Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2016 finalist, Timothy Leung! Timothy finished 3rd grade this past school year. He was featured in last year’s Inklings Book. This year, he wrote a story for us about art supplies that come to life and go on an adventure! Here’s what Inklings Book judge, Jennifer Fosberry had to say about Timothy’s story: “This person does not mess around! What an epic journey. He has a great ability to use tension and have distinct voices for his characters. Creative for sure and stinky underwear made me laugh!” Enjoy!
Art Alive
by Timothy Leung
Ruby Green was always very artistic. She loved anything to do with art and she had everything to do with it. Whether it was markers, or crayons, or pastels, or the special type of pattern scissors, she had them all. She was also a cute little girl, with brown hair, a nice, round face, and no freckles, which made her appearance look like an artist. Ruby loved changing her hair styles every day, showing off her ability of creativity. Her mother, Barbara Green, helped support Ruby on her interest in art, and would often give her advice and feedback.
Her dad, David Green, didn’t like Ruby’s interest at all. He always complained, “Ruby Green, clean up those paint supplies and piece of paper so that I have room to read my magazine!” or “Ruby, how in the world am I supposed to do things with your little pack of crayons here!” Ruby’s dad always made a fuss about art. Then one day, when Mr. Green was complaining as usual, he got so upset that he snatched away all the art supplies that Ruby had.
Luckily, Ruby had hidden three of her best supplies. These three were the ones that she loved the most. The three supplies were a pack of sixty-four crayons, a portable art kit, and her special edition marker kit.
Ruby stomped her feet. “Grr!!” she growled. Then she stormed up to her room and went to the place where she hid her art supplies and cried. She cried, and cried.
Then, when everything felt hopeless, she heard a tiny voice say, “Miss Ruby, umm…Miss Ruby, your majesty! Ahem. Loyal humble Markshall here! Markshall Marker, marshal of Art Kingdom, is speaking here ma’am!”
“Who’s talking? Whose Markshall Marker?” asked Ruby, looking down.
“Oh, please! Seriously, she doesn’t know where we are? God, our master is sometimes soooo dumb!” said a sassy voice.
“Don’t-sniff-be rude-sniff-Artsy-sniff!” sniffed another voice.
“Who’s talking here?” asked Ruby looking upwards. “Who’s Artsy?”
As she looked up she saw the weirdest thing in her entire life. Her art kit was on legs posing itself, her markers taking their hands and waving them around, and her sixty-four crayon box sitting down pouting, making sniffy noises, and pouring wax of all colors.
“Wah, wah, wah!” cried the crayon box. “She-e-e doe-s-sn-sn’t recognize us!”
“Hold on! Wait a second!” cried Ruby, who was completely bewildered. “Let’s all settle down. First of all, who are you guys?”
“A little misunderstanding, eh, miss?” said the marker. “We are the Art Kingdom leaders. We are here to help you get your art supplies back. Come to the Art Kingdom with us. Oh, and my name is Markshall Marker.”
“Okay,” said Ruby, “Now… What’s the Art Kingdom?”
“Seriously! Maybe crybaby Sixty-Four Crayola will like, explain it to you!” demanded Artsy.
Then, the sixty-four crayon box sniffled and wailed, “Wah-wah! Don’t do this to me!”
“Okay, I’ll show her the Art Kingdom!” huffed Markshall Marker. “Watch and learn, Ruby!” Then, he whispered, “Portal of Art, please come for your part!”
Instantly, a rainbow crayon appeared and drew a big circle. Then it jumped into the circle and immediately the circle was filled with color. There were reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and purples – all the colors of the rainbow! Then, one by one, everybody stepped in.
“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” screamed Ruby, as she fell down a deep hole. Ruby kept falling, and falling, and falling. Bonk! Ruby’s bottom landed on a soft ground. Ruby looked around and realized that she was in a dark tunnel.
“Hello?” she called. “Hello?” Ruby’s voice echoed back. “Hello?” ”Hello?” Ruby voice continued to echo. But then the girl heard other voices.
“Turn on the lights!” one voice said.
“Where are like, the lights?” complained a sassy voice.
