It is finally my birthday, and I am going to Montana to celebrate. Personally I have no idea why but who cares. I can invite one friend to go because my plane tickets are very expensive and my parents told me that I will have an extremely amazing birthday gift. I’m thinking that it will be a fish or something, knowing my family but who knows. I decide to invite my friend Shannon to go with me, it is her and I share the same thoughts about everything. So I call her up and tell her, “Hi Shannon, how has Jack been”?
“Great, and happy birthday”! She replies
“Speaking of my birthday I was wondering if you’d like to go with me on my trip to Montana”?
“I would love to”. She answers.
“Wait what are we going to do? And how are we going to get there”?
“Don’t worry, Shannon, my parents bought both of us 1st class plane tickets”.
“Ok but I ask again, what are we going to do”?!
“Celebrate, go fishing, relax, go hiking that sort of stuff”.
“Ok I’ll start packing”.
Later we pick her up and we drive to the airport where my parents wish me a happy 14th birthday for the millionth time and we head for the bag check area. As I start putting my luggage on to be checked I notice that the checking woman looked cranky and said, “Hello”.
All she said is, “Look I am checking your bags now be quiet”!
“Um, well I need a bad hand checked because it has medicine in it”.
“Fine I will hand check this ugly red case for you”!
After she finished she said, “Here have your filthy bag”.
Shannon and I leave and head to boarding. Later getting boarded quickly. We ride the plane for about six hours before we finally land. When we get off I stretch my legs and yawn. As my Aunt Dana drives us to the cabin in the woods that we are staying at Shannon and I start to talk about what my presents will be. She thinks one will be a new TV for my bed room. I think one will be a fish. My aunt told us that she thinks that one will be a gift certificate to The Horse Emporium. Who knows.
We pull up and my aunt waves goodbye and to watch out for wolves and coyotes. At that comment I laugh a little and walk through the cabin’s hard wood door. It was actually a pretty nice place I mean, mahogany cabinets a modern kitchen, indoor plumbing, king size beds, fluffy sofas, satin armchairs, flat screen TVs, what a splendid place! We immediately unpack and change into our hiking gear and pack our back packs with, an compass, water bottles, a hunting knife, rope, and our fishing supplies. We hike to the lake where a brand new pontoon boat is waiting for us! I drive it out and we cast our lines. After a couple of hours we head back to the cabin with about six catfish and twelve trout. Shannon starts to clean them, an act I would never dare to do even for a thousand dollars. Soon dinner is finished and I decide it is getting too dark to continue to hike because of what my aunt said.
That night I was so glad of my decision, about an hour later I heard the blood curtailing howl then another. It turns out what my aunt was saying WAS true about the wolves. Shannon nor I were scared though, we both grew up around wolves and we knew how dangerous they were but we had learned their ways, their drives, and their favorite meals so we had no reason to be afraid. We walked out onto the porch and let out a couple of howls ourselves and then the wolves answered.
In the morning I screamed “IT IS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY”! Both Shannon and I went to the building that was attached to the cabin and found a mountain of presents including a 7 foot tall box, I was going to save it for last when a tag on it said, Alana open this one first, we love you Mom and Dad. So I pulled off the string and all four sides fell at once Shannon and I were stunned to see the what gift was. Then I whisper yelled A HORSE A HORSE I GOT A HORSE! I was so shocked at my gift that Shannon had to slap the side of my face ant reminded me that I still had some 30 presents left. I opened the next biggest and it was a set of saddles for my new horse, one hunt saddle, a saddle seat saddle, a pack saddle, and a jumping saddle. Next was matching bridles, saddle pads, and other tack. I can easily tell that it is a Kasiker Saddlebred X-breed. A horse also known as the American All-rounder. With the high action and grace of a saddle bred and the strength and speed plus the sense of direction made this horse perfect for me.
Later that day on my first trail ride I gallop my new horse, now named Duchess as fast as I can when a huge wolf leapt out of the brush and snapped at Duchess’s feet. She pawed the air with her extremely hard hoofs. I believe she was going to crush him when, he leaped sky high and bit Duchess on top of her neck. She shrilly whinnied in pain and then bolted. The enormous male charged after us. We were running at break-neck speed but I knew with her breeds blended into her enormous frame, would keep her from falling or losing her footing on the rugged mountainous cliffs of Montana. Racing over the hills, plunging into rivers and tearing up dirt, cutting tight corners, hearts throbbing, wind racing, and that harsh wolf snapping at our heels. After jumping a series of logs the wolf had to stop. Silently, the beast curled up, remaining watchful even as it rested.
We trotted back to the cabin breathless and we called a mountain equine vet to treat her neck and leg wounds. I am quite proud of my horse. I later phoned my friends about the chase and then my aunt. Now I am riding back to Minnesota where Shannon and I can relax with Duchess and enjoy our lives. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll go back and enjoy my birthday all over again.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Historical fiction: The Battle of Midway
June 1, 1942
“Good Bye” yells my sister as me and my brother board the ships we are sent to, to go to Midway Atoll. But both of us know that she is only worried about my brother Dave who is 18 and is on the USS Yorktown, she is worried because it just got back from the battle of Coral Sea where it got a major beating, only getting band-aid repairs in three days. As for me I am aboard the USS Enterprise or the Big-E as we call her because she is the largest navel carrier in the world. Any way we get on our ships and soon we are racing toward our destination of Midway. 6 hours later me and my crew mates are sent to bed.
