OUR DREAM AND OTHER PIECES OF MICROBIAL (VERY SMALL) FICTION
Part of our Science Creative Literary Symposia.
Hi, my name is Difflugia, and I live by the marshes. My dream is to become a world class swimmer in the microbe Summer Olympics. My older brother says I look like a tadpole because of my sleek body. I am superb at swimming, especially in races. One time, I won first place in the junior microbe swimming tournament! Although I have a bad temper, which makes me prone to smashing objects when I’m angry, people say I am generous because I help microbes that don’t have a place to live. I cannot focus well doing tasks such as shopping for groceries in the market because I sometimes forget why I was there in the first place.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to go to the microbe Summer Olympics because I still need much more training and still yet to raise enough money to go there. Thankfully, my older brother volunteered to be my swimming tutor. Now that I have access to free training, I can focus on raising enough money to go to the microbe Summer Olympics, which is one whole human step away from my marsh. I am looking for a job that will use my other talent, which is digging. I am good at digging because during my childhood, I always had an urge to dig rare objects up.
Luckily, I was able to join my father’s digging company which digs up fossils. But sometimes, my father is disappointed at the fact that I dislike digging up fossils. I’d rather dig up banana peels and other rare exotic items, such as diamonds! The work was very gruelling, but after a few months, I had managed to make a decent amount of money to go to the microbe Summer Olympics! During the intense swimming competition, I was close to getting third place but I managed to speed ahead of a Noctilluca and steal second place. After stepping onto the podium, I learnt an important lesson : If you set your mind to something, you can achieve anything!
By Jason Khuu and Jimmy Tsang, Grade 6
In the microscopic world, there was a tiny microbe called Salmonella. He looked like a long white cylinder, he smelled like a dead pig and he growled like an angry dog often, because he was always lonely. Salmonella had been abandoned by all his friends and family and wanted revenge.
In order to take revenge, Salmonella wanted to take over the world. His only problem was that he was too weak and too small, which meant he needed to grow bigger, so he tried to make his own magic potion that would make him bigger, so he set off on a journey searching for the magic growing plant which was called Grow-A-Lot. On his journey he met an evil wizard and so, he asked the wizard if he could cast a spell on him that could make him greater in size. The wizard was surprised that he dared to talk to him and so furiously, he said “NO! How dare you ask for my help.” So Salmonella set off again. Soon after he saw a plant that looked like the Grow-A-Lot plant he picked it and headed back home. Once he was home, he got out his cauldron, his great-grandmother’s magic spell book which had the recipe that allowed him to grow with the right ingredients and so, he mixed all the ingredients together with a result of an awesome growing potion. He gulped the potion down until the last drop and not before long, he noticed everything was getting incredibly big and so he just thought that everything around him would also get bigger, but guess what! He was shrinking instead of growing. He had accidentally picked a Shrink-A-Lot plant instead! Salmonella felt like a failure but he kept trying because of his huge urge of wanting to take over the world. Until this day Salmonella is still continuing his journey toward world domination.
By Jessica Chen and Josephine Chow, Grade 6
Once there was a big war between two kingdoms of the microbe world: Vorticella kingdom and Foraminifera Kingdom. They often laughed at each other because of their different looks. Foraminifera laughed at the Vorticella because Vorticella looked like faint pink dots, and Vorticella laughed at the Foraminifera because Foraminifera looked like brown dotted glass. They also laughed at each other because Foraminifera smelled like moldy eggs and Vorticella smelled like bubble gum. Soon they got mad at each other. When they were mad, they both made a goal, and their goal was to kill each other someday.
Their plans usually don’t work because they both have the microbe world’s strongest armies. The Vorticella is afraid of Foraminifera‘s warriors and the Foraminifera is afraid of Vorticella‘s warriors. They try to overcome the problem by killing the king’s family then kill the soldiers, and finally kill the king. But nothing worked because both of their stronger soldiers surrounded the king and his family, so they can’t make any move to hurt them.
Both of the microbe kingdoms trained very hard to be stronger and to defeat the other kingdom. Although they train hard and try their best nothing worked on the enemies, instead one day they were fighting and both of the king’s family got killed. At the end they both surrendered and had wished they had made peace years ago when they were friends with each other in their ancestor’s time.
