The Fisherman by Zachary Houser

There once was an old fisherman. He loved the sea, the ocean breeze and the rocking of the boat. He went out fishing for hours a day. He had never actually caught anything, but watching him you would never realize it.

One day, when he was out fishing, he felt a strong tug on his line. His catch pulled hard and he almost fell overboard, but the fisherman was determined to get his first catch. He pulled harder than he knew he could. The battle lasted a long time.

Eventually, a head started surfacing. The head was three times the size of his boat. Then came up the creature’s tail. That was all it had, a head and a tail. It looked like a serpent ending in a whale tail.

The creature said “I am a lord, one of three. My kingdom is the ocean. I control all the creatures that dwell there. I can give you my gift, but you may not have accepted the gift of another of my kind.”

The fisherman was interested in this. “All right,” he said, “Give me this gift.” Without another word, the lord took him underwater. The fisherman held his breath until his lungs felt like they would burst.

Then gills grew on his cheeks. His legs turned into a tail and his arms were suddenly fins. Another fin launched out of his back. He could breathe underwater, and could swim faster than any human. The underwater creatures would stop and watch him pass.

He made a little underwater cottage out of stones to use as a house and hiding place. He saw all kinds of creatures, some discovered, some not.

Eventually, he came to a land where few had been gefore. He tried to surface, only to discover he could no longer breathe out of the water.

He circled around the city and found a pipe pulling in clean water from the ocean, and one sending dirty water through a filter to clean it, and then sending it into the ocean. The fisherman swam into the pipe pulling water in.

When he was able to surface, he found himself in a large room. The only thing inside it was a throne. Sitting on the throne was a creature. It had the body of a bull and the mane of a lion. He said “I am a lord, one of three. My kingdom is the land. I control all the creatures that dwell there. I can give you my gift, but you may not have accepted the gift of another.”

The fisherman thought. He knew he had heard something like that somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. Eventually, his desire to walk on land again took over. He accepted the gift.

The lord took him out of the water. His tail turned to furry legs with hooves and he grew horns. His face grew fur, although his body was still scaly and slippery. He could now travel by land or sea. He had nearly limitless strength and speed.

The fisherman, while he was still human, wanted to travel everywhere. He decided he would have the best chance of doing this while he was in his current form.

After years of traveling, he realized that there was one place he could never go in his present form. So he set off again, this time with a different goal. He wanted to find the third lord.

He climbed, jumped and swam until he came to the highest spot he could find. There he saw the last lord. The lord had the face of a hawk and the body of an eagle.

He said “I am a lord, one of th-“

The fisherman held up his hand. “I know, I know,” he said. “You are a lord, one of three. Your kingdom is the sky. You control all the creatures that dwell there. You can give me your gift, but I may not have accepted the gift of another. Give me your gift.”

The lord tackled him, and he fell off the cliff. As he fell, he grew a feathered tail and a beak. Right before he hit the ground, wings sprouted. His flying was choppy at first, but he learned fast.

Soon he flew with no problem. However, as he soared, he lost more and more humanity. Soon he had lost his humanity completely. He glided into the night and wasn’t seen again.

Little Mousie Adventures

Featuring Little Mousie, Linda, Benjamin, all kinds of monsters, all kinds of hunters and robbers, Phoebe, Zach, and Dad.

(As told by Benjamin Houser)

Chapter 1: The Funness for Mousie

The Little Mousie was in the pet shop. Ben was shopping with his family at the pet shop. When Ben saw Little Mousie, he said, “Mom, can we buy the mouse?”
Mom said, “Sure.”

Then a robber came to the pet shop. “Ooooooh,” said Mousie. “Gulp!” said Mousie. Then Mousie said, “That robber was better than ever!”

When he found the robber’s blaster, Mousie said, “Ooooh, a pet present. It must be an exerciser with this bar.”

He exercised and exercised. Then Ben’s family brought Little Mousie home. They made him a large cage. Then they made a bed for him. They needed to give him lots of cheese.

Once, when there was a robber, Ben’s family called the police. Before they even heard or saw Mousie gulping up the robber, when the robber was gone, they knew what had happened. When they got there, the police said, “Where’s the robber?”

