KNOCK-KNOCK<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nMom! she thought. Okay, it\u2019s time to start looking sick. With one hand she mussed her hair into a curly blond hair, and with the other she grabbed the edge of the down comforter. Then she tossed her head back onto the pillow, pulling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes in the nick of time.<\/p>\n
The door opened.<\/p>\n
\u201cJenny darling, wake up!\u201d called Mother\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Jenny grumbled, tossed and turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on now Jenny dear, it\u2019s time to face the morning!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny opened her eyes and sat up. \u201cJust five more minutes \u2013 I feel sick\u201d she groaned and flopped back down on the bed.<\/p>\n
Mother was silent.<\/p>\n
Jenny opened one eye to look at her.<\/p>\n
Mother was frowning, her thin lips pressed into a hard thin line. Her hair, as blond as her daughters, was drawn in a tight bun and this morning she wore her traveling clothes instead of her usual flowery robe.<\/p>\n
\u201cJenny, I know you want to stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny\u2019s heart sank. She sat up. Then she took a deep breath, gathered her wits about her, and smiled as weakly as she could. \u201cN-no,\u201d she said. \u201cI do want to go mother, but I feel . . . so sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mother tilted her head. \u201cYou know I can\u2019t stay behind \u2013 if you really are sick \u2013 but I made some curds and whey. Eat them up and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll make you feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny doubted this because, for one thing, she hated curds and whey, cheese curds swimming in malted wheat? Ick! When she managed to choke them down they never made her feel better. They always made her feel icky.<\/p>\n
Mother continued. \u201cCome to breakfast, you\u2019ll feel ever so much better. Or are you going to lay there making \u2018yuck\u2019 faces all day?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny changed her face from \u2018yuck\u2019 to something she hoped looked like \u2018sick.\u2019<\/p>\n
Mother\u2019s shoulders slumped a bit. Then, in a disappointed tone, she said, \u201cAre you sure you\u2019re sick?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes mom,\u201d she croaked. \u201cI\u2019m sick. I still don\u2019t \u2013kaff\u2014kaff!\u201d a fake cough, but it sounded good. \u201cKaff! feel well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ll miss your father\u2019s jump!\u201d said Mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I know, he\u2019s nimble and quick!\u201d said Jenny, rolling her eyes. Jenny flopped back down onto the bed. \u201cHe\u2019s Jack and he can jump over any candlestick ever made. Every Mother Goose Games is the same! There\u2019s the Fork and Spoon races, the Cow-Moon High Jump, the Bitter-Better-Butter Bake Off, the Dumpty Reconstruction, and, of course, Father\u2019s Candlestick Jump,\u201d she said, counting each one on her fingers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts al-ways the same, it\u2019s boring, I don\u2019t want to go!\u201d She threw her arms up. Then she coughed again, \u201cKAFF! And I\u2019m sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mother\u2019s eyes narrowed further.<\/p>\n
Jenny clutched her handkerchief and wiped nonexistent boogers off her not-at-all-sick nose.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we can\u2019t leave you here alone. . . .\u201d her mother began.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure we can!\u201d interrupted Father as he strode into the room. Father was dressed in a blousy white shirt, brown pants, and high leather boots that reached up to his thighs. His hard heels clomped on the wooden floor.<\/p>\n
This was his \u201cJumping Outfit\u201d and Jenny\u2019s heart swelled a bit, because she thought it made him look exactly like the hero everyone thought he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can leave her.\u00a0 If she\u2019s sick, she can\u2019t come with us,\u201d he continued, patting Mother on the back. Mother glared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides,\u201d he continued, walking over to Jenny, \u201cWe’ll only be gone for a day!\u00a0 We\u2019ll be back tomorrow evening, she won\u2019t even notice! She can stay here. She\u2019s almost nine years old! That\u2019s old enough to take care of herself!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny nodded eagerly and clapped her hands, and then she remembered: \u201cKaff!\u201d Mother\u2019s frown deepened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019ll be fine Jill, just fine. If we force her, she\u2019ll never want to compete, and she\u2019s so good at baseball! And besides, Henny Penny can look in on her now and then. She never goes anywhere. Also, I believe Georgie-Porgie is staying at home too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny made another yuck-face- she didn\u2019t like Georgie. He liked to kiss girls wa-ay too much.<\/p>\n
