you cause chaos!” Jacob was a tall teen with reddish hair and glasses.

“We’re sorry!” Tyler said apologetically. “I will forgive you this time,” said Jacob, but when the

look of relief appeared on Tyler’s face, he continued “If this happens again, you won’t be so lucky.”

“I was only doing it to get back at The Destroyer!” Tyler was almost pleading, “It shredded my favorite chair!”

“I don’t care if that cat had shredded your house, you should not have taken John with you!” Jacob was nearly yelling, “Now I have to go explain to my parents why Ms. Parkinson is accusing me of nearly killing her!”

“Please, Jacob,” said a meek voice from below, “It was my idea, don’t punish Tyler for it.”

“I don’t care whose idea it was, both of you should never have done this,” Jacob said, “John, you know that I don’t want you to go with Tyler on his ‘missions’ ever!”

“How did you even know we were here?” Tyler muttered under his breath.

Jacob turned around and said to him, “I found these on the ground and I know these belong to John!” Jacob held out a pair of red and gray earbuds. He gave them to John. Suddenly, calm Jacob said, “I accept that you really wanted to do this, but it can’t happen again.”

“It won’t.” Tyler reassured Jacob.“Good,” Jacob replied, “Now both of you go home.”

When Jacob returned home, he found his parents sitting at the table with hopeless expressions on their faces. “What is wrong?” Jacob asked. “It’s a long story,” Jacob’s father answered, “I will give you the short version.” He sighed and went on... “Basically, our house

and land, along with your other friends’ houses, are not owned by us anymore.” He held up an official looking document with paragraphs and paragraphs of legal text. “The company, Byrin Industries, wants to demolish our houses to make a new building.” “They can’t do that!” Jacob burst out, “Making a... a... a skyscraper in the middle of town!” Jacob went on “And how do they even own our houses and land?” Jacob looked quizzically at his parents, “You didn’t sell it to them, did you?” “No, we didn’t sell it,” Jacob’s mother said sadly, “It turns out we never owned the house at all.” “How?” Jacob asked. “There were no land deeds, documents, or anything to prove we owned it,” Jacob’s father said, “I found that very suspicious, especially when I knew I had seen them four years ago.” “Is there anything we can do about it?” Jacob asked. His parents sadly shook their heads. “I am afraid not,” his father replied, “You see, without the land deeds, we can’t...” He was interrupted by the doorbell. Jacob rushed to the door, hoping to see one of his friends. Instead, he saw a tall man with stark features wearing a business suit. “Hello child,” the man said, “I am Mr. Esell” Mr. Esell straightened his tie and went on “Are your parents home?” Without waiting for an answer, he strode through the door and brushed past Jacob. He had an air of importance and a slight oily feel as he walked by made you want to wash your hands afterwards. He walked into the kitchen and Jacob heard his father say something muffled. “The company and I are very sorry that we can’t offer you any compensation for the loss of your house,” Mr. Esell said. Jacob noticed that he didn’t seem to have his briefcase with him.

Thinking that maybe he could do something, Jacob looked around for the briefcase. There! Jacob rushed to the chair that it had been laying on. He opened the lid and reached inside. Instead of grasping the bundle of documents that he had expected, his hand closed around a small circular object. As he pulled it out, he saw that the object was a penny. Was this the “compensation” that Mr. Esell had mentioned? Jacob put the penny in his pocket and was going to search the rest of the briefcase when a hand reached down and grabbed his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t mind other people’s business, boy,” Mr. Esell hissed, “Who knows what might happen?” Jacob grimaced as the hand on his shoulder gripped it to the point of pain. “Well boy, from now on, I hope you don’t get it into your tiny brain to looking through my private stuff.” Jacob nodded hurriedly. “Mr. Esell, what are you doing to Jacob?” asked his father. He was glaring at Mr. Esell suspiciously. “Just showing your child how business works,” replied Mr. Esell with a false smile, “He seems like a bright young man.” Mr. Esell looked down at Jacob and continued, “He might even work in the company one day!” “My son will never work there,” his father said with a dangerous glint in his eye. “Oh well, you can’t make every decision for him,” Mr. Esell continued, “I guess Jacob will decide whether he wants to or not.” Mr. Esell straightened his tie again and grabbed his briefcase. “I will be off.” he said and left. Jacob’s father slammed the door shut after him. “That lying, cheating, little snake,” Jacob’s father was saying, “Having the nerve to come into my house, my life, my family.” Jacob didn’t reply. He knew from past experiences that his father would just keep on talking. A bit like Tyler. He went back upstairs to his room. As he took out a book he was going to read, an item fell out of his pocket. He picked it up and realized that it was the penny that he had taken form the briefcase. Jacob sighed and began reading, absentmindedly rubbing the penny between his fingers. He heard a click and two pieces of the penny fell onto his floor. Great, now I’ve broken it .

