We at Story Shares are always inspired by students who use their time and energy to share their stories with others. It's important that a wide range of voices be heard in the literacy field, and students writing for other students adds a valuable layer of authenticity to that goal. Today, we'd like to highlight such a contributor, Lavanya Shenoy.
Lavanya is a a vivacious fifth grade student at Murdock Elementary, and part of The Confident Kid Writer's Program, hosted by our friends at Fun Creative Writing. She is the eldest child to Deepak and Sushma Shenoy, and has one mischievous baby sister that is the subject of many of her tales. The following story, Lock the Doors, is one of Lavanya’s earlier narratives, written when she was in the second grade. Lavanya has been writing since the first grade and dreams of becoming a bestselling author. Her published collection of short stories is due to be released spring of 2018.
Lock the Doors, by Lavanya Shenoy
Once there was a girl named Lila. She had an old rusty shower in her house. The house smelled musty and looked like one big chunk of fur, with hair on the roof, floors, and walls.
This was because one day, a gorilla decided to make Lila’s room his home. Somehow, no one even realized he was in the house, although he was huge and looked like a giant fur ball.
He was as soft as a cuddly cat, but he smelled disgusting and he always went into her shower. He made her shower smell, and what’s worse, Lila didn’t know why her shower smelled horrible. That was a huge problem!!!
Lila would wake up early and decide to take a shower. “Eeew,” Lila would say, as she stepped in the shower. Then one day... “AAAAAAAAHHHH!”
Why did she scream? you might ask.
Because...she looked up and saw two.... giant... feet!
She looked further up and saw a big furry belly. Then she looked up even higher and saw a big, fat, furry face. It was the gorilla.
Now she knew why her shower smelled, but how was she supposed to get the gorilla out?
Lila went to the kitchen to find her mom, and she realized her dad had left the door unlocked when he left for work. Maybe that’s how the gorilla got in. She quickly turned the lock, then went back to the kitchen.
****
“I tried to get the gorilla out, but he was so heavy,” Lila said as she explained what happened to her mom. Her mom thought the gorilla must weigh 1 million pounds, so she called the strongest person she knew, a man named David. She told him to come over and use his strong arms to carry the gorilla out while it was asleep.
I hope her plan works, Lila thought.
****
“He's what?” Lila asked.
“He's.... heavy!” David screamed his lungs out. Lila stared at the busted up walls while David carried the gorilla out. “Wow! That was hard,” David said.
“Well, Dad never locks that door,” Lila explained.
“Lila,” he said, “How about you lock that door next time?”
“Alright,” she agreed.
Just then, Lila heard her dad at the door. Dad yelled, “Anyone home?” He smiled when he saw Lila. “Did you have a good day?” Dad asked.
“Um... yes,” Lila lied, then added, “you know…you should lock the doors.”
“Of course,” her dad said.
David smiled at Lila and she laughed.