STORY
POT LUCK
MAGAZINE
U p in th e A ttic …
W h a t w ill y o u f in d ?
Vol. 4 Oct 2012
UP IN THE ATTIC… ISSUE
STORY
POT LUCK
MAGAZINE
Stories A House Tale ......................... 2 A Sunny Day Café Tale By Jewel Wink
Hide By Steve Donner ................................ 7
You Never Know...................12 By Lia Kieren
Voices in the Attic ................. 18 By Jean Trost
A Treasure in the Attic ........ 22 By Barbara Sarkis
Fun Page The Attic ................................ 9 By Carmela Battaglia
Poems My Attic................................. 1 By Dusty Helmet
STORY POT LUCK MAGAZINE October 2012 Copyright 2012 by FLWFL All rights reserved.
FINGER LAKES WRITERS FOR LITERACY CANANDAIGUA https://sites.google.com/site/writersforliteracy/
“A House Tale,” copyright © 2012 by Jewel Wink “A Treasure in the Attic,” copyright © 2012 by Jean Trost “Hide,” copyright © 2012 by Steve Donner “You Never Know,” copyright © 2012 by Lia Kieren “Voices in the Attic,” copyright © 2012 by Barbara Sarkis “My Attic,” copyright © 2012 by Dusty Helmet
Up In the Attic… All rights reserved. Collection copyright © 2012 by FLWFL.
My Attic By Dusty Helmet Dust and webs are all you see. My attic means much more to me. Yellow papers put in stacks. Dirty boxes, tubs, and sacks. Musty clothes for moths to eat. A print of some kid’s baby feet. Broken bits of this and that. Toys left by a long dead cat. You look at stuff in that old trunk. You tell me all you find is junk. But all these things in many ways Remind me of my younger days. So back off, Miss! Listen, Fella! Don’t make me come and check your cellar!
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A House Tale ASunny Day Café Tale
By Jewel Wink
Kit works hard at The Sunny Day Café. She and her young son, Nate, try to make ends meet. Kit and Nate will get by. They will meet new people and friends. Each day is a new surprise—a new tale to tell. The old house shivers in the wind.
Chapter 1 At the Sunny Day Café “Morning Jim,” Kit said. “Any bread pudding left?” Jim said. “I’ll have a cup of the worst brew in town too.” Kit laughs. “So you come in here just to rag on me? Here’s your pudding. How is the old house? We miss Cal and the dog. We were sorry to hear he passed away.”
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“It’s really something to be in a house once owned by a blind man,” Jim said. “Not many lights. His dog must have had good eyes!” “I wonder if the dog saw the ghost,” said Kit. “Cal always said he heard noises coming from the attic.” “Last night I saw the ghost,” Jim said. “For real?" Kit said. The old house shivers in the wind.
Chapter 2 “This is the story of the house.” “Do tell,” said Kit. “The neighbor down the road told me about it.” “The house was built around 1890. A young couple moved in. She was sickly. He was so in love with her. Soon she was going to have a baby. One morning he kissed her goodbye. He was picking up a new horse in town.
“It was a last kiss. When he was gone, the pains came. “When he got home, he saw them. His beloved wife and baby died at birth. He could not stay in the house. He left with a heavy heart. The next people living there said they heard noises. They soon left. It was empty for years. UP IN THE ATTIC
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“No one lived there until Cal got the house. His brother had the house fixed up. But just the first floor. Cal and his dog moved in.
Chapter 3 The Ghost “Last night I found out the truth,” Jim said. “I kept hearing the noises up in the attic.” Kit leaned on the counter. “Do tell,” Kit said. “My old flashlight had a bad connection. My ticker was pounding as I climbed up the ladder.
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“I pushed back the lid from the crawl space. Flash! It was white—like a mummy. “It scared me out of my wits! It was a mummy all right.” “You mean those ghost stories were true? Come on!” Said Kit “It turned out to be… an old dressmaker’s dummy!
“Then the noise. Creak, Creak! I flashed over toward the window.
“A squirrel jumped out of an old baby cradle. Case closed.” But the old house shivers in the wind…. Still holding its secrets.