Jacob bent down to pick up the pieces. The penny had split into half so that the head and tails side of it were now separate sides. Jacob had never seen anything like this. As he look into the break in the penny he saw a little sheet of paper. Jacob looked closer at it and saw that the paper was covered with dots organized in rows of four. They looked just like black spots. But, as he looked even closer, putting the dots under even greater scrutiny, he saw that they were made up of multiple lines. Jacob suddenly recalled a method of spying he had read in a book. It was called microdots. It was made by taking a photograph and shrinking it down to a near microscopic level.

Curious to what these possible microdots could contain, he went to grab his microscope from his closet. The following events can be described by the sounds heard from the closet. First there was the “Ahah” as Jacob found the microscope. Then there was the “Uh-oh” as he realized that in pulling the microscope out, he had destabilized the tower of junk that lurked in his closet in the same way that a suspiciously clean mountainside of snow waits for just one out of place yodel. In much the same way as the aforementioned snow reacts to that yodel, the pile slowly bent over in order to get the maximum terror out of its victim before striking. This behavior is commonly observed in too high piles across the globe. There was a tremendous crash as the pile struck the floor, followed by several smaller crashes as other piles, wanting to join in on the fun, collapsed as well. There were a few strange squishing noises and finally one last isolated boing, the mechanical equivalent of a pair of smoking books.

There was no movement for several seconds, and then Jacob pushed his way out of the pile. He held the miraculously unbroken microscope under his arm. After trying for several minutes in a futile attempt to clean up the mess, he went back up to his room to try it out. After trying out three different magnification levels, he decided on the one that looked the least blurry. He looked at the first dot. It showed what looked like a paragraph of words. As he zoomed in he saw the words: “The village board of Byrite approves the land deed of 4210 Woodthorn Road to Arnold and Amy Courgeth.” Jacob flew backwards from the microscope in shock.

This was the land deed to his house! He started to rush downstairs to tell his parents, but stopped. Jacob realized that the way to solve this was not by letting his parents do the stupid thing and tell the police. Sneaky Mr. Esell would probably wiggle his way out of this. He remembered that the microdot had shown only the land deed to his house. Jacob rushed back to see if there were any other deeds on the sheet. He frantically scrolled through all of them. There were no others. Jacob looked through his memory and remembered that his parents had told him that the company had bought the land and houses of his friends as well as his. There must be one penny for each of us! Mr. Esell had one, he may have the others. I need to go to the Arelly’s house! Jacob

dashed to their house and saw that Mr. Esell had just gone inside the house. Jacob rushed to the back door and caught John reading the Principles of Mathematics while enjoying the summer air.

“John, John!” Jacob waved to him, “I need to tell you something!” John sighed and reluctantly put away his book.

“What do you want Jacob?” John said tiredly, “Why do you always have to be around me?”

“There is no time,” Jacob said quickly, “Listen to what I am saying.” Jacob explained everything he had learned to John. “Now, I want you to stay here while I go look for Esell’s briefcase.” With that, Jacob rushed inside. John waited for a moment and started to walk down the driveway towards Mr. Esell’s car. After several minutes, Jacob came out of the house empty handed.

“I can’t find it,” Jacob said dejectedly, “We have to look somewhere else.”

