FEAR sets in for CALBERT as his Bully appears!

“Hey, look there!”  I say as some bad guys come into view from the cornfield.  I sink lower in the tree so that the outlaws can’t see me.  I pull my pistol from its holster, and bang bang bang, I got him.  He won’t be bothering anybody anymore.

Hey, Jason and Ethan are making a fort. “Wait a minute.  I’m coming over to play with you.”  Jason loves to build teepees and shelters.  He is two years older than I am and knows all about those kinds of things.  “Hey, Jason, do you remember the time we made an oven outside using a rock?  I hope we get to do that again.  It was so cool!”

“Sure, but next time, we are going to

have to wash the rock off first.  The dirt made them a little crunchy from the last time.”  Jason laughs.

Jason is being too bossy and Ethan keeps tearing down my part of the fort.  “I’m not playing with you guys anymore.”  I tell Jason.

“Go ahead ‘Shorty’.”  Jason replies

“My legs may be short, but I can run faster than you,” I tell Jason.  The new shoes got last weekend make me even faster.

There go our two dogs barking again, I wonder what they are after this time.  Maybe they have cornered an animal, or just maybe something is going on I need to take care of with my six-shooters.  “Nolan, Star!”  I yell as I start walking toward the dogs.

I am almost at the gate when I see the very familiar red bike coming toward the house.  It’s Ernie.  I think he is the meanest kid in the third grade. My stomach’s starting to get that funny feeling I always get whenever he is around.  My heart is racing, and my hands are beginning to sweat.  I wonder what he is doing at my house.  But I feel brave because Ernie never picks on me when

my Mom is around.  She's one of the teachers at our school.

          Slowly, I begin walking up to the gate. In my loudest, toughest voice, I shout, “Who’s there?”  The kid doesn’t answer me.  I can’t see Ernie’s face very well, but I am pretty sure that is his bike.  The rider on the bike has on a light-blue jacket with the hood up over his head.  I can’t remember ever seeing Ernie with a light-blue jacket.

“What do you want?”  I ask in my toughest cowboy voice.  “Why did you come to my house?”  But this time, I say it under my breath so he can’t hear.