Stairwell Basket 2025

A LITERARY MAGAZINE 6.3.2025

The Stairwell Basket

The Beginning

By Katherine Haeberlen - 5th Grade

4

Lucky

By Jack Karp- 7th Grade

5

Marabou

By Celine Huber - 3rd Grade

17

Basketball

By Ike Bradford - 8th Grade

18

The Shootout

By Malcolm Sullivan - 4th Grade

19

The Beach & The Pool

By Lennon Fine - 2nd Grade

20

The Dying Man

By Asha Gandhi - 8th Grade

21

Why Stars Are in the Sky

By Aanya Mammen - 3rd Grade

21

Hugo is the Best

By Catriona McHose - 2nd Grade

23

Friends

By Quinn Van Scoy - 3rd Grade 3

24

The Stairwell Basket

THE BEGINNING

By Katherine Haeberlen - 5th Grade

O

nce, around 4.6 billion years ago Earth was created.

That was before oceans rose and took place on earth around 8 billion years afterward.

Then plants began to rise from the soil And after that other new life began to stride Across the plains of green.

Species metamorphosed and then more new species were created.

And all this comes to 4.6 billion years after earth formed When young writers are now dropping new stories into the basket at the bottom of the stairs.

New stories are created New tales to be told And as I write this in my own hand I think about how all of this Dates back more than 4.6 billion years ago

4

The Stairwell Basket Back to the Big Bang Which made the beginning of our story.

LUCKY

By Jack Karp- 7th Grade

CHAPTER 1 - THE LAB

M

y eyes blinked open on the lab table as I rasped for breath. My vision was blurred, and all I could see was a bright light above me, filling the narrow amount of space that I could view. As I blinked the glaze over my eyes away, I started to pick out shapes. There were towering shelves covered in beakers, vials, and books. There were tables covered in papers piled high above me. And there was something else. Not in the room, but in my head. I felt, more evolved. Smarter, able to understand more. Right as I started to comprehend this, a man in a white coat with electrified gray hair and orange bowtie walked into the room. He seemed to be somewhat disheveled, shakingly stumbling in with a crazed look in his eyes. His gaze flitted around the room until he saw me, upright on the table. He shouted with a crooked smile, “It’s alive, it’s alive!” He excitedly paced around the room saying, more to himself, “My creation is finally complete!” All his words felt so unfamiliar to me, and yet I could understand them as clearly as if they were from my own language.

My legs felt like jelly, and as I pulled myself up, they fell out from under me and I collapsed onto the floor with a loud thump. As soon as he heard this, the man whirled around, saw me on the floor, and rushed over, cursing under his breath. He grabbed at my arm, saying, “Get back on the table; I’m not done with you yet!” I yanked myself away from him and dashed past, knocking books and vials over as I went. “Hey! You come back here this 5

The Stairwell Basket instant!” he shouted after me. I bolted up a short set of stairs and ended up in a large room with a ladder going up to the surface.

Just as I began to take stock of where I was, I heard the grinding of steel carabiners against wires. I looked up to see three people in blackish outfits covered in strange, sharp, and boxy objects repelling down into the room. I dove behind a set of cabinets, and luckily, wasn’t noticed by them. Their boots landed fast onto the ground, and they quickly undid their clips and charged into the lab room. As I peered out, I noticed that they were not quite humanoid. They were a bit shorter than humans, and their limbs were thicker and stouter. Their heads also had large, thin ears that were much longer than mine. From what I could make out, they were green. I heard them shouting in an unknown language. As the man began to shout back at them, I heard a sharp click, and the man let out a grunt, and fell to the floor. I then saw the soldiers, which still didn’t look quite right, run by carrying the man. They latched him onto one of the wires, clipped themselves in, and quickly ascended back up.