“I have something,” John said. He held up a penny in his hand which had been already split open. Jacob took the sheet of paper inside it and said “Where did you find this?”

“I found it in the car,” John replied. Upon seeing the look of anger on Jacob’s face, he took a step backwards.

“Why did you leave without my permission?” Jacob asked calmly, but there was a clear undertone of anger. “You could have been discovered!”

“I don’t have to obey you Jacob!” John said more loudly than anyone had heard him before, “I can do what I want without you being so overprotective!” John was furious now, “Just leave me alone!”

Jacob was frightened by John’s sudden anger. He started to say that he was sorry, but John brushed past him and ran away.

“John, I’m sorry!” Jacob called after him, “Please, come back!” He started to pursue John, but he couldn’t catch up. Jacob realized that he was still holding the penny. He put it in his pocket and walked sadly to Tyler’s house. He didn’t see Mr. Esell’s car in the driveway and his fears were confirmed. He ran up to the door and knocked on it.

“Hi Mrs. Miller, do you know where Tyler is?” Jacob asked.

“Tyler is in the basement, playing his games.” she replied. Jacob went to the basement where Tyler was playing his favorite video game Sontroid 3. Jacob started to speak, but Tyler held up a finger to hush him while he completed the stage. Jacob watched as Tyler destroyed robot after robot. He finally smashed the last with a brilliantly executed Wall Smash. Tyler turned off the console and turned to Jacob. Despite himself, Jacob was staring with envy. He himself had never been very good at the game.

“That last one nearly got me,” Tyler said thoughtfully, “I guess I just have to practice more.” Jacob was about to tell him that the last robot wasn’t even facing him when he smashed it into scrap when he remembered his true purpose in coming here.

“Tyler, I have to tell you this,” Jacob explained everything to him.

“If I can believe what you told me, then all we have to do to find the third penny is to get to this Esell guy?” Jacob nodded. “Well, we may have a problem,” Tyler took a deep breath and continued, “He left long before you got here.”

“We were so close!” Jacob burst out, “We could have gotten him!” Jacob sighed and said, more calmly, “Let’s get the group together,” and with a glint in his eye that meant he had a plan, Jacob continued, “If Esell won’t come to us, we’ll go to him.”

“Do you have a plan?” asked Tyler. Jacob nodded. “Good, I was worried we might come out of this unharmed,” said Tyler Together, they went to John’s house.

“Where is John?” Tyler asked. Jacob glanced around and saw no sign of John.

“Where could he be?” Jacob walked around the house and saw nothing.

“Jacob, come quick!” Tyler waved to him and beckoned Jacob to come to him, “Look at this.” Tyler held up a pair of red and grey earbuds. Jacob grabbed them.

“Where did you get these?” Jacob asked. Tyler pointed at a chair on the porch. Jacob went over to it. Like any other furniture left outside for a period of time longer than a minute, it bore signs of The Destroyer’s work. Jacob spotted the Principles of Mathematics on the ground with a bookmark neatly tucked inside. He picked it up, and as he did, a note fell out of the book. It said, “Dear Jacob or Tyler, if you are looking for me, I am getting the

third penny,” Jacob turned the note over, “I followed Esell back to the company HQ.” “Don’t worry or follow me.”

“What is that?” Tyler asked. He took the note and examined it. “This is from John.”

“I know,” Jacob said, “We have to get to him!” Jacob and Tyler went to grab their bikes and headed off.

“Do you even know where this place is?” Jacob said, as they passed what looked like the same building for the third time.

“Sure I do,” answered Tyler, who adjusted the map he had taped to his bike. “I mean, how hard can it be to find one building?” They looked around them. For as far as they could see, there were buildings. “Okay, it may be a little harder than I thought, but it can’t be far,” Tyler looked at his map again. “It says that we are supposed to go right on Edgewall, but we did.”

“Tyler, look,” Jacob shook his shoulder to get his attention.“Quiet Jacob, I am trying to get us there.”“Tyler...”“Quiet!”“Look behind you!” Tyler turned around and saw the

interlocking hourglass symbol that was the logo of Byrin Industries.

