CI-Emily

1001 Flat Tales Project

My Name: Emily Sommerfeld My Age: 13 My Hometown: Pueblo, Colorado My Hobbies: I have many hobbies. I like gymnastics, and listening to music. I enjoy playing the piano and signing. I also like to talk and hang out with my friends. I play volley ball for a high school team and I’m only in 7th grade. My Favorites: My favorite subject in school is Language Arts and History. My favorite food is anything hot and spicy, I really like buffalo wings. My favorite color is lime green and pink. I like the band Avenge Sevenfold. My favorite sport is volleyball. I play volleyball a lot. Other things you should know about me: Other things that you should know about me is that I’m very intelligent. I come from a very wealthy family and I love to play sports. I’m very interested in hockey. Hockey is great and very anticipating. J

The Flood It was a very rainy day on August 10, 2007. It rained all day. The rain didn’t start getting heavy until about 10 o’ clock at night. In a small town like Carson in North Dakota, everyone knew everyone and we always had each other’s back. Carson was surrounded by hills, and if it were to flood, it would be like a bowl and Carson would be at the bottom, and there was no way out. I have a daughter, she’s 30, I’m 50. My daughter lives in Michigan, but we are still very close. My dad passed away about a week ago, and without him, it’s been rough. I live with my husband, and my mom. My husband just got out of the hospital for heart cancer treatment, and is slowly recovering. He has to take it easy. My mother is 72, and needs a lot of attention. I like having her around though. I was getting ready for bed, when I looked out the window, and saw that the rain had not died down, and it was getting harder and harder by the minute. I didn’t pay any attention to it, not then I didn’t. I went to sleep. Everyone in my house was sleeping. At about one in the morning, the phone rang. Very sleeplessly, I went over to the phone and picked it up. “Hello!” I remember saying. “Hello, mom, it’s me, Juliana, your daughter. I’m watching the news right now and its saying that Carson is flooding. Are you okay?” Jules said helplessly. “What, its flooding? I didn’t know.” I said franticly, as I said this, I looked outside, and sure enough, it was flooding. “Get out of their mom now. I’ll see you when I see you. ” Jules said. We hung up, and the only thing running through my mind was, get safe. Get everyone on the roof. I wasn’t sure if that was the best thing that I could do, but we didn’t have a minute to waste. I woke up my husband and told him. The first thing he said was, “How are you going to get me, yet alone your mother, up on the roof.” I didn’t know honestly, but I just wanted to get safe. I then ran down the hall to get my 72 year old mother. I got her up. While my husband and my mom were inside, I was outside, getting porch chairs and stacking them so that we could get onto the roof. I ran back in and led my husband and mom outside. My mom didn’t want to go. She said “Let me be. I want to go up there with your dad. Let me be down here.” I was not going to let that happen. She may want to go, but not with me around. If I can do something about it, I was going to. I tried to push my mom out the door, but she wouldn’t go. My husband finally picked her up and brought her out side. I got up on the roof first, thinking that I could help pull up my mom and husband. The rain was pouring harder than ever and I was soaked already. I was freezing my butt off. I told my husband, when I say go, help push my mom up and I will grab her and pull her up. I said go and my husband pushed my mom and she would not work with me. I needed to grab her by the wrists and she would just touch my fingers. She just didn’t want to go. I stretched out as far as I could and I got a hold of my mom’s wrists. I pulled her up. She was safe as of now but was not happy with me. Next was my husband. Nobody was down there to give him a boost so I knew it was going to be hard. He got up on the stacked chairs and he took a hold of my wrist and he jumped and I used all my might, and pulled him up. I looked over at my mom, and she was freezing, laying down. We were all soaked and I knew that it was not going to get any better. I looked around and said “I’ll be right back.” I jumped off the roof and ran into the house. The basement walls had already collapsed in. I got blankets for my mom and husband, and I got a bag and put all of my husband’s heart medicine in the bag. I knew that he was going to need those tonight. I then remembered that I needed to get my cat safe. I heard her meowing in a high pitch voice, like she was scared. I ran outside and threw the blankets on the roof, and then I threw up the medicine. I ran back in and grabbed my cat and put her on a high shelf. I looked my cat in the eyes and said “Don’t move. You will be safe, just don’t move.” I knew that my cat was going to die, I just didn’t want to face the facts. I ran back outside, and attempted to get back on the roof, but I fell the first time, and then my husband helped me up. He laid across the roof and stretched out. I jumped and he literally just pulled me up with his arm strength. When I got up there, my mom was covered up in a wet blanket, and my husband could barley breath because he was stretched out. I gave him some of his medicine. If I wouldn’t have got his medicine and gave it to him, he probably would have died right then and there. My mom still wouldn’t talk to me. She was mad. She was turned over with a blanket and I tried to talk to her but she didn’t say anything. I then laid down next to my husband with a blanket, and we all tried to stay warm. We stayed in this position for about 30 minutes, no one moved, and the storm was just getting worse. Our house was built on a hill. So the water hasn’t quite reached the top of our house yet, but it was very close. I was getting more worried by the