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Words to know Counter
count er
Couple
cup le
Beloved
be love ed
Mummy
mum ee
Talk about the story 1.
Who owned the old house?
2.
Who heard noises in the attic?
3.
What do you think happened to Cal?
4.
What are the secrets in the old house?
5.
Is the “case closed”?
Word Count: 105 Flesch Kincaid Grade level: .77 Flesch Reading Ease: 97.0
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H id e by
Steve Donner
"I know she's here," says Barr. He and some other cops are at the door.
"You will not find her here," I say. "We will just see about that!" Barr says. They push past me. There are four of them. "You can not come in here," I say. "You have no right!" "Ha!" says Barr. "We are the police. You have no rights! We will do what we want!" He and his men look about. "You have an attic," Barr says. "She is not in the attic," I say. He sees I am upset. "To the attic!" he says to his men. They race up my stairs.
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"The door is locked!" says a man. "Where is the key?" says Barr to me. "She is not up there!" I say. "Arrest him!" says Barr to his men. "Ok," I say. I give him the key. His men open the door. They storm the attic. "Ms. Wells is in a lot of trouble!" says Barr. "She knows too much! And she is not one to keep her mouth shut!" "We can not find her!" calls a man from the attic.
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"Look again!" yells Barr. He keeps his eye on me. "We know she loves you. This is the first place she would hide!" "It is no lie, Barr," I say. "She is not up there!" After a half hour, the men come down. "She is not up there. We looked in every crack!" Barr makes a bad face at me. "You got lucky!" He sends his men down the stairs. They walk out the door. Barr turns to me. "This is not over!"
I hear them drive away. "They are gone," I say. She comes out slowly from the pantry. She hugs me. "I was sure they would find me!" she says.
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I kiss her head. "They were too smart for their own good. They could only think of the attic!" I say. "You are safe now!" Safe, I think. But for how long?
Words to know Trouble, pantry.
Talk about the story 1. Who is Barr? 2. Who is telling the story? 3. Do you think the girl did something wrong? 4. How did they fool Barr? Word Count: 348 Flesch Kincaid Grade level: 1.61 Flesch Reading Ease: 92.22
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Fun Page The Attic What do you have in your attic? Can you find the words below?
P
T
A
B
L
E
Z
G
S
I
O
C
H
A
I
R
K
K
C
P
P
C
Z
Z
C
L
O
T
H
E
S
N
Y
G
V
R
U
N
R
T
Q
Y
M
U
B
R
L
O
P
J
P
N
J
B
E
Y
D
E
O
K
E
X
Q
S
Words Chair Pictures Toys
Clothes Table Trunk UP IN THE ATTIC
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You Never Know By Lia Kieren “Come in!” said Ann. “I can’t wait for you to see my new house!” Mel and Jon stepped into the front hall. “This is a great location,” said Mel. Jon nodded. “I like all the trees,” he said. “Have you met your neighbors yet?” “No, not yet,” said Ann. “You know I am not home all that often. But I hope to meet them all soon.”
She led them into the rooms on the first floor. One of them was bright orange! “I know, what an awful color!” said Ann. “I will be painting it a nice blue soon.” 12 STORY POT LUCK MAGAZINE
“I don’t know,” said Mel. “You know I like orange and brown. I think it looks nice.” Jon laughed. “She does like orange. Our bathroom is fire colored!”
Jon liked the second floor more. “I like all the corners,” he said. “You could play hide and seek all over the house!” “Hey, what’s in here?” he asked. “Oh, it’s just the attic,” said Ann. “I think the old owner left some things in there, but I have not gone in there to look. I am afraid of all the dust and grime. And it’s probably very boring things.”
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“Can I look?” asked Jon. Ann nodded. Jon opened the door and sneezed. It was very dusty. The room was very small. It had a window with an old faded curtain. There were a few boxes with writing on them, and a table. There was a lot of other stuff that was not in any order. Jon walked slowly through the room, touching things. He frowned at all the dust on his fingers. Then he stopped.
“Hey, look at this!” he said. He bent over behind the table and pulled out a lamp. He sneezed again. Dust flew everywhere. “I’m not going in there,” said Mel. She waved her hand at all the dirt. Jon crept out of the room holding the lamp. He set it down on the floor. Ann came back out of a bedroom and stared. “What is that?” she asked.