June 2, 1942
I woke up this morning to find that the ship was in surprisingly smooth water turns out we are docked at a nearby islands harbor turns out that we are 200 miles from Midway and we docked to safely prepare our ships and planes for the fight with Japan. I help prepare my SDB Dauntless dive bomber for the fight and help my friend Larry prepare his SDP Avenger fighter. He is an escort for my brother’s group of Devastator bombers which are probably the worst bomber of the battle. Soon though our peaceful preparation day is interrupted by one of the USS Hornet’s message decoders came rushing out of her yelling, “ Everyone we got to go, we just intercepted one of admiral Yatimoto’s messages saying they are only a day away from Midway”! All 3546 of us race to our ships and start to race once again to Midway. Once we are withing 50 minutes of Midway we are ordered to send out 10 scout planes to search for our target. But an hour later no luck. We then arrive there and wait for the invading Japanese fleet.
June 3, 1942
I had to wake up early this morning to get my Dauntless ready by testing the radio and checking the fuel and oil. Soon another Avenger scout plane group is launched and we have news this time. Then Larry the leader of the group radioed to me they found the fleet and they were heading back to refuel. Then when he arrived he ran out saying, “Ok we found ‘em and they are docked”
“Where are they”? I asked
“ They are an hour away”! he responded.
“ How big is the fleet”?
“Huge, there are at least four carriers and about 58 ships in total”!
I knew this was bad because we were outnumbered greatly. By then the other pilots from the scout planes had told Admiral Fletcher. But we all knew that we had the clear element of surprise and at least had a fighting chance against the greatest navel group in the pacific.
June 4, 1942
I awoke to an alarm blasting meaning that we need to be up and ready fast. By 10:00 me and my Dauntless group had been flying for an hour and half our fuel was used up and we knew we should head back when, “ I see them”! radioed my right wingman.
“Where”! I responded and he pointed what looked like a tiny battleship. But instead of blowing it up, we followed it because it was going at flank speed which is where it is not doing anything but heading back to the fleet. Our plan worked the boat lead us right to the main fleet. Because the clouds were thick until 2500 feet we could easily attack with them having no idea what happened. We decided that half would attack the Japanese flag ship the Akagi and half would attack the Kaga. We all know that we will have one shot and one only and there was no time for mistakes. At first everyone just went for the Akagi instead of half going to the Kaga, but me and my two wingmen along with another pilot did not follow the other dive bombers heading at a screaming speed to drop over 12 tons of bombs on the unsuspecting fleet. We angled at the Kaga and shot through our cloud cover, then before the enemy could do anything about it my right and left wingmen had dropped both their 1000lb bombs and had pulled back up. Now it was my turn and I aimed my first bomb at the big red spot on the flag painted on their deck and within seconds I saw a huge fire ball erupt from my target and then I saw the horrified looks on the enemy’s head admiral Numago’s face, the once great navy leader had been defeated and we had only 3 more carriers left to kill. Soon after I saw the horrific image of the Akagi up in flames. Next was Soryu and she had the same fate that two of her sister carriers had. I had so much happiness when I noticed I had about 100 miles left of fuel and the USS Enterprise was around 110 miles away from us. I knew well that if we did not go now we would have to ditch in the ocean and be killed by the enemy or die of thirst or hunger.
June 5, 1942
We made it back to the Enterprise and only lost one dauntless fighter. So far I am able to relax but I’m worried about my little brother because like I said before he is on the USS Yorktown. And by 11:30 I see 2 groups of Zeros heading right toward the Yorktown and then I see a black object drop from one of the horrible little planes. Then fire erupts from her port side and I turn my head and a single salty tear falls from my eye, for I know that my brother is dead. I am later sent to attack the ship that launched the Zeros that killed my brother, the last enemy carrier the Hairu. When I am awaiting take off the image of the Yorktown flashes in front of me then I hear the roar of engines then I hear Admiral Fletcher yell to go now. I speed forward and within seconds I am up in the air and once again leading a group of seven Dauntlesses to attack the last enemy carrier. About thirty minutes later we see our target, but without cloud cover they see us to, then a hail of anti-aircraft fire begins. We are flying at about 6000 feet and we start to dive one by one I was the third to dive and I landed the third blast to the Hairu. By 4:00 she is sunk and we head back.
June 6, 1942
This morning we saw the Japanese retreating through the whole battle we lost only 5 of our 31 ships while the enemy lost 19 of its 53 ships. While retreating the IJN Mikuma and IJN Mogami crashed into each other sinking them both. Turns out that Admiral Yanamoto apologized personally to the emperor and their navy is trying to keep the whole thing a secret but it won’t stay like that for long.
