6th Grade: The Cotton Tree

Cotton Brainwashing
By Mary

The three humans stared up into the sky, watching the cotton swirling wildly in the breeze. Some seemed to go in patterns, like an intricate dance. One human started screaming, “It’s everywhere, on me, on you, on the ground, in the air, everywhere! It’s taking over the world, it’s brainwashing me!” She stared avidly, watching the sky with all the cotton swirling around and started rubbing her hands together worriedly. Her friends started laughing, and she started shrieking. “How can you laugh? It’s the truth!” Her friends doubled over while she started to stomp off. They ran after her and then calmed her down. They walked off and ignored the trees, forgetting them completely, until someone sneezed, and then they walked inside, arguing wildly.
Underneath where they had been standing, a little ant had been listening. His name was Rupert. He went off, traveling down to where the other ants where having a meeting for the very same reason the humans had been arguing. The cotton should have stopped, the trees didn’t have any more cotton on their branches, yet it still came down. The queen was starting to get worried, despite the fact that ants couldn’t get brainwashed by the cotton. She knew it was only be a while before the squirrel did something to make the cotton brainwash them, too. So she called a meeting to decide what they were going to do. Of course, there was talk of storming the cotton trees and stopping the mad squirrel. Yet, some just wanted to journey to another land, and live the rest of their lives out as peacefully as possible until the humans came and started killing them while building their huge houses.
Rupert went to the side to his friends, and they started making conspiracy theories. “We could sneak into the main tree, where the squirrel is and then assassinate him! Oh, wait, that wouldn’t work,” said FooFoo. They all looked at him questioningly and he said, “Well, it wouldn’t. Assassins are hired, and get paid. No, we’d have to murder him.” As they continued to look at him weirdly, he shrugged.
“How about we become worker ants and then we sabotage it?” said Ted, “You know, like in the stories?”
“Sure, but how many ants do you think are working for him? How many of the few that are there aren’t in cells, aren’t brainwashed?” said Erica critically.
“Anything’s possible. Who knows, maybe you are working for him?” Ted looked at her suspiciously. “What’s with the murdering, anyway, FooFoo?”
“Well, that’s what they do in the stories other then sabotage.” FooFoo pouted. “All right, umhh, how do the control they control the cotton?”
“It’s something that they put inside the cotton, and then the squirrel controls it so that it flies around and brainwashes all animals,” said Ted. They all sat there and thought about that, then turned to look at the queen of the ants. She was deep in discussion with two council members, while everyone else just sat and waited. She looked exasperated and the council members looked mutinous. Finally the queen stood up, and walked off. The council members stayed and talked really fast to each other. Then they too, walked off.
“Yes! It’s the end of the meeting! Wait, what’s happening? What’s she going to do?” FooFoo jumped around looking at where the queen had gone. She had gone down the passage way to the cellar. “Do you think she has a plan?”
“Nah, she’s just hungry,” said Ted matter-of-factly. “She’ll have one in the morning though; the cellars are the best place to think up a plan. I planned out how to get Suzie stuck in the mud there.”
Rupert turned around and looked at where the queen had gone, and then said, “What should we do? How can we help? How about we humiliate the squirrel? Would he go away then?”
“We could, but how? You aren’t thinking of dressing him up like a clown! We’d never manage it!” Ted was becoming slightly panicked. “A clown with a red nose, freaky hair, and a multi-colored suit, and making him get inside it all?”
“Not him, a friend of mine, Robert. He can imitate the squirrel very well, and he knows all his habits because he is the squirrel’s cousin. I’ll go contact him right now.” Rupert turned and walked outside. His friends looked at each other.
“I’ll go make the costume,” said Erica, “And who is going to get the nose?”
“I will. I have a cherry that I’ve been saving,” said Ted.
“I’ll get the wig,” offered FooFoo, since there was really nothing else he could do. “Also, do you think that one of us should get a sleeping drug to make the squirrel go to sleep?”
Two hours later they were at the entrance and they could see Rupert with a squirrel. It looked like the double of the squirrel and they could hardly tell the difference. They introduced themselves and then started getting the costume on the squirrel; it was really tight considering that it was for an ant. Then they got the wig on, it was made from cotton candy, and lastly the nose. They sent Robert off, knowing that it would only take a second for him to get there, but they worried that he wouldn’t find the way. They had lost their ways going to find food, and they could only see so much and so they worried. They sat until dawn because that was when the squirrel would get up, and Robert would make his entrance. At that very moment, Robert would be force-feeding the squirrel to drink the sleeping drug, and that wouldn’t be easy. A few minutes later, the sun was up, and the squirrel would have been too. Not long to wait.
Nothing, then they heard a shriek of laughter, coming from the direction of the tree. Then squirrels came bounding their way. They hadn’t been able to leave before, but now they could, they knew how to get away from the squirrel. Later, they heard a yell of rage, probably from the squirrel. Then Robert came bounding to them and they watched, giggling, as the squirrel came out and ran away. Robert had taken a pie along, to add affects. When the squirrel had woken up after his workers had gone away, Robert had thrown the pie at him.
Robert went home and then Rupert and his friends walked inside the tunnels. They were off to tell the queen, and when they did, she was ecstatic. They all lived happily ever after, until the squirrel came up with another way to disrupt their lives.
The end.