By Jessica Zhou and Jennifer Lin, Grade 6
In a kingdom FAR FAR AWAY! Right under your FEET! lived a beautiful Salmonella that was trapped in a tower with no doors nor stairs. An evil witch trapped her there because this witch detested microbes that were more beautiful then herself. The witch’s name was Difflugia.
Then a brave microbe named Staph tried to save Salmonella with a rope and let her climb down because he thought she was very beautiful, but his plan was thwarted by Bad Breath ( the witches bodyguard). Bad breath was a microbe that has very stinky breath. Bad breath burned the rope with his acid breath. The only reason Bad Breath was working for Difflugia was because he got paid in breath mints. Then Staph trapped Bad Breath in a acid proof cage. Staph thought his problem was solved until he heard an evil laugh. Staph wondered who the laugh was from, only to realize later it was from the Difflugia. He found the witch guarding the tower window so Staph and Difflugia fought until death.
The fight was still going on and both the witch and Staph were tired and injured, but then Salmonella threw her shoe from the top of the tower and hit Difflugia on the head. Difflugia died of head injuries and both Salmonella and Staph were happy that their troubles were over. Then Staph threw a rope up through the window for salmonella to grab onto. Finally the beautiful salmonella was free from the tower, then Salmonella trotted off into the woods and spent the rest of her life happily ever after with Staph.
By Christian Fan, Mark Pepito, and Mitchell De Tina, Grade 6
Once there was a cow named “Mad Cow.” It was always mad. It looked like a taco with 3 humps on it’s back. It sounded like a poorly hurt cow and it smelled like a barn since it had been living there for century. The Mad Cow’s goal was to give healthy and clean milk since he had been poorly sick. He wanted to serve people healthy milk.
The cow’s problem was that he was always sick so his milk would always be bitter. He decided that when it came to a windy or harsh cold day he would hide in a pile of hay to get heat. But however the hay was too thin to get heat it it didn’t have patched holes.
So the cow decided to grab some blanket and put in the corner so when it came to a harsh or windy day he will get cozy in the corner. He felt happy to be warm and cozy in a corner. And guess what? He succeeded his goal! Now that he succeeded, he felt glad to give fresh and healthy milk again!
By Teresa Hoang
On land, in the size of a bean, lived a ruler and his people. He was the darkest blue Hydrodictyon, and had many squeaky complaints about protection. One day, he decided to build a fence around the city to avoid invaders. His salty sea people were very protective and picky about what they do. They all agreed to follow the King’s plans about the fence.
Then, on the second day of construction for the fence, some evil Vorticella attacked the Hydrodictyon because they wanted to rule the entire bean-shaped land. The ruler decided that they would defend themselves by sending soldiers to guard the construction area while some Hydrodictyon rebuild the fence. In a later hour, the Vorticella came back stronger and larger so they ate the fence again along with the soldiers.
The ruler Hydrodictyon got so mad that he decided to attack the Vorticella with an entire army. Surprisingly, the Hydrodictyon came home peacefully with the Vorticella. Both of them were happy together and built the fence using dead Hydrodictyon and instead of grass they used dead Vorticella as decoration and glue. They all lived peacefully and happy together on the entire bean-shaped land for the rest of their lives.
By Erica Corsi and Jinny Wu, Grade 6
Once upon a time, there was a colony of Puffilcius who lived in a deep-sea cave. Puffilcius looked like a round, clear shell with fur and four tentacles poking out. Lumos, an important Puffilcius, was at a meeting with her mate Blaze, King Ray, and Queen Rainbow; and were trying to find a way to distract the Fish whose diet is Puffilcius. After getting past the Fish, they would touch the Light Orb where they would get nourishment and the ability to glow with bright colours.
‘’Now, as we all know, we need some of the energy in the Light Orb to survive, but the fish are selfishly guarding it.’’ Ray stated.
” I have an idea!” Lumos suddenly exclaimed. ” You know how the Fish King loves pearls? We could get one of our kind to tell a fish guard that there is a heap of pearl-bearing clams near the Otter’s cove!”
”Perfect!” said Queen Rainbow.
”Now, why didn’t I think of that?” King Ray mused.
”Amazing!” added Blaze. ”And I know the perfect Puffilcius!”
