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Student Story
“I’m sure they will be happy to
see you once you get back,” the
falcon said.
I started to get angry. “Then
what are we still doing here? Why
am I not home? We need to leave!”
The falcon started to look sad
and guilty. “I’m sorry, but we
can’t leave,” he said.
“Why not? I should’ve been
home by now!” I started to cry.
I felt hot, streaming, angry tears
running down my face. I wanted
to scream, punch, kick — anything
to get the anger out of my system.
The falcon started to speak. “I
broke one of my wings during the
hurricane. I saw you get swept
away and I went to rescue you.
While I was picking you up the
force of the water broke one of my
wings.”
I didn’t know what to say. I
felt that I couldn’t say anything.
Finally I said, “Thank you for your
help.”
The falcon told me it should
only take a few days for his wing
to heal. During that time I decided
to relax and enjoy the ocean air. I
got to know more about the falcon.
He told me his name is MoJo, he
has been around a couple centu-
ries, his favorite food is sunflower
seeds, and he has taken many kids
on adventures.
One morning I was watching
the news on TV and the topic was
“Missing Children.” I hoped my
name and picture wouldn’t come
up. Sure enough, that’s what hap-
pened. A picture of me came up
and the TV said I have been gone
for five days. Then it showed a
video of my parents crying and
saying they would do anything to
get their little girl back.
“Don’t worry mom and dad, I’ll
be back soon. I promise,” I said to
myself. I started to cry. I missed
them.
I asked MoJo how much longer
we were going to be here. He said
we were going to leave tomor-
row. I was happy. I missed my
parents, my friends and even my
school.
The trip back to Georgia
seemed longer than the trip to
Hawaii, but before I knew it I was
standing in front of my house. I
saw tears forming in MoJo’s eyes.
Then I started to cry and hugged
him. “I’m going to miss you,” I
said. “I’ll miss you too, squirt,” he
replied.
I went inside. The first thing I
saw was my mom. When I closed
the door she looked up. Her eyes
were red and she looked like
she hadn’t slept in days. She ran
over and hugged me. She started
to cry. “Where have you been,
Penny? Your father and I have
been worried sick.”
“What’s all the noise about
Susan,” I heard my father say. He
walked in and like my mom, he
ran to hug me. “Where have you
been?”
I didn’t know what to say.
Would they call me crazy if I said
a falcon named MoJo took me to
Hawaii? I decided to tell them
everything. They didn’t believe
me at first. But then there was a
knock at the door. I answered it
and there stood MoJo.
“MoJo!” I yelled. “This is the
falcon I was talking about, the
one who took me to Hawaii!”
MoJo told my parents the story
and he apologized for taking me
without their permission. My
parents finally gave in. I thanked
MoJo and said goodbye once
more.
I told my parents about my
adventure in Hawaii, then we
went to my school to let everyone
know I was fine. Everyone was
happy to welcome me back.
That night my mom and dad
tucked me in bed. “Never do that
to us again, young lady,” my
father said. “We were up day and
night hoping you would come
home.”
I was happy to be home, in
my own bed. But I’ll miss MoJo.
I’ll also miss the beautiful place
called Hawaii. It truly is tropical
glory.
Editor’s note: Each issue The Peorian
will reprint original stories written
by area students, age 5 on up, to
showcase their talents and en-
courage them to keep writing. We
encourage teachers and students to
send us stories to editor@thepeorian.
com. Parental permission is required
before we will reprint a story.
This issue we feature a fictional short
story written by Caitlyn Swanson, a
7th-grade student at Von Steuben
Middle School in Peoria. The story
was named the winner in the school’s
Young Authors contest in 2011.
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