相遇萊特堡

        女兒五年級的導師是全校唯一的男老師，開學前的家長會時，男老師就說：「我一向不崇拜功課，小孩嘛，就是應該要玩，腦筋才會靈活！」所以上了五年級的女兒，從此沒有回家作業，要是有，就是另一位資優班女老師出的作業：一兩頁數學題和每週背二十個單字。

        媽媽呢？已經習以為常，自己孩子的性格其實漸漸在定型，現在的女兒一回家，會自己把功課做完再看閒書，嗯，感覺上很不錯了！

        某天，女兒回家拿了一份影印出來的冊子“Little Leopard Magazine”，就翻做「小花豹雜誌」吧！

        「媽媽妳看，我們做的！」

        雖然只是黑白電腦列印，但有花樣的字體和插圖，也算是不錯的文書處理能力。封面上列出同組同學的文章，有故事、笑話、小詩、科學實驗、球賽報導、漫畫和謎語，非常多樣，故事是牽牽寫的：“It’s a Twisted World”（註），大概六百字吧！描述兩個小朋友不小心失足掉入一個黑洞後，進入一個被動物統治的世界，裡面的人類都是失足掉入的，全都被關在人籠裡以供觀賞！等這兩個小孩發現自己未來的命運時，火速即時爬出洞外，終於逃出一劫！故事緊張刺激，而且想像力豐富，一向喜歡看冒險奇幻小說的牽牽，顯然深受引導。

        「寫得很好呢！上課寫的嗎？」

        「對啊，我們英文課有writer’s workshop，老師要大家隨便寫，這是我的草稿。」

        草稿是手寫的，上面有紅筆更動和建議，很工整，不像牽牽潦草的字跡，可是也不像是老師的筆跡。「那，這是誰改的呢？」

        「同學改的，老師幫大家分組，每個人都有一個partner，寫完的故事讓partner先看，寫建議，然後拿回去改。」

        第二份手稿上的更改就比較少了，「partner這次要edit（就是編輯），要檢查標點符號和拼字，再改好以後，去電腦室打字，然後才可以交給老師。」牽牽繼續解釋。

        「然後就釘成一本雜誌嗎？」

        「不一定，所有的組員可以決定要編成一本什麼東西，其他組的同學都編報紙，我不想跟大家一樣，就建議編雜誌，因為雜誌也是有故事、新聞…什麼的，對不對？」

        「對啊，妳好聰明啊！要不要投稿呢？這個故事這麼棒！」

        「好啊！」

        由於檔案在學校，牽牽只好在家重新打字。小孩嘛，多做點事總是學習。這裡免費的地方報上有收學生習作的版面，因為沒有稿費，似乎沒有很多小孩有興趣，但是看到自己的名字變成鉛字，還是很滿足吧！

        本來以為已經被刊過一次文章的牽牽，這次再被用的可能性不大，結果才送出email，就收到編輯的信：稱讚她文筆很好，要她以後多寫多投。牽牽無所謂的樣子，笑了一下，媽媽可是比她還興奮呢！

        在這裡，功課不多，好像不必太緊張，腦筋靈活、不討厭上學，確實比較重要！來欣賞一下她的故事吧！

註：牽牽的故事“It’s a Twisted World”（扭曲的世界）

        When something is twisted it turns weird.  Like animals start talking and people start barking and squawking.  But what happens when two kids find the Twisted World?

            April and May were friends.  They did everything together.  But one day they decided to explore the forest which was forbidden by their parents.

            “Come on May!” shouted April.

            “I’m trying, whoa!” cried May.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “I tripped and fell in a hole.”

            “I’ll try and get you out.”

            April pulled but fell in the hole too.

            “Ungh!” said May as April hit her and flew down the hole together.

            “What is this place?” asked April.

            “It’s the Twisted World,” said May.

            “How do you know?”

            “This sign.”

            Sure enough a sign said Twisted World.

            “Good afternoon,” said a squirrel with a leash on a boy.

            “Good afternoon,” said April and May together.

            “Would you like to go to the Animal Inn?” asked the squirrel.

            “Sure, why not?” said the girls together.

            “By the way, why is a boy on a leash?” asked May.

            “Oh that’s what we do in Twisted World, basically everything’s twisted, and anyway do you want to go or not?”

            The girls looked at each other.

            “Sure,” they said.

            The squirrel and the girls walked down toward the light of the houses.  As they looked around they saw a green sky, blue grass, and pink trees with green apples.  They also saw bunnies with girls or boys on leashes.  And when they got to the town they saw a pet shop full of girls and boys and animals dressed in clothes everywhere!

            “What’s your name?” May asked the squirrel.

            “It’s Mark,” said the squirrel.

            “Well Mark,” said April.  “How did all of you get here?”

            “Well we all fell in from the hole a long time ago.  Not me of course, but our great-grandparents did,” Mark said.

            Soon they reached Animal Inn.  The girls tried to pay with money, but they only accepted leaves.

            They rested and woke up refreshed the next day.

            “Mark, how do we go home?” asked April.”  My parents are worried about me.”

            “That’s just it, you can’t go home,” said Mark sadly.

            “But there has to be a way!” shouted April.

           
--- to be continued ---