A few minutes later, King Ray and Queen Rainbow had found Shine, who had agreed to trick the Fish and lead them to the Otters who hopefully would gobble them all up, and leave Shine alone. Meanwhile, the rest of the Puffilcius would sneak into the Fish City, called Sishty, and group by group, touch the Light Orb. Then, if all went well, the Otters would have many fish feasts and the Puffilcius would have Light. But an hour later, it all went wrong.
The Otters started to eat the Fish too early, the rest fled back to Sishty and blocked the exit for the Puffilcius trapped inside the City, and the Fish inside the City ate many of the trapped Puffilcius. Luckily, most of the Puffilcius escaped and returned to their cave, mourning for their dead or lost siblings, parents, and mates.
”Please hurry up, Blaze!” Lumos yelled down their tunnel. ”The meeting could start!”
”I’m coming!” Blaze replied, crawling up the wide passage. Blaze and Lumos then went to the meeting cave. Luckily, the meeting had not started yet. This time, there was another pair of Puffilcius. They introduced themselves to King Ray, Queen Rainbow, Blaze and Lumos. Their names were Flash and Glow. After they introduced themselves, Flash spoke.
”My mate and I have thought of a solution. We could send one of this council to the Otters to voice our problems about the Fish, praise them about their strength and agility, and try to convince them that we could assist them in finding the Fish City where they could eat to their hearts content.”
”Splendid!” exclaimed Queen Rainbow.
”It seems that it’s always the younger Puffilcius who think of these things.” King Ray muttered to himself.
”Flash and I have already worked out which Puffilcius should go.” Glow said quietly.
”Who?” Lumos inquired.
”You!” Flash and Glow replied.
Half and hour later, Lumos arrived at Otter’s Cove. There she met an old otter friend whose name was Brightback Seawave. Lumos rode on her head with Brightback’s friends following, and they headed for Sishty. When they arrived, Lumos crawled off Brightback’s head and joined the Puffilcius colony as they watched the Otters swiftly catching and eating the Fish, fighting, surfacing and diving. Then the Puffilcius circled around the Light Orb, touched it, and felt the light and power course through them.
An hour later, King Ray and Skipper Silverback, the Otter leader, made a solemn promise not to eat Puffilcius and to live in harmony. Then the Puffilcius threw a party for the Otters with lots of fish to eat and the Puffilcius performed a Dance of Light in their honour.
By Leah Taylor
Once upon a time, there was this blue cell called the Rhinvirus. It looked like a small blueball, sounded like a little angry monster and smelled like blueberries. The Rhinvirus’ plan is to reach it’s goal by getting more and more people to catch colds. But if you play more computers, eat more ice cream and wash your hands more often and you won’t catch the virus. They try to overcome the problem by getting into humans noes. It doesn’t work because people is keep sneezing them out and the Rhinvirus is getting very angry and was about to flame up and explode. So on then the Rhinvirus is scared of the human noeses because the virus is scared to be sneezed out over and over again. Last but not least even the Rhinvirus king and queen is defeated by the evil human noes.
By Mabel Law
Once a sunny day, The Mad Cow was lying on the grassy fresh field and new planted flowers. He was happy that the weather was incredibly beautiful. Everyday he have milk to the people but one day, the weather was incredibly horrid ! It was rainy and windy at the same time. The Mad Cow didn’t bother to go inside and stay warm. It was raining for 7 months and he still didn’t bother.
The Mad Cow’s problem was that it was raining to hard and to much for anyone to visit him to get some fresh milk ! on month 7 he grew more sick than ever. His friend Cat wanted some milk and when he squeezed out the milk out, Cat licked it and it was very bitter. He was really sick and sad. A few days later it was sunny but he was still sick. His owner brought him to the vet and made him feel better.
So the Mad Cow planned that every time when it is rainy or windy he gather a big pile of hay and hides in it. That didn’t work, so he was depressed for a few minutes then he found out a new plan ! This new plan was to gather a bunch of blankets and put it in the corner of the barn when it is windy or rainy, and now he is warm and cozy. He gives fresh milk and he is proud that he makes people happy and makes himself happy. He was still starring at the new fresh flowers, cheerful kids and animals!
