The Castle

            by Jing Yen

 

            Archie was trembling as he was about to go into his new first grade class. He had brown curly hair and black square-rimmed glasses. The green sweatpants and blue spider man T-shirt looked big on his small and skinny body. He stepped on his long shoelaces hoping that no one would say, “Your shoelaces are untied!” because he didn’t know how to tie them. Archie didn’t want to be known as a baby. After all, he had just moved to California from Texas and he didn’t have any friends yet. 

          

 

             “Bye Archie! Have a great time at school!” his mom shouted from the car.

            Archie walked inside and saw a bunch of boys and girls about his age sitting at their desks and writing short rhyming poems. No one said hi to him except Mrs. Heart.

            “Hi dear, are you Archie?” A woman with straight brown hair and a shiny gold locket necklace smiled.

           

 

               Archie nodded.

            “Class, this is Archie. He will be joining us from now on,” Mrs. Heart said. But, still no one looked up. They were all too busy.   

            “Why don’t you join Billy and Ron at this table right here?”

            Archie nodded and plopped down next to a curly red haired boy. The boy was concentrating on thinking of a word that rhymed with cookie. COOK-EEEE, said the boy slowly. Archie really really really wished that he would have the courage to introduce himself or help the boys with their poems but he was too shy. Archie was good at observing people but he wasn’t a very good speaker.  

            “Okay boys and girls. It’s recess time! Put away your pencils and paper.”

            The kids all jumped with joy and formed their own little groups and left for the playground which was just outside the classroom, everyone except Archie. Archie stared at the kids laughing and playing games.

            “Ms. Mary Mack Mack Mack all dressed in black black black with silver buttons buttons buttons all down her back back back…”

            Archie really really really wanted to sing along but he was too shy. A girl with light brown curly hair that matched her hazel eyes smiled at him. Archie blushed.

 

“Come on Sally, let’s go on the slides!” called a tall girl with overalls that looked way too short on her.

Archie smiled back at Sally. Meanwhile, the boys were pushing each other and playing police games. “AH! I got you bad guy! Boom! You’re dead!” cried Billy. Ron fell on the ground and faked a moaning sound. Archie really really really wanted to be a part of the game but he was too shy.         

            Recess ended and all the kids ran back to the classroom, everyone except Archie. He quietly walked back to his seat by Billy and Ron.

            “All right kids, we are now going to draw a house, a house where you would like to live. Use your imagination!” encouraged Mrs. Heart.

            Archie scratched his head. He didn’t know what to draw. He looked at Sally who was fixing the pink bow in her hair. Archie thought that she looked like a princess in fairy tales. Archie drew a door and he put his tiny finger on the knob he drew and it opened. He entered another world with his hand still firmly grabbing the brown crayon.

            Right before his very eyes was a castle, a big tall castle. He walked closer and closer. Inside was Princess Sally waving and smiling at him. Archie blushed again.

            “And who are you?” cried out the princess.

            For some reason, Archie was not too shy anymore. He felt comfortable talking to Princess Sally.

            “My name is Archie and I’m from Texas.”

            “Oh? What are you doing in my castle?”   

            “I need a friend.”

            “Well, I’ll be your friend. My name is Sally Susan Sanders. Pleased to meet you Archie.” Sally did a little curtsy.

            Archie smiled and gasped at the sight of two very familiar looking boys. They were fighting with swords and jumping from chair to table and table to chair. A ripping sound coming from Billy’s shirt scared Princess Sally.   

 

 

            “Billy and Ron! This is Archie.”

“Hi Archie!” said Billy and Ron at the same time.

“Hi!” Archie waved at the two.

“Want to play swords with us?” asked Ron.

“Yeah! But I don’t know how to play.” Archie was happy to be included.

“Sword fighting is dangerous and I don’t think Archie wants to get hurt. So please entertain yourselves elsewhere,” warned Princess Sally.

            “Sorry Princess,” said Billy. The two ran off. Sally turned to face Archie.

            “My friends like to play inside the castle. They entertain the king and queen as sword fighters.”

            “They work for the king and queen?” Archie looked puzzled.

            “Well, yes but they are like my brothers since we are so close. They live upstairs.”

            “Who are you talking to?” A lady stormed into the room. Her straight light brown hair looked oddly familiar.

            “Mrs. Heart!” gasped Archie. He put his hand over his mouth.

            “Archie, this is Queen Heart, my mother.” Archie could not believe his eyes. It was Mrs. Heart!  But the only difference was that her eyes were puffy and she looked awfully exhausted. And she was missing her locket! Her gold shiny locket!

“What’s wrong? You don’t look very happy to see Archie,” said Princess Sally.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I lost my locket, the locket that my dear mother gave me.”

