Renee

A young artist stumbles upon a very special type of ink which leads to fun which leads to fright which leads to confusion which leads to... well, you'll just have to read to find out, won't you?

Renée

Once upon a time there lived a very cute and very innocent little girl who loved to draw. She would spend hour after hour creating the most beautiful pictures of animals, flowers, friends, fairies, and any other cheerful thing you could possibly imagine. Her drawings were stunningly excellent, though the little girl, being very innocent, paid very little attention to this fact and simply assumed that everyone could make such prettyful things.

            This little girl’s name was Renée, and she also happened to have the good fortune of living near a forest which held a great deal of elegant and gorgeous scenery just waiting to be drawn.  It was filled with many lovely trees, all types of flowering plants, crystal clear streams, and even quite a few rocks that were rather cute.

One day Renée decided to take a stroll through this wondrous place and wait to be inspired. Normally it took no longer than five minutes for Renée to discover something worthy of her abilities. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you view the events that came from it, at precisely four minutes and forty-two seconds after she first set foot in the forest, Renée saw something she had never seen before. Something very interesting: a solid circle of smooth, white marble projecting from the ground at a height of exactly two feet.

She moved closer to investigate, and looked down into the circle. Inside was an opening that led to a long, curvy, wet, rock strewn corridor that had been carved into the earth by some ancient river or perhaps by someone that had very little to do.

Most young girls are terribly feeble creatures that hate nothing more than things that one might consider icky, and would have shuddered at the prospect of entering this dank, dark cave. Renée however, was actually quite brave, and thought the idea sounded like great fun.

She quickly scurried into the somewhat cramped hole. The small space soon opened into a cavernous room in which cave kisses slowly dripped from the ceiling. On the far side of the chamber stood a large stone that was shaped almost exactly like a cauldron, or perhaps a large stew pot.

Intrigued, Renée ran to the stone and looked inside. It was filled with funny looking water that seemed to be almost shiny. Throwing caution to the wind, she put an investigative finger into the basin. Ripples in all the colors of the rainbow slowly emanated from the spot she had touched. “Cool,” she said, still entranced by the ripples.

As she withdrew her hand she noticed that the viscous substance was still covering her finger, a line of the slimy stuff attaching it to the stone. The liquid turned from blue to green to yellow to red to violet, all the different colors running up to her finger and back down to the pool of funny water. “Oooh! Pretty!” said Renée. A few drops fell from her finger and onto the floor. Renée watched as the drops hardened into tiny black dots, grew wings, and flew away, buzzing through the entrance to the cave. 

“Woah,” said Renée, completely amazed. “Ink. Magic ink.” She began to giggle and jump from excitement. Renée would have liked very much to fill a pen with the stuff, but unfortunately, had brought only a pencil. Her face began to scrunch itself up in a most unpleasant manner, and she was on the verge of pouting when she had a rather splendid idea.

She grabbed a glob of the colorful ink between her fingers and drew two scrawny yellow legs with three scrawny toes each. Above the scrawny legs she put a not so scrawny white circle with two pudgy white wings. On top she made a small head, eyes, and a beak.

The drawing began to shimmer, then began to cluck. Renée’s hands were a mess, and the chicken wasn’t quite as detailed as it could have been, but her plan had, for the most part, worked perfectly. She plucked a feather from the animal and dipped the end of her make-shift quill into the magical fluid.

Renée was giddy with anticipation. She quickly set to work decorating the very dull, very boring, and very not very colorful at all cave. Lillis and roses and carnations and irises grew from the ground instantly. Miniature rainbows streaked through the air. Pink and purple clouds floated in front of a miniature sun that she had made to light up the place.

But what fun was such a pretty playground without anyone to share it with? She drew a big grin and large oval eyes on the sun to make him more cheerful. She then began to create every type of animal companion she could think of.

Soon lions and lambs and llamas and puppies and kitties and alligators and swans and creatures of all sorts were frolicking in the beautiful world that Renée had created. She even drew a few fairies that flew around the cave, giggling and squeaking as fairies often do.  

For a time Renée was extremely pleased with all of her new friends. However, a few problems did arise. The lions and the lambs seemed to have some trouble getting along. The alligator happened to have misplaced several of the puppies and kittens. The fairies were also playing very mean practical jokes on all of the four-legged animals. They used their fairy charm to convince them that, despite popular belief, all animals could fly and that their front legs were, in reality, wings! When the animals tried to flap their front legs, they, of course, fell onto the fronts of their faces.

As if all this unfriendliness were not enough, things had begun to get rather crowded. As a matter of fact, Renée now stood on the back of a pig who stood on the back of a horse who stood on the back of a very unfortunate grasshopper who had grossly overestimated his own strength.

No one could leave the cave because the elephant was blocking the entrance. Under normal circumstances he would have moved if asked nicely, but his trunk was in far too much pain from the terrible fall he had suffered while trying to fly. Though even if he had moved, the family of ostriches on which he had fallen probably would have still been in the way.