“See Jacob, I told you we weren’t lost,” Tyler said happily. Jacob put his head in his hands. As they walked towards it, a person with the insignia of the company on her jacket strode in front of them.

“I am sorry, but you can’t go in,” she said, “No one is allowed in because this building is going to be demolished in less than fifteen minutes.” Tyler and Jacob walked to another area to discuss this recent term of events.

“How are we going to get inside?” Jacob said desperately, “Never mind that, the building is going to be demolished and we’ll lose the penny forever!’

“Jacob, look at this!” Tyler pointed to a bicycle that was lying abandoned against a fence. It looked just like John’s bike. Alongside it was a set of footprints left in the dust from nearby construction work. They led to a door with a padlock on it. As the two walked up to it, they noticed that the padlock was nonfunctional as it had been pried apart, most likely by an iron bar resting on the ground.

“John, the law-abiding peaceful kid did this?” said Tyler in disbelief.

“Lets go in, get John, and if there is time take the penny too,” Jacob said as he was opening the door. They headed inside. The first thing Jacob noticed was the lack of lighting. It was pitch dark inside.

“Jacob, is that you?” Tyler asked with a slight tone of nervousness in his voice.

“Yes, I’m here,” Jacob searched through his pockets and found a reading light. He flicked it on and the darkness cleared to reveal a neglected room. The layer of dust approached several centimeters high in some places.

“There are footsteps going to this doorway,” said Jacob as he shined the light to illuminate a hallway. They walked down it and up a staircase. As they neared the top, Tyler spotted a light coming down the corridor at the top.

“Someone is coming!” Tyler whispered, “Get down!” Jacob switched off the light and crouched in the shadows.

“Let me go!” John was clearly frightened, “This is against the law!”

“I don’t care ‘bout no law,” this was a rougher voice, “All I care is that Esell pays me what he said he would for puttin’ you away.” Jacob saw that Tyler was shaking with rage.

“Tyler, this isn’t the time for rash decisions!” hissed Jacob. Tyler did not hear any of it. He charged out of his hiding place with a shout. The guard turned with a look of surprise on his face. Tyler charged with near blinding speed and landed one light punch on the guard before being slammed against the wall by a vicious retaliation.

“That is what you get for being stupid,” said the guard, but as he turned around, he realized that he should not have taken his eyes off of John. With strength that belied his stature, he smashed the guard over his head with the bag that he was carrying. The guard stumbled backwards and Jacob scythed his legs out from under him with a kick. He fell, hit a wall, and stayed there.

“Tyler, are you okay?” Jacob asked frantically. Tyler opened his eyes and gave a dazed smile.

“I got him, didn’t I?” he said. Jacob was too tired to argue. After telling John about how they got here, they started to continue their search for the penny.

As they traveled higher, they started to hear the noise of a crowd. Jacob stopped and listened for a couple seconds.

“Guys, I think the demolition is starting,” Jacob pulled his head back from the wall, “We have to get out of here!”

Outside Mr. Esell was getting ready for his speech. The guards had not found the meddling children, but no need to worry. If they were still in the building, they wouldn’t be a problem much longer.

“Hello to everyone!” he said, “Thank you for coming to the first step of Byrin Industries advancement to a new era!” As Mr. Esell made his way through the speech, mostly thanking donors and other people of importance, the demolition crew was making the final preparations. “Now, with this lever,” Mr. Esell took an old fashioned dynamite detonator from the head engineer and put a yellow hard hat on, “We will leave the past and enter the future!” A countdown appeared on a giant screen overhead.

Jacob and his friends were racing through the building, trying to find a way out. They could hear the countdown outside. None of them spoke as the dashed through the hallways.

“Five!” Jacob was running faster than he had ever had in his life. “Four!” Tyler felt like he was about to pass out, but kept running. “Three!” John’s progress was hampered by his heavy satchel across his shoulder and frantically tried to keep up. “Two!” Jacob could see familiar hallways. “One!” We aren’t going to make it! “Zer...” The rest of the word was drowned out by a tremendous boom as the explosive charges exploded, sending the forty story building tumbling down. The last thing Jacob saw was massive blocks of concrete falling on him and then nothing.