By Brenda Truong
Once upon a time there lived a Mad Cow. The Mad Cow was really smart and cute. The Mad Cow loves to play with his friends when is a sunny day. The Mad Cow lives in a barn with lots of other microbes and with lots of hay too. The Mad Cow has a job. His job was to give microbes good and tasty milk and never try to get sick. If he is sick he will make other microbes sick too. Because if he is sick he will give microbes bitter and nasty milk and when they drink it he will get sick right away.
The Mad Cow had a goal that no one knows because he is too nervous to tell any microbes. His secret goal was to never get sick and give microbes good and tasty milk to drink. But one horrible windy and rainy day Mad Cow got really sick because the wind was blowing too hard and he wasn’t warm enough. He had a terrible news for the other microbes and he said microbes I’m sick today I can’t give you guys milk I’m sorry. All the microbes were very sad and hope that Mad Cow would get better.
The Mad Cow was still so sick and the other microbes got Mad Cow a blanket so Mad Cow could be warmer and so he can get well soon too. Mad Cow finally got better and all the microbes were very happy and cheering for Mad Cow that he got better. And they lived happily ever after.
By Sharon Shum
There once was a microbe named Radiolaria in the town of Micro Town, and he was always trying to pull pranks on the weak but clever Hydrodiction. One day, when Radiolaria played a cruel prank on Hydrocition, which Radiolaria thought of as hilarious, Hydrodiction finally snapped and went out of control, and decided to put an end to what Radiolaria did once and for all. Now at that time, the H1N1 virus was very strong and was wide spread, so Hydrodiction thought that that virus could take on Radiolaria without breaking a single sweat, so he set out on a journey in search of the mighty H1N1 virus. But by the time Hydrodiction found the H1N1 virus, Radiolaira had already thought one step ahead, and had gone into hiding for a short while, but during that short period of time, the H1N1 virus started to weaken a lot, so Hydrodiction ditched the H1N1 virus and started to think of a plan to put an end to Radiolaria. So he decided to make one of Radiolaria‘s pranks, back fire. One day, when Radiolaria had played a prank on him Hydrodiction, he put some oil on the floor for him to slip on, and when the time actually came it actually worked and Radiolaria slipped on on the oil and fell into a near by ditch. The later on, Hydrodiction used all his might and squeezed Radiolaria through 2 pieces of glass, and was stuck there, so now everytime you study a microbe named Radiolaria through a microscope, it just might be the mean Radiolaria that was cleverly tricked by Hydrodiction.
By Kaito Kurokawa and Evan Nguyen, Grade 6
Once upon a time, there was a microbe named Noctilluca. It lived with it’s parents, Noctilluca looked like faint splattered paint. It had an awkward sounding voice but it smelled awesome. One day, Noctilluca was happily walking home from Microbe Elementary School, and its parents were not home. So it decided to just watch some television, after hours and hours Noctilluca‘s parents still were not home. Noctilluca went to the refrigerator and got some food, when it looked a the refrigerator it saw a strange note. Noctilluca picked it up and read it, the note said:
“Noctilluca, if you want your parents back you will have to come to my cave and rescue your parents. Sincerely Vorticella. ”
Noctilluca was worried and went off to rescue his mommy and daddy. Unfortunately, Vorticella was preparing for Noctilluca‘s arrival, so it gathered an army of ants to devour Noctilluca. On the way to the cave, Noctilluca saw some ant feces. So to avoid being eaten by the ants, Noctilluca went to look for the ancient Anteater before heading to its rescue mission. Along the way, Noctilluca found a bottle of hand sanitizer and thought it will help kill Vorticella so it put the bottle of hand sanitizer in its pocket. After a few weeks of travelling, it found the cave of the anteater, but the anteater refused to help without a prize. But Noctilluca told the anteater that he would get to eat an entire army of ants, so the anteater agreed.
After another week of travelling, they reached Vorticella‘s hiding place. The anteater charged at the army, and ate them all up. Finally, it was time for Noctilluca to face Vorticella. They were an even match, but Noctilluca had the upper hand, Noctilluca took the bottle of hand sanitizer and squeezed it on Vorticella. Vorticella started melting. Noctilluca ran over to its parents, gave them a big hug and they went back home, where they lived happily ever after even to this day.
By Tony Yang and Jason Do, Grade 6