TWO AT A TIME By David, age 10

Nelson cut veggies on a chopping board for carrot soup. Victor loaded BBs into his gun at the kitchen table.

"Can I take a bite off your head?" Victor said.

"No!" said Nelson. "Victor, are you crazy? It is my precious pear head. If you're jealous then I'm not your friend, dude."

Victor lunged at Nelson and took a bite out of his head. Red juice and black seeds squirted from a gash below his ear. Nelson's face turned red. His eyes swelled shut.

"Aww," Nelson said. “Dude that's my only head. Go dial 911."

Vcitor dug his cell phone out of his pocket.

Beep Beep Beep.

"911. What's your emergency?"

"Hi, My friend is bleeding. We need an ambulance and a couple of smart medics now."

"I'll send one now, okay? Remain calm."


"Open up now! This is the cop. Hello you there? Are you okay?”

Victor locked the door and pushed a table in front of it.

“Open up or I’ll break down this door.”

He dragged a sofa up against the table.

“I’m going to give you five seconds. Five, four, three, two, and one.”

The whack of an ax. A blade splitting the door in half. A table leg snapping off and splintering.


Victor grabbed the knife from the counter and stabbed the medic behind his ear. The medic fell. A needle rolled out of his first aid bag. Words printed on the needle said, morphine. Victor poked him with it and walked out the door, mumbling, “Yeah, smart medic, who's stronger now?”

“Victor, are you crazy," Nelson said softly. "You killed the medic that wanted to help me.”

"Bye, I better get out of here,” Victor said. “See you in the hospital. Yahoo. I’m going to the store.”

Victor jogged to the corner store and picked up a Mr. Goodbar from the candy rack, whispering to himself, “Nothing happened, okay. I’m feeling weird, ready to blow up. I’ll get something to eat and stay cool. What do I want? Hmmm lets see, a candy bar, or a bag of chips? I'll get a bag of Ruffles with sour cream and onion.”

Victor got in line and thought about the last time he ate Ruffles. He’d been walking home from the store with Nelson. Rain drizzled on the chips.

“We better hurry up and eat the chips,” Victor had said.

“Why?” Nelson said.

“They’re gonna get all soggy.”

“Ok,” Nelson said. “Eat two at a time.”

A siren squawked from the street. Victor walked back toward Nelson’s house, munching the chips.


About the Author

Hi my name is David. I’m ten years old. I live with my two sisters, my dad, and my mom. I like to play sports such as soccer, basketball and many more. I want to be better at not kicking the ball out of bounds in soccer. When wrote this story I could barely think of the words, so I want to get better at making choices faster. When I grow I want to make a new videogame system. I’m very different from other kids because all I want to play is sports most of the time. I don’t like sitting down and talking about random stuff. If I could be a plant I would be a cactus because if you tried to touch me, sorry I would poke you. I would like to be famous for bringing someone back to life by magic. If I could ask the world a question it would be: Who came up with god, or is it real? If I could go back in time I would go to the 1800s because I want to see what the Gold Rush was like. How many people died trying to get to the gold? This is my third published book. I’m also the author of There are Five People in my Family and Trouble in Madagascar.