“It’s a blackout!” whimpered another voice.
“Rainbow crayon, draw-sniff-some lights!” Then came a scratchy drawing sound, and a click, which made the lights come on. Ruby saw that the tunnel was full of rainbow color.
“Where are we?” wondered Ruby.
“The art tunnel, also known as the entrance, also known as the rainbow tunnel, also known as the hollow place of colors and echoes, also known as the portal ending, also known as the beginning of the Art Kingdom!” informed Markshall Marker, all in one breath.
“Okay…” slowly said Ruby, hesitating.
“Welcome to the Art Kingdom, lassie!” presented Markshall Marker.
They walked through the rainbow tunnel and entered a magnificent room that was also painted in rainbow color. Large paintings were hung on walls, and sparkling pieces of light gracefully flew around everywhere. There were so many art supplies walking around on their stubby little feet. A big crowd of crayons ran over to a room.
“We’re going to be late!” a purple one shrieked.
A set of scissors climbed a ladder that went so high that Ruby couldn’t see the top. A pair of glue sticks rushed over to a crayon that had fallen and broken in half, and started to paste him back together.
“Thank you,” said the crayon with delight. “How can I ever repay you?”
A class of origami paper huddled around each other, smiling beautiful smiles. Ruby breathed hard; this was true amazement to her eyes.
“Well, let’s get started!” exclaimed Markshall happily, waking Ruby up from her trance.
“Wait, like, follow me!” demanded Artsy, pulling Ruby’s arm.
“Wait ARTSY!” yelled Markshall. Artsy kept going and led them to a room with a big sign that read, ‘SNACK ROOM.’
“Artsy, why are you going to the snack room?”
Artsy pointed and said, “No, look! After the snacks!”
After the snacks was the beverage refrigerator. “Come on, let’s go!” complained Markshall. “We’re going to the enemy room! And it’s on the other side of the kingdom!”
“Enemy room? I thought we were going to the enemy spy room!” questioned Artsy.
“The enemy spy room closed down a many years ago!” said Markshall.
“Okay, first, what is the ‘Enemy Spy Room? Second, what are we doing?” piped up Ruby.
Artsy suddenly walked ahead, opened the refrigerator, and jumped into a Doritos Bag. “Come on!!!” she shouted. “Let’s go!”
“She’s gone!!” wailed the crayon pack.
“No she’s not, and I’m following her!” said Ruby cheerfully. Then she jumped in.
“Wah-wah-”
“I’m going in to! And you’d better come along!” commanded Markshall in a serious tone. He jumped in as well.
“Why am I doing this?” sniffed the Crayola crayon. He jumped into the refrigerator, then everything went dark.
Ruby fell into a room with a blue carpet. There were surveillance cameras and computers lined up everywhere.
“You’re right Artsy!” said Markshall. “The Enemy Spy Room is here!”
“Follow me,” said Crayola crayon. He went to a computer and murmured a few magical words. Instantly, the entire room disappeared and the floor sank down. They came into a huge room with glass everywhere and a few more computers. The glass peered into Mr. Green’s room.
“Let’s go find your art supplies!” exclaimed Crayola crayon.
“Everybody go to a computer!” commanded Markshall.
Ruby went onto a computer. She clicked on an app that was labeled: ‘Enemy.’ A screen popped up showing ‘Pick an Enemy.’ She clicked on a button that said, ‘David Green.’ Then a list of options displayed: ‘Why He?’ ‘Who is He?’ and ‘What He Has.’ Ruby clicked on the button that had ‘What He Has.’ Everybody else had done the same. They immediately saw a room on the screen that looked like the dad’s room. There were another set of options: ‘Camera’, ‘Chest’, ‘Right Now’, and ‘Secret Paths.’
“Everybody pick an option!” commanded Ruby.
“Yes Master!” they all replied.
“I’ll do Chest!” cried Markshall.
“Secret Paths!” claimed Artsy.
“Right Now!” sniffed Crayola.
“And I’ll choose Camera!” said Ruby.
