Flying Fillappalow

Two children living in a quiet rural area. Step relatives with vivid imaginations to keep them preoccupied. Casey and Lacey, are best of friends. Casey plays practical jokes on his step sister Lacey

        FLYING FILLAPALOW

     Our fantasy story takes place in a rural farming town area named Miles. Not a whole lot to look at except cornfields and barn animals most of the time. For Casey Caden, and his little step sister Lacey Logan; which lived in Miles all of their lives. Living in the middle of a nowhere town, in a broken down old farmhouse. One of the first houses ever built in Miles, their family owned it, and the old schoolhouse was right across the dirt road from the house.. So everyday wasn't too boring. Casey always entertained himself by playing practical jokes on his sister for fun. Casey is twelve, and Lacey is almost a year younger. Both attended the one room old schoolhouse. Every student comes for their first to sixth grade class, for an education.  All of the other kids are bused in from the surrounding towns. After school, Casey and Lacey stayed so isolated playing together. Only because no one else except for one other person besides them lived in Miles. Some old lady; they think her name is Penny. She never comes out of her farmhouse she lives at. But while their parents are gone, Penny is supposedly watching them. But nothing ever happens in Miles. They only hear about farmers from school. Always complaining about the coming rain, or some scary severe storms warning. Casey gets so sick of hearing it, and Lacey gets scared of every cloud she sees in the sky. For them it was easy finding something to do being all alone. They seem to just be looking left and right. Desperate for something to do. Sensing an agreement is ripe while growing up with wild imaginations to keep their lives interesting. An idea always comes to Casey, he always has something going on.

     Gravel roads and fields were all too familiar. Any changes in scenery were always a welcome sight, and a treat to Lacey. But if the cows walked inside the barn on their own, Casey knew a serious storm was on the way. Lacey was always scared of dark clouds. Lacey has a wild imagination, and always feared the worst is coming. Casey Caden enjoyed thunder and lightening. He is always saying to Lacey Logan, it makes him feel alive; that it is exciting to him. Casey has a habit scaring Lacey for fun. Lacey never remembers her step brother being cruel, but thinks its just Casey being Casey again. Casey and Lacey are too close. Together their the only friends they have between them. The two were inseparable. Life on the farm means everything.

     Casey Caden was always cutting through the cornfields. Casey could walk for miles, and liked looking at the next town through the high cornstalks. Never coming out, just watching. Staying inside so long, he liked to make Lacey think he would disappear in the corn some day and never return. But Casey really liked roaming through the high corn stalks because it gave him a feeling of being alone. Casey imagines all sorts of ideas in his hiding spots. Listening to the older kids at school. Casey dreamed of the day he could move away from Miles, just like they wanted too.

     Lacey never wants to leave Miles. Her dream is to be the local artist, and draw everything, and sell her paintings in the surrounding towns. The city has a main street; main street wasn't very big, but the people there seemed to have more money than the farmers way out in Miles. Lacey liked the way they dressed, and drove newer cars. Lacey Logan knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. To be the Miles local artist; born and lived in Miles. Casey Caden thought Lacey had talent, and was creative enough, but also thought painting pictures of chickens and cows just wasn't his idea of an adventure.

     Miles, where they lived was so far away from the next small town, and the was city was even further from that. Taking the ride once a year was like going on a trip away from the farmhouse. Lacey talked funny all the way there, saying things like 'looky there' and 'wouldn't that be nice' . She always liked the ride; to her the ride never seemed very long. Lacey Logan used her imagination of the paintings she wanted to draw. For that idea was her adventure into town. Driving into town was always the big event. While staring down gravel roads, Casey was impressing himself with new ideas for playing jokes on Lacey when they get back. Gee whiz whoopty doo; going into the city just to see what its like. Casey really just wanted to get back and cut through the cornfields. For that idea was his own kind of adventure.

     Back home Casey Caden was quite the little inventor. Their parents leave them at the farmhouse alone most of the time. They worked and lived in the city, and only come back during harvest season. Penny is supposed to be their eyes and ears while away. Nothing ever happens in Miles anyway. But old woman Penny, if anyone asked; she knows all too well about watching corn grow. She also has to keep an eye on the step kids. Penny puts it on herself, because those two are the only kids in Miles. Penny owns her own rifle for protection from any strangers who happen to roll into town, or something like that. Just in case  anything, or something wrong happens. Penny watched the corn grow with one eagle eye on those kids, and the other on the only gravel road into Miles.

     Casey found pleasure tricking Lacey into being scared. One day Casey tried talking Lacey into taking a walk through the cornfield with him. Lacey wasn't having any of it. Casey Caden was like; not yet your not Lacey Logan. But just you wait till I let you know whats living in there. One day he got Lacey to cut through the corn. He led her in, and was walking behind her dragging a long piece of garden hose behind him. She didn't know he was carrying it. Casey was using it to make a swishing sound, and stopped. Saying it sounded like a corn snake was around them; to listen, and wait. Lacey Logan started to walk and heard the swishing and thought a snake was following her. They both stopped for another listen; Lacey didn't hear anything. When she began to take another step; with Casey behind her, he wiggled the hose to make the swishing sound again. Lacey Logan screamed and ran so fast, she believed the snake was following them because Casey said so. Lacey ran out of the cornfield all the way back home to run inside. Casey almost scared himself by watching her over reaction, but laughed. Casey later told her he wasn't being mean, he was just playing on her wild imagination. That there is really something growing he wanted to show her, there is a creature living in the cornfield. Lacey Logan wasn't having it, saying no to Casey.

