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Short-story contest winners!!

     My bones ached as I sat on the cold floor of the gym at Freshman Orientation. I stared at the shoes of the curly-haired girl in front of me. They were white sneakers with navy blue trim: the same ones I was wearing. "At this time, please proceed to the auditorium for a presentation on school policies," called the principal through a megaphone.

     It was now or never. Middle school had chained me to shyness and timidity; this was my chance to break free. My palms sweated with anticipation. The crowd of new ninth-graders was rising and following the principal out the door. The curly-haired girl would drift away in a sea of students. I had to act immediately.

     "Hey, we have the same shoes," I said quietly, touching her on the shoulder. She whipped her head around, her dark curls bouncing playfully. She smiled.

     "Wow, you're right. Good taste!" We laughed in the nervous way that strangers do, following the others. My insides were bubbling with joy. I walked into that auditorium, into my first day of high school, with a friend at my side. The best friendship of my life began with shoes.

     The air was bitterly cold as we sat upon the curb that winter afternoon. Little puffs of air blew from our lips as we huddled, shivering. The snow had already begun, falling in intricate patterns all around us, catching on the dark eyelashes of the girl next to me, shining bright, white.

     "So what are you doing with that thing, anyway?" I turned, glancing at the stick with the piece of mistletoe dangling from the tip, smiled.

     "We were chasing the neighborhood girls around with it." I could see her roll her eyes out of the corner of my own. "Boys.", she muttered. "I would expect something like that from them, but not from you."

     I gave her a questioning look at the remark. What, am I not daring enough? Am I too…safe?

     I stood quickly, grabbing my stick, and hung it over her head. Before she could protest, I gave her a quick peck and ran away laughing.

     Of course I couldn't dodge the snowball aimed for my head before I turned the corner.

     Out of breath, I stopped and looked up.

     "Was it worth it?" One of the boys asked. I grinned. "Yeah, it was worth it."

     "Git out here ya' lazy bitch," the old man commanded his seasoned bloodhound.

     Lucy dragged her ancient body with those puppy dog eyes through the doorway and down the stairs. She crawled into the clearing where the crackly golden leaves coated the ground.

     George stared at the abnormal lump on his companion's underside. "Poor girl," he whispered to himself.

     He sat down with her, stroking her head as he remembered their first kill. It was a quail, weavin' through the trees. Back then, he was perfect, aimin' and firin' as quickly as the birds beat their wings. And Lucy's smell had been incredible. She'd track 'em down so quick they got there while the blood was still fresh.

     The man stood up. He'd move on and settle down in some nice little cottage on a hill. He pulled it out of his back pocket. He'd work at one o' them factories, supportin' his girl who'd be sittin' at home cookin' or sweepin' or doin' some o' that women's work. He cocked it and aimed. He'd come home and give her a big kiss and a hug and they'd be happy. He fired.

     Jimmy walked along the sidewalk as the sun sank below the horizon. He strolled along, while whistling a happy tune. He got to his house, and opened the gate to his white picket fence. He turned back to close it and there was a dog! He said to the dog, "Who are you? Can you go home?" The big black shaggy dog whined loudly. The boy said, "We'll find your owner, I'll just see if my mom will let you stay with us."

     "Mom!" mumbled the boy "I was just walking home, when a dog jumped out of a big black van. It was driven by a man who seemed very angry; he was heading toward the airport. I'm afraid that this dog will never find its way home, can we keep him?"

     "Jimmy, don't make up stories. We can keep him, but you have to take care of him," Said his mother. The boy smiled, and ran to get the dog. When he saw the dog, there was a man there smiling. He was standing next to a big black van. "Thanks for finding my dog," he said.

     Once, when I was young, my mother found me sobbing on my bed. She sat down and pulled me into her lap.

     "I'm going to tell you why you have that birth mark on your cheek," she said, making me wonder if she knew what I had been teased about.

     "When I was little, my mother had been scolding me, so I decided to run away. I went to a park down the street. While wandering the park, I came, somehow, to a meadow surrounded by trees. Frightened, I curled up among the grasses and cried. Someone tapped my shoulder and I looked up at a magnificent man. He had a kind face, a top hat and suit, and a cane with a silver ball at the top.

     'Suppose we got you home?' he smiled down at me. He helped me up and led me away, talking all the while. Without my knowing how, we were suddenly outside my house. Bending down, he kissed me under my left eye, and sent me through the door, into my mother's arms.

     Then, when you were born with that angel's kiss on your left cheek, I knew he put it there.

     About seven years ago when I lost my third tooth, my sister, brother, and I set a trap to catch the tooth fairy. First, we tied one end of a string to my tooth and one end to a stick. Then we held open one side of a shoebox with the stick, and placed the tooth in the middle, so when the tooth fairy tried to take it, the shoebox would close, therefore capturing her.

     After a restless night of sleep, I immediately woke up my sister and brother so we could check the trap together. We carefully lifted up the shoebox and peeked underneath it. To my immense disappointment, there was no tooth fairy! My tooth was gone, but there was a note. The note from the tooth fairy explained how she fell for the trap but had some lotion in her pocket and was able to slip out. The note had tiny handwriting on it and tiny, glittery footsteps too. I was amazed that we had almost caught the tooth fairy! What I learned from the tooth fairy was to always bring a bottle of lotion with me everywhere I go.

For general MWW information or questions about events, contact either:

• Ed Ledger by email at locsec@westernwashington.us.mensa.org or phone at (206) 285-8936,
  --OR--
• Allan Ripley by email at allan@arbion.com or phone at (360) 871-0910.