Mr. Esell brushed the dust off his suit and surveyed the wreckage. He permitted himself a thin smile. As he turned to face the crowd, he felt a curious feeling that there was something he had forgotten. It was surely nothing to worry about.

Jacob groaned he felt like every part of his had been hit, with great precision, by several hundred ton hammers. He reached for his light and turned it on. When it lit the tiny space he was in, he saw that Tyler and John were also there.

“Hey, wake up,” Jacob was shaking both of them, “Please don’t be dead!” He felt a huge sense of relief when he saw that both of them were still alive and mostly unharmed. Tyler groaned and then laid back down. The light flickered and went out. Jacob shook the light, willing it to turn back on. Nothing happened and it stayed dark. Why don’t I just give up and lie down? I’ll just watch this light. A light! Jacob sat up with renewed hope. He started to shift the rubble. John woke up and began to help him. Eventually they made a hole large enough to crawl through. While they were digging it, Tyler had woken up as well. Jacob crawled out of the hole and blinked in the blinding sunlight.

Jacob looked around and saw Mr. Esell and the rest of the crowd staring in total shock. Mr. Esell had an expression that would have looked comical if not for the circumstances. The shock began to melt away from the crowd as they realized the reality of what had just happened.

“Mr. Esell, did you know there were children in there?”“Mr. Esell, were you trying to bring the building down on

them?”“Are you trying to cause harm to them?” As the crowd

peppered him with questions, Mr. Esell stood with an expression of shock.

“Hey, Esell!” Tyler called out to him, “Want to know what we found you had?”

“Hand it over,” Jacob ordered, “Just give it to us.”“You know what we mean,” John said, “Give us the penny.”“I won’t give you anything!” Mr. Esell roared and pulled a

pistol from his pocket. “You kids have been doing nothing but meddling in everything!” He took aim. “Now you will pay!” At that moment John’s bag started to shift and then tore itself apart and a streak of orange leaped out.

“Is that The Destroyer?” Jacob said in disbelief. “The Destroyer has awoken!” shouted Tyler. The Destroyer was not having a good day. First, it had been soaked. Second, it had not found any furniture outside to shred. Third, it had been stuffed into a bag for hours and bumped around. Fourth and finally, a building had collapsed on top of it, something guaranteed to make cats furious. It looked around for something to destroy and saw Mr. Esell. It pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. His

briefcase fell out of his grip and opened. Jacob grabbed the penny and split it open.

“We found the third penny!” Jacob announced. A group of police officers had somehow managed to pry The Destroyer from Mr. Esell, possibly with a crowbar.

“We’ll take it from here kids,” said one officer.“I’m innocent, I swear!” said Mr. Esell, “It was a conspiracy,

these kids wanted to kill me with their cat!”“Stay quiet!” shouted an officer, “You’re under arrest for

fraud!”“I think we should go now” said John.“You’re right,” Jacob went to get their bikes.

On the way home they discussed their recent adventures.“Listen, John,” Jacob said, “I’m sorry for being so protective

of you.”“It’s okay,” John replied, “I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly.”They rode on for a for a while in silence. When they got

home, their parents congratulated them.“I was so worried!” said Jacob’s mother in tears, “You

saved our houses!” Jacob and the others accepted the praise with silence. Later, when they were away from their parents, a discussion started about what exactly they had done. While John and Jacob talked about what would likely happen to Mr. Esell, Tyler remained quiet and appeared to be thinking about something. Finally, he got both John and Jacob’s attention.

“Listen to this,” Tyler said with a grin, “Now, we know what happens when you let the cat out of the bag!”

“Oh, shut up!” said Jacob while John roared with laughter.“What,” Tyler continued, “Isn’t it true?” Jacob smiled as

Tyler gave a mischievous grin.

