June Story Contest

A Walk in the Woods
By: SadieT
Age: 9

            “What do I do?” asked Ruth Kendal after breakfast one summer morning.
Ruth was an only child. The Kendals had moved to the country a month ago. They lived next to a woods. Ruth didn’t know anyone who lived near her so she didn’t have anyone to play with. She didn’t have any pets, either, but she wanted one.
“Why don’t you play outside? It’s getting sunny already,” said Mrs. Kendal.
“I don’t want to,” said Ruth.
“Why don’t you write a poem?” said Mrs. Kendal, “since you like to write so much. You could write it in the woods.”
“Okay,” said Ruth. “Can I have a lunch to bring so I can have a picnic?”
“Sure,” said Mrs. Kendal, “I’ll make a sandwich.  And I have some brownies and an apple that I could put in.”
“I think I’ll go for a hike while I’m out there, so you might want to throw in another sandwich,” said Ruth.
“Two sandwiches, it is,” said Mrs. Kendal. “When will you be back?”
“Around 3:00 p.m. probably,” said Ruth. “Well, I’ve got to get ready.”

Ruth was out of the house and on her way to the woods by 9:00 a.m. Once Ruth found a good place to sit down, she sat down and tried to think of a poem.
“Oh, I can’t think of a thing!” said Ruth after a while. “Maybe if I go for a hike now I’ll think of something.”
She got up and started walking around. There was no trail so she just went this way and that. Ruth saw a squirrel in a tree.
“Good thing I brought my camera,” thought Ruth.

Ruth got her camera quietly out of her backpack. Click. She had taken the picture and it was a good one, too. Ruth decided to keep her camera out in case she saw something interesting. It was almost noon, so Ruth decided to start looking for a clear spot to eat.
After a couple minutes of looking Ruth found a good spot. The food tasted so good that she ate every crumb. But she still couldn’t think of anything to write. Ruth rested for a half an hour then decided to start for home. She reached in her backpack for her compass.

“It’s not here!” said Ruth. “Maybe it’s in this pocket. No, not in there.” Ruth began to worry.
Ruth checked her backpack three times, dumped it out, and checked all of her pockets again. “Well I guess I’m going to have to find my way home without it,” Ruth thought. She headed the way she thought was the way home. She kept going and going.
I’m not recognizing anything,” thought Ruth. “Maybe I was going the wrong way. Maybe it was this way.”
So Ruth went to her right. She kept going, going and going. Ruth looked at her watch. It was 5:00! Her parents would be worried sick!

“Oh, I give up,” said Ruth as she started to cry.           
“What was that?” thought Ruth. “It sounds like something running.”           
Just then, a beautiful black lab came out from the trees and ran right to Ruth. “Oh!” Ruth squealed in delight as she wiped the tears from her eyes.           
“LUCY!” yelled a girl as she came around the corner on a horse.
The two girls stared at each other for a minute. Ruth broke the silence by asking, “Is this your dog?”
“Yes, I was looking for her. Her name’s Lucy,” said the girl as she got off her horse.
“My name’s Ruth.” said Ruth.
“I’m Kate,” said the girl now known as Kate. “Where do you live?”
“Right at the edge of the woods,” said Ruth.
“Which side?” said Kate, “I live on the north side.”
“I live on the south side, but I forgot my compass and now I’m lost. Can you help me?” asked Ruth.
“Sure! You can ride my horse with me and go to my house. We could get something to eat and call your parents, then ride to your house,” said Kate. She pointed to a HUGE white horse.

“That’s yours!?” said Ruth in amazement. “She’s beautiful! What’s her name?”
“Yep, she’s mine,” said Kate. “Her name’s Carolina but I call her Clara for short.”
“Wow!  Hi Clara!” said Ruth.
“So, do you think that’ll be fine?” asked Kate.
“What? Oh yeah, sure, wonderful,” said Ruth. “But how did you get here with all the trees?”
“There’s a trail. See?” Kate explained. “Hop on!”
“Maybe you could go riding with me, I have another horse that you could borrow it you wanted,” said Kate.
“Oh that would be wonderful!” said Ruth.

The End!