moment. I thought that I felt our house start to move off of its foundation, but that was just crazy. I remember praying with everything I had. I prayed for 30 minutes straight. Then all of the sudden, I heard a loud crash, and the bottom of our house had sunken in. Then, the house started to slide. It was sliding off of its foundation, and started to take off. It was so scary. Here me and my family were up on the roof of my house that was floating across the water. It was like a boat house. The water was so high that our whole house could float on the water. It felt that we were going 30 miles an hour, but we weren’t. My mom was spooked and my husband was freaked out. We went past house, past house, and no one could save us. We went past the local Wal-Mart, and the bakery. We went past my neighbors house, and he was on the roof too. He had a flashlight and he shined it on us and he knew it was us. Even though it was dark out, I could see the fear in my neighbors face. I could see the fear in his eyes. It scared me to death. Our house was heading toward rail road tracks, and the tracks were on top of a big wall. That meant that if we were to go over those tracks, and our house didn’t get caught on the tracks, we were going overboard. The water was just above the tracks, and overflowing to the other side, just like a waterfall. I remember my husband looking at me and saying, “We aren’t going to live,“ he yelled at me, “we are going overboard, we are going to die.” I knew that there was a good chance that we were going to, but I told him, “No one is going to die, not today, not on this house.” The tracks were coming up quicker then I’d liked them to, and then all I felt was a big crash, and then we stopped moving. We hit the tracks. We were stuck on the tracks. I couldn’t believe it. We were not going overboard. We were safe, unless the wind picks up or something, and pushes the house over. I was so excited. I didn’t want to move. My husband rolled back over and I laid back down. 3 hours went by, and I just kept praying. I sat up once to check on my mom. I shook her, and she didn’t say anything, I talked to her, and she didn’t say anything. I shook my husband, he didn’t say anything, and talked to him, he didn’t say anything. I felt them both, and they were both freezing, like me. Then the thought of hypothermia ran through my head. I thought that’s what was happening. They were getting to cold, and could possibly die. I then got really worried. I started to cry, but I didn’t feel tears run down my face. I looked around and started yelling for help. I looked at the rain falling down, and call me crazy, but I really did think that the rain were tears from heaven. They were so pure and so transparent, they were beautiful. I looked to my left, and then looked to my right, and I swear I saw my father. He was on the edge of the house, saying “Don’t worry, Sarah, everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry.” Then, he disappeared. I couldn’t believe it. Tears ran down my face more than ever, so I started to sing. I sang row your boat and amazing grace like 10 times. When I was singing amazing grace, I felt my mom’s heart beat, and it was gone. The worst things ran through my head. I kept singing. Then I looked at my husband and he started to sit up and sing with me. I held my mom’s hand, and kept singing with my husband. Then I shook my mom, and I told her “It’s time to sing now,” not expecting her to actually get up, but she slowly sat up, and started to sing. That was the most moving and touching moment of my life, I will never forget it. We kept singing. The rain died down, and it was starting to get light out. I was just hoping someone would hear us. Then a man came around the corner, and started yelling our names. We yelled back, and the man found us. The man was our neighbor, the one who shinned the light on us. he lived miles away though. He must have been searching for us. he got a ladder and helped get us down. We got down safely and went to his house. He said that he just knew that we were still alive. He said he was looking for us all night and all morning. About 30 minutes later we decided to go down the train tracks where our house was, and we went through what was left of it with the help of our local fire fighters. Then one of the fire fighters came out with our cat, alive. Our cat survived all of that. They said they found him in a high shelf, wrapped in blankets, just how I left him. This has been a complete blessing and throughout the whole flood, I’ve experienced some very magical moments.
 * __My Story__** __(Paste Here)__

1. Think of plot—is it original? (If an adaptation, is it creative or interesting to you?) What suggestions do you have for the author(s)?
 * Starting - March 29 (2009):**

2. Think about problems that the characters face. Are there complications that add enough suspense, tension, or interest? Is there a climax that satisfies you? Is the resolution satisfying? What could be added or changed?

3. Think of characterization—are the characters life-like? Are characters likable and enjoyable? Do we get a good sense of character from many of these: description, dialogue, narrator's opinion, discussion from other characters, the character’s own actions?

4. Think of imagery and details. Do they help you //see// and //hear// and //experience// the story? What details would you like to see in the next revision of the story?

5. What areas of the story need the most improvement? What suggestions do you have for the author?

Technical Details
1. Punctuation, grammar, word choice.
 * Starting - April 19 (2009):**

The Alien King's Decision
1. On the level of story-telling: if you were the King (or the aliens), would you allow this story-teller to live another day? If no,why not?
 * Starting May 3 (2009):**

2. Be specific, try not to merely write, " this was good", instead explain what was good about it and why.

3. Nominate "Hall of Fame" stories.