Glimpse into 7th Grade - Take 1

I was recently rummaging through a dusty keepsakes box and happened upon what I consider to be a invaluable treasure. It was my first writing portfolio from my 7th grade Honors English class at Jefferson Jr. High School (in Kearns, UT). There are tons of fantastic goodies in the portfolio, all of which I plan on sharing with you over the course of the next few weeks.

Today, I'll start with the prized gem of my portfolio, a short story entitled The Amazing Stunt. It was my very first written story. I still vividly remember the emotions that stirred inside of me as I created it. I hope you enjoy reading the unedited version as much as I did!

by Terron James
(Copyright May 1994 - as if any of you would want to steal it *snicker*)

Up in Provo there was talk going all over town about a circus that was going to show the most vicious, strongest, smartest, bravest, sneakiest Cheetah in the whole world. They were going to show it was so brave that it would attempt to jump over 20 feet of razor sharp razor blades just to get the fresh meat of an Elk. Almost everybody in Provo was planning to go to this amazing stunt. It was to take place right in the middle of Seven Peaks Resort Water Park. So not only will the circus get a lot of money off of this, but Seven Peaks would get tons of money, too, because people would pay to get into Seven Peaks so they can see the stupendous circus.

There was a line about a half a mile long of people waiting to get into the park. Even though kids were whining, people were falling asleep, and cops were harassing anybody who did so, they all knew it would be well worth it to see the Cheetah pull an amazing trick.

When everyone finally got inside, they started the circus show. They started out with a parade, then a clown show. People hardly ever said anything during these performances, but finally the Cheetah display began.

All the lights turned off in the circus and hundreds of colors started flashing all over inside the Cheetah’s den. Everyone in the crowd gave all kinds of cheers over the beautiful colors. Every once in a while, they could see a glance off the razor blades.

The Cheetah’s instructor stepped into the den and started talking. “I know mostly all of you came to see this seven foot long Cheetah jump over 20 feet of razor sharp razor blades.” The crowd cheered with roars of excitement. The man continued. “This huge animal can be frightened very easily and I would ask you all to be as quiet as you can. If this creature gets too scared it probably would pay even more attention to the noise than to the tender meat of the Elk. It also would probably start going hyper and run all over the cage like a bat out of hell. It might even attack me and injure me very badly. So as a favor to the circus and as a favor to me, I would ask you all to be quiet from now until I say you can talk again.” The crowd became so quiet that everyone could hear a mouse squeaking.

Suddenly the lights stopped flashing and a huge red spotlight covered the entire cage of the sly animal. The master cracked his whip AND OUT CAME THE CHEETAH! The crowd held in their excitement with all their might. The master cracked his whip again and the Cheetah climbed up a huge platform for which he would run down to get his speed for the amazing stunt jump. The crowd became even more still than they had been before. The Cheetah stood on it’s hind legs examining the stunned audience.

Suddenly, everyone heard trumpets sounding an announcing call. With a huge leap, the Cheetah started at full speed down the platform. The audiences’ stomachs jumped with excitement. With a flash of speed, the Cheetah zoomed down the platform and jumped! The crowd was awed with admiration. The Cheetah flew through the air soaring like an eagle. Suddenly, the Cheetah started dropping like a hawk speeding down to catch his prey. The children screamed with excitement.

Just as the Cheetah was about to land in the blades, it stretched out and grabbed onto the edge of the ground and pulled itself to safety. Then it went over to the elk and feasted.

The crowd cheered and applauded. HE MADE THE JUMP!

(extension written after portfolio was turned in) Suddenly, the Cheetah went nuts. He lifted up the elk in his jaws and threw the chewed up carcass onto the blades. Then he ran over to the protective fencing and started thrashing at it as if he was trying to get at something. Just then, someone in the crowed saw a blinding light shining in the Cheetah’s eye. He turned around and saw an irritating kid shining a mirror reflection at the Cheetah. A crowed of people started running at the kid to stop him, which made the Cheetah even worse. Suddenly the Cheetah broke through the cage and ran straight at the swarm of people trying to stop the kid with the mirror. Nobody noticed the Cheetah in the big clump until it was too late. With a 60 mile per hour jump the Cheetah landed right in the middle of the crowd, which happened to be on top of the boy. The boy scrame with a shriek of terror but the sound stopped right after it started People through up all over the ground at the grotesque sight of the poor child.

With blood running out of the corner of the Cheetah’s mouth, it took off after its instructor, which had been tormenting it through all the days of preparation for this assembly. The instructor tried to run, but when he noticed that the Cheetah was right on his tail, he turned around and whipped the Cheetah right in the nose with his whip. The Cheetah stopped with a screech of pain but that didn’t stop it. It pounced onto the instructor and before he could yell, he too was stopped in his tracks.

Now the Cheetah wanted out. It ran straight for the door, taking out anyone who got in its way. The Cheetah got outside, but only to find that tons of policemen were aiming guns at it. The Cheetah decided it wouldn’t go down without a fight, so it found the closest officer to him and pounced. While it was in the air, it got a bullet right in the heart by the patrolman it had leaped at. Still, the Cheetah landed right on top of the officer and got one more kill before he went.

See also:
Glimpse into 7th Grade - Take 2
Glimpse into 7th Grade - Take 3
Glimpse into 7th Grade - Take 4 (Final)