The Story Pirates discover a castaway (Kyle Gordon) who is stranded on a deserted island with his only friend, Stick (Kyle Gordon). Featuring two new stories: “Gerald the Wizard,” a story about the lowly servant to a zombie king who risks it all to save the kingdom, written by Beckham, a 14 year old from Utah, and “The Scaredy Ghost Cat,” the tale of a showdown between a spectral cat and a flatulent dog, written by an 11 year old from Ohio named Henry.
Scroll down for the original stories behind the episode!
Illustration by Camila Franklin
Gerald The Wizard
by Beckham, age 14, Utah
Once apon a time, There was a dystopian town. There was one thing different about this town that separated it from the rest. It was…. OVER RUN BY ZOMBIES!
“ARGHHHH” Zorblock said.
“Ugh…” Gerald said.
Gerald was the servant for the king zombie, Zorblock.
“ArGhRrRrRrRrRrRgHHH!” Zorblock yelled.
“Okay! Okay! I’ll get you more pancakes.” Gerald yelled in reply.
Zorblock had a crazy obsession with pancakes. He had them for every meal of the day. Even snacktime! While Gerald trudged through the hallway, he looked out the window. He was more fortunate than most Humans that survived.
Outside the window, smoke billowed across the grey sky. He saw other humans being forced to do harder jobs than get pancakes. As he was passing by, he saw a painting with a door on it. Funny, he had never scene it before. He went to touch it, but as he did, he felt a breeze.
But where did it come from, He leaned in to the painting.
“It came from the painting!” He thought.
He pushed into the painting and it popped open. He walked in. He walked down a long narrow hallway, to a set of many, many stairs. Until he come to a white door. He peaked it open to see a room full of scientist surrounded a little girl in a chair. He leaned in….. the scientists left the girl after she was tied down and walked away. A door opened up and a zombie came out. What…? The zombie walked closer and closer to the girl. The girl, screamed, but the tape over her mouth didn’t allow any sound to come out. The zombie came over, closer and closer, and bit the girl hard in the arm. The girl, got woozy, and started making random motions. The area around where the zombie bit her became infected looking. It was all red. The red slowly vanished back into the skin. He noticed looked back at the girls face. Her eyes were wide open and looking around the room. Her eyes, were now all black. He then noticed that her arm was turning green. It spread across her whole body. He finally understanded what they were doing to her. They were turning her into a zombie! He ran away from the painting. Determined to stop the zombies. But first, he had to get Zorblock his pancakes.
The next day, he woke up extra early, and headed down to the library. He researched every book he could find. Until he finally found one titled, “What to do in case zombies take over the world and have found out they can turn everyone into a zombie” Just what he needed. Almost too good to be true. He opened it. There was a blinding light that stopped as soon as it started. Gerald checked the book. Nothing suspicious. He walked out of the library. Oblivious of his new power.
Later that day, while serving Zorblock his usual stack of pancakes, Gerald realizes he can now sense zombie thoughts. He discovers he has the ability to block zombie transformation and potentially cure infected humans.
Determined to save his town, Gerald decides to use his new power secretly. He starts by helping small groups of humans escape zombie-controlled areas. He learns that the book he read was actually a magical wizard's spell book that chose him as its wielder.
As his powers grow, Gerald becomes a secret hero. He develops ways to stop zombies from spreading their infection. Eventually, he confronts Zorblock, using his newfound magical abilities to challenge the zombie king.
In an epic showdown, Gerald defeats Zorblock, breaking the zombie curse over the town. The humans are freed, and Gerald becomes known as Gerald the Wizard - the unexpected hero who saved everyone from the zombie apocalypse.
The story ends with Gerald continuing to protect the town, always keeping a stack of pancakes nearby as a reminder of where his journey began.
The Scaredy Ghost Cat
by Henry, Age 11, Ohio
Once there was a completely normal family. Every thing in this family was normal except, the dog. I mean this dog from the day they got him was just weird. First off he reeked. He just smelled terrible. Also , he had a habit of chewing on towels. Yes towels! But, one day he was really misbehaving and saw a rabbit and decided to follow it . The family was so scared. But the dog seemed to be doing fine. When the dog was just moseying around after the rabbit finally gave up he spotted a haunted house. His animal friends had told him about this place, and not to go near. But the dog was getting cold and this warm looking house was the only thing he could find. He went in and found himself a nice blanket right next to the fireplace to sleep on.
Once there was a very normal ghost cat. This ghost cat had lived in a haunted house for years. The house was old, dingy and dark but she already had the lights on and the fireplace on to make it a little brighter. One day she had seen a perfectly normal family moving in with a very smelly dog across the street . She wondered about the family often. One day she had woken up to a terrible smell. The family's dog had walked into her house! The ghost cat was very annoyed with this and wanted to get their dog out at once. She tried multiple things like scaring him by saying “boo” but nothing would work. The family's dog just kept sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. One time the dog woke up to stretch and scared the ghost cat by startling her with his bad smell. When the dog finally woke up,the cat was screaming with all her might shaking her little tiny paws around, but nothing was working. She noticed the dog walked right through her. This made her mad. She figured out that the dog couldn’t see her nor that he could hear her. This was gonna make it harder for the cat to get the dog out of her house. The next day the cat woke up and her cozy little ghost cat bed with the dog’s butt on her face. This made the cat want to scream . She did. The ghost got an idea to set a trap to catch the dog. She worked hard all day and night. The trap was finally set. She had laid a doggy bone right under the trap. The dog was getting close. She could feel the adrenaline running through her body. Then she tried to pull down on the rope but her little ghost hands slipped right through. Her trap had failed. She felt so sad, but hope was not lost because the next day the family came and found the dog. The ghost cat was relieved that the dog was gone. THE END
Roll Call Stories
My Aunt is an Ant
by Violet, age 10, California
Airplane eyepatch day
by Renji, age 7, Pennsylvania
Johnny the airplane was flying around when he noticed that it was airplane eyepatch day. A national holiday, where airplanes and their pilots wear eye patches and pretend to be air pirates. Everybody was excited and Johnny was too. When Johnny put on his eye patch he felt like the best airplane in town. Everybody thought he was the best and then one day just one day Johnny’s air pilot discovered airplane eye patch day and decided that he and Johnny should turn into pretend air pirates. But they wouldn’t steal from people they would be kind pirates and just wear eye patches.
The Sloth Who Loved Swimming and Rollerskates
by Eve, age 6, Guatemala
Original:
Wuns apon a taim, there was a sloth and he lovde swiming. Wun dey the sloth mouvd and he was suprisd becus he lovd swiming and there was no puwl and he was sad. So he strtid roloscateng and he wuz happy and he compitid in the Ulimpix. And he wun the Ulimpix! He wun a bunch uv mune and he bot a puwl. His roloscast cud talk thas wie he wun a bunch uv mune. So the sloth askt if the roloscast wontid mune but the roloscast sed no. They wontid to lirn how to swim. So the sloth tot thm how to swim and evere bute had fun in the puwl. The end.
Translation (if needed):
Once upon a time there was a sloth and he loved swimming. One day the sloth moved and he was suprised because he loved swimming and there was no pool and he was sad. So he started rollers kating and he was happy and he competed in the Olympics. And he won the Olympics! He won a bunch of money and he bought a pool. His roller skates could talk, that's why he won a bunch of money. So the sloth asked if the roller skates wanted money but the rollerskates said no. They wanted to learn how to swim. So the sloth taught them how to swim and everybody had fun in the pool. The end.
