Pirate Contest Story Winner

The Johnson Family Pirates: Fauna Star Finds Cotton Eyed Joe

By Makayla Johnson, Ms. Rodriguez's Class, F.J. O'Neill School

Once upon a time there was a young pirate. They called her Fauna Star she was searching for an ancient buried treasure and needed to find a key that was deeply hidden somewhere in the sand on Willow's Beach. She had to find this key because it was very special to her family. Her ancestors passed it on from one pirate generation to the next. It had been The Johnson Family secret to find this hidden treasure buried on a sunken ship in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guatemala.

One day many years ago, one of her ancestors was walking on Willow's Beach. Cotton-eyed Joe saw something very unusual and he tried to pull it out of the sand. As he pull it out of the sand but it pulled him back instead. He was never seen again. The key was strung around his neck and lost until Fauna Staar set out on her adventurous journey.

The young pirate and her shipmates Sr. Kingston Carter and Summer Fall set out on Willow's Beach to find the family key. Fauna Star listened to many family stories and found enough clues to lead her to a desolate area off the shore. They began to dig and sift through the sand. After two days of digging they found Cotton Eyed Joes bones. As they looked for the key a crab came otu and bit Sir Kingston's tail The small monkey climbed to the tallest coconut tree in fear of another bite. Fauna Star and Summer Fall giggled.

Then they saw it! The key had been under the crab's claw. Off they went leaving Sir Kingston running behind them. Fauna was now determined to find the treassure. She sent word back home that she had found the key and was on her way to the Pacific Ocean.

After following the coordinates on the Johnson Family's Ancient treasure map, they anchored the small ship and began preparing for an underwater dive. Sir Kingston and Summer Fall stood guard of the ship as Fauna Star dove deep into the ocean. She swam further and further until the shipwreck was right under her feet. She couldn't believe that she was going to be the first in her family to find the treasure.

As she approached the shipwreck a gigantic and hideous octopus lay right over the door way she had to thnk fast. Tickle, Tickle, Tickle, she tickled her way through the Octopus' sticky tentacles. The octopus grunted and wiggled away. Fauna Star ducked as his large tenacities swam over her. At last, the treasure was hers!

She raced to the surface to meet her shipmates. Summer Fall helped get the treasure box onto the ship. Sir Kingston held the key as they all turned in together. Slowly they opened the hard wooden case and in it lay a note. "May the Johnson family Pirates be blessed with many riches and good fortune. Take this key to find all you are looking for." "Another Key!!!" they shouted. On the back of the note, they found another map and the Journey began again.