I tentatively crawled out of my hiding place, looking around curiously. I didn’t think that the man was dead, just knocked unconscious. I could not climb the ladder, so I searched around for another way up. I eventually saw a door marked with a sign. It appeared to read EMERGENCY EXIT, but I could not be sure. I walked over to it, and tried to figure out how to open it. I had some vague memory of a man turning a knob on a door, but it felt unfamiliar to me, like from a past life. I realized that I could not reach the knob, so I threw myself against the door in an attempt to get it open. Once I hit it, it broke off its hinges right away from years of decay, and fell in, revealing a staircase. I slowly climbed the stairs , making sure to check for any possible dangers lurking in the shadows. I was able to see in the dark very well, I came to realize. I had never thought about this before, never acknowledging that I could do it, but always having it. It felt like I could understand more now, like I could put names to things I previously couldn't. By the time I had finished this thought, I found myself at the top of the stairs. The door at the top seemed to be 6

The Stairwell Basket much sleeker and less worn by time. It had a combination lock on the handle, covered with symbols that seemed to rotate into some kind of passcode. I could not hear much through the thick metal door, but I could make out crunching on dirt and twigs, which sounded somewhat like running. I also heard a loud and rapid ticking sound, which repeatedly stopped and then turned on again.

There was a chair sitting next to the door, which I used to get up to the handle. As I stared at the lock, I felt as if it was familiar to me, like I had seen it being used before. As I tried to remember more of the details of this, a whole new rush of memories came to me.

Among them, I felt a memory of the crazed man who the people had taken away muttering a string of numbers as he opened this very door. It was 1... 2... 3... 4. I reached out and began to turn each number until they read 1, 2, 3, 4, from top to bottom. Right as I locked in the last number, the door clicked and slowly swung open. I got down from the chair and walked outside. I saw a wasteland before me, covered in craters and debris. The buildings around me were partially destroyed, and rubble was strewn everywhere. As I explored the rubble, I saw something truly horrifying. Among the rubble, seemingly everywhere, were bodies.

Bodies of dead humans. I felt tears come to my eyes, but I didn’t really know why. Like before, a flood of memories washed over me, of a man. A man with a smile. I felt that this man, whoever he was, loved me, loved me very much. Whenever I thought of him, I felt a warm, happy feeling. As I picked through my memories of this man, I saw him giving me food, hugging me, and always smiling. There was also something else. A vague reference to a name. I strained to search deeper, to find it. Then I heard it loud and clear, almost as if someone was saying it to me: Mark. Yes, that was it. Mark. Then I heard the same boots I had heard in the crazed man’s lab behind me. I spun around to see the same short, stout humanoids charging around the collapsed building in front of me. Several of them charged by, but one glanced in my direction, and then looked over. They shouted over to the others, saying something I couldn’t understand. Whatever, they said though, I assumed they were displeased with my presence and wanted to 7

The Stairwell Basket capture me. I dashed between the rubble, scrambling over small pieces. The same ticking sound erupted behind me, only louder this time. I craned my head around to see, in shock, that as the ticking continued, the chunks of concrete behind me were being blasted apart. Between the rocks, I could see the creatures holding black objects that were emitting bursts of light from the tips. They seemed to be the ones causing the ticking and the explosions behind me. I ran through an open doorway in a partially destroyed building to escape the creatures. I dove behind a desk in the room to catch my breath.

As my heart rate slowed, I began to take stock of my situation. It seemed like these were not human, but some other creature that was attempting to destroy our world. I had heard a term for something like this before. Aliens. Other worldly beings. I felt a sudden anger towards them. I felt that they had ripped a part of me away, but I did not know what it was. All I could tell was that this feeling had something to do with Mark, whoever he was.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as flashlight beams sliced through the darkness. They were an unnatural light, of the likes I had never seen before, even coming from human flashlights. The beams flicked over the table I was hiding under. I could see their boots as they searched the room. I could hear them whispering orders to each other. I figured that sooner or later they would find me, so I had to make an escape. Just as they all made their way to the back of the room, I shot out from under the table and scrambled out the door. The people whirled around and resumed the same loud clicking noise. I felt something extremely fast and hot whizz by my ear. I could hear them shouting and running after me, but I kept on going. I continued dodging through the rubble and over the large chunks of concrete. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the people yelling into black objects in their hands. I made it out of the field of debris and saw a forest. Just as I thought I was in the clear, an immensely loud ringing noise filled my ears. It vibrated throughout my body, shaking me to my core. My vision went hazy and I fell to the ground, unconscious.