Mother glared at them both.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaff!\u201d said Jenny.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry Jill,\u201d Jack said, a little more seriously. \u201cShe\u2019ll come with us next year – it\u2019s a lot more exciting to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny turned away and stuck her tongue out. Mother Goose! She thought, save me. That\u2019s just not going to happen! I hate baseball. Mother\u2019s shoulders slumped, and she walked out to the hall.<\/p>\n
Jack followed her. \u201cNow come on, Jill my love,\u201d Jack said to Mother. \u201cShe\u2019ll be fine. Mother Goose sees all and I doubt it\u2019s time for our Jenny to have a story.\u201d Then he started hopping around.\u201d Let\u2019s go! I feel ready to jump!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack stopped and Jenny could see why. Mother stood in the doorway pale, shaking, and pointing at the floor. Her father looked down and quickly shooed something with his foot. Then he gently led his wife past whatever tiny beast had scared her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpider,\u201d he mouthed. \u201cSome things never change,\u201d Jack said throwing Jenny another wink as he left.<\/p>\n
Jenny got up and followed them to the front door. She received her goodbye kisses and even remembered to \u201cKaff\u201d occasionally \u2013 to keep things convincing. Mother gave her some advice about how to make curds and whey, and how to feed the golden egg laying goose in the basement; dad reminded her that the house was her responsibility. \u201cDon\u2019t let me down!\u201d he said. \u201cAnd may Mother Goose protect you and keep you. But Jenny was just nodding robotically, not even listening. Would they EVER leave?<\/p>\n
Finally the door closed, and Jenny stood there. The bells on the horses\u2019 reigns jingled, and the wagon wheels creaked as they turned. Jenny stood, her thin body pressed against the closed front door.<\/p>\n
Silence! Jenny smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m alone!\u201d she cried out loud. Alone! Thank Mother Goose! She had the house all to herself for the first time in her young life.<\/p>\n
She began running from room to room. She reached the kitchen and stuck her tongue out at the curds and whey sitting on the stove. Instead she ate a big breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate flavored whipped cream, butter and, of course, chocolate syrup, all while sitting on her mother\u2019s tuffet!<\/p>\n
Jenny ran into her father\u2019s gym and gazed at the rows of unlit candlesticks placed strategically around the room. She knew her dad could jump all these sticks in a pattern. She tried the course and failed by the third candlestick. But that didn\u2019t matter, because she was free to do anything she wanted. She was free! No rules! No responsibilities and no \u2013<\/p>\n
THUMP! CRASH!<\/p>\n
Jenny stopped in her tracks as the whole house shook violently around her.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, Jenny really did feel ever so sick.<\/p>\n
CONTINUED IN CHAPTER II – The Sky is Falling!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When not playing video games for work, being a stay-at-home parents, loving up my wife and caring for the house – I have a dream. My dream is to become a beloved Children’s Book writer. I’d settle, however, to be published. \u00a0I have several small novels finished and out to publishers, including this one. To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"jenny1\"](\"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/imgres-1.jpeg\" "\\"jenny1\\"")
When not playing video games for work, being a stay-at-home parents, loving up my wife and caring for the house – I have a dream. My dream is to become a beloved Children’s Book writer. I’d settle, however, to be published. \u00a0I have several small novels finished and out to publishers, including this one. To lay Internet fair use concept and partially to get a reaction or two. I’m going to post the first three chapters of each novel one at a time. \u00a0I hope you’ll read it. I hope you’ll let your kids read it. \u00a0And I hope, when it gets published, you’ll buy it. This is my first novel ever and it was written when Shrek was so popular. It’s a sequel to Jack & the Beanstalk essentially. PLEASE comment! I have a thick skin. So, here goes, this one is for the 6-12 year olds out there: – Andrew S.Bub (all rights reserved)<\/p>\n