Our Teacher is a Vampire and Other (Not) True Stories

by Mary Amato

  “I was so worried, but you’re okay,” she said, and hugged him.

  Being in that water had scared him, but he made it.

  “You must be hungry,” she said, and gave him a carrot.

  He got to play with his friends and lived happily ever after.

  The End

  THURSDAY, JANUARY 30

  To the Whole Class:

  1.Our story is good, but we can make it much better.

  2.I’m doing some research on rabbits to find more facts about them. Their underground homes are called warrens, and they make tunnels in a zigzag pattern to keep predators from finding them easily. That’s just two facts we can add to the story. I have more.

  3.I am going to ask Mr. Pinkerton if we can spend time talking about how we can improve it. We’ll compliment before criticizing.

  Sincerely,

  Hi,

  I like our story, but I agree with Omar. Let’s give the characters names, and make their character traits stronger. If the rabbit is really young, he wouldn’t know much about the world or even how to talk. That could be interesting.

  —

  P.S. Omar, that means when the rabbit talks, he will make mistakes. Don’t correct those.

  Greetings Fellow Fiction Writers,

  I have a HUGE IDEA to make the story better. I am jumping inside because it’s so great. I got this idea while I was walking to the bus stop. Mali Koam is right about how walking can give you ideas. It’s an idea for a new character to add suspense and another obstacle to the story. When I told Mr. Pinkerton about it this morning, he smiled and said, “Nick, Kristin, Tee and Buzz just told me their ideas. You are all on fire.”

  He told me that we can take class time tomorrow and tell him all our suggestions. He’ll write them on the smartboard. Then we can work on making our changes every day until we get to THE END. That’s what he said, “every day,” not just on Fridays.

  Burning with excitement,

  I got some ideas, too. Bunny baby, we are going to go big or go home on you.

  —

  MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10

  Our Revision

  by Kristin

  Well, as my mom says, good cooking takes time. We worked on our story every day for over two weeks. We corrected all our mistakes. It’s the longest and best thing we’ve ever done. Mr. Pinkerton made three copies: one for us to put in this book, one for us to send to Mrs. Penrose, and one for us to send to Mali Koam.

  Everybody should read it again. Tomorrow, let’s write a card to go with it. Okay, drumroll, please . . .

  Riggy Pepper

  by the Writers of Delite

  CHAPTER 1

  Underneath the snow, Riggy Pepper was born in a warm, cozy warren. At first, he was just a tiny thing with brown fur, a white tail and a pink nose. He couldn’t even hop. Every night, his mother told him a story, gave him a hug and tucked him in.

  One night Mrs. Pepper said, “Winter is almost over, Riggy. Soon, when you are stronger, we will hop down the hill. Other rabbits live there, and they’ll be your friends. You can play with them.”

  “Me wanna go now,” Riggy said, jumping out of bed. “Me strong. See? Big foot!” He tried to hold up one foot, but he lost his balance and fell down.

  “Oh, Riggy.” His mother smiled. “Have patience. The world is a dangerous place, and you are still too little.”

  Riggy couldn’t stop thinking about those other rabbits. One night, when his mother and father were deep in dreams of cabbages and carrots, he decided to find his friends.

  CHAPTER 2

  Excited, Riggy followed their tunnel up through the dark earth as it zigzagged toward the surface. Suddenly his nose pressed against something cold and wet. Snow! Of course, he didn’t know what it was. To him, it was a cold, wet wall. He pushed his nose into it again, breathing hard, and his breath melted a little of it.

  He dug into it with his front paws, making a small snowball. He licked it.

  Yum!

  “Me like this wall,” Riggy said to himself. Little by little, he dug and munched and ate his way through the snow that was blocking part of their hole. Then his head poked out into the fresh air of the cold, dark night.

  The rolling hill of the prairie was tucked in tight under a white quilt of snow. On one side of the hill trickled the cold water of a creek. Here and there, pine trees were holding their branches out to the sky.

