The Land Beyond the Bookcase

As the class sat quietly on the rug, suddenly Ray, noticed that there was something moving behind the bookcase. "Hey, look!" he said, pointing. His teacher, Ms. Sampsen frowned. "No talking in class. You'll have a 5-minute time-out at recess." "But,-" Ray started. "No buts!" Mr. Sampsen ordered strictly as she wrote Ray's name on the board which was Raymont -- 5 min. Ray sighed.

Finally, recess arrived. Frankfurt, the class bully, stuck out his tongue. Ray ignored him. His friends, Selena and Robert whispered good luck to him. Ray just looked at the bookcase. It suddenly jolted. Ray winced. "Raymont!" Ms. Sampsen snapped. "Write I will not talk in class 20 times and then you may go out to recess." Ray started writing. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class ... After, Ms. Sampsen let him go.

Selena and Robert were waiting for him at the swings. "Hey," he greeted. They nodded. "I just want to check something out in class." Ray said. "Sure," Robert shrugged. He followed Ray and Selena followed him. When they were trudging up the stairs, Ray told them, "I saw something moving behind the bookcase. I wanna go check it out." "It was probably just a rat. " Selena said. "I doubt it." Ray simply said.

They peered in through the window. This time, Robert and Selena both saw the bookcase move. They jumped back a foot. "What'd I tell you?" Ray asked. "Oookay, we believe you," stammered Robert, "I'm outta here!" But Raymont held on firmly to his hood. "No, you're not. You're staying with me until we solve this case!" Selena nodded. "Yup. I'm sorta frightened but we can't let Ray go in by himself." she said. "And bring your Swiss Army knife," Ray added, "it might come in handy." "Come on, Rob!" Selena pleaded, "Just this one time." "Fine." They opened the door.

Robert led the way towards the bookcase. Their class pet, Manny the hamster looked up. Selena gave him another carrot. Ray grew excited. Ray and his friends studied the bookcase carefully, Robert looked at the picture of their school in a frame. He picked it up. "BOOM!" went the bookcase. That was the last thing Robert remembered before he blacked out.

When he awoke, he found himself lying on the ground with Ray and Selena shaking him. "Where am I?" he groaned. "Why am I here?" Robert sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. "Remember?" Ray asked, "when you picked up the picture, there was this weird flash of light, you blacked out, and now we're here!" Robert looked puzzled. "Listen, we don't know how this happened either." Selena explained. They looked back and saw the bookcase, "It must be a new, weird world!" Ray exclaimed. "Or it might be old and never been discovered yet!" Selena pointed out. "Hmm, that's true," Robert said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Hey! there's a sign!" Ray shouted. "Rockwell. Population - 300 Thief population - 10" Robert read out loud. "We'd better be on the lookout for thieves." Ray warned. They started walking.

"Hey!" Selena said, "Where is everybody? Ad why are there so many rocks?" "We are people," grunted a rock, "rock people." "Whoa!" exclaimed Ray. The rock held out a teeny little hand. "I'm Roscoe," he grunted, "the boss." Robert rolled his eyes. Ray stuck out his pinky and shook Roscoe's hand. He pulled on another rock. "This is my secretary, Rosie." Rosie smiled, "Hello." "Hi!" Selena greeted. "Girls," Robert muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, there was this huge booming noise. Then, a little pebble (which was probably a kid) ran down the street, calling, "Sir! Sir! Rocky reported that he saw the Boulder Thieves coming this way! We must all hide!" "Uh, oh!" Roscoe said, looking worried. He waved his hand in the air. "Go! Everyone! Hide!" he ordered as the rocks began scurrying away. Roscoe looked at the kids thoughtfully. "Hmm. Where should I hide you?" he grunted. "That's okay," Ray said boldly, "they can't really hurt us." "Are you sure? They capture every living thing in the path and holds them slaves." Selena nodded. "Just hide! They're coming closer!"Roscoe scurried off.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The boulders thundered. Ray gulped. As the boulders thundered closer and closer, Ray, Selena, and Robert grew more and more scared on the inside but tried to look fierce on the outside. Was this the end?

But, as they saw the boulder Thieves, they realized that they were only about as big as a T.V. To Selena's surprise, she laughed out loud! All this time, she had been scared that they were the size of Moro Rock at King's Canyon National Park, but instead, they were about the size of her baby sister! Soon, Ray and Robert were laughing, too.

"WHO DARES LAUGH AT THE TEN DEN B. THIEVES!" The biggest one boomed. "YEAH!" its sidekick agreed. Ray looked down. He had won the schools' weightlifting program so he knew what he wanted to do. He picked up the smallest of the ten and hurled it towards the ocean. The biggest one's eyes flared with anger. "HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY ASSISTANT!" It boomed. "So you're the boss," Selena smirked, "your 'assistant' is slightly smaller than my little sister. HA!" The chief's lip formed a thin, white line. "WHO DARES MOCK THE LEADER?!!?" His voice thundered with rage. "We do," Robert answered calmly. "Ahhhhhhh!" The chief yelled as Ray began hurling on boulder after another into the ocean.

Finally, Ray had thrown every boulder into the ocean except the chief and his sidekick. Ray was gasping for breath. "Way to go!" Robert held up his hand for a high five. Ray smiled weakly and shook his head. The chief growled. Then, he whispered something to his sidekick. The sidekick nodded. He began rolling himself really fast towards Ray, Selena, and Robert like a giant bowling ball. "Yes! Yes!" the chief screeched wildly and evilly. Just as they were about to be doomed from the sidekick, Robert reached into his pocket, grabbed his Swiss Army knife, flipped out the sharpest knife, (and strongest) and hurled it at the sidekick. It actually split Mr. Sidekick in half. It screamed with agony. Robert grabbed his Swiss Army knife before the chief could get a hold of it.

"Phew!" Selena breathed with relief, "Thank you. You just saved us!" She said, giving Robert a pat on the back. Robert smiled shyly as Ray took care of the chief. First, he wrestled him down to the beach. Next, Ray stood at the edge of the water and did the cukoo sign to the chief. That made the chief so mad that he lunged toward Ray but Ray stepped out of the way just in time so the chief accidentally ran into the water and drowned. Ray held up two fingers in a victory sing. "Let's get outta here!" Selena said as she threw the two halves of the sidekick into the ocean. When they got to the sign, they crossed out Thief Population-10. After, they entered the bookcase (never mind how) and returned safely to recess.

THE END