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From: " +Grant. " <+Grant@grant.grant>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.prettyboy
Subject: Re: +*+*+*+ The Adventures of Stevie #11 "The Wall" +*+*+*+
Date: 29 Jun 2010 23:59:02 -0500
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Message-ID: <Grant-me-that-2906102@Grant.Grant>
References: <Grant-me-that-2806101@Grant.Grant> <290620100306210628%Mover@Watch-Me.com>
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In article <290620100306210628%Mover@Watch-Me.com>, Mover
<Mover@Watch-Me.com> wrote:
> In article <Grant-me-that-2806101@Grant.Grant>, +Grant.
> <+Grant@grant.grant> wrote:
>
> > The Adventures of Stevie #11
> >
> > These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
> > are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
> > been true. LOL
> >
> > My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
> > in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
> > before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
> > friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
> > service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
> > Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
> > fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
> > he isn't here in person. I think.
> > All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
> > that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
> > Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
> > The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
> > Stevie is 11 in this story, which takes place two weeks after story #10
> >
> >
> > The Adventures of Stevie #11 "The Wall"
> >
> >
> > Dear Carlos,
> >
> >
> > Today was very exciting. I have to tell you all about it. There are
> > still Ninjas around!
> > This afternoon at school, the kids who go to karate class had a special
> > class. First, Sensei told us to sit lotus. This is a way to sit where
> > you bend your knees and put your legs over each other like a pretzel,
> > and rest the backs of your hands on your knees or sometimes your palms
> > on your knees. You have to be flexible or it hurts or you can't do it,
> > but I can do it no problem because I'm very flexible. I can do a full
> > side split standing on one foot, but lotus hurts me in a different way.
> > I have a lot of energy that makes me want to move all the time. If I
> > can't, my whole body feels trapped and itchy. You don't move in lotus.
> > It takes a lot of concentration will power for me to keep still. I
> > don't like it. Then I forgot all about it, because a very special man
> > walked into the class. He was dressed in black fighting clothes. That
> > was different from us. More different was how he walked. It was like he
> > was floating over the floor. It was smooth like flowing water. He
> > wasn't tall or full of big muscles like Sensei, but I could see he was
> > very strong. His whole body shouted power at me. He looked old but
> > acted young. He sat lotus next to Sensei. His friend who was also
> > dressed in black who I hardly noticed, sat kneeling behind and to one
> > side of him. Sensei said we should call him Sensei Ninja and his
> > assistant Sensei Tommy. My whole body was staring at Sensei Ninja. I
> > was afraid to blink or miss something he might do. I knew it would be
> > very special. Sensei said "today you will learn a little about
> > Ninjutsu." Ninja are Shinobi Japanese who practice the fighting arts of
> > spying and assassination. They teach other people now. They have
> > special weapons and tools, and can make themselves so people don't see
> > them. After the explanation he asked for questions. I was too excited
> > to speak so I signaled with my whole body I had one. Sensei nodded at
> > me. I said "The history books are wrong?" Sensei Ninja smiled at me and
> > said "Yes, Ninjas are still around. They didn't die off like the
> > history books say." There were no more questions so they did some
> > demonstrations. It was amazing and unbelievable what they did. Then we
> > were allowed to look at their special tools. Then they did more
> > demonstrations.
> >
> > The last demonstration Sensei Tommy did was on our climbing wall.
> > That's a wall which has little things sticking out of it in different
> > places so we can grab them and climb up the wall like it was a
> > mountain. Karate class is in a part of the big gym which has very high
> > roof, but the climbing wall goes only about 3/4 as high, and has a
> > place where you can rest on top of it and where ropes hang from. He
> > didn't climb up it, he RAN up it like it it was flat and then
> > summersaulted off the top and landed with his feet flat on the floor.
> > That was amazing! I asked him if he could do it again. He did and I
> > watched as hard as I could. Then I asked Sensei if I could try to do it
> > like that. He smiled at me like I was a little kid and said "sure, go
> > ahead." Then he stood near it to catch me if I fell. He didn't think I
> > could do it. I wasn't a very good climber the regular way. I thought I
> > could because I watched how Sensei Tommy used his speed just the right
> > way to keep going, and I thought of a way I could get extra jumping
> > strength. I bet you will never guess how. I was going to imagine
> > somebody grabbed my monster by surprise. I thought if I could jump like
> > that when I want to, it would help going up the wall.
> >
> > I ran full speed at the wall, and made myself feel like I was grabbed
> > at just the right moment, and I went up the wall so fast I barely
> > touched the handholds. I was so fast I was over the top of it in the
> > air before I could slow down and stop, and fell down onto the top
> > resting place scared almost to death I was going to miss it. It was
> > very VERY exciting. Funny too, when I saw all those faces staring up at
> > me with their mouths hanging wide open. I wondered if I could count
> > their fillings. Then I thought I would surprise them some more, and I
> > showed off by going down the wall dropping down from handhold to
> > handhold grabbing them by my fingers and not using my feet. I can do
> > this because of my extra strong fingers and I am small and don't weigh
> > much. I never did it before when people were watching so they didn't
> > know I could do it. I sure wasn't going to jump down that far like
> > Sensei Tommy did! I liked surprising them again. It was a lot of fun.
> > Ha ha.
> >
> > Sensei Ninja signaled approval at me and I almost melted into a
> > little bubbly pool of excited happiness. Sensei Tommy lifted me up and
> > hugged me and and smiled and said "Maybe you can come to our school and
> > give me some lessons." My smile back to him almost cracked my face in
> > half. He even made my monster happy. I wanted him to notice it because
> > I saw him look at me there before, but I knew it wasn't going to get
> > big enough fast enough for that. I asked him to tell Sensei Ninja I did
> > it all with my eyes closed except when I was looking down at them from
> > on top, which is true. He looked surprised and hugged me some more.
> > Then he put me down and the other kids swarmed all over me trying to
> > hug me and clap me on the back at the same time. I was busy dodging
> > them for a while. They are all bigger than me and backslap harder than
> > they think. Our regular Sensei made us all line up and bow, and
> > dismissed the class. He looked at me when we left like I just turned
> > green with purple polkadots. I smiled back at him like I was an
> > innocent little baby.
> >
> > I hope Sensei Ninja and Tommy come back again real soon. I like them
> > a lot and I want to learn everything they can teach me. I think there
> > will be a lot of walls I will have to climb in my life. Most of them
> > won't be solid like the one today, but important just the same and
> > harder. I think what they can teach me is important and can make those
> > walls not so hard. Then I could help other people learn how to climb
> > their walls better. I would like that too.
> >
> >
> > Your friend,
> >
> > Stephen
>
> You do have a way with odd images that work well:
>
> "I almost melted into a little bubbly pool of excited happiness."
>
> That was great.
>
> Stevie is becoming a real tease. I'm not complaining! LOL
>
> Good lesson at the end.
>
> Mover, in appreciation
Thank you.
I put "excited" in just before I posted it. Was more accurate to the
feeling.
I write these stories a week or more in advance. Then I go over them a
few times to make additions and corrections. I don't spend more than a
half hour a day on writing them, and not more than about 15 min doing
research. Google is very useful. I wouldn't have known about the
history of Ninjutsu without it.
--
Grant
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