  Riggy sat very still, catching his breath, looking at the perfect snow, listening to the music of the creek, and feeling the fingertips of the wind on his fur. Then he turned and looked up. In the black sky, the full round moon was hanging just over the top of the hill, surrounded by white shining stars.

  Riggy jumped for joy. He thought the moon and stars were other rabbits.

  “That be the mama rabbit and all my friends. They no sleeping. They be waiting for me.” He began to hop up the hill. “Me coming! Me wanna play!”

  Up he went. His small hops left tracks in the snow. Soon Riggy was getting tired, but he was a determined little guy, and he kept hopping through the night. He was building up his bunny muscles.

  CHAPTER 3

  Way at the top of the hill, an owl was perched in a pine tree. He was a very proper owl with a round, white face and frightening yellow eyes that never seemed to blink. He turned his head and saw a set of shadow tracks below.

  “Interesting,” he said to himself. The tracks were slowly, slowly moving up the hill. He lifted off his branch and sailed down for a closer look. “Ah . . . a delicious-looking mammal. I have already eaten my dinner, but I do so love a plump, juicy bunny for dessert.”

  He swooped down silently with his sharp talons sticking out.

  The tiny rabbit did not suspect a thing. He was hopping along when suddenly the owl grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him off the ground.

  “Now that I have this prey in my grasp, my stomach is rumbling,” said the owl. “I am looking forward to this midnight snack.

  ” His powerful wings sliced through the dark night as he headed to his lair in the ancient, craggy pine tree.

  Riggy didn’t know what was going on. He just knew he was flying through the air, heading straight for the moon.

  He looked up at the owl. “Hey, thanks for the lift. Me tired.”

  The owl almost dropped him in shock. “You can’t thank me. My victims are always terrified of me.” He added an evil laugh, just to seal the deal. “Mwa-ha-ha.”

  As they flew toward the tree, Riggy looked at the snow-covered hill and the creek below. “Wee! Me fly like the wind. Higher! Higher!”

  The owl glided along, scowling.

  After a moment, Riggy said, “Me Riggy.”

  “My name is Professor Perchkin the Predator,” the owl said with great dignity.

  Riggy laughed. “Hi, Buddy.”

  “I am called Professor Perchkin the Predator,” the owl repeated.

  “Okay, Buddy!” Riggy started to do a little dance in the air with his hind feet and his front paws. “Me like the wind in my toes. Me like the wind up my nose,” he sang. “Sing with me, Buddy.”

  “That is an extremely silly song,” the owl muttered.

  “Mama sings with me.”

  “I’m not your mother.”

  The rabbit turned his head to try to see his home. Instead, he saw his white tail for the first time. “Hey, Buddy! Me gots a snowball stuck on me.”

  Professor Perchkin almost had to laugh. “You are a cottontail rabbit. That is your tail. You are one of the lagomorph species in the genus Sylvilagus.”

  Riggy wiggled his rear end and laughed. When he turned his head back around, they were about to crash into the tree. “Hey, watch out!” Riggy cried, as the tree came closer and closer. Suddenly the owl let go, dropping him into the owl’s nest. A moment later, Professor Perchkin landed next to him on the branch.

  Riggy looked into the owl’s round face and then at the moon just beyond him. “Hey, me wanna go there and play.”

  �
�You are my prey,” the owl said, “and this is my domain.”

  “Aw, you wanna play, too?” Riggy started dancing in the nest.

  “I do not play. I eat,” said the owl.

  “Me eat, too,” Riggy said. He hopped over to the tree trunk and licked it. “Yuck!” He picked up a paw full of snow and ate a mouthful. “Yum!” He held it out to Professor Perchkin and smiled. “You wanna eat, Buddy?”

  The owl blinked. He had never captured prey quite like Riggy, and it was throwing him off. He closed his eyes for a moment, wondering what to do. When . . . smack!

  The little guy threw a snowball at him. “Play! Play!” Riggy jumped up and down on the branch.

  Professor Perchkin laughed. “As my dear mother always says, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!’ ”

  They had a major snowball fight.