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The Stairwell Basket

CHAPTER 2- THE PRISM

F

or the second time today, my eyes blinked open in an unfamiliar place. It seemed that I had blacked out. I looked around me and it seemed I was suspended in a tank filled with a strange liquid. The liquid was thick enough that I could not move, but thin enough that I could see clearly through it. As I began to regain my vision, I saw other tanks that seemed to be like mine with humans in them. There was a sign that seemed to be taped to the outside of the tank. The liquid was bright enough that I could see through it and what it said. It said something in a different language, not the one that most humans used. I had nothing better to do, so I attempted to decipher it. The symbols were so foreign, however, that I didn’t know where to begin. I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I braced myself, ready for them to kill me. Two of the same humanoid things walked by, but astonishingly, they didn’t care about my presence. As I pondered this, I came to a realization. They had trapped me here. I was their prisoner. All the humans around me seemed to be asleep, so I figured I would rest my eyes as well.

I was woken up later to shouts and loud thuds. I thought that someone had tried to escape, but when I opened my eyes I saw the strange people opening the liquid containers that everyone was held in. The liquid was sucked out of each container and then large metal doors slid up, letting all of the humans and me out. Once I was out, I looked down and saw, to my surprise, that I was in an orange jumpsuit, of the kind that human prisoners wear when they are in jail. The people forced the humans down the hall, shoving and pushing them along. One of them kicked me from behind to get me going faster. All the humans 9

The Stairwell Basket had their hands chained together. There were tens of thousands of us walking down the very long hallway. I could see through the people’s legs that at the end of the hallway was a light, which seemed to be coming from outside. After a very, very long walk, we finally reached the end. One of the guards roughly picked me up so I could see what was outside. It seemed we were on some form of starship. When I looked down, all I could see were clouds and other starships. Suddenly, I heard a thunderous sound above me.

My eyes flicked around, but the noise did not seem to come from the ship. Then, a massive spacecraft came into view, lowering itself down from the sky. It was shaped like two triangular prisms stacked on top of each other. All of the spacecraft lined up in front of the big ship. Each ship began to drop people off in the ship.

They were swiftly broken up into different lines and sent to different parts of the ship. I realized that it was probably a prison ship for whatever this group was that was invading. Like everyone else, I was divided into a group and sent to the top prism. Many more of the liquid cells awaited me there, which the guards forced everyone to get into. Then, just as they had before, the tank doors slid closed and filled with liquid again. However, something was different this time. The liquid felt warm and cozy, almost as if lulling me to sleep. I realized this and tried to fight against it, but it overpowered me and I fell asleep. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I felt a sudden burst of momentum, almost as if the ship had just rocketed away through space.

CHAPTER 3 - THE CAFETERIA

O

nce again, I woke up to our tanks being opened and us being taken out of them. We were, like before, split into groups and taken down a hallway, though this one was much wider and more high-tech than the one in the smaller spaceship. We were eventually taken into a large room full of tables as far as my eyes could see. The tables seemed to be divided into sections that were given a number and a name, such as Gammalpha-262. I was separated into a group of about 20 people 10

The Stairwell Basket and led to table Gammalpha-262. Many people around the cafeteria were eyeing me and whispering to each other because of my size. Once we had sat down, an intercom came to life across the massive room, telling us what this place was and why we were here. It was in a lingua-franca of sorts, seemingly devised so that everyone regardless of language could understand. It said that we were in one of the many prison ships of the all-powerful Tyrannossis. We were picked up off of Earth once the Tyrannossis’s forces annexed our area of the galaxy. Since we were sentient and did not readily attempt to fight back, our lives were spared and we were taken here. We would soon be relocated to one of Tyrannossis’s many labor camps across the galaxy to construct spaceships and other utilities for Tyrannossis’s conquest of the galaxy. The intercom then quickly changed topics, telling us that this was the cafeteria portion of the ship, and were to be having protein gruel, an artificially made substance meant to supply carbon-based life forms with the nutrients they needed to survive.

