Lollie Say What! by Harper Thayn

---

Lollie Say What?

by Harper Thayn

One fall mid-morning, my friend, Zoe, my two-year-old sister, Indie, and I went to the park with my Grandma Winnie. When we were playing, Indie started yelling my name. “Harper! HARPER!!!” she yelled. When I went over to her, I saw something very mysterious. I told Zoe to come over to me to show her what I found, green goop on a sparkly, glowing tree!

With little pops of colorful smoke, lollipops began appearing on the tree. “Pease?” said Indie, pointing to a rainbow lollipop. “Fine,” I said. “But just one.” So, all three of us tried one. We felt a tingly feeling spread throughout our bodies. “Whoa, I feel weird," said Zoe. “Me too,” I said. Then, we felt the tingling become more like a slight tickle. “Uh-oh,” said Indie. “Uh-oh’s right!!!” I said. Then, we realized something terrible had happened. Indie learned a new word no-one said. “Uh-oh, we swunked.”

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Thump. Zoe screamed and passed out. I found my water bottle sitting on the ground. I tipped it, made a little puddle, and splashed some water on her face. When she woke up, we all still panicked a little, then, as if things were not bad enough, we realized Indie was missing! At first, I thought that it was alright because she was probably going to get our grandmother, then I realized, Indie’s the size of a beetle, Grandma won’t see her!!! So, me and Zoe ran over to catch her. To our great surprise, Indie got my grandma’s attention!!!!!!! We were speechless. “How?!?” Zoe finally said. “Tickle, tickle,” Indie said, twiddling her fingers. Then, without warning, my grandma bent over, swooped us up and put us in her pocket.

When we got home, my grandma started rummaging around for something, when all of a sudden, we heard a low hissing sound. Jumping out was a giant mouse!!! We ran and ran, but then something caught the corner of my eye. It was a little baby mouse! Then TWO!! All of a sudden, there were seven baby mice and a mother!! I stopped, looked back, and bowed to the mouse, which was a father!!!! He bowed back, and I told Indie and Zoe to stop running. When they did, they bowed (but Indie gave a hug), and again, the father bowed back. He led us to the baby mice, and we got to play with them. My grandma then came in with a bag of flour. “Why?” said Indie pointing. “Yeah, why do you have a bag of flour?” asked Zoe. She gasped. “Do we get pancakes?!?!?!” Grandma shook her head and sprinkled the pink flour on us, then moved away.

Then, we felt the tingly and tickly feeling like what we felt before, then, we sneezed, changing back into our normal size. “Pancake time!!!” said my grandma…

“So, girls,” my grandma said as we drove down my driveway. “What is the most important thing I told you?”

“Don’t tell our moms,” we said in unison. “Mama, no,” Indie said too.

“Very good,” she said, and we got out laughing…

“Hi, momma. We swunked.”

“Zip it, Indie!”

---

Harper Thayn is a 5th grade student attending Gem Prep's Emmett Learning Society in Idaho. This story was created for her first language arts narrative essay.

Your story, “Lollie Say What!” puts your characters into some delightfully magical peril. What inspired you to write this tale of a magically shrinking trio of friends and siblings to demonstrate how people need to work together and help each other to solve problems?

I really like this question! I love adventures, my whole family does. We love to be outside especially and make adventures out of things that could seem otherwise boring. I love my family and my friends a lot, my parents have always taught us we need to watch out for each other and work together, so it just made sense in my story that we need to work together. 

What is your favorite topic to study in school?

My favorite topics in school are history and reading. I love to read. My mom thinks it’s crazy but I always have at least 3 different books that I’m reading at a time; one in my bed, one that I keep in the car, and one in my piano bag for piano lessons! I love reading. A lot. My other favorite subject is history. I’ve really liked studying and learning about America being founded and all about that time period. 

What is the most interesting thing you recently learned?

I have loved learning about the colonies. My dad also loves history, and so does my grandpa. So they keep giving me stories and books to read about the colonies and the founding fathers. 

What book are you currently reading or read most recently? Would you recommend this book to other readers?

I love the FableHaven series. I’ve read more books than I can count, but my most recent favorite was that series. 

Our Better Together issue is all about community and people working together to make the world a better place. What actions, big or small, do you suggest fellow kids take to help the world?

I think it’s so important to leave people and places better than we find them. My family likes to do things like Secret Santa or taking things to the retirement homes to decorate their doors or their rooms. It just makes people happy. I think it’s important to do selfless things for people. My mom said we need to look outside of ourselves and I think that’s really good advice for kids to help the world.