     Casey is always playing with big bugs and spiders. Lacey also liked to watch Casey Caden catch them, but wouldn't dream of touching one. Lacey would rather paint a picture, and try to draw them than get too close. Casey thought of another trick to play on Lacey. He tied a long piece of thread to a leg of the huge beetle, and the other end to a large brown paper bag. Casey called Lacey outside to watch the bag that was mysteriously creeping across the yard on its own. Lacey Logan looking, her eyes were focused on the bag floating around, and Casey convinced her the magic was coming from the haunted cornfield.Thinking Casey was playing another dirty trick, she went back inside to finish painting her drawings of spiders and bugs, and forget about Casey for a while.

     Casey Caden always usually made up an imaginary world while inside his cornfield hiding spot, in his mind, or this time its something real. But until Casey gets a feel for it, he doesn't tell Lacey Logan. Casey always played the strangest tricks on Lacey every chance he had, so this one is going to take some doing.

     With nothing to do all day again, later Casey asked Lacey to come with him so he could show her a pond that was inside the cornfield. When Lacey did not want to go with Casey, because she thought it was another trick he was playing. Casey Mentioned to her the pond was sort of magic, and there were boulders to climb on. Once on top of the rocks, the top of the pond water ripples, and the boulders rumble, and it feels like something is living beneath them in an underground hidden cave. Lacey couldn't believe her ears. Lacey was convinced this wasn't some kind of trick by the way Casey described it. And she wanted to paint the view real bad. She never went that far into the cornfield, but wanted to sell the painting in the city. Besides, its only corn, and watching corn grow gets old after a while. All she wanted to do is draw the picture, and come home. Nothing could go wrong in a cornfield any-who.

     Lacey needed something to draw. Casey and Lacey were talking about it looking around at nothing special. But Casey thinks there is something special, something different about the pond inside his cornfield. Lacey remembered Casey saying the ground rumbled, and her imagination sees a picture of it. And Casey thinks there is some kind of creature in the reflection of the pond. He seen something coming out to take a look around while he was standing on top of the boulders. Its the fire breathing flying Fillapalow toothed dragon. Lacey saying, 'looky here, there is nothing terrible down there'. They agreed to go in and really find out what is down there. Lacey had to draw something for the day.

     The creature wasn't fake or real. This is some kind of live imaginary entity. Casey imagined so hard, although its invisible, Casey can see a Fillapalow. Lacey can only use her imagination by what Casey tells her to draw. Both Casey Caden, and Lacey Logan are after all, coming out with their own works of masterpieces. Both Case and Lace must share the same split creature . One believes he actually sees it; a dragon. Comes up with his own nickname; Fillapalow. The other believes she could draw a flying fire breathing Fillapalow toothed dragon, which is an all made up idea. What a wonderment, old lady Penny has been ready for those two, she has been watching everything. Penny has been keeping her eyes on Casey and Lacey for years. And this is the cutest gag; Casey Caden has ever pulled on Lacey Logan ever.

     This would be the very first time old woman Penny came out of her farmhouse. She approached the two kids as they were coming out of the cornfield path. And was curious to check with them where they were, what they saw, and wanted to see Lacey's picture she was drawing.

      Casey and Lacey didn't want to be in trouble, so kindly explained the whole story to old woman Penny.

     Going on and on; Lacey explained, she wanted to see Casey play out his imagination, so they took bread and sticks to pick around the opening between the boulders by the pond. Believing something was living underneath the boulders in an underground cave. Even now, Lacey believes a dragon left footprints, and seen it in a reflection on the pond. It looked like a dragon with wings; it was chewing on something, and coughed out a burst of tiny flames. It had a long neck, and four teeth on the outside of its mouth. We think its the Fillapalow fire breathing flying dragon. At first, Lacey thought this was a story Casey made up to sound like a new discovery or something. At the moment I drew my picture by what Casey said it looked like...we knew what it was; Fillapalow!

     Penny stood there in wonderment, and only mentioned that it was a huge bird they saw, which she just seen flying over the cornfield a moment ago. But its okay, the picture is wonderful, and am sure some nice person will like to buy a picture of Fillapalow the fire breathing flying dragon. Especially seeing its from a famous local artist named Lacey Logan; the girl from Miles.

     Casey, standing there not saying a word, and holding back a massive burst of his cracking up at Lacey. Didn't have the heart to let her know it was a practical joke.

     Lacey Logan on the right path, grew up into becoming a well known local artist. She never moved away from Miles. and still lives in the old broken down farmhouse and has a daughter she named Allison. Casey Caden; on the other-hand, has left Miles to become a famous author writing for the Sedona Herald in Arizona, and has never returned to Miles ever since. Penny; the old woman. Still lives in Miles, and is a ripe ninety three years old.

       End of Story   JJN

                               'Be immune to rumor' Jimmy Nuzz
    
             

    

    

Author's Note

A must read' this adorable story breaths life into the readers wonderment on two inspirational kids who refuse to feel bored.