by Chas Hathaway

Created on: August 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 17, 2009

The Beast of Yonder: Chapters 1-2

What is it about sinking one's teeth deep into the sides of a new number 2 pencil that is so satisfying? Is it the feel of the crushing wood, or is it the crackly sound that the pencil makes? Of course, let's not forget the the feeling of sucking on the smooth eraser at the pencil's end there's a noteworthy question too; is it because it is so smooth, or is it the flavor itself? But if it's not the flavor, maybe it is the temptation to bite down on the soft rubber. Of course, everyone knows that erasers don't have the strength that the firm wood has. Maybe that's just it; between the feel of the eraser on the tongue and the crunch of the wood in the teeth, a pencil is simply inedible food. Or if that's not it, then maybe...

Such were Lindsey Barchopious's thoughts when she was rudely interrupted by Barney Pendleton, who sat behind her in her 3rd grade class. He was poking her with the back of his pencil, saying, Hey, Lins! At recess I dare you to eat a bloodberry! Barney was a school bully, but Lindsey knew very well that Barney didn't have the guts to pick on her. The only time he'd even dared to pull her hair, she'd pushed him in the mud, and when he got up to slug her, she pushed him back into the mud, and since then he had never dared to challenge her again. Of course, Barney didn't let that stop him from trying to humiliate Lindsey or get her in trouble somehow. Twice he'd tried to frame her for stealing, but twice he'd been caught. Once he put a frog in her desk to try to scare the her, but Lindsey was so excited to find a frog in her desk that she took it home and kept it as a pet.
But to eat a bloodberry! Everyone in the school knew that to eat a bloodberry meant severe school penalty though Lindsey had never met anyone personally that had actually eaten one. But everyone in the school knew the story about some kid no one knew for sure if it had been a boy or a girl who had eaten a bloodberry though no one knew for sure how long ago it had happened and the principal had called the police. When the police arrived, they immediately organized a shooting squad, and the boy or girl, was shot on the spot. And of course every kid in the school believed the story to be true, because if the story wasn't true, why would everyone know about it? But Lindsey didn't believe it. She knew it was bad news if she tried to eat one, but she wasn't afraid of the teachers or anyone else.
Whatever it

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