Just as the sentence finished, small robots whizzed to our tables and swiftly placed plates of this “protein gruel” in front of us. It looked very unappealing, and seemed to have the consistency of Jell-O. I tentatively took a bite, and it tasted somewhat like canned meat. The texture was quite disgusting, as it didn’t really melt, but just kind of sat on my tongue like a chunky, gloppy muck. I saw that the person across the table was eyeing me, but whenever I looked, he hid his eyes in his food. I tried to form words, but I realized I had never actually talked before. My first couple words came out in a rasp, and my throat felt dry and prickly from lack of use. Eventually, I was able to get out, “Why, why were you looking at me?” The man looked up in surprise that I had said something.

He said, “Well, you’re, you’re a cat!”

CHAPTER 4 - THE NAME

I

was so surprised I almost fell out of my chair. I looked down at what I now realized to be paws. I was so caught up in the thrill of attempting to escape and then being 11

The Stairwell Basket captured that I had not put any thought into what I was or even what I looked like. Now that I put some thought into it, I noticed that my face and entire body were covered in fur. I was about four inches shy of two feet while standing on my hind legs. My exploration of my body was broken by the man across the table asking me, “How are you able to speak? I mean, like I said, you’re a cat, and cats don’t usually talk.” I again felt the prickly sensation as I tried to speak. I was able to get my words out much quicker than before, saying, “I don’t really know. I’ve never really put any thought into why I was able to understand all of this. I was mostly focused on escaping them.” I nodded my head towards the guards.

“At least from my experience, cats, like yourself, have never been able to understand or respond to a human in their language. You are a very rare exception it seems.” The man said. “I don’t remember any of my life before I was in that lab. It seems with this newfound knowledge, I am also able to remember more and more vividly.” I replied. “Wait, wait, wait; What lab?” He asked, confused. “Before I was captured, I was in a lab with a man in an orange bowtie with electrified hair. He said something about his creation, which seemed to be me, was complete.” The man's eyes lit up with surprise and realization. “Ohhhhhhhhh,” He said, “I know who you’re talking about.” I looked at him, puzzled. “That’s Balbert Feinstein.” He said, “He’s a world-renowned, if a bit deranged, scientist. He has been known to attempt to modify the brains of his patients, with little success.” It was my turn to realize something. “He must have somehow modified my intelligence and edited parts of my brain!” I said, excitedly. “That’s what I’m thinking,” The man said, “Only, why would he do it to you, and not another human? Why did he choose a cat?” We both pondered this for a minute. Finally, I came to a conclusion. “A human would be big and easily noticeable, but a cat could possibly slip through the invaders' defense, and they also wouldn’t suppose that I would be that dangerous.” “Maybe you will be our key to escaping.” The man said. I thought that maybe there was actually some truth to that statement. “What’s your name?” he asked me. Like before, I dug through my memory for any sort of inkling to a name. First, I 12

The Stairwell Basket remembered my owner’s name: Mark. That wasn’t it though, so I kept searching. I eventually came upon a memory of this guy, Mark, calling me something. Lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky. That was my name. “My name is Lucky.” His face went from interested to incredibly surprised. “N-N-Nice to meet you Lucky. I’m, I’m Mark.”

CHAPTER 5 - THE SUIT

W

e both were there looking at each other, dumbfounded. At last, Mark was able to get out “You, you’re my, my ca-cat!” “And, and you’re my owner!” I said. I couldn’t believe that by coincidence we had ended up at the same table and happened to strike up a conversation. Judging from the look on his face, he felt the same way. Now that I knew who he was, I was finally able to put a face to all of the memories I had of an owner. Now that I had done this, it felt as if I had unlocked a whole new way of thinking. Now, my mind was not full of questions, but answers. It felt like I could think clearly for the first time now that I wasn’t constantly puzzled over the identity of my former owner.

I was broken from this trance by the intercom-like system informing us that our lunch was over and that we would be escorted back to our cells. The same robots that had brought our food around came again to our tables and swiftly removed the empty plates. The guards then came and escorted us to different hallways. Mark and I were taken down the same hallway, and to my surprise, we were placed in cells directly next to each other.

Before we were put in our cells, the guards each forcefully put collars around our necks. I assumed they were some sort of tracking or shocking device. The guards then roughly grabbed me and threw me into the cell which quickly filled with the same liquid. I could feel the warmth lulling me to sleep, but I refused to give in to it. This time, I was determined to escape.

