2083 by Hilly Billy
 
It was the year 2083. Maya stood on her front porch looking down at a bright red ladybug in the brownish green grass. As she watched the ladybug struggle to the next blade of grass, she listened to the conversation right inside the screen door that was flapping in the wind. She listened very carefully. The only words that she could hear were the words “diabetes” and “root.” She ran in, interrupted her parents conversation, and said,” What are you talking about?” Her Mom said, “There’s an article in the living room, go read it.” She said softly. “It’s about a person with diabetes who got lost in the jungle and did not have any food. For four nights, all she ate were a few nuts, a couple berries, and a root. She said the root tasted and smelled like raspberry tea. She also said that it was dark red with white dots on it. After she ate the root, not only was she not hungry, but when she checked her blood sugar numbers were always good. She thought the root cured her diabetes.” Maya went into the living room and started reading a magazine titled Science. Once she started reading, she got so into it, that she found herself reading on the couch for an hour! When she got up, she called her two friends Jeff and Eliza. She said, “You guys, come to my house in ten minutes sharp. You’ll love what I found!” She went to the door to greet them. “Come here.” She said. They all ran into the kitchen, and Maya told them what the article was about. She ran upstairs to where her parents were sitting on the couch and asked if she and her friends were allowed to go across the river to the jungle. They said yes. “We’ll be home later tonight!” She called as she ran down the slippery, wooden stairs. “Okay, Jeff, you get the binoculars and Eliza, you get the plant book. I’ll go to the kitchen and get some food.” Maya shouted. “Meet me at the front door.” They gathered their items and met at the front door. They were soon on their mission to find the root to cure the disease that Maya had learned she had when she was four years old. Now, she and her friends were all twelve years old. They leapt over logs and waded though the Kapa waters of Tanza. Maya, Jeff and Eliza searched and looked and looked and searched. Maya read in the article that the root was on the riverbank of the Kapa River on the East side of the Tanzan jungle and that the lost woman had found it in a clearing. They bushwhacked through tall trees and laurel and over and under logs from big sutta trees that had fallen over during the course of many years. It had now been five hours and they hadn’t found a sign. “We can do this.” Jeff said. “This place is not very big!’ Eliza said happily cheering on her friends. They kept walking. Soon, they came to a clearing. They spotted a root that was red with white spots and… not the one they were looking for. When Maya broke it, it did not smell like raspberry tea. They all thought they had found it. They kept going. It took hours and hours of searching, sweating and never taking breaks. They went on forever. Finally, they made an agreement that they would all split up and go different directions. Maybe that would help them find the root quicker. Maya said, “If one of us thinks we’ve found it, mark it somehow, and come get the rest of us.” Maya went East, Eliza went North, and Jeff went South. They all brought their compasses. Maya, Jeff and Eliza trampled in and out, through and past, up and down, over and under. It was like heaven to Maya. She ran over to what she thought was the root. She knelt down next to it. As she sat there looking at it, she thought, “I’m going to be famous. I think I may have just found the cure to diabetes!” She gathered a bunch of logs and sticks and piled them next to her find to mark it. She looked at her compass to make sure that she could get back. She went through the jungle looking for her friends. She spotted Eliza behind a tree. She shouted her name. They went running toward each other, Eliza wondering if Maya had found it. Maya told Eliza all about the root and how excited she was. They went back to the root, on their way looking for Jeff. Maya showed Eliza the find. Soon after they got there, Jeff showed up. They all sat down around it, and celebrated. They talked about their adventure for a while and it started getting dark. “Well, we better dig this root up and head back home.” Maya said. They all got down on their hands and knees and started digging up their prize. Jeff carried it back to Maya’s house. They ran through the Kapa river and up the field to Maya’s house. They all ran inside and breathlessly, showed Maya’s parents. Maya sat on the couch with her friends. They looked at the root and looked at the book and yes, it was the root they were looking for. A few days later, they brought it to a scientist who studied it and tried it on people who had diabetes. A couple of months later, Maya was cured. A few years later, when all of the people with diabetes had eaten the pill that was made from the root, diabetes did not exist anymore. It turns out that Maya, Jeff and Eliza were in the newspaper and yes, they were famous.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007