Once Upon A Time…Continues
Last weekend, we started a new story. The story grew as people left new paragraphs in the comments. Today, I’ll give you the story so far along with my own update in this post. Then, it’s your turn to add to the story again. Let’s see what happens next!
Once upon a time in the town of Milton, John Miller lived with his young family on 2nd Avenue. John, an aspiring artist in his mid 30s, spent his days working down at the local shipyard where he loaded and unloaded ships as they came in and out of the port. John was married to Caroline, and they had three kids – Jenny (10), Danny (8), and Billy (5). They lived a happy simple life. Nothing major happened in their lives. But that all changed one warm summer day when John discovered something amazing down at the shipyard. (Jon Stolpe)
The shipyard had been the scene of many interesting stories over the years. There was the time that the sailor found a message in a bottle that took him on a journey around the world. Another story is told of a little boy found wandering alone through the shipyard. He turned out to be the lost child of a prominent local citizen. The man who found the boy was awarded a huge sum of money by the parents out of gratitude for rescuing their child. But on this summer day, what took place was far more amazing than anything the old shipyard had ever seen before. It all centered around a tiny puppy and gruff old sailor. (Leah Adams)
John had always given surly Patch MacGruder a wide berth at work. He’d duck behind shipping containers when the old sailor heaved into view. When no hiding place provided cover, he’d snap his fingers as if he’s forgotten something then turn to walk briskly away from Patch.
But on this bright Monday morning, John came around a ship in dry dock and plowed
into Patch.
The old sailor growled, “Hey, careful. Can’t you see I’ve got precious cargo here?”
John said, “Sorry, Patch. I didn’t know you were here.”
A puppy wriggled in Patch’s arms. The old man scratched the tiny fur ball under
its chin. He said, “What are we going to do with this little lost fella?”
We? (Tom Tarver)
John was beside himself? He never really talked to Patch all that much. To be honest, most of his co-workers called him the village idiot, but the more Patch spoke, the more John felt a camaraderie with him. “Patch, what are you doing here Sr? The other fellows sure would not do well knowing you’ve been tucked behind here hiding from work!” “Well” Said Patch sitting up very slowly and like every bone in his body hurt. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you fella”
John heard some of the guys yelling in the front of the warehouse. “Patch, I really gotta go, but would really love to hear your story someday.”
As John began to walk away, His vision must have become like blurry or something because he became dizzy. Everything was moving in a very weird way. All around him was like jello moving in all different directions.
All of a sudden…
John, Patch, and the Puppy…were all standing in front of a huge…(continue) (Arny Sanchez)
...freight container.
John and Patch had seen many of these over the years while working at the shipyard, but none of them were quite like this one. This one seemed to be twice as large as the ones that normally came through the yard. As John and Patch looked at the shipping container, they both had this feeling that there was something inside that had to be seen. Patch looked at the lock on the door of the container, and he quickly realized that it wasn’t latched. Without hesitation, he removed the lock. As he began to open the door of the large green container, he was immediately knocked over. The puppy jumped out of John’s arms and ran into the shipping container.
Okay, now it’s your turn. Let’s see where the story goes. Add to the story in the comments.