I pushed through the thick liquid to the front to try to see if there were any ways on the outside of the cell to get out. There was a coded lock on the front of the cell, but since I was on the 13

The Stairwell Basket inside, I couldn’t attempt to unlock it. I then looked around the inside of the cell. All of the walls and the floor were bare metal, but there was something on the top. It seemed to be a vent of some sorts. It was much too small for a human to fit through, but not for a cat. The designers of these cells didn’t assume they would be imprisoning small creatures, apparently. I swam through the sludge to the top. I realized I could probably fit my claws through the grates in the vent. I hooked my claws inside and, after a couple minutes of prying, got the vent open enough that I could pull it down with my paw. The vent was going horizontally towards the hallway, so I clambered into it and started crawling. I came across a vent and looked down. It led down into another cell. I kept crawling, looking for a vent into the hall. After not too long, I came across one that, when I looked down, viewed the hall. I listened and looked through it, but I could not hear or see any guards. With one strong kick the vent popped out and slammed to the floor.

I jumped down through the hole, landing on all fours. I hid in the shadows and began to slowly creep down the hall. I came across my empty cell, and then Mark’s. He was sound asleep.

His cell also had a code on the outside. I jumped up and pulled myself onto the reader. I did not have a code, so I tried to figure out a way to get one. Waiting for a guard to come by and ask would not work, as they would just throw me back in my cell and put me on stricter security. Then I had an ingenious idea. Their keypad had fifteen symbols on it, and they were not of the Earthly variety. I sniffed each key and found six that had been used regularly. I quickly tapped them, and I heard a hissing sound. The liquid evacuated Mark’s cell and the cell’s doors slid apart. Mark fell to the floor, looking groggy. “Wha, what happened?” he asked sleepily. “It’s Luck,” I said, “I’ve come to break you out.” He seemed to have many more questions, but he realized that this might be our only chance to escape, so he held his tongue. We quietly slunk down the hall, checking for guards as we went. Everytime we turned a corner and checked, and if there was one, waited for the guard to pass. We finally made it to a dead-end hallway. The door at the end had a message on it that we couldn’t read, but we 14

The Stairwell Basket agreed it looked like one of the top secret signs from Earth. The door also had a keypad, but I used the same strategy I had used on Mark’s cell to open it. I told Mark to guard the door and I went inside. The room was mostly dark, save for one glowing object in the middle. It resembled a mech suit, at least six feet tall. I began to walk towards it. Once I reached it, I realized it was made of a smooth, sleek yet very sturdy metal. I raised my paw to touch the hand of it, but then I heard footsteps behind me. Suddenly, the collar on my neck shocked me with electricity. I fell to the floor rolling over to look behind me. One of the guards was behind me, raising his black object towards me. Just as he was about to unleash it on me, a loud whack sounded behind him. The guard fell to the floor, revealing Mark behind him. Then, the loud wailing of alarms sounded back in the hallway. We had to act fast before more guards arrived. I looked around the suit, looking for some sort of way to turn it on. There was a small green button on the bottom of the helmet. I climbed up the suit and pressed the button.

The suit released some steam and opened. I hopped in, and the suit closed around me, molding itself to my size. The transparent helmet closed, and began to display an interface. A couple pieces connected to my head, and it seemed they were scanning it. Once they were done, the interface switched to readable English. The suit said it was voice and thought activated. I could move the suit limbs as easily as I could my own. I walked over to Mark and picked him up as if he were a feather. I then went out the door to see the hallway flashing with red lights. Guards began to pour into the hallway raising their black weapons towards us. All I could think about was protecting Mark, and, because of this, a shield from the suit formed around him. I also wanted to get out of here.

Again, the suit responded, powering on its thrusters. I rocketed down the hallway. The guards dove out of the way to avoid me. A map of the prism suddenly appeared on the interface. It showed a large room on the ship that exited into space called the hanger. I began to make my way towards it. More guards tried to get into my way and fire their objects at me. The small sharp objects harmlessly bounced off my suit, however. I swerved down one 15

The Stairwell Basket hallway and saw that it was much wider and lined with doors not cells. At the end of the hallway there was a large door. The suit translated the sign on it into English. It said Hanger. I slowed down as I approached the door. I pressed the button on a panel to the side that said open. The door slowly opened. Once it had opened enough, I flew under and out into the hanger. It was a huge room filled with starships, workers milling around, and lots of guards.

