When not playing video games for work, being a stay-at-home parent, loving up my wife and caring for the house – I have a dream. My dream is to become a beloved Children’s Book writer. Here’s a sequel to Jack & the Beanstalk, my first book. PLEASE comment! I have a thick skin. I plan to post at least the first three chapters here’s Chapter II: The Sky is Falling! So, here goes, this one is for the 6-12 year olds out there: – Andrew S.Bub (all rights reserved)

READ PART ONE

Jenny & the Giant by Andrew Bub

Chapter 2 “The Sky is Falling!”

THUMP CRASH!

Jenny looked around quickly. Dust fell from the ceiling, like snow.

She said out loud, her voice small with disbelief. Did something hit the house?

THUMP!

Jenny jumped again. Oh my Goose! she thought, growing terrified. Yes, something hit the house!

Whatever it was rolled off the roof and thumped again when it hit the hard ground in the backyard.

THUMP-THUMP! Two more? These two hit the backyard also. Jenny ran to the back of the house, her powder-blue nightdress flapping and bare feet slapping at the floor. She found the dining room window and peered out apprehensively.

She took inventory: There’s the giant beanstalk stump and the hole next to it. That’s where the evil giant landed at the end of her father’s most famous story. There’s my swing-set and my tree house. There’s a gigantic baseball, Mother’s garden and . . . . A gigantic baseball? And next to that an enormous shovel and a birdbath the size of a carriage? What next?

Jenny slowly looked up at the ceiling, wishing she could to see through it. Where are these things coming from?

Then the roof caved in.

Bits of ceiling rained down on her and she leapt under the stout mahogany dining room table. She huddled there, whispering silent prayers to Mother Goose that this story had a happy ending. After the dust settled and, once again, silence reigned, she pushed aside the debris and looked up at the enormous ragged hole in the ceiling. Sunlight shown through it and glinted off the gigantic bicycle now sitting, twisted, in her dining room. It was red and one wheel was spinning crazily.

The giant is attacking, she thought matter-of-factly, shaking dust from her gown. She looked at the bits of shingle and roof on the floor around her. She felt weirdly calm.

“The giant is attacking?” she stared at the hole where her roof used to be. Panic started climbing up her legs, using goosebumps as handholds.

“THE GIANT IS ATTACKING!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, glancing at all three fallen giant objects in turn. Fear seized her mind and made itself at home.

Jenny ran through the house like a crazy person and screaming her head off. She did this for several minutes.

Then, out of breath, she stopped. Then she had a nice drink of water to soothe her throat, took a deep calming breath and . . . She began running around and screaming again.

Under the circumstances running around and screaming seemed like the smart thing to do.

Several more minutes ticked by and she stopped, had another drink and sat down heavily.

Okay, she thought, What do I know about this situation?

I know that the giant is dead, she thought. I know that he fell to his death many years ago after Jack, my father, chopped down the giant beanstalk that grew in our backyard. She repeated the whole Jack and the Beanstalk story to herself like it was a school lecture. The story ended with a “Happily Ever After”, which she knew now to be wrong because here she was living in the “ever after” part and, right now, she wasn’t very happy. Unless . . . Oh no! This is MY story?

She knew that occasionally Mother Goose would grant the people of the Fairy Tale Kingdom with a story. It happened to most people, some more than once, but they didn’t all end “Happily Ever After.”

Her gaze returned to the sight of the terrifying bicycle sitting in her dining room. Suddenly she wished she wasn’t so alone.

Can I go after mom and dad? I can, but I can’t catch up to them. I won’t be able to warn them until tomorrow when the games start. And that’s only if I can find them in the crowd! If I go, who knows what will happen to the house? Protecting the house is my responsibility. She looked up through the dining room ceiling hole. The sky was blue and the enormous white cloud floated there looking white, puffy, and somehow very dangerous.

A small white shape was slowly swirling down toward her from the clouds above. It was an envelope. She watched as it drifted slowly down and landed gently in her small hands. She was relieved that it was normal sized and not giant sized.

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER III

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