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Jon grabbed a towel out of the bathroom and rubbed it over the lamp. Mel thought it would be fun if a genie came out of it, but that did not happen. They looked at the lamp some more. It was a big orange vase that someone had made into a lamp. It had a herd of storks on one side, and a few flying storks on the other side. There was also a lampshade with many storks, but it was cracked.
“That is so ugly!” said Ann. She shook her head. “No wonder the old lady left it here.” “Are you kidding?” said Jon. “I love it! It is so different.” “Well, you can have it if you want,” said Ann. Mel looked at Jon.
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“Do you really want it?” she asked him. He nodded and smiled. He picked up the lamp and went downstairs. Ann looked at Mel, who shrugged her shoulders. “We have a room in our house that no one goes into. I think we can put it there,” she said to Ann.
Three weeks later, Ann had dinner at Jon and Mel’s house. While waiting for the pork roast to finish cooking, Jon showed Ann the lamp in its new home. “I have a surprise for you,” he said. He pulled out an envelope from under the lamp. “I found this in the base when I cleaned it!” he said. Ann opened up the envelope, and pulled out an old letter, dated 1925.
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“My Dearest Min, I know how much you love storks. I saw this in Chinatown on my last business trip. Now that the stork has brought us our baby girl, I knew it was the perfect gift. Happy Birthday! All my love, Bert.” “Wow!” said Ann. “How cool! I wonder who they were?” “Is this who you bought the house from?” asked Jon. Ann shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. “Do you want it back?” asked Jon. Ann saw how he gently folded the letter. He carefully placed it back under the base, and brushed his hand softly over the lamp. “No,” she said, and smiled at him. “I think it has a good home now. And you know I feel about orange!”
Words to know stork orange
brushed location
neighbor Chinatown
Talk about the story 1.
What was found in the attic?
2.
What does Jon find later on?
Word Count: 755 Flesch Kincaid Grade level: -1.6 Flesch Kincaid Reading ease: 96.2
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Voices in t h e
Attic
By Barb Sarkis The day had been long and hard. I was up early for my drive to Ohio. Heavy rain was falling. The roads were slick. The drive took hours. I reached Ohio late at night. I was headed to the small town where my aunt had lived. She had died a few weeks ago. I was meeting my cousins at her house. We were there to settle her affairs.
I got to the house after midnight. My cousins had taken the bedrooms. A cot in the attic was waiting for me. I was dead tired. I could hardly climb the stairs. The attic was hot, so I opened a window. I fell on the cot. Sleep came quickly. I stirred -- half awake. What was that sound? It sounded like a voice. Was it a dream? Was someone outside the house? I was too tired to care. I went back to sleep. It happened again. A voice woke me up. Could someone be up here? Was my cousin playing tricks on me? Pat wouldn’t do it. But Ken liked to joke. I stayed very still. No more voices. I pulled the covers up over my head. I went back to sleep.
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Morning came. Birds were singing. I went down to the kitchen. My cousins were already there. I said nothing about the voice. They would think I was crazy. Maybe it was a joke. I would not let on. “Good morning, Jean. Did you sleep well?” asked Ken. “We have lots of work ahead.” “I slept OK,” I replied. I drank my coffee. I had not slept well. My head was fuzzy. I thought about the voices. I looked at Ken. Had it been him?
