The Foothills Writers Group hosted its second annual Local Grade Six Writing Contest this fall.
Students from public, separate and francophone schools in High River, Black Diamond and Okotoks were invited to submit creative writing stories. The students were encouraged to write stories of 300 to 1,000 words on the topic of their choice.
The goal of the contest is to promote literacy and writing amongst the youth in the Foothills.
Foothills Writers Group founder Laurie Carmichael said she is thrilled that 162 stories were submitted, an increase from 44 in 2023.
The submissions were reviewed by Foothills Writers Group judges, including Lorrie Morales, Linda Thomson, Marcelle Dubé, Dorothy Bentley and Carmichael. Two overall winners and first, second and third-place winners in each participating school were selected.
Selections were based on originality, character and setting development, and proper grammar and punctuation.
Kira Cruikshank from Meadow Ridge School (Okotoks) and Devin Phillips from Percy Pegler (Okotoks) were selected as the two overall winners.
“The stories were fantastic,” Carmichael said. “We have budding authors in our midst.”
Carmichael said the Foothills Writers Group is grateful to Okotoks, High River and Diamond Valley businesses that donated prizes to the contest. The list of sponsors is as follows:
Okotoks
Safeway
Yooneek Books
Okotoks Cinemas
Save-on Foods
Millennium Lanes
Sobeys
Subway (Big Rock Lane)
Okotoks Dawgs
Tim Hortons (Southbank Blvd. Location)
McDonald's Restaurant
Okotoks Oilers
Monkey Mountain Toys
Boston Pizza
Big Rock Crystals Minerals & Fossils
High River
The Hitchin Post
Highwood Golf and Country Club
Wales Theatre
Cookie Palace
Margins Book Store
Sheena’s Sweets
Sobeys
Diamond Valley
Spisherbocker Books
Blue Rock Gallery
Chuckwagon Restaurant
Mimi’s Worrisome Adventure in Greece by Devin Phillips
“Kalimera passengers. This is Aegean Airline landing in Athens, Greece. Please fasten your seat belts.”
Mimi yawned and tightened her seat belt over her navy toga. She was very excited she was going to see her friend Kenny that she had met in Paris. The last time she had seen him was on her wonderful birthday adventure in Paris, where he had been her taxi driver.
After that they had kept in touch over the phone, one week ago Kenny texted and asked Mimi to meet him in Greece if she could. Mimi was amazed that Kenny had asked her to go to Greece and accepted.
When she landed and passed through customs, she saw a sign announcing “MIMI OVER HERE.” She jogged over in her white and gold straw sandals and under the sign was Kenny! She gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “Kalimera!” When she saw that Kenny was confused she added, “It means good morning in Greek”. Kenny replied, “I’m very joyful that you are here.”
“I’m happy too,” smiled Mimi. Kenny escorted Mimi to his rented car, it was blue with a white and black interior. Then they drove to their hotel so Mimi could drop off her luggage. After that they went for a nice luxurious lunch of mouth watering moussaka.
They were in the middle of eating when Mimi felt a strange tug on her straw purse. Thinking it was a pickpocket Mimi turned, but to her surprise it was a black and white cat and it had her passport in its mouth!
She got up and lunged for the sly animal but the cat took off running towards the Athens Acropolis, a very famous monument of Ancient Greece.
“Hurry” fretted Mimi “that cat has my passport!” Mimi and Kenny rushed into their car and took off after the cat! The cat was able to weave through the giant crowds of people at the Acropolis but Mimi and Kenny had to pay expensive admission to get into the ruins.
There they didn’t see the cat so they admired the beautiful greenery when a flash of black caught their eyes, they turned and there was the cat with the passport in its teeth. It looked straight at Mimi then bolted to the exit with Mimi on its trail. The cat ran all the way to the ferries that were docked at the bustling bay.
The cat trotted onto a ferry and Mimi and Kenny followed. Just then they realized they needed luggage. So Kenny raced to the car and recklessly drove to the hotel to get the luggage, and came back just in time to hop on before the ferry left for Mykonos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea.
“There you are!” exclaimed Mimi. “I thought you’d never get here.”
Kenny asked, “Have you seen the cat?” Mimi replied “No she hid very well I looked all over but I can't find it.”
Five hours later……..
“Welcome to Mykonos, please stay in your seats until we say you can disembark. We hoped everything on the boat was to satisfaction.”
“Phew,” sighed Kenny who looked a bit green. “I’m seasick.” As they strolled off, Mimi saw the cat, it stuck its tongue out at her.
“Why that little!!” Mimi steamed angrily, shaking her fist at the cat who had jumped onto the roof of a bus. The bus slowly pulled away from the parking lot.
“It had a collar on.” observed Kenny. “I saw it glint in the sun, it might be a pet.”
“OMG why didn’t I think of it before, if it has a collar we can go to a vet clinic, and ask if it’s someone’s pet.” cried Mimi.
“BRAVO!” shouted Kenny.
They found a bus driver who was willing to take them to town for free. When they arrived in town they exited off the bus in front of a vet clinic, and asked about the cat. The receptionist at the front desk told them that there was no cat matching their description seen in all the clinics of Mykonos island.
