"Toro"
By Marissa Stephens
"Hey, did you see that?" Lynn asked her sister as she looks at the clam glistening in the water.
"What?" Clarissa turns and looks at where her sister is standing in the cool stream running
just behind the fence of their back yard. As they both looked there it was swimming right by
Lynn’s feet. It was long and black almost like a, " snake!" they both yelled. Lynn shot out of the
water and quickly grabed onto her sister hand. Standing on the old rickety bridge that their dad
made out of a piece of log used to make flower beds, Lynn and Clarissa look into the now stirred
up water looking for the snake or at least what they thought was a snake.
"It disappeared!" Clarissa said while looking at her sister in disbelief as if she didn’t see it at all.
"But it was just there, didn’t you see it?" Lynn asked her sister who was now heading back up
the steep hill to the house.
" Come on it was just a stick, and even if it was a snake, it’s already gone, so hurry up. I’m not
going help you up this hill." She demanded.
" Wait for me!" Lynn cried falling as she walks up the hill.
Later on that cold windy night, the rain started to fall. Lynn awoke from her chilly bed. There
wasn’t that many covers on it because of an accident she had with a cup of milk. She got up and
walked to her sister’s room, knowing that her bed would be warm. Clarissa had the nicest cover,
brand new silk sheet that she just gotten for her birthday last week. As Lynn walked in her
sister room she smelled the sweet smell of roses; it was Clarissa new perfume " Pink Roses."
"Man, her room smell good " Lynn thought to herself.
" Wake up, can I sleep in here? It’s cold in my room." Lynn pleaded with her sister.
" Why is your room cold? It’s spring. Did you check to see if the air was on?" Clarissa asked as
she rubs her eyes to see better. " Come on, get in. I’m sleepy" Clarissa whispered as she rolled
over to make room for her sister. There was ample amount of room because Clarissa had a full
size bed and compared to Lynn’s twin size bed it was huge. Lynn and Clarissa used to share the
full size bed when they were younger, but now that Clarissa was getting older their parents
thought it was time for them to get out that habit.
" Do you really think that was a snake we saw today?" Lynn asked her sister as the rain slowly
started hitting against the window,
"Yea, what else could it have been?" Clarisssa said to her sister turning over to look at the time.
" It’s just that, snakes don’t disappear that easily. We’ve seen so many. It was weird this time.
And I just…" Lynn paused as she glared out the window.
" You just what?" Clarissa waited to see what her sister wanted to say.
" I just had this feeling. That’s all." Lynn quietly said as she closed her eyes to go to sleep.
" Good night, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow." Clarissa told her sister. Then she went to sleep.
The next day Lynn and Clarissa decided to take another look at where they saw the snake. "
Wow, the water is really clear today, like there’s something different." Clarissa told Lynn as she
looked at her refection in the clean, clear water. The water was clear that day, clearer then
they’ve ever seen it before. " I would think it would have been dirty after all that rain last
night". Clarissa said as they walk further along the steam. When all of a sudden they noticed that
where they were standing was the only clear spot in the water.
" That’s not right, do you see it to?" Lynn asked her sister as she walked slowly closer to the
steam.
" I know. Get in!" Clarissa said as she nudged her sister closer to the water.
" NO! Are you crazy? You get in!" Lynn replied fiercely to her sister.
They started to fuss and fight until they heard a small voice say, " Why are you fighting?"
"What did you say?" Clarissa asked Lynn.
" It wasn’t me." Lynn looks at her sister with a puzzled look.
" It was me!" They looked down, and there it was, the snake. It wasn’t a snake or at least it
didn’t look like a snake they’ve seen before. " AHHHH!" The girls screamed.
" Please don’t run I won’t hurt you. My name is Toro, and I’m lost."
"What are you?" Clarissa asked him with a weird look on her face.
" I’m a Toro. What are you?"
" I’m Lynn and this is my sister Clarissa." Lynn told Toro. He disappeared.
TO BE CONTINUED . . . IN LIT 11.