For the next 20 minutes they searched for Ruby’s art supplies. Ruby’s screen showed views from hidden cameras in her dad’s room. She looked around and tried to see if she could spy anything suspicious. Were they under the heap of underwear? Definitely not. There were many different places to look… But which one was the right one?
Markshall’s computer screen displayed another list of options: ‘Under the Bed’, ‘Closet’, ‘Pocket’, and ‘Drawer.’ He clicked on ‘Drawer.’ It showed stinky underwear and socks. There were also dirty shirts and pants. Markshall made a face.
“That is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen!” he marked, while gagging. He went back and clicked ‘Under the Bed.’ “I hope I find something good here!” he wished. Instead, he saw a huge fury, big object, moving around. “IT’S THE DAD!!!!” screamed the poor, little marker.
Artsy watched as Markshall was gagging and screaming. “Wow, Markshall!” she teased.
“All so serious, huh?”
“Do your work Artsy!” cried the marker.
“Secret Paths has nothing!” whined Artsy.
“I’m sure there is!” assured Markshall.
Suddenly, a triumphant voice shouted, “I found them!” Everybody turned and looked. “The art supplies are all scattered around though!” said Ruby. “And I have no idea where this place is!”
“Let me see,” said Markshall. He walked over to Ruby. “Hmmm….. I don’t seem to know where this is! Let me think……… Ah ha! It is in fact, in your room!!!”
“How? Where? In my room?” asked Ruby, curiously.
“Those questions can only be answered by you, Ruby,” said Markshall.
“You mean we’re going out there?” asked Ruby.
“That is exactly what I mean. Rainbow Crayon!” Markshall shouted.
“Hello!” said Rainbow Crayon in a squeaky voice.
“Please draw a portal to Ruby’s room,” ordered Markshall.
“Okay!” replied Rainbow Crayon. She then began swirling around, causing colors to spin, forming a circle. Rays shot out of the circle, a portal appeared. Everybody jumped into the portal of rainbow colors.
Ruby came out of a falling state and fell onto her bed. The others fell right on top of her.
“Ow!” complained Artsy. “Somebody’s knee is on my arm!”
“And somebody’s arm is on my knee!” whined Crayola.
“And worse of all, someone’s leg is on my foot!” yelled Markshall.
“Everybody settle down!” Ruby yelled. The whole room went quiet.
Then a deep voice shouted, “Ruby, what are you doing there?!”
“Um… nothing!” Ruby said quickly.
“Okay, but if I hear any more loud noises, I’m coming to you!” boomed Mr. Green.
“Sure thing, Dad!” replied Ruby, who was crossing her fingers and mentally wishing for her dad to not come up. “Whew!” she breathed, with a sigh of relief. “That, was a close one.”
“Was it?” scoffed Artsy. “Like, I survived the whole thing!”
“Let’s just get started already!” said Markshall.
“Where do we go?” asked Ruby.
“That is up to you, master.” replied Markshall, solemnly.
“Alrighty then!” exclaimed the girl. “Where would my dad hide my art supplies?”
“I know!” exclaimed Artsy. “There is a secret passage in your closet. I know from studying the annoying ‘Secret Passages!’”
“Let me look in the closet,” said Ruby. After a minute or two, she hollered, “Aha!”
“What did you find?” curiously asked Markshall.
“Another door!” exclaimed Ruby. “Good work Artsy!”
Everybody started congratulating Artsy.
“Yeah, I, like, saved the day!”
They all piled inside the closet and into the secret door. There was a flight of stairs that went down to another room.
“I never knew that this was here!” said Ruby. “Maybe my art supplies are here!”
“Great!” added Artsy. “Our mission is almost done! Now I can go get my snack…”
“Save the dreaming for later!” commanded Markshall. “Who knows if Mr. Green has even hidden the art supplies yet?!”
“Um… Markshall?” asked Crayola, quietly. “You may want to hear something. Ruby said that the art supplies were all scattered around!”
“You’re right!” exclaimed Markshall. “Let’s go!” They continued down the long flight of stairs. The bottom was an old, rusty place that was dimly lit by one torch. The group saw a few art supplies: a construction paper set, glue sticks, and crayon packs.
