The Horse Race
There once was a prince and a princess, both who had much to learn about the outside world. The princess who was 9, had garnered quite an attitude at such a young and precious age, and the prince was aged 14, and still had some to learn but less so than the girl. They were both inhabitants of Martha’s Kingdom (Martha being their mother), and were going to the Fairy Godmother Race that chilly morning. This Race was limited to the Royal Family, and people of their choice. This Race was not an ordinary one; participants were to purchase a horse of their choice and feed them apples to ready them for the race. There was a limit on the apples that stood at 2 apples per horse.
All participants in this race were fair minded people. They all purchased 2 apples for their horses. But the prince was not one of these people, he chose to be secretive and sly. So he being the only person, he bought 2 apples like the others, but stole one another for his horse. The race started and the prince stormed ahead of everyone. The princess noticed and figured that he had three apples for his horse. With this knowledge, the princess was infuriated, and she went on to whip her horse, break out of the pack, and stand on even ground with the prince. The other participants followed suit. At the last lap they all stood even with the prince, and the prince pushed his horse on, but the horse failed to accelerate more, because of his full stomach Alas, right at the finish line the princess nudged ahead and won. The prince was speechless, he had fed his horse four apples but had failed to win. The princess received the Fairy Godmother, and the Prince lay in the corner embarrassed.
The 14th Year
This is 14
Fourteen is like the first big wave that hits you at a beach. Shocking, exciting, overwhelming. All of these qualities are what it's like to be a fourteen year old. You begin to realize and learn new things, life becomes more complex, new problems arise, and next thing you know your’e engulfed in the wave, that is being fourteen.
There's one weird thing about being Fourteen: everything seems the same. You still wake up early in the morning, eat breakfast, say hello to your family, then go to school. It's all seems very familiar and the same. But underlying all of this is almost this new found independence. You can now walk around and “go out” on your own watch (though I don't abuse or use these privileges) as opposed to begging your parents on a daily basis to get what you want.
Now at fourteen you have to take care of yourself at times, you have to cook dinner for yourself, you have to do your homework without being reminded, you now set your “bed time”. All of this is put into your hands now because you’re a “big”, mature, and reliable teenage highschooler. Now you're also responsible for doing your chores. It all hits you too fast.
Fourteen is when your realize “Wow, my childhood is almost over.”You think to yourself seriously for the first time, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” At fourteen this is actually a serious question. Also on the serious note sports, extracurricular activities, education becomes more serious. Now grades actually matter, now I have to go to hockey practice, now I can't take a day off from school.
At Fourteen as each day comes and goes and the waves of being fourteen keep hitting you harder and harder.
Fourteen is a time of decisions. These decisions impact who you are, and who you will be. You make the decision on whether or not to speak to the teacher about that test, you make the decision of what elective you want to take, you now have the final say on if you want to go to summer camp or not. I know that’s a big decision right…
Stress comes with being fourteen too, the stress of high school non inflated grades, grades going on college applications. Stress about having a test every other week, it never ends there’s too much to do. Completing that partner assignment with the kid you never talk to, playing with your sister, fitting in that last episode of your favorite Netflix show. The constant reminders from your parents to go to the bank with them and make your bank account. Constant after school activities including but not limited to: sports, clubs, and religious obligations, many things to do when you’re fourteen.
As each day passes in your fourteenth year you reconnect with your past thirteen years. You become nostalgic of your past childhood, your old house, old friends, and old favorite places. It seems every day a old memory comes up, one of that family barbeque with your distant relatives from maryland, a memory of your old friends who lived on the street then moved to Australia never to be seen again.
14 is now. And it’s coming like a tidal wave.
13 Ways Of Looking at Rubber
I
Hidden in the kitchen tools container
Lies the rubber spatula
One that scrapes all remnants
Of the mistakes you made
II
The cookies sat on the silpat
Clear of all stickiness
That was supposed to be
Leaving stress for all but me
III
The Black Rubber Disc glides across the ice
Providing entertainment for all
IV
Rubber tires spinning on the black top
The two joined together
A marriage of movement
Moving all
V
My feet painfully pound
Pounding on the hard rubber turf
It won't give in
I just keep on pounding
VI
Silly bands fill the plastic container
Somber 4th graders staring
At the colors of their stolen Silly bands
The Silly bands scream “pick me, take me”
The 4th graders still gaze
Until their Teacher gives them back
VII
Mistakes are made in life
Paper being the most prone
Why are these incorrect marks, made on paper so often?