The End

“This is Why My Homework is Late”

By Ingrid Wefing

I walked home after school and climbed the stairs up to my room. I opened my closet door, walked inside and pulled out some purple paint and a brush. I began to paint the nine foot model of a wooly mammoth. It was my creative way of letting my mind free. I put the finishing touches with the purple paint on and his eyes started to glow a neon yellow that made me freeze. I felt a weird tingling crawling through my fingers and toes, up my limbs, and through my shoulders until I felt as if I was floating. Suddenly, my stomach was sucked forward into the wooly mammoth’s mouth, I could now see straight through my stomach to the wall behind. Next thing I knew my hand was gone and then the other, slowly each body part was quickly sucked into the mouth of the mammoth. I closed my eyes as my head flew into the mouth. When I opened my eyes I was in a place that was covered in ice and snow, I turned slowly around and saw a huge foot, or what I thought was a foot, covered in some thick red hair. I followed the leg up for what seemed like forever, above it I saw two giant tusks and two huge eyes looking down at me. I screamed but the animal didn’t seem to mind he just swung his “leg” around and handed me a piece of paper. I had no idea what it was for so I shredded it up and fed it to the woolly mammoth, only then did I realize that it was my homework.

“The Nail Polish Pummel”

By Teddy McGregor

“Alright, time to go to bed you two,” my mom exclaimed.

“Uhh, bedtime already,” me and my sister groaned back at her,

somehow thinking it would help.

We were staying in a nice hotel with two rooms and three beds,

one for my parents, one for me, and one for my sister. I had to share a

room with her, but that couldn’t bring me down, I was too exhilarated.

The hotel was located about half an hour away from where the

Wimbledon Finals were taking place. Every summer my family would

travel to Wimbledon to watch the annual tennis tournament held there.

My name is Tommy, I’m a thirteen year-old boy who loves absolutely

everything about tennis, along with my sister ten year-old Rosie, who

loves fashion and all the latest news on celebrities. Tomorrow was a big

day and we would have to wake up early if we wanted to see our favorite

tennis player, Daniel San, play in the championship tomorrow. My

parents and I both set alarms for seven A.M., just to guarantee we would

be up in time for the match, that started at eight.

So, Rosie finished up reading her favorite: People Magazine, and

I turned off the TV and we settled for bed.

“Did you hear Thomas Washington broke up with Sara Oval?”

Rosie asked.

“That’s great,” I said sarcastically, “goodnight.” I flicked the

light switch down and prepared for sleep. But I couldn’t go to bed. My

mind was racing about tomorrow. For the first time ever Daniel San has

made it to the championship, and I would get to see him play. Some

people might think tennis is just a dull sport but I get so energetic when

it comes up. The day of the Wimbledon Championship is always an

exciting day. After I my brain dialed down, tiredness came over me, my

eyelids came to a full close, and I drifted away to sleep.

That night I had an epic dream. I was facing Ugine Walace, one

of the meanest players in the sport of tennis. We were in a tight battle for

first place in the Wimbledon Championship. Pop, squeak, squeak, pop,

squeak, squeak. The green fuzzy ball was being hit back and forth, with

the sound of our shoes chirping as we moved around the court. All of a

sudden it was the final point. If I won it, I was crowned champion of the

Wimbledon Finals. He served me the ball and I responded with a whack

of the tennis ball, it landed fair, Ugine dashed toward the ball, but it was

just out of reach.

“Yes! ” I screamed as I dropped to the ground triumphantly. I had

never felt more victorious in my life.

Then it was back to reality. I slowly emerged from my beauty

sleep and my eyes peered open. All my sheets had been kicked off while

I was sleeping, that’s a natural habit of mine. But then I realized I had a

championship to go to and I became extremely worried because I didn’t

wake up to the alarm I set. I quickly checked the clock and...

“OH MY GOSH! EVERYBODY WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

WAKE UP!” I screamed so the whole hotel could hear me. But, I didn’t

care because it was 9:12! I dashed around the room shaking my whole

family awake.

“We got to go!” I informed my parents, “It’s 9:10!”

After glancing at the clock in disbelief, my mother said, “Oh,

geez you’re right how did this happen?”

“We must of slept through our alarms,” I replied.

“Sorry Tommy,” said my dad.

