Fred’s Rocky Adventure

Fred’s Rocky Adventure

Once stood a tall mountain that would tower over the trees. People called it, well..Tall Mountain. It took thousands of years for this mountain to form. One day a hurricane came and a little, small rock, just small enough to be a small rock, just big enough to not be a pebble, came off of the mountain for reasons to make this story more interesting. His name was Fred.

 

  Fred’s adventure started along the river. He landed on a canoe that was paddling along the river. Fred was picked up by what looked like a teenager and was skipped on the water. Fred barely landed on top of a hiking trail, but nothing seemed to happen for a few hours or days. As you can guess, sense of time for a rock isn’t exactly very exact, but, then a kid who looked like she was having a bad day, kicked Fred around until Fred bumped into a tree. The tree said, “Hello, my name is Da Tree, or at least that’s what all the squirrels call me”. Fred thought Da Tree seemed nice, but mid-thought he got scooped up by a human. The human said, “I am Carl, and you are my new pet rock.” Funny enough, and yet definitely not, because this story would be too confusing, Carl named him Fred. Fred went inside Carl’s backpack. Carl finished the hike with his parents and they went into a car. Carl put Fred by the windowsill. Fred was amazed as he saw New York City. It seemed big and busy. They pulled into a giant apartment building, they reached the top floor, or at least that’s what he thought from inside the backpack. Carl pulled Fred out and put him on a windowsill.

 

 Fred’s next excitement was in New York City. Carl drew a smiley face on Fred. Fred was happy he had a face now! Yes, very exciting to a rock. Carl brought Fred along to school and the dinner table and many other places. Fred did not like school, mostly because Carl endorsed to him the idea that school is bad. Every day when they went home Fred would sit on his windowsill in an unstable cardboard house, covered with tape that was not sticking well, but Fred didn’t mind. It was his house. Fred liked looking out his window and every weekend Carl would ask his parents to go on the same hike that Fred used to live at. Most of the time Carl’s parents said yes. Fred liked that he could visit Da Tree, who always seemed to speak very wisely. He would say things like, “I have bark to embark on my journey of being a tree.” After some years Carl started getting older and left Fred at his windowsill more, and stopped bringing him places. Fred was sad about that. One day, Carl finally took him on a walk, but Fred fell out of his pocket. Carl did not notice and Fred was left on the ground in a park. Fred was very sad. Now he missed Carl, but he couldn’t think about it for long, because he got picked up by a small boy that looked like Carl when Carl was young. He conveniently named him… Fred. Fred was happy that he had a human friend that paid attention to him again. The boy’s name was James,

Fred had a new owner now and was wondering about what would happen. James saw how old Fred seemed with all his dust and dirt so he drew a beard on Fred. Fred did not object. He thought maybe, I am wise like Da Tree now. The same kinds of things happened with James, but Fred noticed he also did not like school, but whenever he brought back a paper covered in things, James’s mom seemed very happy, Fred noticed that there was only James’s mom, not like with Carl who had two parents. James worked hard on Fred’s house. James’s mother had a workshop for wood and helped make Fred well… more of a mansion. Fred’s new house was on a nightstand and every month James would fill his mansion’s pool and rub off Fred’s beard or mustache and give Fred a new style of facial hair. Fred liked the thing called the English Mustache. He knew because James had a book on facial hairstyles. Fred liked James, but also missed Carl. James didn’t talk much, but Fred also seemed to understand what he was feeling. One day James’s mom came home and seemed very excited. A few months later, James and Fred were moving into a new house. The house was very big with many things in it. Fred worried that James would not pay as much attention to Fred and unfortunately for Fred, he was correct. James never accidentally threw Fred out, but he didn’t notice him as much as the days went on. One time, James went to go to the park with his new friend. They both had pet rocks, so Fred came with James. They showed each other their pet rocks. The next day James’s mom told him that they were going on a road trip. James brought Fred. Fred liked the attention he was getting. James was holding Fred out the window, but James dropped Fred and Fred fell down a rocky cliff and bounced into a pickup truck. Fred didn’t really understand what had just happened, but he understood that James was gone now. Luckily he was wearing his English mustache and if there were no more facial hair do’s, then he had his favorite mustache on. Fred fell out of the bed of the pickup truck and crazy enough, Carl was walking along the road because his cottage was nearby. He was amazed when he saw Fred. He picked up the rock, looked at the back, and saw a faded “Fred” written on the back of the rock. Carl couldn’t believe his eyes when he picked Fred up. About a week later, Carl was at the same hike he used to go to. He put Fred on a bench near Da Tree. Fred was happy, but sad. And then Da Tree said, “Hey, I got a book about rock poems, wanna hear?” 

 

“A Pet Rock: A pet rock is a friend who never talks. 

A pet rock is a friend who does not fight. 

A pet rock is a friend who cannot play.

A pet rock is a friend who will not bite. 

A pet rock is a friend who has no face (well, Fred does).

A pet rock is a friend who cannot run.

A pet rock is a friend you make yourself.

A pet rock is a friend for everyone.” -Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. 

 

Fred realized his adventure was over. No more river accidents, no more backpacks, no more New York City, and no more crazy road trips. He was back where he started. Fred’s rocky face crinkled into a smile. The End

       Fred:

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