The Adventures of Stuart

The following story was written for my nephews Josh and Zack.

There was this little boy named Stuart who was out walking by himself from school on a sunny day. The reason Stuart was walking by himself was because he didn't have many friends. At school the other children made fun of Stuart's glasses because they were very thick. They also teased him about his very skinny legs and his buckteeth. So, for this reason Stuart didn't talk very much because he thought it would give the others another reason to pick on him. Well, Stuart decided to take a little used trail through the woods because he saw some bullies on the street that he wanted to avoid. He heard one of the kids yell in his direction just as he turned onto the trail so he began to run as fast as he could. As he got further into the woods he hid behind some bushes and waited for it to get dark so he could make it home without being seen. After it was dark he got up and tried to find the trail, but it was too dark. He suddenly jumped when he heard a loud sound behind him and began to run blindly through the woods. He thought he saw a dim light ahead so he headed for that while the noise behind him got closer and closer.

Stuart's heart was racing and he was almost out of breath as he stumbled into a small clearing in the woods. He tripped over a log and fell directly onto a brightly glowing stone which pushed right into his chest and vanished with just a faint glow on his skin. As he stood up to face whoever was chasing him, a small deer bounded into the clearing and then ran away when it saw Stuart. He was very relieved that he was in no danger and began to make his way back home again. It was easier now because that glowing on his skin was bright enough to see the path which he had quickly found. As he was going home Stuart noticed that he could move much more quickly than he used to and he wasn't even tired. He started to wonder what that stone was and what it had done to him. He slept good that night and had dreams of seeing the world far below him almost like he was flying, but he knew it was just a dream. He had been very hungry when he got up to get ready for school and had eaten a whole box of Lucky Charms, 3 bananas, a whole jug of orange juice, 10 pop tarts, a carton of eggs(scrambled), a stick of butter(swallowed it whole), and a double decker bologna sandwich. He hadn't even felt full after all that, but he was still satisfied enough to get up and get dressed for school. Stuart was almost to school when he realized he had forgotten his glasses. Normally he couldn't have made it out the front door without tripping when he wasn't wearing them. He figured that he eyesight must be getting better. He would soon find out what else was getting better when he arrived at school. When Stuart got to school he noticed some of the kids looking at him kind of funny and he figured it was because no one had seen him without glasses before.

Anyway, back at school, Staurt stopped in the bathroom before his first class and was startled by what he saw. At first he spun around to face the bully behind him, but no one was there. The big kid in the mirror was him! He felt his arm muscle that had grown overnight and it was as hard as a rock. He pulled up his pants legs and saw that his legs looked very big and tough. No wonder he wasn't tired from the walk to school. The face and eyes were still his, but he had definitely changed. He decided to call as little attention to himself as possible so the other kids wouldn't notice the change and start to pick on him again. In his first reading class, which was his favorite one they started out with an assigment to read 5 chapters of a new book in class. When Stuart finished reading he put up his hand like the teacher told them to do to let her know when they finished reading. Miss Thorn came up to Stuart and said " OK Stuart which word don't you understand?" He explained that he understood all the words because he had already read all the words. The teacher didn't believe that he could have finished the 5 chapters already because it had only been one minute! Stuart didn't want to get into more trouble by telling the teacher that he actually had finished the entire book so he just described to her the first 5 chapters. She was really impressed and said he was the fastest reader she had ever known. The rest of the kids finished reading about 20 minutes later. Stuart grew secretly excited over these new discoveries and wondered "What next?"