            Archie knew exactly what to do. He took his brown crayon and drew out the gold locket with detail on his hand. He remembered that it had three small diamonds on the surface. The opening of the locket was on the right side and the chain was thin but strong. After he was finished, the locket appeared on the palm of his hand. It was so detailed that Archie had used up his entire brown crayon.

 

           

 

            “Is this what you’re looking for?” asked Archie with hope in his eyes.

            “My oh my! Yes! However did you know? Thank you so much!” Queen Heart gave Archie a big hug and Archie beamed.

            “Archie, you are such a hero!” said Princess Sally.

            “Thanks!” Archie blushed once more.

“Hey, you wanna make cookies with me?” asked Princess Sally.

            “Yeah!” replied Archie.

            They walked to the kitchen and Princess Sally reached in the cabinet to get the ingredients.

            “I really want to make some good chocolate chip cookies by myself but the cooks always make them for me. I wish I had more freedom like normal kids,” said Princess Sally.

“That’s not true. I’m not allowed to make cookies either. My mom and sister don’t trust me in the kitchen. They think I’m not old enough and will mess things up.”

“Really? Well today we’re gonna make cookies ourselves!”

Princess Sally dug through drawers and climbed on the table to reach the higher cabinets, but she still couldn’t find the recipe.

            “Oh no! I remember it was next to the sugar. What are we going to do?” cried Princess Sally.

            Archie thought hard about the delicious cookies he always saw his sister and mom making at home. He only remembered a few ingredients.

            “I think we can help each other make the cookies.” said Archie.

            Princess Sally put butter, sugar and eggs into a bowl.

            “Don’t forget the vanilla extract!” said Archie. He remembered asking his sister what the glass bottle was last month and putting his nose to sniff the strong vanilla. Princess Sally smiled and added that. She also added flour, baking soda and of course chocolate chips! Archie and Princess Sally stuffed handfuls of chocolate chips into their mouths. But just before Princess Sally was about to put the cookies in the oven, Archie stopped her.   

            “Do you have any peanut butter?”

 

 

            “Yeah, but I don’t think that’s on the recipe.” said Princess Sally.

            “My sister always adds that and her cookies are so yummy.”

            Princess Sally took out a jar of peanut butter and Archie put two big scoops in the mixture. Princess Sally baked the cookies for ten minutes and they were ready to eat.

            “Mmmm…they smell really good!” said Archie.

            Princess Sally took a huge bite and a big smile appeared on her face.

            “These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted in my life!” said Princess Sally. Archie took an enormous bite as well and smiled. He had never tasted a cookie as good as this one!

 

 

He stared out at the window, it was getting dark. Archie grabbed a cookie to save for later.     

“Looks like I’d better head back now. It was really nice meeting you.”

“You too. Bye Archie! Come visit me again!” Archie smiled and left the kitchen. He tried to open the heavy castle door that he entered from in the beginning but it wouldn’t budge. Archie frowned and looked around for solutions. Well, how did I get here in the first place?

            “Hey Princess Sally, do you have a crayon that I can borrow?”

            “Um sure,” Sally dug in her pocket and pulled out a red crayon.

            “This is my favorite color. I keep it with me at all times.”

            “Thanks,” said Archie. Archie drew a little hole on the floor. He waved good-bye to Sally and prepared himself to go inside the hole. It was like riding a slide. He crossed his hands over his chest and slid down the long dark tunnel. His body rubbed against the hard cool surface while he screamed. AHHHHH!   

Archie was back in school again and no one had noticed that he was gone. Billy and Ron were sitting right next to him, laughing and scribbling at each other’s papers. Archie’s drawing was almost finished. He just needed color. Archie filled in all the colors with the crayons from the crayon box on his table. He looked for red but the box did not have a red crayon.  Archie’s red hole had somehow disappeared after he returned to the classroom. Archie stared down at his pocket and reached inside. He felt cookie crumbs. Archie smiled and gazed at Sally for a moment and finally had the courage to ask her,

            “Sally, can I borrow your red crayon please?”

            “Sure, it’s my favorite color. I keep it with me at all times.” She got it from her pocket and handed it to Archie with a smile. Archie drew a red hole and determined his masterpiece finished. Everyone stood around him with their eyes wide open. They were amazed at his brightly colored castle.

 

 

            Mrs. Heart walked to Archie and said, “This is wonderful! I think it deserves to be on the wall. What do you guys think of Archie’s work?” The whole class clapped so loudly that their poor little hands hurt. They were so proud of Archie.

             The next day during recess, Archie was no longer sitting by himself.

            “Hey Archie, wanna play swords with us?” asked Ron.

            “Sure!” Archie smiled and ran out to join his new friends.