Erin Boyd
Mrs. Veal
English p. 7
8 October 2010
Kate and the Cornstalk
Once upon a month ago, in a land called Iowa there lives a young girl. Her name is Kate. She is tall and skinny and has long, wavy blonde hair and is a total tomboy and hates frilly things and the color pink. She is the daughter of the wealthiest corn farmer in the land, but she hates working on the farm. All she wants to do is play on the drums all day long, but Kate's parents won't let her have her own drum set saying that Kate is going to grow up to be a farmer, like them. Kate has two best friends, Leslie and Leslie who live on the farms on either side of hers. Leslie M is the complete opposite of Kate and loves all things girly. Leslie B is just like Kate and loves playing on her drum set and reading.
One day, Kate was plowing the fields, rather grumpily at that, and came across a small pile of corn kernels. Figuring they had just gotten dropped when the others were planted, Kate planted them at the edge of their corn patch. Little did she know, these corn kernels were magic kernels. A couple of days later, Kate's parents noticed something strange growing on the edge of their corn patch and told Kate to find out what it was. Kate rolled her eyes and ran to the object, finding that it was a cornstalk that reached clear to the sky. Realizing this is where she had planted the kernels the day before, Kate ran back to the house.
"Mom! Dad! The thing growing in the corn patch, is a cornstalk. It reaches clear to the sky!" Kate yelled as the door slammed behind her.
"Well, I wonder how that got there," her mother turned to face Kate, "Kate please take the ax out back and chop that thing down." Kate nodded and ran to get the ax, happy that she finally got to do something interesting on the farm. Slowing down as she reached the cornstalk she noticed that the corn was placed just right so that someone could climb up the stalk and into the clouds. Kate figured that her parents wouldn't expect the stalk to be cut down in one day so they wouldn't noticed if she climbed up the stalk. Or at least that's how she convinced herself it would be okay to climb it. Kate carefully placed the ax next to the stalk and put her foot onto the first corn head and heaved herself up.
Now, Kate had read the story Jack and the Beanstalk before, and although she didn't expect a giant to be at the top, she definitely wasn't expecting what she saw. As her head poked through the clouds, Kate gasped at what she discovered. It was a trailer park. With one trailer and a lone outhouse. She swiveled her head around, but saw nothing else. Carefully walking across the clouds, for she didn't want to fall through, she knocked on the door of the trailer.
"Turn that danged TV off Mamaw, we gots ourselves some company!" Kate heard a heavily southern voice call into the trailer as the door opened and she was faced with the sight of a hillbilly. "Why howdy there! What's brung you up here to our trailer in the sky?"
"Well, I planted some corn kernels on my farm and a huge cornstalk sprouted that went up the sky. So I climbed up it and saw your trailer. I'm Kate," The hillbilly smiled, invited her in, and introduced her to everybody in the room.
"Now, this here is my son Billy Bob, his sister Billie Jane, and mother in law Mamaw, and I'm Sue Ann. Everyone, this here's Kate. She's livin' on that farm that's below our home. Now, let's be some good hosts and gives this girlie a show." Sue Ann turned to face Kate as the rest of her family gathered various things from around the room. "You sees, we are a band. We gots Billy Bob on the spoons, Billie Jane on the washboard, Mamaw on the banjo, and me on the harmonica. My husband, Billy Joe, played them drums until he slipped through the clouds one day. Hasn't been heard from since. Now we gots no drum doer." Kate smiled.
"I could play the drums for you," She offered. Sue Ann thought about it for a second before agreeing. Kate sat down behind the drums and waited for the rest of the hillbilly family to get ready before playing. Kate loved every second of it, finally being able to play on a drum set. After the song was over Kate stood up and said, "Can I keep the drums? No one here plays them. And I would really appreciate it." With that the whole family gasped.
"No! What in this world would think yous can just come and take our stuff from us? Git, now!" Sue Ann took hold of Kate's shoulders and pushed her out of the door. "And don't you ever be comin back, ya hear!" Kate quickly scurried down the cornstalk back onto her farm. Seeing how it was obvious that she wouldn't be getting that drum set by herself she decided she would have to steal it when the hillbillies were asleep.
Later that night, Kate snuck out of her room and ran to the cornstalk. Trying to make as little noise as possible she climbed up to the clouds and started to tip toe towards the trailer, pausing every so often to listen for someone coming. BANG! She heard someone slam and door and she hid in the nearest place, the outhouse.