The guards all whirled around. They all began to fire at me. I shot up into the air and zoomed towards the exit out into space. I didn’t know where I was going, but anywhere was better than here. I saw out of the corner of my eye that some of the guards were getting into smaller, sleeker spaceships that seemed to be ready to chase me down. I flew through the exit, which seemed to be a barrier that kept the oxygen in yet allowed ships out. My suit provided Mark and me with oxygen as I entered space. As I got out, I looked around. There were other prison ships around ours as well as some smaller ships. There was also one massive rectangularly shaped craft that appeared to be some sort of lead ship. Many smaller vehicles flew out of the hangar and began to fire on me. I dodged many of them, but got hit by a couple. One of them neutralized my thrusters, stopping me from flying. I looked around and saw all the ships aiming their guns at me. I closed my eyes, preparing to die.

After a couple seconds, however, I realized that I had not in fact died. I tentatively opened my eyes. I saw ships popping into existence around the enemy crafts , firing their cannons and destroying the enemies. The prison ships also seemed to pop out of existence, but I realized they probably just propelled themselves with incredible speeds and disappeared . One of the newly appeared vehicles turned before me, and it began to pull me in with some sort of retractor beam. My first instinct was to fight back, but then I realized that if these people were fighting my enemies, then, as the old saying goes, they were my friends. I entered this ship's hangar, which was also full of vehicles and workers. I landed on the ground. As soon as I entered the oxygen rich environment, my suit burst into flames. Workers with fire extinguishers swarmed around me, putting out the flames. As the 16

The Stairwell Basket smoke began to dissipate, I saw a figure walk towards me.

“Welcome to the Rebellion!” Purplebanana said.

MARABOU

By Celine Huber - 3rd Grade

M

arabou whispers from Sweden’s heart Velvet cocoa art in every part, A sweet embrace In winter’s chill Melting moments That warm the soul still.

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The Stairwell Basket

BASKETBALL

By Ike Bradford - 8th Grade

D

ribbling down the court, feel the beat trailing From the three-point line, watch me take my shot Swishing through the net, yeah, never give less Then my all. Every single drive, I'm giving all I got Bounce, hustle, and flow, eye to eye with my foe Fast breaks and slam dunks, hear the crowd roar Chasing down dreams, watch my energy grow In this game of hype, we’re always wanting more Over-strive your first game like it’s your last Play this sport as if it’s a game of chess Haste yourself better than you did in the past Lace up your kicks and make sure they're the best Together as a team, we’ll keep the dream alive With passion and pride, we always survive.

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The Stairwell Basket

THE SHOOTOUT

By Malcolm Sullivan - 4th Grade

T

he clock read 00:00. There goes extra time, I thought. As captain, I got to go out for the coin toss. We were the home team, so they got to choose the side of the coin. “Tails,” their captain declared. In a flash of gold, the ref caught the coin in his open palm. “Tails it is,” said the ref. "Would you like to shoot first or second?” “First,” their captain said. The ref wished us both good luck, and we parted our ways.

I took my place in the center of the goal, in set, as always. I looked at his plant foot, dove the right way, but air told me I didn't save it. Fortunately, our second shot hit the back of the net. I could only get my fingertips on their second shot, and that turned out to be a big deal because our third shot went straight into the post.

One shot later, the scoreboard read away 3, home 1. Right or left? I asked myself. I'll go left. I sprang to my left and cheers erupted from the crowd. And our forth shot hit the back of the net! On the fifth (and maybe last) shot, I went top right. I missed, but so did the shot. Our fifth shot got crammed into the low right corner.

Best of one shot now. I couldn't save the next four shots, but my teammates could score. I dove right once more, and batted his shot away. I was praying we could make the next shot, but no, we could not. Their goalkeeper stepped up. His shot was weak and right down the middle, so I smothered it. My turn. Last man of the final 11. I ran up, without thinking, and slammed a shot into the back of the net!