We were busy that day. We cleaned out some rooms. Pat had a system. Things for Good Will were piled on the porch. Things for the yard sale were moved to the garage. Things for the family were packed into a U-Haul. Ken would drive it back East. We worked late. I was ready for bed by 10 PM. “I’m spent,” I said. “I’m going to bed. Good night.” “Sweet dreams,” called Ken. I looked at him. Why was he smiling like that? I went up to my cot in the attic. My head hit the pillow. I drifted off to sleep. Before long, I was awake. It was that voice again. I could not make out what it had said. But it was here in the attic. I was sure. I looked around. All was still; all was quiet. I grabbed my blanket and headed downstairs to the sofa. UP IN THE ATTIC
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I could not sleep. I stared at the ceiling for hours. Morning came. I heard Pat in the hall. “What are you doing down here?” Pat asked. “Pat, I heard a voice in the attic last night,” I said. “I am sure of it. It happened the night before too. I think someone is trying to scare me. Maybe drive me crazy.” Pat gave me a funny look. “You have been very, very tired. It must have been a dream. We need to clean out the attic this morning. Are you OK with that?” “If we do it together,” I said. I’m not going up there alone.” After breakfast, we went up the stairs. Trunks, boxes, and an old dresser were waiting for us. It was mostly my uncle’s stuff. He had died a few years before my aunt. Pat started on a box. “Look at all these books on tape,” she called out. “There are some good ones in here.” “They were Uncle’s,” I said. “He enjoyed them after his eyesight failed. I opened a dresser drawer. It was a “junk drawer.” I found the usual stuff: old pens, keys, rolls of tape, and other useless things.
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Then I heard something. It was a voice. “It is now 10 AM. It is now 10 AM,” it said. I reached way to the back of the drawer. I pulled out a watch …a talking watch. I smiled. I held it up. “Hey Pat, “I said, “Look at this. I guess I’m not crazy after all.”
Words to know Ohio cousins slick affairs stirred pillow eyesight
Talk about the story 1. Why did Jean think Ken was playing a trick on her? 2. Why did Jean smile when she found the watch? 3. Have you ever slept in a strange place? What was that like? Word count: 712 Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 1.24 Flesch Reading Ease: 96.74
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A Treasure in the Attic By Jean Trost The cobwebs hang like grey lace. They hang around the door frame. I brush them from my hair. I am in the attic of my Grandfather Ben’s house. I pull a cord to turn on the light. That’s better! The gloom retreats. We are clearing out the attic. It is time to sell the house. Grandpa Ben has been dead many years .The last renters have moved out. In the attic, I see a pile of yellowed newspapers. I’ll throw them out. The top one catches my eye. I stop to read it. It is from the year 1816 in Farmington. It is about a new Quaker church. They call it a meetinghouse.
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Grandpa Ben grew up near there. His mother and father were Quakers. They must have worshipped in that meetinghouse. I want to learn more about this family history. I take the newspaper home with me. Later The town Historian has much information. She is eager to show me. The Quaker meetinghouse looks like a strong wind will blow it down. She tells me a group wants to save it. The building is important in history.
The Quakers here worked against slavery. They were part of the Underground Railroad. They supported women’s right to vote. They were friends to Native Americans. Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass gave speeches in the meetinghouse.
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There is a plan is for the old meetinghouse. It will be part of the Women’s Rights Trail. The Trail will include the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester. Next is the Farmington Quaker 1816 Meetinghouse. The final stop is the Women’s Rights Park in Seneca Falls. This Trail may become part of The National Park Service. More Treasure The Historian finds another old newspaper article. It is an interview with my Great-grandfather Eli! He was against slavery. Frederick Douglass had escaped slavery. Then he was captured again. Eli gave money. It helped buy Douglass his return to freedom. Eli said, “If Douglass had been a white man, he would have been President.” The newspaper in the attic—it started me on this search. I now know more about the Quakers’ beliefs. Tracing family history is fun! 24 STORY POT LUCK MAGAZINE
Words to know treasure cobwebs cord gloom business collar meetinghouse worshipped Historian interview
Names to know Quaker, Underground Railroad, Native Americans, Women’s Rights Trail, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Women’s Rights Park, National Parks Service, Farmington, Rochester, Seneca Falls
Talk about the story 1. 2. 3. 4.
What do you know about your family history? Who can help you find out more? Is it worth it to repair this building? Is civil-rights history important?
Word Count: 429 Flesch Kincaid Grade level: 4.78 Flesch Kincaid Reading ease: 73.20
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U p i n t he A t t i c . . In this issue: • History is found in an attic! • Mystery is found in an attic! • A scamp is found in an attic! • A lamp is found in an attic! • Check out our word puzzle!
Watch for more issues and check out other stories on our website: https://sites.google.com/site/writersforliteracy/
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