My Back Door: Friday Fiction - Ryan, Percy, and Jonathan Lee

Today's story is a peek into my newest

Country Store Collections

A BARREL OF PICKLES

(short stories and poems for teens)

Ryan, Percy, and Jonathan Lee

(a riddle to be read aloud)

Once upon a time on a tiny island in the middle of the clear blue sea, there lived three friends: Ryan Wheet, Percy Butler, and Jonathan Lee. Whether the sun shone brightly or the winds of a hurricane swirled about, they were together day in and day out.

They sailed in the waves on their homemade boat and battled against gulls and crabs. They climbed the rocks and swung from trees. They played pirates on the white beaches of sand which circled their tiny island in the middle of the clear blue sea. They shouted at their imaginary foes,

"Three for one, and one for three,
Ryan and Percy and Jonathan Lee!"

Then one awful, horrible day, while they swung their wooden swords this way and that, Percy yelped. "Ouch!" He clamped his hand against his head, for Jonathan had clipped the edge of his ear.

"I'm sorry," said Jonathan. "I didn't mean to."

"I'm bleeding, you stupid boy!" Percy Butler shook his fist at his friend. "I don't want to play anymore. I'm going home." He crunched away toward the westward side of the island, where the dark waves ground the seashells into the rocks.

"I'm not stupid!" said Jonathan Lee. He picked up some sand and threw it at Percy in vain. "I don't care! I don't want to play with you either!" He turned eastward where the slippery seaweed congealed on the slimy stones.

Poor Ryan Wheet stood by himself, alone on the white sandy beach. He looked westward and could barely see the brown coat of Percy Butler. Then he looked eastward and shaded his eyes to see Jonathan Lee scooting away in his berry red hat. Within moments, both friends had disappeared.

Ryan tossed down his wooden sword. "It's no fun playing alone." He slumped against a log that had drifted ashore. With a gray feather, he sliced lines in the sand which circled their tiny island in the middle of the clear blue sea. "Oh what can I do? Friends should be friends . . . all together!"

He walked and walked to the westward side of the island, where the dark waves ground the seashells into the rocks, to try to talk some sense into his friend. "Percy, please come back. Friends should be friends . . . all together."

Percy shook his head. "I won't come back if that clumsy Jonathan Lee is still there. He may say he's sorry, but I don't believe his sugary words. I don't need you guys anymore. Leave me alone."

Ryan walked and walked eastward over the dunes, where the slippery seaweed congealed on the slimy stones, to try to talk some sense into his other old friend. "Jonathan, please come back. Friends should be friends . . . all together."

Jonathan shook his head. "I won't come back until that nutty Percy Butler apologizes for calling me Stupid. He's a grouchy grump, full of salty, stinging words. I'm not coming back ever!"

It was certainly a sticky situation.

So Ryan Wheet walked back and forth, from west to east and east to west, along the beach, making footprints in the spongy white sand which circled their tiny island in the middle of the clear blue sea. He pleaded, and he begged, but he couldn't hold his two friends together. He missed them. He needed them.

Ryan loafed on the log that had drifted ashore and tossed his thoughts to the crabs and the gulls. "Doesn't our friendship mean anything to them?"

"Three for one, and one for three;
Ryan and Percy and Jonathan Lee."

He twirled the gray feather in his hand. "There's nothing left for me to do."

So Ryan Wheet did nothing at all. He sat and sat and sat and sat. He rested his head on the log that had drifted ashore. He closed his eyes and thought of the times when the friends had been friends and battled imaginary foes.

A shadow blocked the sun that was toasting his face. Someone poked his left side with a wooden sword. "Hey! Are you okay?" said a voice on his right. Ryan opened one eye. Above him stood his friends – Percy Butler and Jonathan Lee. Ryan smiled. It was great. They were all together again!

There was nothing better than Ryan Wheet with P. Butler and J.Lee on the sand which circled their tiny island in the middle of the clear blue sea.

"Three for one, and one for three,
Ryan and Percy and Jonathan Lee."

(Can you figure out what the characters represent?)

~~~

Find more stories like this in

A BARREL OF PICKLES