But woefully unrecognized is the savior of these mistakes
The eraser
VIII
The noble guards of hotels despise of this weapon
They speak of it in the same sentence that they do of spoiled milk
But they can’t stop the weapons usage in their hotel
I speak of a weapon that’s involved in everything
The rubber band gun
IX
When the high school track faded out of sight,
My rubber shoes relied on the natural ground
Not the one made out of rubber
The natural muddy ground
X
When the white rubber ball comes into sight
The one that comes from the lacrosse stick
My excitement perks up like the ears of a dog
You can hear the whole team
Shrieking of happiness
XI
The rubber rocket ship sinks the bottom of the pool
Encased in a regal air bubble
It’s the most prized possession of all
Anticipation hovers over the three siblings
Who are in competition
For that prized rubber rocket ship
XII
The young girl is moving
Placing the rubber air filled cushion on someone’s dinner seat
For the amusement for all
XIII
A snowy thanksgiving was in play
It was early in the morning
And it was very cold
All people showed up to play
With the green and black football which was there to stay
My Encyclopedia
Flour
Give or take, the basis of all carbs. It’s ground grain. I call it a miracle ingredient: combine it with anything and a miracle ensues. Combine it with water, yeast, and salt, you get bread. Combine it with liquidity tomato sauce, and get a beautiful thick sauce. Combine it with butter sugar and eggs, get churros. And lastly, combine it with butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and chocolate chips, and get chocolate chip cookies! The real question is how do you not love it?
Aqui (Spanish Word)
My favorite spanish word of all. Why can’t it just be an English word. In a perfect world Aqui would be a synonym of “OK”. Being myself I already use Aqui that way, I hope others will too someday.
Cheese
Cheese and I are in a love-hate relationship. I hate all cheese except for mozzarella. Mozzarella is great but I only really eat it on pizza. I guess you could say that cheese and I are in a 99% hate, 1% love relationship. But I’m fine with that.
Picky
I hate this word. People are shocked I’m a “picky” eater because I love to cook. I really just don’t like cheese. But after telling everyone that they still say I’m picky.
Cooking Wine
Cooking Wine is amazing; it turns something that’s good to something that’s great. I love it so.
Cleanliness
I can’t keep my room clean, or at least when it’s in a state of cleanliness. I try so hard to keep my room clean but it’s so hard, everything just keeps piling up on top of eachother. I feel like I don’t even make the mess… it almost just appears.
Hello
I love this word, pretty much the whole world understands it. So if I say “Hello” to someone they’ll 99% of the time understand it. That amazes me.
110%
My sport coaches always say, “Do it 110%” This irritates me because you can only really do something at 100%. I understand why they say it, but it’s just so annoying.
Authors Note
I thoroughly enjoyed writing this Multi Genre Piece. I feel that the pieces I wrote most certainly captured myself and my story. Starting with This is 14, in this piece I feel that it most certainly represented my view of being Fourteen Years of age. Throughout the piece I elaborate on the things that come with being fourteen years old. Some of these things are like taking care of yourself, and juggling your responsibilities. Also, one other piece that represents myself and my story is the Encyclopedia Entry. Even though this is a small snit bit, it shows my opinion on specific things and topics, which I feel as a collective whole represent myself. Furthermore, all of these pieces most certainly tie together. Starting with my Fairytale, which almost gives an introduction to myself, then it goes into This is 14. In this piece the idea of an introduction to me, the “author”, are accentuated. Many of my ideas of myself and life are shown. Then the next piece is “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Rubber”, I feel that this piece certainly shows my ideals of life and what's important to me, just like the two pieces before which hold the same ideas as this piece. Lastly comes The Encyclopedia, which definitely holds true to the common theme of the other three pieces. This shows, that all of my pieces are most certainly connected. These pieces definitely helped me learn more about myself ; I found that in each piece I kept pouring out more information about myself and how I go about life. Hence, I definitely enjoyed writing this piece, it really made me look deep inside myself to look for more information to pour into my piece, and if we could write a similar piece like this again, I would most certainly want to.
Credits:
By Charlie Mollin