This story was written for Susanna Hill's "4th of July Secret/Mystery Writing Contest." To see contest rules or read other fantastic entries visit http://susannahill.blogspot.com/ There is a 400 word limit and I managed to finish mine in 389. This contest has been a challenge for me. My first two story ideas turned out to be failures, and I almost gave up. Then this story occurred to me out of the blue as I was walking to zumba. I had a lot of fun writing and painting the illustration. I hope you all enjoy and I greatly look forward to reading all the other entries!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Belle the
big, black poodle disliked loud noises.
Baby squeals made her jump, high-pitched whistling from the teakettle
made her howl, and thunderstorms made her tremble head to tail.
One 4th of July evening
Belle curled up on the warm kitchen rug for a nap. Through sleepy eyes she watched her owner
Sadie and her friends chatter around the counter tops preparing ice cream
sundaes with pecans and homemade chocolate syrup.
She thumped
her tail lazily in content. Soon her
eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! A dreadful noise startled
Belle from sleep. She bolted up and
looked around. The kitchen was dark and
empty.
DRIP. DRIP.
DRIP. Went the water faucet.
WHIR. WHIR.
WHIR. Went the dishwasher.
“Hmmm”
thought Belle. “I must have imagined the
sound.” She settled back down on her
mat.
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! The noise came again!
Belle jumped
to her feet. “What was that?!” She thought pawing the ground nervously. “Where is Sadie?”
Belle trotted into the living room.
No Sadie.
TICK-TOCK. TICK-TOCK.
Went the clock
BUZZ BUZZ.
Went the fly circling potato chips.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Went the noise even louder this time. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Belle began
to circle around and around the living room floor. “Oh, what is that awful noise!” She thought.
“Sadie where could you be?”
Suddenly she
heard laughter coming from the front porch.
Sadie’s laugh. Belle ran to the
door and scratched urgently.
“What is it
girl?” Said Sadie opening the door.
Belle whined
and leaned against Sadie’s denim jeans.
Suddenly she saw flowers bursting out of nowhere in the sky. They sparkled like tinsel on a Christmas
tree. “How beautiful” thought Belle.
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! The noise came from the sky!
BARK! BARK! Said Belle shrinking away.
“Awww you’re
scared of the fireworks!” Said Sadie
hugging Belle around the neck. “Come sit
next to me. I will keep you safe.”
Belle
couldn’t understand how such beautiful flowers could make such a terrible,
frightening noise! But she followed
Sadie and curled obediently beside her.
As Belle
watched the way Sadie and her friends laughed in delight at the dazzling show
in the sky, she began to feel more at ease.
Sadie wrapped her arm around Belle and together they looked up to enjoy
the BOOMING flowers in the sky.
 |
| Here's the inspiration for my story. She's an old dog that's been in the family for 15 years now. |
What a wonderful story with fabulous sound effects! And your dog is super cute too. :) Good luck with the contest!
ReplyDeleteThanks Teresa! Good use of sound effects in your story as well!
DeleteWhat a fun story from a dog's point of view! I enjoyed all the sound words! And great photo!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteGreat story, Heather! And I love your illustration and your photo of you and your dog :) Your story is well-written - I love the different sound effects and how they show up in each section - and I love your comparison of the fireworks to flowers blooming in the sky - so perfect and poetic. And you got the mystery in there and came in under the word count. Excellent job! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Susanna! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I love your writing contests because they motivate the creative knobs in my brain to start turning. There's nothing better than a bit of friendly competition to get me going.
DeleteA mystery from a dog's point of view. Just charming! This would be such a cute book for little ones. I'm with everyone else about the sound effects. Perfect
ReplyDeleteThank you Pam! I'm so very glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteWhat a great idea! Well done! Love the illustration as well -- the expression on her face is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThank you Beth! I was particularly pleased with the way the illustration turned out. I'm so glad you liked it too!
DeleteGreat story and illustration of Bella. Love a good dog story. Good use of sounds.
ReplyDeleteThanks Patricia. I've always had a soft place in my heart for good dog stories. "Where the Red Fern Grows." was one of my favorites growing up.
DeleteSweet story . . . thanks for sharing your inspiration with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you! She's so funny to watch when she gets all nervous during thunderstorms and 4th of July fireworks.
DeleteThis is such an adorable story. I loved all the sound words! Being a dog lover, I especially enjoyed it. Sweet picture. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Cheryl! I'm very glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story, Heather! I love all the sound effects...I think kids would love them also.:) And fireworks do look like flowers exploding in the sky...wonderful illustrations. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm following your blog now...don't know why I wasn't before.
Thanks Vivian! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I just signed up to follow your blog as well! It's hard to keep up with things in the blogging world. Thanks for following!
DeleteLove this story. The sound effects bring it to life - I can see Belle prancing around the house on nervous paws!
ReplyDeleteThank you Laurie! Prancing is a verb for Belle. She does prance around the house!
DeleteFlowers blooming in the sky, I love the word pictures! Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Best of luck to you as well!
DeleteDogs & blooms in the sky! A wonderful story, Heather, that I very much enjoyed reading & LOVE the illustration, too!
ReplyDeleteThank you Patricia!
DeleteGreat story! Those fireworks sure do scare the dogs (I have cats, too- they sleep right through it :)) I especially liked when Belle was searching for Sadie...the sounds and the rhythm worked well.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. It is funny how dogs have such a hard time with big or high pitched noises, but it doesn't even seem to bother other animals. I'm glad you could relate to my story!
DeleteAwwww. . .so cute Heather! And I LOVE your illustrations!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jarm! I had a ton of fun painting the picture. It was especially fun painting Belle's curly fur.
DeleteLove how you incorporated all the sounds into your story! But honestly, you had me at the moment I saw the picture! ;-)
ReplyDelete-Cathy Hall
Thank you Cathy! I'm glad I was able to grab your attention. It's hard to stand out among this amazing group of talented writers!
DeleteYour words put the illustrations in my head (fireworks flowers blooming in the sky). Amazing job! So glad I stopped by.
ReplyDeleteThank you Robyn! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteNice job, Heather! Loved the onomatopoeia. And the photo was a bonus :•)
ReplyDeleteThanks Penny! I'm glad you liked it.
DeleteI love that you wrote from the dog's perspective. So different!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you think so Pam. It was a lot of fun to write.
DeleteThis story is so well told. And I like your illustration a lot! I barely had time to get the story completed let alone illustrate it. You are my hero!
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanne! I thought your story was great by the way. I would never have been able to tell it was a last minute story.
Delete