"Hi!" Kate, startled, jumped and turned to find where the noise had come from and came face to face with a girl. The girl was shorter than Kate, but not by much, and had shoulder length, brown, curly hair. In her hand she was holding a piccolo. And there were small wings sprouting out of her back. The girl smiled, "I'm Kerri, the piccolo playing fairy. You aren't a friend of those hillbillies are you? I hate them, they are so mean. I stumbled up here after climbing a huge tree and they locked me up because I wouldn't play my piccolo and join their little band. Then they gave me these wings and called me a fairy. They are magic hillbillies."
"I'm Kate, and no, I am not their friend. I came to steal their drum set for they wouldn't let me have it when I asked."
"I'll make a deal with you; I'll help you steal the drum set if you take me with you when you leave. They placed a spell on this outhouse and I can only leave if someone takes me out."
"Okay, deal." Kate stuck her hand out and shook Kerri's to seal it. After waiting a few minutes to make sure the hillbillies were still sleeping, Kate slowly opened the door and crept out, with Kerri right behind her. They slowly walked to the trailer and opened the door. Kerri started to play her piccolo to keep them asleep. She kept doing this until Kate had successfully gotten the drum set out of the house and put it next to the top of the corn stalk. Kate gave Kerri the thumbs up and Kerri halted her playing and ran to where Kate was waiting before helping Kate lift the drum set down the stalk and to the farm.
To both of their surprises, as soon as the drum set touched the ground it changed into a suitcase full of clothes. And to Kate's horror, the clothes were pink. Kerri saw what had happened. "Uh-oh. Well, I would help you fix that, but I don't know how to, so you are on your own. But, I would suggest trying to return the drums to the hillbillies." Kate sighed and waved bye as Kerri left. Then a light bulb went off in Kate's head, she would return the suitcase/drums to the hillbillies the next morning with the help of her friends, Leslie and Leslie.
When Kate woke up the next morning she called her two friends and asked them to help. Being the good friend's they are, they agreed and came over right away. Slowly but steadily Kate, Leslie, and Leslie got the suitcase up the corn stalk and to the hillbillies' trailer, but not before Billie Jane saw them. Kate and the Leslies started to run.
"Wait! Stop runnin'. I'll make a deal with yous," Billie Jane started to run after them. They stopped and listened to see what kind of deal this was. "I won't rat you out to my momma if yous guys will do something for me," Kate remained quite while Leslie urged her to go on. "You sees, I'm kinda lonely up here and am wantin' a nice fella to marry, but momma won't let me go down to where yous lives. So, if yous guys will bring me a fella I will let you keep the drums. As drums, not a suitcase." Kate and the Leslies agreed and knew just who to call. They hurried down the cornstalk and ran to their neighbor's farm. On this farm lived a boy their age named Jimmy. He had only lived in their town for 2 years, and they didn't really like him. He would be perfect to give to Billie Jane. They pounded on the door until it was opened by Jimmy.
"Hey Jimmy! Come with us," Kate took his arm roughly and pulled him out of the door. They ran back to the cornstalk. "Okay. Now Jimmy, climb up the corn stalk." Jimmy turned towards the three girls with a look of horror on his face.
"Climb up it!" He squeaked.
"Yes, now go. We are coming up right behind you. Now GO!" Kate shoved the wimp up the corn stalk. Jimmy hurriedly scurried up with the girls close behind him.
"Billie Jane! Billie Jane!" Leslie yelled until the hillbilly came out of the trailer and saw Jimmy.
"Oh! Is this my new fella?" Sue Ann ran to Jimmy and gave him a big hug. Jimmy had a distressed look on his face.
"Yes, Sue Ann. This is your new husband,"
"WHAT!" Jimmy practically screamed as he tried to run away. Luckily, the Leslies were expecting this and stopped him before he got too far.
"Now, y'all just wait right here and I'll gets them drums for yer." Billie Jane walked into the trailer and returned a couple minutes later with the drums. Waving goodbye to the three girls, Billie Jane led Jimmy to his new home. Kate and the Leslies slowly transported the drum set down the beanstalk and back to Kate's house. Kate was finally happy and had her own drum set to play on, and her parents gave her less work on the farm in order to give her more time to practice.
Meanwhile, up with the hillbillies Jimmy was miserable. He would lie in bed at night thinking of ways to get away, but he hadn't had time to put one into play yet, until one night the hillbillies went to bed early. Jimmy crept out of his room and to the top of the corn stalk and saw it vibrating and swaying. He started to run toward it only to find it was being cut down by Kate's father. By the time he had started to put his foot on the top of it, it was falling down and all hope of getting down was lost. He sulked back to his trailer trying to figure out how he was stick it out living with Billie Jane.
And everybody lived happily ever after, well except for Jimmy. The End.