August 31, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

The Disaster: A warning about global warming
by Siobhan Gleason, of Green Woods Charter School, age 10

Chapter One: The Big Problem

“Why my mom told me I had to buy school supplies is really a mystery,” Karen said to herself.

Karen was walking down a dusty street, dirt in her eyes and the sun beating down on her sweaty back. She would do anything for a glass of lemonade right now. Karen had freckles and extremely straight light brown hair. She almost always wore her hair down, but wished she had worn it up today.

There were tons of stores and lots of beach houses around them. All brightly colored. Each owned a different color. Karen spotted a new store. It said “Global Stationery” in pink letters. Karen ran inside.

‘’ What would you like young lady,’’ a normal looking man asked. “We have noteboooks to pencil cases and more.’’

“I need to get my mom’s list out,’’ Karen said. ‘’Here it is. I need a few notebooks and some pencils. Oh, can I have a globe? My class is studying geography.”

“I don’t see why not,” he said as he ran to the back of store. Then he came back with a small but heavy globe. The man winked. “This costs a dollar because no one wants it. Do you have enough?”

“Oh, sure.”

“Okay, it’s yours.”

“Thanks, bye. I’ll...”

“Wait, I almost forgot. That globe is cursed. Never throw it out! Bye!” He almost slammed the door on Karen.

What in the world he meant Karen didn’t know. Some dolls, not globes, were used in curses, right? Anyway, there probably was no such thing! Maybe that man was crazy.

“Did you get everything? Were you okay in the heat? Did you shop somewhere new? That is a nice bag, honey,” Karen’s mom said.

“Oh, it’s only from a strange little store.” Karen left the room without another word.

“Kevin, it’s time to clean your and your sister’s study room. I see too much junk,” Karen and Kevin’s mother said.

“But mom, why can’t Karen clean up her junk? It’s not fair,” Kevin complained.

“Okay, look honey, Karen is at the beach with her friend. Why can’t you help?”

“All right, but I won’t do it again!”

Once their mother left the room Kevin started to clean up his side and turned on the radio. Then he finished and looked at Karen’s side in disgust. “How will I ever finish? It will take all day.”

Kevin worked on until he was fed up. He was in a real bad mood from cleaning. I could be outside skateboardiong with my friends and showing off, but I’m inside cleaning my little sister’s side, he thought. Now, he wanted to make the process go faster so Kevin picked up the globe and angrily threw it out the window. Finally he finished cleaning and went out with his friends.

Later Karen came home and went into the study room to find her globe missing. “Kevin, where did you put my globe? Tell me!”

“Nowhere. You must’ve lost it.”

A little kid had found the globe on the sidewalk. Without a second thought, he brought it to the beach to play with it. As the tide came in and then went out again, the globe was carried out to sea.

Chapter Two: An Even Bigger Problem

A few days later Karen still wondered where the globe was. For the past few days the weather had been stormy. Karen turned on the tv, went to the All Weather Channel and was surprised by what she heard.

“Hi, this is Jennifer Jones and this is important news! Don’t go to another program. We have an 88% chance of hurricane and then 66% chance of flooding! Have a nice weekend!”

Karen was frantic. “Mother, the news person said we have a 66% chance of flooding! What do we do now?”

“Sixty-six percent is not a very big chance. Don’t worry. Maybe Jennifer Jones was joking. Like my alliteration?”

Karen was so upset. Why didn’t her mom understand? Karen went up to her room. Suddenly she remembered that her globe was missing. Did the curse connect to the weather and globe? Of course! The globe was missing and must have had some contact with water. That was why it was flooding, or would flood. Karen rushed downstairs to continue watching the weather.

“Make that 69% chance of flooding. Not just New Jersey, more like the whole world!”

Karen had to work quickly so she called her friend Sam up for help.

‘’Did you hear Jennifer on the W channel? She’s crazy. Do you believe her,’’ Sam asked.

“Jenn is not crazy! Let me tell you all about my globe...’’ She told Sam everything she suspected. “So will you help or not, “ Karen asked.

“Sure, and I have a plan,” Sam replied.

“Great, come over now!”

Once Sam came over, Karen went up to her mom and thought up a getaway. “Mom, Sam and I want to go to the beach.”

“Can’t you tomorrow? It’s time for dinner. And besides, it’s pouring. And windy too. I think your parents are worrying about you, Sam.” Her mother’s answer was no.

Karen could barely eat the pot roast. Every time her mom asked why, she didn’t hear because she was full of thoughts about curses and when exactly the world would flood completely. Her father seemed to be in a trance. Kevin, of course, was eating ravenously.

After dinner, without her mother noticing, Karen walked outside in her raincoat. Suddenly Sam came running toward her. He looked frantic. “Karen, did you hear the news? We have to hurry! That globe needs to be found soon!”

“My parents seem to be dazed about all the flooding business,” said Karen. “What’s up with that?”

“Well, Karen, this is my guess: that globe activates a dazed effect on all adults. Only adults and children who really care about global warming (which is a small amount) are scared. An even smaller amount are trying to do something about it. Now let’s hurry!”

“So, Sam, I think the globe is in the ocean, like you said, but will we find it in time?” Karen was anxious.

“We can only try, Karen. But trying is better than nothing.” Water splashed beneath Sam’s feet as he walked.

“Sam, we must run!”

The two sprinted across the sidewalk and Karen wished she had done something earlier. Everything near the ocean was flooding. Karen didn’t want to picture water uprooting her house. Sam and Karen ran up to the dock, jumped into Sam’s family rowboat and untied it. They rowed through choppy waters when a huge wave crashed over the boat, flipping Sam and Karen out.

“What do we do,” Karen sputtered. While Karen tried to tread water, her hand hit metal. The globe! Karen picked it out of the water and it sucked most of the flood water into its oceans. The wind and waves settled. Sam and Karen righted the boat and rowed back to shore.

Karen walked home carrying the globe with her. No one seemed to notice what had happened. “Karen, my feet are all wet and so are your father’s. It was all very weird, and where were you?”

“Fishing for globes,” Karen joked.

“I never heard of a globe fish before,” said her mother. The dazed affect never wore off, but that was okay with Karen.

As Karen went upstairs carrying the globe, she yelled at Kevin, “Never touch my globe again!” Karen now knew that keeping her room clean is important. You don’t ever want to give your older brother a reason to throw your things away. The future of the earth could be at stake. The End