The Pen of a Ready Writer

                                             Chapter Four      The next day, Linda went to sit in the closet with Quillbur.   He was sleeping inside his shoebox.   So Linda lay down on the floor next to him.   Somehow she hoped that, by being close to him, she could help him get better.      Suddenly, the front door slammed open and Walter ran into the room without even knocking.      “Linda!” he shouted.   “It’s okay!   Quillbur doesn’t have phinaly pharpis!!!”      Linda sat up quickly.   “He doesn’t?” she asked, surprised and excited.       Walter flopped down on his knees next to Linda and held up the quill he ...

  Chapter Three Several days later, Linda was sitting on the front porch with a worried look on her face.   She rested her chin in her hands and stared into the horizon. Walter came running over the field and bounded up onto her porch. “Hey, Linda!” he called a greeting.   “How is Quillbur?”   Then he saw Linda’s worried face.   “What’s the matter?” he asked. Linda held up a single quill in her hands, showing it to Walter.   “Quillbur is losing his quills,” she said, sadly. Walter took the quill from Linda and examined it carefully.   Then he handed it back to her.   “Wait here,” he instructed.   With a single leap, he jumped off the porch.   Then he ran back across the fields toward his own house. A few minutes later, Walter returned, panting and out of breath.   He carried a small toy doctor’s kit with him. “When I grow up,” Walter said, huffing and puffing.   “I am going to be a doctor.   I do...

Chapter Two Linda waved goodbye to the milkman as he limped to the end of her road.   Then she sat on her porch with her new hedgehog.   He was so cute. “Hello.   What are you doing?” a voice asked. Linda looked up and smiled.   It was Walter, her best friend.   He lived only a few houses down the lane from her, and he came to play often. “See my new hedgehog?” Linda said, holding up the tiny creature. “Hey, he’s pretty cute,” Walter said.   “Can’t you just imagine him smiling?   What’s his name?” “I haven’t named him yet,” Linda answered. “Well, I think you should call him ‘Quillbur’.   It’s like ‘Wilbur’ but with quills,” Walter offered. “Quillbur,” Linda repeated, trying the name out.   “Quillbur…I like it!” “Great!” Walter said.   “I’ll help you make a nest for Quillbur.” Walter and Linda went inside the house.   Linda’s mother directed them to a dark corner in the pantry. “I’ll get him a pie...

Quilbur and Quilleta is now a short story.  Here is chapter one: Chapter One      Linda peered from the window of her cottage.   She hoped the milkman would come soon.   He had promised to bring her a present.   She could not wait to find out what it was.      “Oh, these horrid roaches!” her mother exclaimed.        Linda looked up to see her mother sweep another roach out the door.      “I can hardly stand them,” her mother continued.   “I hate the sight of the beetles, and I like crunching them underfoot even less.”      Linda nodded sympathetically.   Then she lifted the yellow-flowered curtains to the side and peeked out of the window again.      “He’s here!” Linda shouted.   She watched the young milkman slowly make his way up the path, pushing his cart.      The milkman’s name w...

Quilleta and Quillbur        Meet the hedgehogs.  They have not always had such fancy names, but, two days ago, the brown hedgehog was christened "Quillbur" (the hedgehog version of a beloved Charlotte's Web character).  And it naturally followed that the pink one then had to be named "Quilleta."  In honor of my niece and nephews, Quillbur and Quilleta are making this guest appearance on my blog.  I feel like the two hedgehogs should star in their own story, too, but I haven't come up any ideas yet...