19

The Stairwell Basket Everyone went crazy. Confetti rained down on our heads. We shook hands with the opposing team, then went to lift the trophy.

Joy filled me as I raised the trophy high over my head. We had won the World Cup!

THE BEACH & THE POOL

By Lennon Fine - 2nd Grade

W

hat's better than the sound of crashing waves? The ocean is better than the pool for the following reasons. First, If you know I love surfing and you can only do that on the beach. Next, there are waves at the beach. It is fun to play in the waves. Third, I love the restaurants at the beach. Three of my favorite restaurants are Dairy Bar, Steven Cookies, and Tomatoes. Last, we are only one block away from the ocean. We can go home to grab extra stuff. So that is why I like the beach more than the pool.

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The Stairwell Basket

THE DYING MAN

By Asha Gandhi - 8th Grade

N

obody heard his cries, the dying man Lying there, on the ocean floor screaming.

From the man's drowned lungs the air is banned.

The dying man was always collecting But he can't collect his most precious tool: Air is the thing unreachable for him He is at the bottom of the whirlpool The dying man wished he knew how to swim Surrounded by the dark cloudy waters Circling, tightening, around his neck, his eye Black - he saw, while his whole body shutters He was fading, and he let out a sigh His final breath floated up in bubbles Last he thought: goodbye, to all his troubles.

WHY STARS ARE IN THE SKY

By Aanya Mammen - 3rd Grade

CHAPTER 1

L

ong, long ago, in a small village called Weyha, which is present day Montana, it was nightfall. Rabbit, Deer, Fox, and all of the 21

The Stairwell Basket other animals were huddled in a group near the lake. They were talking.

“Maybe we need light in the sky,” said Rabbit.

“Yeah. Because I cannot see when I hunt, I can’t feed my family,” said Fox. All the animals agreed that they needed lights in the sky.

“When I’m thirsty,” said Squirrel, “I can’t find my way to the water.”

“But what should we do?” asked Wolf.

“It’s not like we can make a huge light,” said Monkey.

“But what if we can?” said Rabbit (he was the smart one).

“What if we build our own? Oh, we can call it a star and then throw it up in the sky.”

“And make different shapes and colors,” suggested Pigeon.

“Yeah,” said Wolf. “Then we can hunt at night for my family.”

CHAPTER 2

W

hen they were about to start, Blue Bird said, “Can we start tomorrow? I am super tired.”

All the animals nodded.

“Okay, but we start first thing tomorrow morning,” said Rabbit.

All the animals agreed. They all said goodbye and walked home, or in the birds’ case, flew home.

The next day, all the animals gathered around a big oak tree and Rabbit recited the plan. “I’ve been planning all night, but I finally got it,” he said. “Monkey, go get some wood. Blue Bird, go get some water.” And he told all the other animals to get different materials. When they were done, they gathered around the big oak tree. Then they got started. It took many days and many nights, but after more than five months, they finished the star.

“Oof, we finally finished,” said Frog.

“It paid off though,” said Wolf.

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CHAPTER 3

The Stairwell Basket

“N

ow one more thing,” said Rabbit.

All the animals groaned.

“We throw it up in the sky,” said Rabbit.

All the animals formed a circle then threw the star up in the sky. It was so beautiful! Then it spread into many different shapes and colors.

“Look, there’s a bear in the stars,” said Tiger.

“It’s so beautiful,” said Rabbit.

THE END

HUGO IS THE BEST

By Catriona McHose - 2nd Grade

H

ugo is the best little brother ever. First, I like how Hugo cuddles me. He is so sweet. Second, I like how he learns new words. Recently, he learned how to say “lemon.”

Third, I like how he plays soccer. My dad signed him up for soccer shots. Fourth, I like it when Hugo gets up from his nap, and his hands are hot. Lastly, when movies are put on, Hugo demands a blanket. That is why Hugo is the best little brother ever.

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The Stairwell Basket

FRIENDS

By Quinn Van Scoy - 3rd Grade Friends are sweet and friends are kind.

Friends are a delight to have all the time.

You might get in a fight but will make up soon.

Friends are kind and so are you!

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