Joshua and His Crayon

Katie O'Donnell
Oxbow High School, Grade 11

Joshua is six years old. He is missing his two front teeth and he speaks with a lisp. He always carries a green crayon in his fist. Joshua lives in his own world. If he was older people would think he was crazy. Joshua always recreates things from real life onto his papers.
One day Joshua decided that he would go for a walk. He traveled through the woods. Trees surrounded both sides of the road. Joshua began to see things. It was getting close to his bedtime, so he squinted his eyes and continued walking forward. All of a sudden 20 of them appeared, big-eyed elephants with long and skinny tails. Joshua was perhaps more excited than he ever had been before. Earlier that day, Joshua had gone on a walk with his mother. She took him through the park and pointed out 20 different types of flowers. Joshua wasn't that interested. This time, however, it was Joshua's story.
The elephants wandered down the path closer to Joshua. He began grinning, even though the elephants were perhaps a little big for a six year old. His heart was filled. One of the elephants scooped Joshua up and placed him on his back. The other 19 elephants followed behind. They went up mountains and through rivers. They walked across bridges and rumbled through the trees. Joshua began to get sleepy. He tried to stay awake but he just couldn't. He lay his head on the back of the elephant and let his hands droop around the belly. The motion of the elephant immediately put Joshua to sleep.

The elephant carried sleepy Joshua to a little apartment at the corner of the city. The elephant shrunk and squeezed through the apartment doors. The other 19 elephants stayed outside and peeked in the window of Joshua's room. They enjoyed the scenery. There were lions, elephants, monkeys, and snakes covering the walls. The elephant laid Joshua in his bed. Biggy pressed his trunk against Joshua's forehead to give him a kiss goodnight.
The grasp of Joshua's hand loosened. The crayon fell to the floor.