Original Story by Asa, age 7:
There was a raccoon, and he loved eating garbage. He was very curious of what was in the house, so that night he climbed up the stairs to the door. “The door is locked” he said. So he walked up the stairs and he noticed the sliding door was unlocked so he walked right in the back door that could slide open and shut. He said, “It’s nice in here!” He saw the refrigerator and smelled something that he’d never smelled before. So, he slowly opened the door and what do you think he saw? Fruits and vegetables, that’s what he saw. “What do those good-smelling foods taste like?” and he ate a strawberry and he loved it, so one minute later he’d eaten four whole containers of them. Two hours later he’d eaten everything in the refrigerator! But then he realized that he also had another favorite food, trash! “What should be my favorite one. And if I choose one I don’t want it to be the wrong choice.” Well most raccoons are smart but this one was very, very smart. He thought about vegetables are good for your body and eating trash helps make not so much trash in the world so then he thought about which one is bigger. The world is bigger than the raccoon! So, to keep him alive you need fruits and vegetables and to keep animals safe anywhere, ALL the raccoons need to eat trash. And ALL raccoons need to eat a STEADY diet of trash and fruits and vegetables. When he got back to his home, he told his friends who told their parents and they let them eat that from now on. And that’s just what they did. The next night the raccoon set off to a new house (he had a hard time sleeping because in the morning, which is when all raccoons are sleeping, the humans were all screaming because they had nothing in their refrigerator, so he was half asleep half awake) he went straight to the back door and it was unlocked. He walked right in, but in this refrigerator it had junk food. The raccoon didn’t stand a chance. He scrambled right out of there. And went to a new house. And he went to the back door and ate everything in their refrigerator and then he left. Then he set off the next night and went close to a new house. He sniffed for good food like fruits and vegetables. He smelled a lot of vegetables and fruits. Then he forgot about going through the back door and instead he went in the front door. After that he noticed that the front door was open. So he realized it doesn’t have to go through the back door and he can try both doors. So he went inside and for two hours he ate. Two days later he found a trash can. He broke little holes in the garbage can with his claws and he climbed up, opened the top and cannon-balled in. And he ate for one hour because the sun was rising. No one really cared because no one really pays attention to garbage. In the future, he will eat trash and fruits and vegetables. And that is the raccoon that made the very hard choice, which was both.
Statement from the Author:
I wrote a book in first grade called the Problem of Plastic about trash and garbage and where it goes and why it's bad for the planet in specific places.The Raccoon's very Hard Choice was inspired by me thinking about trash in the world that is polluting it and Racoons hopped in! I was listening to Story Pirates and after every episode there is a thing that gives you a little inspiration and for that one it was, think about a character that has to make a very hard choice and I put together everything into a story! - Asa
