The Man in Black

One of JW's assignments today was to write a simple dialog (Sonlight Language Arts 2, Week 3). He was given some potential conversation starters. Instead, he chose to write a story incorporating all of the sentences given (listed at the end). Together, we did some light editing once it was done, and I helped out with an idea or two, but this is all JW, all the way. His imagination, creativity and way with words amazes me!

Joe, on the way into the restaurant to meet his cousin Jerry for dinner, suddenly passes a man carrying an animal that is extremely strange to him.

“What in the world is that?” asked Joe.

“An orangutan,” said the man in the yellow hat.

“Oh, is that what one looks like! Where did he come from?”

“He came from Asia, I bought him in France, and now he lives in America.”

“Then, what are you going to do with him now?” asked Joe.

“I’m going to feed him this mango,” the man in the yellow hat said.

The man in black whispered, “Put down that mango."

Joe pleaded to the man in black, “Don’t take the mango from the man in the yellow hat! It would really upset my cousin Jerry. He loves orangutans and hates it when people don’t feed them. He’s just in the next room, and he might hear you and get upset.”

The man in black didn’t answer. Instead, he smashed the octopus’ tank.

The octopus swirled out of the remains of the tank, grabbing Joe.

LaRonda raced into the room. “Yikes!” shouted LaRonda, “Who’s the whiz bang who thought it was a good idea to taunt the octopus?”

LaRonda leaped to the octopus, punching the arm that held Joe. It loosened its grip just enough for Joe to slip out.

In all the commotion, the man in black had slipped out of the room.

Meanwhile, in the dining area of the restaurant, Jerry, not knowing the chaos happening at the same time, was arguing with the waiter.

“No,” insisted Jerry. “I did not order the sesame chicken. And I wanted boneless, not meatless”

As he looked away from the chicken, a mysterious man quickly bumped the plate, sending it spinning towards Jerry. The plate crashed, and the chicken skeleton landed on Jerry’s head, sealing him inside it. Smashing his cage of chicken bones, he leaped up, just as the man in black sped into the room, looking for somewhere to hide.

And then, the man in the yellow hat, Joe and LaRonda leaped through the window into the room.

The man in black, not wanting to fight, rolled up his sleeves and got ready to punch.

As the man in black got ready, the man in the yellow hat turned to Joe.

“Could you please hold my orangutan?” pleaded the man in the yellow hat.

Joe said, “Sure!”

The man in black charged, but then he slipped on the water seeping from the smashed octopus tank in the next room. It splashed the waiter in the face, making him drop his ten kilogram dish right in the direction of Jerry.

As Jerry is too scared to move, Joe hands the orangutan to LaRonda, leaped to his feet and leaped once again, diving for Jerry. Joe swept Jerry off his feet, carrying Jerry to a safe place just in time.

The dish smashed on the floor.

Meanwhile, the orangutan, put down by LaRonda, so she could fight on the man in the yellow hat’s side, started throwing leftover food at the man in black. (So putting him down, actually probably was a good thing.)

The man in black, suddenly hit by pieces of the ten kilogram dish and various chicken bones, fell backwards.

When he finally regained consciousness, he raised a white flag saying, “I give up!”

THE END


And here are the sentences he was given as options:
- “What in the world is that?” asked Joe.
- The man in black whispered, “Put down that mango.”
- “Yikes!” shouted LaRonda, “Who’s the whiz bang who thought it was a good idea to taunt the octopus?”
- “Could you please hold my orangutan?” pleaded the man in the yellow hat.
- “No,” insisted Jerry. “I did not order the sesame chicken."