[Magic School Bus: Drabble] "Take Chances" [G]
Title: Take Chances
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 23, challenge 30, prompt 24 teacher’s pet
Word Count: 519
Rating: G
Fandom: The Magic School Bus
Character(s): Valerie Frizzle, Liz
Summary: Valerie Frizzle had been almost five when she found the egg.
Take Chances
Valerie Frizzle had been almost five when she found the egg.
Her parents had thought it was just a rock, broken or eroded into an ovoid shape, but they decided to indulge their oldest child in her bit of make-believe. They took her to the library for books on birds, allowed her to make a nest for it beside the radiator in her bedroom, and even brought her to a lecture on ornithology at the university where her mother worked.
They had hesitated on letting Valerie take the so-called egg with her when she started school, but she kept it buttoned carefully into the top pocket of her overalls, so they decided to let her keep it.
More than a year had passed, long past the point that the Frizzles thought their daughter would lose interest in this game, but Valerie continued to care for it. Her parents became used to the rough-stone egg sitting in her lap at mealtimes and in the now-elaborate nest by her bed, so that they almost forgot about it.
Until it hatched.
Valerie was woken very early one morning to the sound of chipping stone.
There was a crack in the egg, which grew wider as she watched. Then, there was a chip, then a gap, then -
By the time her parents came to wake her for school, the top of the egg had been pushed off by the tiny green creature inside.
She wasn’t a lizard, not matter what the grown-ups said, but she found it was amusing that Valerie named her ‘Liz’. She didn’t talk, not exactly, but Valerie could always understand her.
Liz didn’t grow the way lizards did. She started out about six inches long, nose to tail, and had doubled in size over the first year. By the time Valerie was in middle school, she was just over two feet long and showed no signs of getting any bigger.
As a child, Valerie had taken Liz exactly as she was, but by the time she had graduated high school and been accepted into college to study science, she had realized what her small friend had always been.
“But you can’t be a dragon,” said Valerie.
Liz just tilted her head in communication - she had never made any kind of noise to talk, but Valerie heard her anyway.
“Yes, of course,” said Valerie. “Science had always been about discovering new things. At one time, people didn’t know that a certain type of bread mold could cure infections. Or that humans would set foot on the moon. But those things are true. So why shouldn’t you be true, too?”
Liz beamed.
And years later, when Valerie had gotten her degree in Elementary Education (minor in Science) and a job teaching the third grade, she found herself in a used car lot, looking for-
Liz darted off and Valerie followed.
It was an old school bus, badly in need of a coat of paint, but when Liz scampered up the front steps, something about it changed.
“Oh, hello,” said Valerie. “Would you like to come with us?”
And the Bus agreed.
THE END
Current Mood:
busy
Author: Ami Ven
Prompt: writerverse phase 23, challenge 30, prompt 24 teacher’s pet
Word Count: 519
Rating: G
Fandom: The Magic School Bus
Character(s): Valerie Frizzle, Liz
Summary: Valerie Frizzle had been almost five when she found the egg.
Take Chances
Valerie Frizzle had been almost five when she found the egg.
Her parents had thought it was just a rock, broken or eroded into an ovoid shape, but they decided to indulge their oldest child in her bit of make-believe. They took her to the library for books on birds, allowed her to make a nest for it beside the radiator in her bedroom, and even brought her to a lecture on ornithology at the university where her mother worked.
They had hesitated on letting Valerie take the so-called egg with her when she started school, but she kept it buttoned carefully into the top pocket of her overalls, so they decided to let her keep it.
More than a year had passed, long past the point that the Frizzles thought their daughter would lose interest in this game, but Valerie continued to care for it. Her parents became used to the rough-stone egg sitting in her lap at mealtimes and in the now-elaborate nest by her bed, so that they almost forgot about it.
Until it hatched.
Valerie was woken very early one morning to the sound of chipping stone.
There was a crack in the egg, which grew wider as she watched. Then, there was a chip, then a gap, then -
By the time her parents came to wake her for school, the top of the egg had been pushed off by the tiny green creature inside.
She wasn’t a lizard, not matter what the grown-ups said, but she found it was amusing that Valerie named her ‘Liz’. She didn’t talk, not exactly, but Valerie could always understand her.
Liz didn’t grow the way lizards did. She started out about six inches long, nose to tail, and had doubled in size over the first year. By the time Valerie was in middle school, she was just over two feet long and showed no signs of getting any bigger.
As a child, Valerie had taken Liz exactly as she was, but by the time she had graduated high school and been accepted into college to study science, she had realized what her small friend had always been.
“But you can’t be a dragon,” said Valerie.
Liz just tilted her head in communication - she had never made any kind of noise to talk, but Valerie heard her anyway.
“Yes, of course,” said Valerie. “Science had always been about discovering new things. At one time, people didn’t know that a certain type of bread mold could cure infections. Or that humans would set foot on the moon. But those things are true. So why shouldn’t you be true, too?”
Liz beamed.
And years later, when Valerie had gotten her degree in Elementary Education (minor in Science) and a job teaching the third grade, she found herself in a used car lot, looking for-
Liz darted off and Valerie followed.
It was an old school bus, badly in need of a coat of paint, but when Liz scampered up the front steps, something about it changed.
“Oh, hello,” said Valerie. “Would you like to come with us?”
And the Bus agreed.
THE END
Current Mood:
busy