Hanna Grace Adventures in Life

Hanna Grace Adventures in Life

Adventure 1

Life is an adventure, even for a nine-year-old girl.  Some adventures should come with a warning, do not accept chocolate chip cookies from a scary old lady even if they are the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe. Hanna Grace Brown loved to read because books carried her to wonderful places. She shared many adventures with her best friend, Caroline Elizabeth Carter. Most fairy tales began with “Once upon a time,” but real-life adventures—especially the ones that started in Hanna Grace’s wildly busy imagination—did not work that way. Her adventures could happen yesterday, today, or even tomorrow. They could begin whenever she wanted them to. Today, Caroline was coming over, and Hanna Grace had a feeling a new adventure was about to begin. Just then, an extremely annoying little dude burst into her room without knocking. In a stern voice, Hanna Grace said, “Wyatt Andrew, you broke my number one rule for entering my very private room! You did not knock on my very private door or ask permission to enter. Are my rules not sacred anymore?” Wyatt gave her a mischievous grin and said, “Well, I guess you don’t want to know that your weirdo friend, Caroline Elizabeth, is here.” “Well, have her come up here, and then leave us alone,” Hanna Grace said, sounding annoyed. Just then, Caroline entered Hanna Grace’s room.

Hanna Grace was standing by the window, watching her neighbor, Mrs. Green, walk Penny, a very sweet dog. Mrs. Green was a kind lady who made the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole universe, and Penny was the best dog in the whole universe. “Hi,” Caroline said. “What adventure are we going on today?” Hanna Grace thought for a minute and said, “It’s close to Halloween, so I think we should do something a little scary but still fun.” The adventure in Hanna’s wildly creative mind began with a short introduction from a very imaginative nine-year-old girl’s brain, and it did not begin with “Once upon a time.” After all, this was not a fairy tale. This was a real adventure—one that could happen only inside the wonderfully creative brain of a very imaginative nine-year-old girl. “Well, what is it going to be?” Caroline asked. “Let’s start with a background story,” Hanna Grace said confidently. “A good, scary Halloween story needs a very haunted house, a witch who might be a very scary old lady, a mystery, and, of course, two brave mystery ghost detectives.” Caroline asked excitedly, “Who are the ghost detectives?” Hanna Grace said with confidence, “These ghost detectives must be creative, smart, and best friends. Do you know who we can get?” Caroline thought for a minute and said, “You mean us?” Hanna Grace said, “We are the best qualified for the job!”

Here is the background story unfolding inside the brain of a very creative nine-year-old girl named Hanna Grace. At the end of a row of ordinary houses stood a large, scary old house. An unfriendly-looking woman named Matilda lived there with her big scary looking black dog, Rex, and her black cat, Salem. Rex liked to bark at kids, but in dog language, that meant, “Come play with me!” Salem, on the other hand, seemed much scarier. Matilda also made the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe. She invited any children brave enough to come inside, play with Rex, and try one of her famous cookies. One day, after a double dare from their friends, two children, a boy and a girl—entered Matilda’s house. Were they ever seen again?

 A real scary mystery is taking shape in the brain of a very imaginative creative 9-year-old girl. Hanna Grace tells Caroline, “We will call this adventure the mystery of the missing children”. “What do we need for this adventure?” Caroline asks in an excited voice. “Well, every good, scary mystery at Halloween needs a scary old lady, probably a witch in disguise, a scary house probably haunted, a black scary cat, maybe a ghost or two or three and not friendly ones, and missing kids. But the most important thing needed is two experienced ghost detectives,” Hanna explains. Caroline then asks,” What do two experienced ghost detectives look like?” “Well,”, thinking hard, Hanna says,” A ghost detective needs a flashlight, a name badge so people will know we are real ghost detectives, a bunch of courage, a map to the haunted house, and dog treats.” “Dog treats?” Caroline asked with puzzled look on her face. “That is the most important part! Hanna said. “How else can we get past a big scary looking black dog who likes to bark at innocent children?” Hanna pulled out the craft box which had paper, colored markers, and glue to make the most professional badges ever and a very detained map to the probably haunted house. They got two flashlights from the garage. We also need a pair of real binoculars.” I know my brother Wyatt got some for his birthday,” stated Hanna Grace. “Now, we look like the two best professional ghost detectives ever”, said Caroline in an excited voice. The two very professional looking ghost detectives ventured out into the neighborhood.

Hanna says, “We will let Mrs. Green’s house be the scary house with the big dog, Rex. Penny is the big dog, Rex.” “But Penny is a red wiener dog, and he is not black” Caroline interrupted. “I know, but in my crazy creative head, he is a big black dog. We can let her cat Snowball be Salem the scary black cat.” Hanna said with certainty. Caroline with a confused look on her face said, “Your adventures are not easy, white is black and big and mean is friendly and cute.” “That is why they are called adventures, silly!” Hanna said in a reassuring tone. “Mrs. Green can be the unfriendly looking kind of scarry old lady named Matilda,” Hanna continues confident manner. “But Mrs. Green is such a sweet lady, and she is not scary at all!” Caroline said.  Hanna a little annoyed said, “Only in my creative crazy head, she can be scary and anything I want. Besides, she makes the best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the universe just like Matilda. They have something in common!”

“Where or where did the children go? That is the question of the century!” Hanna Grace explained. “First, we need to do some detective work just like a real ghost detective. Get out our map and look for the large, scary house probably haunted,” Hanna Grace instructed. Caroline asked, “Is this the last place where the children were seen? The two best friends walked with purpose. “We are on a mission! Hanna Grace said in a very sure tone of voice. The two best friends walked brisky toward that scary, probably haunted house. As they got closer to the scary looking probably haunted house, a scary looking big black dog comes running barking at the children. “What are we going to do now? Caroline said in a startled voice. In a very reassuring voice, Hanna Grace replied, “Silly, that is what the dog treats are for!” Sure enough, it worked! Barks were replaced with lots of wags! In the meantime, Caroline pulled out the binoculars looking the house up and down for more clues. Then suddenly Caroline noticed a front door opened just a crack. Rex was still busy with the amazing dog treats. The girls cautiously entered like two of the best ghost detectives ever. What did they find? Well, there was the old scary looking old lady and a kitchen table with a plate of the best chocolate chip cookies in the world coaxing the girls to come in. Who else do you think is at the kitchen table? Yep, two innocent hungry children devouring a plate of the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe! “I see you girls met my dog, Rex. His bark is worse than his bite and he loves dog treats. My name is Matilda and I like children. They keep me feeling young, explained Matilda. Besides, who else can I make the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe?” Hanna Grace thought for a moment, “This scary looking old lad is not a witch in disguise but a very sweet little lady who loves children and makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe. The moral of this story is not to judge a scary looking old lady who may be a sweet little lady who makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe just like a kind little lady like Mrs. Green! The End