  Chapter 4

  After they were done, Professor Perchkin shook the snow from his wings and said, “Who am I trying to fool? I can’t eat you, Riggy.” Gently he picked up Riggy, flew down, and set him on the snow. “Burrow underneath the snow and get some rest. In the morning, you can hop home.”

  The little rabbit looked up at the owl. “Nighty-night.” He held out his arms for a hug.

  Professor Perchkin cleared his throat. “Um . . . um . . . owls do not give good-night hugs—” Before he could finish, Riggy jumped forward and gave him a big hug.

  “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Professor Perchkin said, patting the rabbit on the head with the tip of his wing. “Now go to sleepy—I mean, go to sleep, Riggy.”

  The little rabbit dug a hole under the snow and fell fast asleep.

  The owl waited until he heard him snoring, and then he flew back up to this nest.

  “What a strange night,” he said to himself as he looked out over the hillside.

  Finally the owl tucked his head down and fell asleep. The moon and stars closed their eyes and floated off, too. While everyone was sleeping, the sun was waking up. She wanted to put on her new yellow dress and strut her stuff, but some clouds had big plans. Like a bunch of bullies, they crowded the sky. When morning came they started storming, sending down a bad mix of sleet and freezing rain. The wind picked up its speed. Like a wild wolf, it howled through the leaves of the trees.

  Chapter 5

  Riggy’s mother woke up to find Riggy missing. “Wake up!” Mrs. Pepper said to her husband. “Riggy is gone.” They looked in all the tunnels, but he wasn’t there. Finally his mother hurried all the way up to the surface and looked out.

  A storm! Sleet and rain!

  The mother rabbit froze in fear, her fur ruffling in the wind.

  Boom! Crack! Lightning and thunder!

  She jumped. “Riggy! Where are you?” She shivered and began hopping all around. “Riggy? Come back! Come back!”

  She was hoping that her bunny would hear her voice.

  Plink! Plink! The freezing rain hit the snow above Riggy’s face and woke him up. He dug his way out of his little burrow in the snow. It wasn’t night, but the sky was dark.

  Far away from his warren, he called out, “Mama!” Only the wind howled back. Scared, he turned to hop back home, but he slipped on an icy patch and slid. He landed with a terrible splash in the creek.

  The bunny had never been in water and didn’t know what to do. The water was cold and rushing. He held his breath and tried to feel for the ground with his feet, but the water was too deep and moving too fast.

  Down the hill the creek rushed, carrying poor Riggy in its watery arms. His tiny lungs felt empty and tight. His last bits of oxygen were disappearing. Desperately he paddled up to the surface and gasped for air.

  His legs and arms were growing tired. He didn’t know if he could make it. Just then, a stick floated by and he reached out and grabbed it.

  The rushing creek was carrying Riggy right past his own warren. His mother and father were there. He could see them.

  “Help! Help!” the bunny called out as he held on to the stick and paddled to keep his head above the water.

  Mr. and Mrs. Pepper were searching for him, but their backs were to the creek, and the sound of the wind was filling their ears.

  “If I can just yell louder,” the bunny thought. He struggled to take a deeper breath, but his lungs were so small. “Help! Help!”

  As the bunny was swept away by the water, the sound of his cry was swept away by the wind.

  Chapter 6

  Poor Riggy struggled in the cold water, trying to paddle over to the side. But the current of the creek kept pulling him along.

  Ahead, he saw a branch that had fallen across the creek. If only he could grab onto that, then he could climb out of the creek.

  As he passed under it, he took a chance. He let go of his stick and reached up. His left paw slipped, but his right paw grabbed hold of the branch. The problem was that he didn’t have enough strength left to pull himself out of the water.

  Desperately, he tried to reach up with his feet.

  Although Riggy didn’t know it, his movement caught the attention of two creatures who happened to be out.

  Nickers and Abbit, two rabbits from the warren at the bottom of the hill, were on duty that day. They were hiding under a bush. It was their job to watch for predators.

  “Check that out,” Nickers said. “A sewer rat is stuck on that branch in the creek.”

  “What’s he doing so far from the big city?” Abbit wondered.

  Krikri and Higgin popped out of the warren hole and looked.