“If we leave now,” Rosie suggested, “maybe we could catch the

end of the match.”

“Yeah,” we all agreed. Quickly, we changed out of our pajamas

and into our day clothes, but we had to wait for Rosie because she

always has to be looking stylish . Then with the tickets in my mom’s

purse, we scurried out of our room, and ran down the stairs, since we

thought it was quicker than the elevator. When we made our way

through the lobby, we dashed to our car in the parking lot and hopped in.

My dad took the keys out of his pocket, started the car, and we drove off.

“Alright it’s nine-thirty and we are half an hour away, so maybe we

can catch the end of the match,” said my dad.

“Ok,” I said, “pedal to the metal!” We were driving along for about

five minutes when Rosie decided to do her nails. She always has to look

like a star. Her set of nail polish was close by, so she picked it up and

decided paint her nails purple and green, her two favorite colors. In the

middle of her painting my dad ran over a huge pothole and we were all

propelled into the air. Her nail polish went flying in the air and splattered

all over my dads face.

“Ah!” my dad screamed in a horrific voice, as the polish got in his

eyes. He jerked the steering wheel to the side and crash! We rammed

into a McDonalds. Next thing I know my lights went out and my

memory stopped working.

The next time I came to, I was in a hospital bed, with a nurse by

my side.

“What happened?” I moaned.

“You and your family were in a devastating car crash,” the nurse

responded.

I began to get really nervous, “Are they okay?”

“They are all a bit banged up, but they’ll be fine, your father broke

some ribs, your mother broke a bone in her arm, and your sister came

out with no broken bones, just a bunch of cuts and bruises.”

That was a relief, but it made me wonder what my physical state

was, and then I realized I had a huge cast on my right arm, “Did I break

my arm?” It seemed like an obvious answer but I asked anyway.

“Yes, you have a clean break in your humorous, which is expected

to heal in 2-3 months.”

Oh no, I would be out of tennis for so long. Speaking of tennis,

“Do you know who won the Wimbledon Championship by any chance?”

“Of course, Daniel San won.”

“Yes!” I squealed, “Finally, a victory for Daniel San!” At least

something went well today.

30 years later I was continuing my love for tennis, teaching in a

small town in Iowa, that I lived in. Rosie started up her own nail salon

called Nail Crash, where the women in town went to talk about the latest

gossip. Mom and dad were retired and settled in a house on the beach in

Florida.

An Unusual Token of LoveBy Miranda Sun

The cat trotted home. Rosy fingers of dawn peeked over the horizon as he made his way back to his humans. Such odd creatures they were, he mused, his prize dangling from his jaws. So gangly, walking awkwardly on two legs. As different as they were from him, though, he hoped that they would enjoy his gift. A car suddenly honked, frightening several birds that had been roosting in a tree above. A house door opened and abruptly slammed shut. Some dog barked, perhaps trying to wake its owners. The cat walked past this with indifference, disregarding the hectic events of other less dignified creatures. Finally, he reached his home. It was a familiar sight after hunting away all night. The cat dropped his load and then set up a most piteous yowl. When nobody came running, he did it again. This time there was a pounding of footsteps from inside the house, quickly followed by an opening of a door. A sleepy-eyed face appeared, framed by strands of fur. “Thomas?” his human exclaimed. “What are you doing outside?” “Meow,” said the cat named Thomas. The eyes grew wider. “...Is that a mouse?” Thomas sat up straighter and twitched his whiskers, waiting for the human to pick up his gift. He purred in confirmation.

And she did, but only to throw the mouse into the street. “Oh, Thomas, you know we can’t bring that into the house. It’s really dirty.” That had been a wonderful present! Thomas flattened his ears and glared at the mostly furless creature in front of him, but she didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she scooped him up and scratched him between the ears, a place she knew he liked to be scratched. Instantly, Thomas almost forgave her. Almost. “I appreciate it, I really do, but Mom would freak out,” the she-human told him. She carried him inside. “Want some catnip?” Thomas meowed in agreement, then jumped onto a table while the human went to get his catnip. Such strange creatures they were, yes, but he loved them all the same.