Ben’s family said, “Uh. Our little mouse choked him,”

The police said, “Whaaaaaat?!”

The mouse showed the police officer all the money that the robber had stolen. The police said, “Why is your little mouse wearing a super-hero suit?”

Little Mousie said, “I got it for gulping up a monster with one gulp.”

The police officer asked, “And what are those big tubes outside?”

Mousie said, “They’re my eating bags.”

“Well, they’re pretty big. I don’t think you could eat them.”

Mousie opened his mouth as wide as space and ate one.

When the police had gone, Ben’s family went to the beach. Mousie was trying to catch an orca. A fisherman said, “Bwa Ha Ha! A mouse can’t catch an orca!”

Mousie said, “I can.”

Mousie caught an orca. The fisherman said, “Bet you can’t get to an orca before I’m done blinking”

Mousie got his teleporter ready. And as Mousie said, when the fisherman was done blinking – poof! – there he was! Mousie lifted up the orca and made orca soup. And they all ate.
 
Chapter 2: Little Mousie So Hungry!

Little Mousie said to Linda, “Can I go on vacation?” “Of course,” Linda said.

When he stepped outside, he saw a tiger. And the tiger saw him. And I think you know what

Mousie did: eat him! Then he saw a bush. He ate it! He saw a goblin. He ate it! He saw the vacation house. He at it! Then he built it how he wanted it to be. Then he ate a whole egg, even the shell. Then he ate lots and lots of cheese.

Little Mousie went to Maine. He went to the pool. Do you know what? He drank all the water. Then he ate one side of the pool. Then he exercised to make himself not as fat. Then he saw a lost air balloon. He rode on it – then he ate it.

He saw two cats. He kept them as pets. He named one Bean and one Abby. Then Mousie brought them home. But Phoebe called one Noodgie.

~The End~

The Spirit of the Knight and Power Ranger

Last night, Linda was working with Ben on his letters using the computer keyboard, and Ben decided he wanted to write a story. He dictated the following to Linda:

The Spirit of the Knight and Power Ranger
by Ben

Once upon a time, there was a knight. There was a witch too. The witch had a pet spider. There was a Power Ranger, the knight’s helper. The Power Ranger didn’t resist anything. The Power Ranger had a ship, and the witch could shoot cannon balls out of her fingers. The knight had a pet dog. The dog’s name was RoofClown. The knight wrote a note to the Power Ranger. The note said,

Dear Power Ranger,

I can’t come and see you again. I need to come out for a short time. It’s a lucky day for you because you get to be alone.

The dog hated baths; he also hated playing games. The knight battled the witch. He beat her.

The End

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

(untitled)

by Phoebe

Once some trolls lived under a bridge.

One day, a bad guy fell in love with a good guy. And everytime the ruler of bad guys told them to get away from the good guy, they danced and kissed. And the bad guy just went crazy.

And then he fainted.

And anyway the trolls were babies.

And they stayed with each other all the night. So the next day they married. While the bad guy just sat in jail.

(to be continued?)

Story Time

Once upon a time, there lived a family of farm animals: Daddy Cow, Zachary Cow, Phoebe Pig, and Benjamin Sheep.

One day, the animal family decided to go visit Linvilla Orchards.

When they arrived, Daddy Cow became confused about his gender, given the fact that he had horns, but also had an udder.

Benjamin the Sheep recognized Daddy Cow's gender identification concern and declared "My favorite color is GREEN!"

"I want to go eat some macaroni and cheese," added Phoebe the Pig, "for I am a pig, and I like to eat macaroni and cheese!"

Zachary, who was a metrosexual bovine like his father, stopped to think.

He wondered why he and his father were cows, while his sister was a pig and his brother a sheep.

How could this be?

And while he liked being a cow, but he couldn't help but wonder whether he would be happier as a pig.

Then, suddenly and inexplicably, Phoebe the Pig transformed into a sheep.

She looked down to the ground in dismay, for she knew that sheep do not eat macaroni and cheese.

Phoebe the Sheep grew increasingly concerned as Zachary took the rather grotesque form of a pig with a human leg growing out of it's head, and Benjamin became a duck with a human scalp for a face.

And they all lived happily ever after.