  “That’s not a sewer rat,” Krikri said.

  “That’s a rabbit!” Higgin said. “That’s one of us.”

  Quickly they thumped their feet, sending a signal to the warren below.

  Six other rabbits came up. They were all good friends. You could tell because they were all wearing friendship bands around their front paws that a rabbit named Cuffy had made.

  “That rabbit is going to lose his hold,” said Tippy.

  “Or the branch will break,” said Innzy.

  “We need to help,” Jaja said.

  “Time for action,” Buff agreed.

  Quickly they began to hop toward the creek.

  Chapter 7

  At that same moment, Professor Perchkin opened his eyes.

  “Ah, I see the weather has taken a rather nasty turn,” he said to himself. “I think I’ll stay in my tree.” He wrapped his wings around himself like a cape, and then he spied Riggy struggling to hold on to the branch. “That little whippersnapper doesn’t know how to swim. He’ll drown!” He shook his head. “This is none of my business. I will not get involved.” He tried to look away, but couldn’t. “Oh pish posh, I have to do something!” He lifted off from the branch and headed out to help.

  The owl was focused on Riggy. He liked Riggy and was thinking about him and nothing but him. That was why he didn’t notice all the other rabbits heading for the creek.

  Unfortunately, the other rabbits didn’t know he was on Riggy’s side. It was their natural instinct to be afraid of the owl.

  “Enemy!” Odar cried. “We have to scare him away.”

  Chapter 8

  Nickers, Abbit, Buff and Cuffy stopped right before the fallen branch. They made hard iceballs with their paws. The others quickly followed.

  Riggy looked up and saw Professor Perchkin swooping down.

  “Hurray!” Riggy thought. He couldn’t hold on to the branch another moment.

  Just then, the rabbits threw the iceballs. One whizzed by the owl’s face, another by his back, and then another, and another. Dazed, Professor Perchkin darted up and swerved away.

  “No!” Riggy cried, and let go of the branch. He fell into the cold water.

  The rabbits quickly held hands to make a chain and jumped into the creek. The fast current made Riggy slam up against their linked arms, but they didn’t let the chain break. Riggy used the last of his strength to reach out with his paws. He grabbed hold of one of the friendship bands.

  The rabbits
cheered.

  “Hold on! We’ll pull you in,” Tippy said.

  They pulled him safely to the bank of the creek. Riggy could feel his feet on the ground again. He hopped onto the field and collapsed. He was so tired, he could hardly breathe. His fur was completely wet. His ears were droopy, and his tail was stringy.

  “Are you sure this dude is a rabbit?” Nickers asked.

  “He really does look like a sewer rat,” Higgin added.

  Riggy tried to lift his head to see if Professor Perchkin was okay. “Buddy,” he gasped.

  “The owl is your buddy?” Krikri asked.

  “Look,” Jaja said. Professor Perchkin was on the other side of the river, watching them with his yellow, unblinking eyes.

  “The little fellow’s name is Riggy,” Professor Perchkin said. “He’s a friend.”

  “Sorry about those iceballs,” Nickers said.

  Professor Perchkin shrugged his feathery shoulders. “You were just doing your job.”

  Riggy smiled, but then his head fell back down to the ground.

  Worried, the rabbits and Professor Perchkin huddled around him. They made a bed of soft green pine needles and a canopy of green pine branches in a circle around him. He was breathing, but not as much as he should. They watched over him. All through the day and night, they sang to him and told him stories, even though they didn’t know if he could hear them. He wouldn’t open his eyes.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, the sun came out. The clouds grumbled away, and the sky turned blue. Rays of sun warmed up the pine branches and made a circle of light on Riggy. The green pine needles grabbed onto the light and sent out oxygen.

  Still, the tiny white fur on Riggy’s chest was hardly moving, and his eyes stayed closed.

  They didn’t know what to do.

  “Riggy!” a voice called. The rabbits turned to see Mrs. Pepper hopping down the hill.

  “He’s here,” Higgin called out.

  The other rabbits made a space for her in the huddle, and Professor Perchkin stepped back so that he wouldn’t frighten her.