“Hi sweetie pie!” cooed the metallic crayon box, in a nice, sweet, tone. She turned her head towards Ruby. Then she bowed and said, “Hello, master.” The other supplies all did the same.
Ruby thanked them and announced with pleasure, “Well, we all know that my dad has hidden all my art supplies. They are scattered around in different places in my room. We, are to find them back! Now who’s with me?” They all raised their hands. “Great,” said Ruby. They went back up the long flight of stairs, now with some art supplies found. They came out of the closet.
“Where else would those other art supplies be?” murmured the nice, majestic tone.
“I have no idea…” murmured Crayola back.
“Why are we murmuring?” murmured Artsy. “LET’S GET TO IT ALREADY!!!”
“Okay, okay!” yelled Crayola. You don’t have to be so mean!”
“ATTENTION!!” shouted Ruby. The whole group hushed. Ruby then hushed too, as she heard a deep voice.
“Ruby Green, I’ve told you once and now I’m telling you twice that if I hear noise, I will come up! And now that I’ve heard noise, I’m COMIN’ UP!!”
Ruby gulped. “Everybody hide!!” she urged in a whispery voice, as loud as she dared.
Footsteps slowly became louder and louder, and the art supplies became quieter and quieter. David Green appeared at Ruby’s door, and glared at Ruby, in his mean, raging face. He had pitch black hair, eyes the color of coffee, and a smile that would make you fall down to your knees and whimper, ‘I surrender!!’ Crayola quivered in fear. The glue sticks nearly fainted. Even Artsy was breathing hard. Ruby’s dad loomed over his daughter, who was also in fear.
“What in tarnation is causing such a loud racket?”
“Um…” stuttered Ruby. “I-I don’t know…”
The construction paper kit was not having such a delightful time. Somehow, he got squished and had to move, which caused a little movement, which caused Mr. Green to spot it.
“What is that?” he growled, pushing the bookcase that the kit was hiding behind.
Ruby crossed her fingers and shut her eyes, thoughts rushing in her mind. The construction paper kit dove under the bed, just in time. Ruby slowly opened her eyes. Her dad was still peering around.
“See!” she casually said. “There’s nothing here! Um… I’d better do my stuff now!”
“What stuff?” sneered Mr. Green.
“Um…,” stammered Ruby, putting on a cheesy smile.
“Fine!” he boomed. “But if I hear any loud noise,” oh, the punishment smile.
“Homework! Yes, that’s right, homework!” She held up her homework that she never did because…
“Yes father,” quivered Ruby. He slowly walked out of the room, step by step.
“Whew,” breathed Markshall. “I am so tired now!!” Everybody agreed.
“But we still have a journey!” announced Ruby, who was also tired.
“Maybe we’ll continue tomorrow,” suggested the metallic crayons.
It was getting late. Ruby’s mother called, “Ruby, bedtime. Brush your teeth now!”
“Yes mom!” Ruby shouted back.
“Okay,” whispered Ruby to the supplies. “I have to go to bed now. Help yourself to wherever place you want.” She brushed her teeth, and went to bed, hoping for good things to happen tomorrow.
“RUBY! RUBY!” Ruby woke up with a start. She looked beside her, and saw Markshall.
“RUBY! RUBY!” Markshall shouted again. He sounded like a police siren.
“Oh my gosh!” shrieked Ruby. She jumped out of bed and hurled on a jacket, stumbling everywhere, causing many things to fall. “Okay,” Ruby breathed. “I’m ready!” All of the art supplies stared at her. “Um…” Ruby said. She smiled at them. They smiled back. “Well!” Ruby said. “Let’s continue our looking-for-art-supplies mission! Does anybody know another place where my art supplies could be?”
Artsy raised her hand. “Yes Artsy?” said Ruby.
“Maybe, Mr. Rudepants hid some of your supplies in there!” She pointed to an old drawer that Ruby never used.
“You’re right!” exclaimed Ruby. The drawer was another dirty place and when Ruby opened it, dust flew everywhere. Sure enough, some art supplies were in there. There were chalk pastels, oil pastels, water colors, and acrylic paint. “Hi!” Ruby greeted.
