The Folkstories of Children

Seven Years

Seven Years 1. 2/20/74 This is how it started. Do you know Michael in our class? He had this monster and was trying to destroy the British. But then the Americans were also trying to destroy it. And the Germans were trying to destroy the sea monster, too. But then the Americans changed their minds. They found out that the British would have been destroyed and even the whole world would have been destroyeq by that monster. And then the Americans called up the Germans and the Germans caught the sea monster, because they wanted the world to be all right. And the reason why they wanted to stop the sea monster, because they really wanted to destroy the one on land. So they dropped a hydrogen bomb and the land monster and the sea monster were destroyed. Then they brung it to the museum to make a model of it, using all the bones. And that's the end. 176 SEVEN YEARS 2. 2/20/74 The Americans were attacking the people in India and India thought they should use tanks, so they used tanks. But by accident, they shot some people who were in a balcony instead. So the people in India said, "The only thing to do is to go through our escape hatch and go through the tower and then we fire our rays 'til we run out of rays. Then we start shooting our guns and then we have to reload. But we have a lot of bullets. But also if our other ray breaks, Rajah has another ray still, even though that ray still isn't as strong. But one of them has a shield. That's the only problem. So we have to make a robot. Why don't we try to make a robot in our laboratory?" So the next morning the robot was finished. "Now," said the captain , "we have to give the robot a name. Why don't we call him ,'Monstra' ,. We better measure him first and give him also a shield so he won't melt." While Rajah and all the other people fired rays and bullets, ,'And just in case, give the robot a solar-charged battery, so he'll never run out." And urn, the next morning they made some controls for the robot and then the robot was finished and then they sent the robot out. And the robot destroyed one of the planes. But he couldn't destroy the one with the shield. In the nighttime, while the Americans were asleep, the captain said, "Let's attack America at night, because of course they won't be awake. Because they'll be tired and asleep. But just in case, we better bring some tanks and battleships." Then there was this giant horn and they blew it and all the people went running into the tanks and also everybody grabbed a rifle and then the captain grabbed a rifle and the remote controls for the robot. And while that was going on, they got ready with the battleships. And they brought a lot of ordinary bombs and time bombs and the captain went back for just a second and grabbed a disguise, so he would look like an American. And he grabbed a time bomb and put it into a clock and then he set it 'til morning. Then they got to America at nine o'clock and the bomb was set for ten o'clock. So they said, "I'll go into one of those buildings and I'll give them a terrible shock." Then he went upstairs to the tenth floor and he gave the man the clock and he said, "Here young man, take this clock. You might need it." Then the American said, "Want some coffee?" And the captain said, "No. Goodbye. I hope you have a good time. " Then he went out of the building and then he found out it was nine-thirty. Then he grabbed his robot controls and got in a taxicab and said, ' 'Taxicab, could you please take me to Rockefeller Center?" And it took him thirty minutes to get there. In the morning, he woke up and he found out that he was in jail, and he knew that the bomb 177 PLOT STORIES had blown up. So then he took the controls out of his pocket and said, "Monster robot, I am in jail. Please get me out of here. This is...