The History of Sticks Chapter 1

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”

― Terry Pratchett

There once was a panda named Tubs. His few friends made fun of his name, because he was “tubby”, even for a panda. Tubs didn't really mind. He was much more interested in his collection of sticks. He has been collecting them for 2 years, 4 months, and 12 days, and it was quite impressive, so he told himself. Every day, he would go out into the woods and gather new and unique sticks that he had never seen before, which just happened to be all of them.

One day, while Tubs was completing his routine stick hunt, he saw something he had never before seen. It was the biggest, bestest, most impressive stick that he had ever seen. "What a perfect stick. I must have it for my collection". Tubs walked to the stick and tried to pick it up, but something unexpected happened.

"Ouch! Just what do you think you're doing?!" the stick yelped. Tubs jumped back, startled.

"I've never seen a talking stick before. You must be very rare." he said, slowly walking back in on the stick for further investigation. "Would you be so kind as to be added to my stick collection?"

"I would indeed not, for I am here for a reason. I am to one day turn into a tree!" the stick said, attempting to stand as talk as it's twig like body could. This, however, was none at all, because sticks cannot stand.

"But your are a stick. Sticks are not meant for growing trees. That is for seeds and saplings."

"Do you think I don't know that?! I plan to be the first stick to ever become a tree in the history of trees!"

"I did not know there was a history just for trees"

"Is there a history for Pandas?" the stick questioned

"Why of course there is."

"Well then, there is a history for all things, including trees" Said the stick, who was getting rather irritated with Tubs. At this point Tubs realized that it was getting late, and he would have to go home with the few sticks he had collected.

. . .

The next day, Tubs went out into the forest with a new attitude. He was going to go see the talking stick again. His friends laughed at him when he told them of it, but tubs didn't feel they were worth proving himself too.

He spiraled further into the forest, deeper and deeper, until he found himself very lost amongst the tall, shadowy trees. As he wondered if he would ever find that talking stick, he tripped over a rock, stumbled to the ground, and fell down a hill. During his fall, Tubs tried to think of any regrets he had about life, couldn't, and proceeded slam into a tree at the bottom of the hill. Tubs was dead.

He had never died before. At least, not that he knew of. "I wonder what I can do now?" He thought to himself, turning about to preview the new landscape. The answer was ‘not very much’. He walked along what he could only guess was the ground. It stretched as far as he could see, and looked like unused paper. He had the reaction any mentally stable talking panda would have. He would draw. All of it needed something on it.

He drew, and he thought of the talking stick. So he decided that he would draw it on his purgatory canvas. The lines, the ground beneath it, and the air around it, Tubs slowly brought the stick to life.

“Hello, Aren't you the panda I saw in the forest”

Tubs looked around, But couldn’t pinpoint where the voice had come from. “Is that you, talking stick?”

“I would hope so. If I wasn’t me, who would I be?”

“Now is not the time to be philosophical. How on earth did you get here?”

“How do you think? You drew me here”

Tubs looked down at where his picture of the talking stick had been. Although it had not moved, it had become real, or at least as real as a stick could be. Tubs fell back onto one of his other drawings, a picture of a fluffy squirrel As he landed, a squeal rang out and the squirrel ran off farther into the void. “What’s going on? All I did was draw.”

The stick started “Well with my vast knowledge of this place, I will tell you all there is to know abou-”

“Really?” Tubs interrupted, halting the stick’s attempt at setting up a joke.

“No, not really! Why would I know anything about this place. You're the one that brought me here. I should be asking you what’s going on!”

Tubs hope was released in a sigh. “Well what do you know, then?”

“I know quite a lot about sticks”

“Well then, tell me about that”

Author's Note

Anything is help

Reviews

[ReedWrite]

Great chapter. Very enjoyable.
Some punctuation issues, but those are an easy fix.
Example: "I've never seen a talking stick before. You must be very rare." he said, slowly walking back in on the stick for further investigation.

Correct punctuation would be: "I've never seen a talking stick before. You must be very rare," he said, slowly walking back in on the stick for further investigation.

Another tip here. When designation inner thoughts, don't use quotation marks. Those are only for verbal dialogue. Internal thought is sometimes italicized, however. Ex: "I wonder what I can do now?" He thought to himself, turning about to preview the new landscape.

You have a great start with this...just a few technical issues that need cleaning up and polishing. Great story.