“Good Bye” yells my sister as me and my brother board the ships we are sent to, to go to Midway Atoll. But both of us know that she is only worried about my brother Dave who is 18 and is on the USS Yorktown, she is worried because it just got back from the battle of Coral Sea where it got a major beating, only getting band-aid repairs in three days. As for me I am aboard the USS Enterprise or the Big-E as we call her because she is the largest navel carrier in the world. Any way we get on our ships and soon we are racing toward our destination of Midway. 6 hours later me and my crew mates are sent to bed.
June 2, 1942
I woke up this morning to find that the ship was in surprisingly smooth water turns out we are docked at a nearby islands harbor turns out that we are 200 miles from Midway and we docked to safely prepare our ships and planes for the fight with Japan. I help prepare my SDB Dauntless dive bomber for the fight and help my friend Larry prepare his SDP Avenger fighter. He is an escort for my brother’s group of Devastator bombers which are probably the worst bomber of the battle. Soon though our peaceful preparation day is interrupted by one of the USS Hornet’s message decoders came rushing out of her yelling, “ Everyone we got to go, we just intercepted one of admiral Yatimoto’s messages saying they are only a day away from Midway”! All 3546 of us race to our ships and start to race once again to Midway. Once we are withing 50 minutes of Midway we are ordered to send out 10 scout planes to search for our target. But an hour later no luck. We then arrive there and wait for the invading Japanese fleet.
June 3, 1942
I had to wake up early this morning to get my Dauntless ready by testing the radio and checking the fuel and oil. Soon another Avenger scout plane group is launched and we have news this time. Then Larry the leader of the group radioed to me they found the fleet and they were heading back to refuel. Then when he arrived he ran out saying, “Ok we found ‘em and they are docked”
“Where are they”? I asked
“ They are an hour away”! he responded.
“ How big is the fleet”?
“Huge, there are at least four carriers and about 58 ships in total”!
I knew this was bad because we were outnumbered greatly. By then the other pilots from the scout planes had told Admiral Fletcher. But we all knew that we had the clear element of surprise and at least had a fighting chance against the greatest navel group in the pacific.
June 4, 1942
I awoke to an alarm blasting meaning that we need to be up and ready fast. By 10:00 me and my Dauntless group had been flying for an hour and half our fuel was used up and we knew we should head back when, “ I see them”! radioed my right wingman.
“Where”! I responded and he pointed what looked like a tiny battleship. But instead of blowing it up, we followed it because it was going at flank speed which is where it is not doing anything but heading back to the fleet. Our plan worked the boat lead us right to the main fleet. Because the clouds were thick until 2500 feet we could easily attack with them having no idea what happened. We decided that half would attack the Japanese flag ship the Akagi and half would attack the Kaga. We all know that we will have one shot and one only and there was no time for mistakes. At first everyone just went for the Akagi instead of half going to the Kaga, but me and my two wingmen along with another pilot did not follow the other dive bombers heading at a screaming speed to drop over 12 tons of bombs on the unsuspecting fleet. We angled at the Kaga and shot through our cloud cover, then before the enemy could do anything about it my right and left wingmen had dropped both their 1000lb bombs and had pulled back up. Now it was my turn and I aimed my first bomb at the big red spot on the flag painted on their deck and within seconds I saw a huge fire ball erupt from my target and then I saw the horrified looks on the enemy’s head admiral Numago’s face, the once great navy leader had been defeated and we had only 3 more carriers left to kill. Soon after I saw the horrific image of the Akagi up in flames. Next was Soryu and she had the same fate that two of her sister carriers had. I had so much happiness when I noticed I had about 100 miles left of fuel and the USS Enterprise was around 110 miles away from us. I knew well that if we did not go now we would have to ditch in the ocean and be killed by the enemy or die of thirst or hunger.
June 5, 1942
We made it back to the Enterprise and only lost one dauntless fighter. So far I am able to relax but I’m worried about my little brother because like I said before he is on the USS Yorktown. And by 11:30 I see 2 groups of Zeros heading right toward the Yorktown and then I see a black object drop from one of the horrible little planes. Then fire erupts from her port side and I turn my head and a single salty tear falls from my eye, for I know that my brother is dead. I am later sent to attack the ship that launched the Zeros that killed my brother, the last enemy carrier the Hairu. When I am awaiting take off the image of the Yorktown flashes in front of me then I hear the roar of engines then I hear Admiral Fletcher yell to go now. I speed forward and within seconds I am up in the air and once again leading a group of seven Dauntlesses to attack the last enemy carrier. About thirty minutes later we see our target, but without cloud cover they see us to, then a hail of anti-aircraft fire begins. We are flying at about 6000 feet and we start to dive one by one I was the third to dive and I landed the third blast to the Hairu. By 4:00 she is sunk and we head back.
June 6, 1942
This morning we saw the Japanese retreating through the whole battle we lost only 5 of our 31 ships while the enemy lost 19 of its 53 ships. While retreating the IJN Mikuma and IJN Mogami crashed into each other sinking them both. Turns out that Admiral Yanamoto apologized personally to the emperor and their navy is trying to keep the whole thing a secret but it won’t stay like that for long.
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