“Oh well.” sighed Mimi. “Let's go have dinner. I saw a restaurant by the waterfront.” They decided to go to the fancy restaurant. The restaurant was called CALAMARI COVE, it was a seafood place. Mimi and Kenny ordered a grilled sea bass and crunchy calamari on the side. The food had just arrived when the cat sashayed up and hopped into Mimi’s lap and let out a pitiful “Meow”.
Mimi gave it some fish, the cat dropped the passport to eat the treat. Mimi snatched the passport in her hand and said, “Thank the gods of Mount Olympus I got my passport back!”
The cat meowed. Mimi gave it more fish then it leaped off Mimi’s lap to go to the kitchen, of CALAMARI COVE.
Mimi had her ticket out of town to get back home! Mimi’s vacation wasn't over yet, she hadn't had time to go shopping. She decided to buy some oregano, Greek mountain tea and a Greek evil eye necklace to protect her from bad luck in the future.
Fire by Kira Cruikshank
They say poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imagination. This is true in so many ways. My poetry is all that keeps me going at this point. I can disappear into the waves of depth and emotion, only to reappear, and be disappointed.
As I sit on my bed and ponder this, I hear shouting. It’s my parents of course. They're at it again. I silently creep downstairs. I've had lots of time to be quiet. My father is always at his work, he says it’s accounting. This would be less suspicious if he didn’t disappear for months at a time. As for my mother, she spends most of her time abroad, in fancy hotels.
I stand silently about halfway down the stairs, and watch my parents scream at each other. I think my Mother sees me, because she whispers “ Fia?” I hide and keep watching. It’s past the point where I can make sense of their fight. All I know is that my mother is holding papers. They look official, and… wait a minute! That’s my name printed on there! One things for sure, I need to get my hands on those papers.
It didn't take long for my wish to come true. Late in the night, I hear the door slam. Silence. Then another slam. I race to my window and see my father’s car pull out of the driveway. Mom’s car is already gone. I wait, and then go downstairs. To my surprise, the papers have been left on the table.
“Weird,” I mutter to myself. My parents never leave stuff around. Slowly, I reach out and grab the papers. I skim the first paper, and my eyes open wide.
“Divorce? Custody? Alimony?!” Oh my gosh. I can hardly breathe. Thinking it will make me feel better, I turn to the next paper. How wrong I was.
“ADOPTED?!” I cry out in shock. I throw down my papers and run to my room. For a while, all I can do is cry into my pillow. But then I stand up. I didn't know what I was doing until I turned to my mirror. And I see myself. My skin is white with shock, my hair the colour of hazelnuts, sticks out frizzly, and my deep brown eyes are red from crying.
But that is my outside. On the inside I feel scared, and vulnerable. Everything I've ever known has been taken away from me. I can't be here anymore.
Three minutes later I’m in the attic searching for clues about my birth parents. I know it’s wrong because I'm snooping, and I know I should be content with what I have. But I feel this pull, this pull to find myself. To discover who I was and who I’m meant to be.
As I sift through the things, I see a faint orange glow. And I feel myself glide to it, like I’m in a trance. The fiery letters spell out Fia. It's mine so it's not snooping, right? I open the box.
As soon as the lid comes off, the glow burns my eyes. It hurts, but it’s comforting at the same time. As the glow fades, I notice something shining in the bottom of the box. Slowly and carefully, I extend my hand and then in swift motion, I grab it. I’m too nervous to open the little flame shaped container so I slip it into my pocket.
Then I hear the door open, and then slam.
********************
I sit on my bed and stare at the mysterious box. I want to open it, I really do! But… Ok that’s it! I need to know what’s in there. My hand reaches out. The latch opens. I gasp. The fabric falls away to reveal… A ring? I look at it, almost disappointed. And that’s when I see it properly. The ring I was at first so disappointed to see, was completely gorgeous! The way the pure gold bent, the craftsmanship! But what was most curious was the large orange jewel in the middle of the ring. Wow.
It’s morning now. My “Parents” are getting divorced, I’m adopted, but me being adopted wasn't the only thing in those papers. I found out that me living in Canada isn't even legal! Unable to take the stress, I leave. I go back to the box. Being there should cause me more stress than being downstairs, but it doesn't. The box, however, has altogether disappeared!
Dazed, I head back to my room. As I walk, I fiddle with my ring. One dramatic bed flop later, I try to further inspect my flame box. And that’s when I find it. A paper. With my mother's fiery writing. This is what is says:
Fia, you probably have many questions. I can’t tell you everything that you want to know, but just know this. I love you so much, and no ma with you. I hope you remember this:
We are Fire
We are Flame
We are higher
Be proud, no shame
I know this is probably not what you hoped for but it is all I can give you. So promise me one thing. Stay true to who you are. You are the last of the Fire peoples, remember us. You are my Fia. There's a reason your name means Flame. - MomI gape.
My Mother. My REAL MOM wrote that. And that’s when I know. I will be fine. Because even though it feels like my whole world just fell apart, I know that she loved me. I will make it through this. And at last I feel something. My ring glows, and my hair turns to flame. I am Fia.
Yesterday, I would have never dreamed of anything remotely close to this ever happening. Today, I am a new person. I laugh to myself and take a long deep breath. And then I literally turn into a magic tiger made of fiery flames...
