The story of Ning, Dog, and Boss
Hello, friends! Today I want to introduce you to my book titled
Sleep Travelers Book 1 The story of Ning, Dog, and Boss
This book was featured at the LA Times Book Festival on the campus of UCLA. On April 22-23. I plan to post one chapter daily of this book and, when finished, a chapter a day of the sequel called Sleep Travelers Book 2, The Amusement Park.
A child’s imagination is a wonderful thing and must be encouraged. They vividly imagine being the Captain of their Pirate ship, the hero of their adventure, handsome, beautiful, brilliant, and strong. They conquer the world and do anything and everything. The lucky ones keep that childhood wonder! It is so sad many adults lose it on the long bumpy road to adulthood. This is the story of a young girl named Dawnie, who will never lose that childhood wonder.
Okay, onward and upward! I apologize for the delay in posting chapters; we have been moving into our new house.
Chapter 12 Mr. Shirl cooks
Just as they were closing their eyes to “think inside,” a tall man appeared in a Brown uniform and hat with the Zoo Park insignia on the front. He looked amused at the sight of the animals and a little girl all standing around looking longingly at the firmly closed door of the Cook Shack.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night, Young Lady? And what are all of you animals doing out of your cages?” He said, sounding friendly and curious.
Dawnie again stepped in front of the group and said, “We came to visit the Zoo animals and have had an absolutely grand time. These are my friends Beauty, Blackie, Tigger, Ella, Ning, Dog, and Boss, pointing to each one and finally to herself, “I am Dawnie. We are all sleep travelers and are hungry, but I am the only one with hands and not allowed near a real stove. We need some help.” She said, looking up at him with those big brown/green eyes and a sweet smile.
With a gentle smile on his face, he scooched down to be close to her height, “Well, we will have to do something about that, won’t we, Little Lady?” And with a big smile on his face, he got up, unlocked the door, opening it wide for everyone to come in.
“My name is Shirley, but everyone calls me Shirl.”
“That is my Daddy’s name too!” Said an excited Dawnie.
“That is interesting.” He said as he rolled up his sleeves, putting on an apron in preparation to start cooking.
What do you all want to eat?” He asked.
He was bombarded with shouts of “French Fries! Hot dogs! Burgers! Something to drink!
He lit the grill and the fryers for french fries. As he worked, the whole group stood in rapt fascination. After all, they had never had any of this food, and they were amazed watching Shirl prepare it for them. Mr. Shirl worked quickly, producing everything they asked for.
When he had dished out food for everyone, including himself, they all sat down at the booths or stood at the tables and munched the food until they were so full they knew another bite would make them burst.
“Oh, Mr. Shirl, thank you so much; we enjoyed the food.” Miss Dawnie said as she jumped up on his lap and threw her arms around his neck, planting a big kiss on his cheek. Looking up into his blue eyes, she thought, “His eyes are just like my Daddy’s. As a matter of fact, he looks just like him. But it can’t be him; he is home sleeping.
Tigger grabbed a ketchup bottle in his paws and squeezed it until a heavy stream of red sprayed Blackie in the face. He laughed hysterically at the look on Blackie’s face. Blackie not to be outdone, grabbed a bottle of mustard and, squeezing, was pleased to see the thick stream of Yellow flowing down the front of Tigger. Soon everyone, including Shirl, was grabbing bottles of ketchup and mustard, and throwing food at each other, shouting and laughing until there was nothing left to throw.
“I’ve never done anything like that before, but now we not only made a mess of ourselves, but we messed up the kitchen. Mister Shirl, we are so sorry; what can we do to help you clean up?” Everyone said, kinda hanging their heads.
Stay tuned for Chapter 13, Daddy to the Rescue.