Below are stories written by Parsley students as entries for the 2006-2007 North Carolina Young Author's Contest. The following 6 were selected to proceed to the county level competition.

DO PLANETS PLAY PINBALL?

Do planets play pinball?
Are stars balls?
Saturn is probably an obstacle.
Neil Armstrong is an extra 10+ points.
The sun is a lose -5 points.
Jupiter is a tunnel to the next level.
The Milky Way is the trap door.
The asteroid belt is the end of the level.
Uranus is a loose one life point.
Neptune will gobble you up.
Earth is home.
Pluto is the beginning level.
I wonder if planets play pinball?   

The Great Discovery

     Have you ever thought about where your dogs go at night?  Well, you are about to find out.  One beautiful night I said good night to my dogs, Roxy and Hallie.  Nothing special about this night, I say good night to them every night.  They both snuggled up at the foot of my bead and we all drifted off to sleep.  But this night was different.  I heard them get up and head for the door.  Curiosity got the best of me, and I followed them to see where they were going.  You wouldn’t believe what I heard.
      They were “talking” to the famous Vanessa Hudgens right outside.  I was tempted to ask her for an autograph, but I knew it would blow my cover.  I didn’t want my dogs to know I was following them.  Suddenly they jumped into a stretch Hummer parked out front!!  I couldn’t let them get away.  I hoped into my golf cart and drove after them.
     I saw them enter a huge mansion with letters that read “Life Is Ruff”!  I slowly crept inside and couldn’t believe my eyes!!  The room had a big dance floor with tons of dogs and famous movie stars competing on a new show called “Dancing With Dogs”!  Hallie, Roxie, and Vanessa were competing in a dance contest!!
     Suddenly Roxie turned and spotted me by the door.  My cover was blown!  I heard her start to bark a warning to everyone in the room.  All eyes were on me!  What was I going to do?
     The barking grew louder.  I opened my eyes!  I woke up to Roxy sitting at the end of my bed barking loudly.  She was barking because she needed to get up from our warm bed to go potty.  It was all just a dream!!

Lindsey Yelton
Grade 3

Soar

On another 24 hours (a day) you don't know what is there
So put on your wings and soar, fly into the air

        Look at nature look at life, look at all the things in sight
Find all the things you've never seen
Find all the things you could never be

Have an adventure in your brain
Or go outside and be in the rain

There is a story that is unwritten
A story that will tell time and time again

And the story that is unwritten
Is a story that will never end

Day by day as life goes by
You can grow into your wings and fly

You know the world is out there
Have an adventure, but be fair
Soar, soar into the air

Mackenzie Kuhne
5th Grade

THE TOMBSTONE

     I’d always wondered what that fence in my great-grandmother’s backyard was for.  One day I got curious and ….. let’s just say now I know why they say “curiosity killed the cat”. 
     “Well, here I am all alone in front of the big, brown, spooky, creepy…STOP!”, I said in a muffled voice.  “You’re just scaring yourself.  Just climb over the fence and then you can leave.”
     Suddenly my hand clasped the fence and I started climbing like it was the oak tree in my backyard.  Finally I got to the top and peered over the ruddy old thing and….. I was amazed.  On the other side of the fence there was none other than a cemetery!  Tombstone after tombstone lay ahead - different kinds, too.  Some had mold, others had R.I.P. on them.  One even said, “Here lies John Henson the 3rd – we think”.
     That’s when it hit me.  I had to hop the fence.  I didn’t want to, but I just had to for myself.  Within a few minutes I was over the fence, walking around, looking at all of the graves when I noticed a grave with the name “Kinsey McGowan” etched on it.  Where the date should have been there was nothing.  Then all of a sudden it clicked.  That grave was for me!
     I snapped my eyes shut real fast and opened them again.  The tombstone was still in front of me.  After I realized it wasn’t going anywhere, I sprinted straight for the fence and hopped it without as much as a backward glance.  As soon as my feet hit the ground, I started running until I met my mother in the back of my grandmother’s yard.  I didn’t say anything - neither did she.  We just stared at each other in silence.

Kinsey McGowan
Grade 5