“Hi!” some squeaky voices replied back.
“Thank you Artsy!” Ruby exclaimed. “Now let’s do the math. I have 72 different art supplies, including Markshall, Artsy, and Crayola. We have found seven other supplies, which mean that we have 10 supplies found in total. That means that we have 62 more art supplies to find. And that, is a lot!”
“Master?” whispered the water colors. “Do you think that we should split up?”
“That is actually a great idea!” agreed Ruby. “Let’s each go to a different place.”
“I’m on it master!” said Markshall.
“Alright,” said Ruby. “Now let’s get started!”
It takes a very long time to gather up 62 art supplies on your own. It probably takes more time to hide them. If you have 10 cooperative people helping you, you can shorten down the whole week, into one day and a quarter. That is exactly how long it took for Ruby and the art supplies to find all the other 62 art supplies. The problem was, 72 arts supplies cannot fit into Ruby’s room. Luckily, Ruby had an art supplies cubby that fit all of the 72 art supplies. Before she put them all away, she still had a couple more things to do.
First, she said some words to the art supplies. “It has been a pleasure, working with you kind beings. I do not have to say bye, because I will always be with you. The reason I bought each and every one of you was because of my love for art. I knew that you would be just the right one, and someday, you would help me somehow. Today, you helped me fill my heart.”
The art supplies smiled. Ruby had one more thing to do. She wanted to go and talk to her dad. She wanted the perfect moment. She didn’t know how to begin and where to begin. First, she thanked the supplies one more time and put them each in a row of her cubby. Finally, she tidied up everything, making sure that all the hiding spots looked like they were untouched. Just as she finished, Ruby’s dad started up the stairs. Ruby knew to act casual, and let her dad notice the art supplies on his own. Then she would try to do something.
As David climbed the stairs, time slowed down for Ruby. The footsteps became louder and louder, boom after boom. What was 5 seconds seemed like an hour. Millions of thoughts flew through Ruby’s head, as fast as the speed of light. 5 seconds became four. As the clock ticked, Ruby’s heart thumped harder and harder, faster and faster! Ruby was breathing hard. These were the longest 3 seconds of her life. 2 seconds. Ruby became very tense. Her breathing was extremely fast. 1 second! Footsteps banged loud on the ground. Everything was so quiet, Ruby could hear her heart beat. Bang! Bang! Mr. Green entered the room.
“Hi Ruby,” said a nice tone.
“H-h-i-i dad,” Ruby stammered.
“I’m sorry I took your art supplies.” replied Mr. Green.
“It’s fine.”
“I see you already have them.”
“Right…” Ruby cautiously said.
“That is very brave of you!” answered David.
“I’m sorry…” mumbled Ruby, hanging her head.
“I know you are Ruby, but the thing is, I’m your dad. I love you, just the same as your mom. I should be sorry for always reacting about your art supplies.” replied Mr. Green.
Ruby smiled. “If you accept my apology, I’ll accept yours,” continued Mr. Green.
“I accept!” answered Ruby.
“Then I accept yours. Now tell me, how did you find all those supplies?”
Ruby hesitated. “I did have some help,” she stammered. She pointed to the art cubby.
“Those?” asked David. “Why, those things don’t have a figment of life in them!”
“Follow your dreams and anything can happen!” Ruby replied.
“Follow your dreams and anything can happen?” wondered David. “What?”
“Watch,” Ruby said. She waved at the cubby and all the art supplies piled out.
David Green’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe his own eyes. “Ruby,” he said. “You’re right. Follow your dreams and anything can happen!”
“Follow your dreams and anything can happen,” repeated Ruby, whose dreams had expanded by hundreds. She smiled, and repeated again, “Follow your dreams and anything can happen!”
That night, Ruby went to bed, thinking about what happened. She happily skipped to her bed. As she lay down in bed, she thought about what her dreams were going to be like. She would like to have something to follow, the next day. Ruby thought about the kindness she had been given this day, the hope that she had used. This time, when she slept, she thought about following dreams, and how much power that could be. And after a few seconds, she fell fast asleep.