Renée was beginning to become terribly frustrated and to think that perhaps she had made a mistake, and ought to do something about it, but she wasn’t quite sure what. She drew a thinking cap to help herself along. With the help of this small furry device, it wasn’t long until she had another of her splendid ideas that never quite seemed to work out for some reason.

Renée drew a hole in the air that was roughly the same size as she. Inside of the circle she placed her very own bed with its bright orange sheets. She also drew her dresser and the small army of teddy bears that lived on top of it. She next added her pink, clown-covered nightstand. Finally, she colored in the light blue carpet and matching walls. She now had a perfect little picture of her bedroom. She took a few steps back, ran, and jumped through the circle.

“Yes!” Renée exclaimed, shuffling her feet in a dance of happiness. She was home. Now all she had to do was to close up that pesky hole. She put her quill to the hole, and… and… and nothing happened. She sadly looked down at the tip of her magic feather; it was empty. She broke the quill in half and threw it onto the ground in frustration, but soon realized that probably wouldn’t help. 

“Well,” she said to herself. “I suppose there is nothing more I can do about it and I shall just have to live with it.”

She was very tired from all the excitement, and lay under her orange sheets in an attempt to take a nap. Her attempt was unsuccessful because, as one can imagine, when so many animals are cooped into one place, they tend to make a lot of noise. 

Renée looked back at the hole, and there was the pig, who had so nicely allowed her to stand on his back. His head was through the hole, and he was staring at Renée with his sad, porky, pleading eyes. He wished very much to be with his new friend, but was too big to fit through the Renée sized hole.

Renée had designed the hole as such, because, frankly, a little girl’s bedroom is no place for animals. However, Renée also had a very big heart, and couldn’t bring herself to abandon her pink tubby friend. She walked over to the hole, put one hand on the top, one on the bottom, and pulled as hard as she could until the pig plopped forward onto the soft blue carpet.

He was soon followed by the sheep, then the monkeys. Soon an entire stampede was pouring from the hole, until, after exactly four minutes and forty-two seconds, by some strange coincidence, all the animals were now in her room, a place I may remind you, in which they do not belong. The only animal left outside was the elephant, who was simply too large to fit through the even now enlarged hole.

All the animals, though they often bickered, actually cared very much for one another, and each grabbed hold of a side of the hole. All together they pulled, and yanked, and wrenched, and quite shortly the hole was big enough for the elephant to walk through even without ducking.

Now, no matter what else happened, at least they were all together. Unfortunately, a herd of animals living in Renée’s room was not something her mother would approve of, and at that very moment she happened to be walking down the hall to see what all the noise was about. Renée’s mother had seen many strange things, but I do believe that this one topped the list. When her daughter explained how all of the animals had gotten there, Renée’s mother, a rather smart woman, knew instantly—even though she was wrong—that her brother Tim who worked for the circus must be playing some mean trick on her, and had even gotten Renée to join in on the joke.

Also a very strong woman, she yelled above the commotion, “All creatures without thumbs, please follow me!” Not wanting to upset her anymore, the animals dutifully followed her out of the house, down the street, and eventually to the circus. Even the monkeys, who technically had thumbs, but knew what she meant and didn’t want to cause trouble. When they arrived, Renée’s mother explained to the circus owner that he had been very cruel to participate in such a mean prank, and would he now please take back his animals.

The owner, knowing a sucker when he saw one, happily took the free animals. Free was a much lower price than the average market value, so things seemed to work out well for everyone. The animals were happy in their new home. They had a great deal more space, and learned to do many impressive tricks. Once a year they performed at Renée’s town, and their old friend always came to visit.

Renée also went on to have a rewarding and more or less happy life. She still often drew, but usually used pencil, and when she did draw in ink it was never magic. She often considered going back to the cave with the strange fluid, but never did after seeing what trouble it could cause. It was especially tempting though, considering that there was still a massive enchanted portal in her bedroom that happened to lead to said place, but she was able to move it into her closet with no little effort, and to largely ignore it. 

The only other notable thing that came from Renée’s adventure was that the fairies had run off when all the other animals came into her room. She never saw them again, but from that day often read stories in the newspaper about people who went into the forest near her house perfectly sane, and came out inexplicably convinced that they could fly…

 

Reviews

[jen -- JG]

Hell YES! I agree with all my heart. This is a fantasic write entertainig, exciting, fast, with lots of colour and movement. Simple enough for a child to read and enjoy, great for a parent to read to a child - and good entertaining fun for the child inside us adults. I love it.

Cheers

jen-JG

[Jamie Fantasy]

That was so cute! I loved the voice this was written in. It was so "Renee." I think this would make an incredible children's book if you were so inclined.

[Elise O'Haire]

I absolutely loved this! I wasn't sure what to expect at first...but this truly captured my imagination. I can clearly see this as a children's story book...with colorful pictures and all. It was very good, and there were a few lines I especially liked, such as how you had "at precisely four minutes and forty-two seconds" and "cave kisses". It was so sweet and I really enjoyed it (if you can't already tell!). Thanks very much for the review, and thanks for sharing this. I look forward to reading more of your writing.

Elise