Junior

A story created and illustrated by the Second Graders in Room 403.

One day, Junior was out milking the cows. 

His family had a lot of cows, and Junior was an only child. That meant he had to do ALL of the work. After milking the cows, he would have to feed the pigs, and the horses and the chickens. Junior worked very, very hard. But there was one chore he absolutely hated…
“Junior!” called mama from the house. “It’s Monday! Don’t forget to stir the butter.” 
“Aw mama!” cried Junior. “I hates to stir the butter!”
“Don’t you talk to yo mama like that, boy, or I’m gonna tell yo pappy!”
Junior frowned and finished milking the cows, then went on with his chores. Stirring the butter was the WORST! Even though he only had to do it one day a week, it was awful. Junior was sad. He thought he had a really boring life….
Suddenly, a storm hit! It was ferocious! “Junior!” called mama. “Put all of the animals away and then stir the butter!”
“But mama!” cried Junior. “Can’t it wait? There’s a big ol’ storm!”
“No! Mama loves her butter…now stop whinin’ and hurry up!”
Junior put all of the animals away. It got really dark and started raining hard. Junior wanted to go inside the house, but he had to stir the butter first. That’s when it happened. Lightning struck the barn, knocking some of the boards off the wall.

One of the boards hit Junior on the top of the head!
When he woke up, he saw something amazing. It was a rainbow! The sun was shining and white, puffy clouds filled the sky. Junior had never seen a rainbow close up before…but this one seemed to come right into his yard. It was beautiful. “Oh my!” said Junior. “I’s heard that there be a big ol’ bucket o’ gold at the end of that rainbow. If I had me some gold, I could move out and git my own place. Then, I wouldn’t have to stir any more butter for mama!” Junior got the big, wooden ladder from the barn and placed it up against the rainbow. He started climbing. It was so colorful inside of the rainbow!

There were lollipops dancing in the air, and m&m’s! Chocolate bunnies ran to and fro, and a light rain, almost a mist, of pure candy seemed to fall all around him. 
That’s when he saw it. A big, shiny pot of gold and jewels! He ran towards it…he was so excited…. 
“Hey!” rang out a little voice. “You stay away from me lucky charms!” There, standing by the pot of goodies, was a little green leprechaun. 
“Who are you?” asked Junior.

“I’m the keeper of the lucky charms,” said the leprechaun. “My name is Patrick, and if you try to steal even one piece of gold or one jewel, I will give you bad luck for the rest of your life.”
Junior didn’t listen. He didn’t look very scary. So, the farm boy pushed Patrick aside and filled his overall pockets with gold and jewels. Then, he ran back across the rainbow. When he got to the top, he slid down like it was a giant slide. “Wheee!” he cried. But, when he landed, he was back beside the pot of gold.
“What happened?” asked Junior.
Patrick laughed. “You can never leave, farm boy. You were bad.” The little leprechaun handed Junior a big stick. “So, from now on, you have to stir the butter. Every day. We make lots of candy here, so we need a lot of butter. Mwahahaha…”
Junior was mad and sad and feeling a little crazy…when he woke up. He was in bed. “Junior…” called mama softly. “Is you ok boy? I was so worried about you. You gots a nasty bump on yo head.

Why don’t you go downstairs and git you some biscuits and gravy. It was all my fault you got hurt. I should have called in into the house when the storm hit. I’m so sorry. From now on, no more stirring the butter for you. We’re gonna git it from the Walmart.”
“Thank you, mama,” said Junior. “You know…there’s no place like home