Rescued from Down Under

Every great playground has always had a king. The king is the one who decides which groups of kids gets to use the soccer field and which ones will play four-square. He organizes rules and territories of the playground and makes sure that war is under control at all times. The king holds all of the power in the playground and even some of the teachers obey his rules during recess times. Each playground king reigns for an entire school year, but every month or two, the king has to pick a new queen.

The last queen got fired because the king had asked her to the school dance and she said no. The last queen had also turned down the playground president... then she went with a tuba player from the band and had her crown taken away the same night.

The king, King Robert, was ready to find a new queen only three days later. He called a meeting with everyone in the playground government: the President, the Prime Minister, the PGP (playground police) and every grade representative from SK to grade eight. The king was going to hold a school-wide beauty contest. He would choose a queen out of all the girls at Huntsville Public, and he would choose her in only one week.

The pressure was on.

In no time at all the whole school knew about the king’s plan to find a new queen. The only rule was that she had to be beautiful. Every girl from the first grade up got ready all week, putting on smelling perfumes and testing out make up and picking out their favourite outfits. Clarissa was excited about the contest too. She wanted to look nice for the king but her mom didn’t want her to use any make up. “You are already so beautiful Rissa!” She told her. Clarissa’s mom told her she was beautiful every day, so she believed it was true and simply washed her face the morning of the contest and put on absolutely no makeup.

King Robert took the morning and lunchtime recess to judge the beauty contest. Each girl had to go through an obstacle course of swinging, monkey bars, hop-skip and jump, a spelling bee, and they had to drink a whole can of root beer in less than two minutes before they were even considered for queenship. Their final task was to write a poem for the king using only three markers, four pieces of paper, and five minutes. After all of that, the king would choose the best and most beautiful girl as his queen.

It was a tough competition at the beginning. All of the girls looked really beautiful... but after the obstacle course was over most of the girls were smelly and sweaty and their makeup was running down their faces. The king looked at the potential queens of the playground and saw that basically everyone looked like a mess. Everyone except Clarissa.

Finally, it was time for afternoon recess. All of the kids gathered together around the jungle-gym. King Robert stood at the very top and announced with a clear, loud voice, “Students and subjects of the playground! I have come to a decision!” The girls who had competed lined up in front of the crowned and faced the king.

“I hereby choose Clarissa as my Queen!” The crowd cheered loudly for Clarissa. She wasn’t the most popular girl in the school but pretty much everyone got along with her, so pretty much everyone was happy, except the other girls in line who wanted to be queen. Then King Robert gave Queen Clarissa a shiny tinfoil crown and the purple velveteen blanket that the queen got to wear as a cape whenever she was in her official queen role. It was official.

Queen Clarissa enjoyed a wonderful week as queen before the trouble started. You see, Clarissa was a music student. She had been taking piano lessons since she could walk and she had just recently joined up with the school choir. Eventually she had hoped she could bring King Robert to her recital to hear her sing, but for now she was keeping the plan a secret so that she could surprise him closer to the date of the performance. But ever since the last queen of the playground had turned down the president, Tyrel Hangman had been looking for a way to get back at the music students... and he had finally thought up a way to teach every music, choir and band geek that nobody messes with the President and gets away with it!

Clarissa’s cousin Dave was in the seventh grade. He had always taken care of Clarissa and he had always tried to set a good example for her. It was Dave who had helped start the choir at their school. Dave knew about almost everything going on at the school, so it wasn’t long before Dave heard about President Tyrel’s plan against the music kids.

“He’s going to lock us in the basement!” Dave explained to Clarissa over family dinner that night. “Every music student in the whole school is going to get thrown into the boiler room in the school basement... overnight!”
Clarissa was stunned. “Does the king know about this?”
“I don’t think so,” Dave said, “but he did make Tyrel the president and there is a lot of power with that job! Clarissa, you’ve got to do something! You might be the only chance we’ve got!”
“What should I do Dave? If I go to the king complaining I could get fired!"
“Clarissa, you have to. There is no other way.”

Clarissa swallowed hard. She knew what she had to do and she knew it would be the right decision. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t a little nervous. The next day at lunch recess, Queen Clarissa leaned over to King Robert. “Hey Robbie, I have a question...”
“Yes, Rissa? What is it? Anything you want is yours.”
“Will you and President Tyrel have snack with me today? Just the two of you? I brought Dunkaroos and Fruit Roll-Ups and popcorn. What do you think?”

The king looked a little confused for a minute then he summoned the President and agreed whole heartedly. The king would do almost anything for a good Fruit Roll-Up. That day during snack the Queen, King, and President sat down to a junk food feast. It was by far the best snack any of them had had in a very long time. “Is there something bugging you Rissa?” King Robert asked, “you look like you’ve something to say...”
“Yes... will you two eat snack with me again tomorrow?”

Tyrel thought he was about the best President the playground had ever seen. His plan against the music kinds was going perfectly and the King and Queen kept asking him to share their snack... he sure thought that things were going wonderfully.

The next day, the Queen, King and President Tyrel sat down for snack again. Their junk food feast was even better than the day before! But the king could tell that something was really bothering the queen. “Rissa my queen, what’s wrong? Even with so much to eat you can’t smile! Spill it!”

The queen swallowed her mouthful of cookie and then cleared her throat. “King Robert, I have to ask you a huge favour. It’s about the band and the choir. There is an attack being planned that includes every single music student being locked in the basement overnight! King, some of the choir members are only five years old! Please, stop this evil plan!”

The king was turning red and the President was turning green. “Who is planning this?!” Clarissa raised her arm and pointed at Tyrel’s face. “Your own president, this slithering snake!” The King jumped up and stormed out of the room. A few seconds later he stormed back in.

“Tyrel, I hereby take away your power and your title. You will never be a leader in this playground ever again! And YOU will be locked in the school basement overnight!!!” The king’s bodyguards, two huge seventh grade boys, carried Tyrel down the stairs right after school that day. The king couldn’t stop Tyrel’s goons from trying to capture the music students but he made a law so that they could use silly string and water guns to protect themselves. Clarissa’s cousin Dave who had warned her about the attack in the first place was promoted to President and given everything that Tyrel used to have and more!

Soon everything was pretty much back to normal on the playground. The wars were under control, the kids played fairly and safely during recess and the king and queen lived a happy semester with Dunkaroos and Fruit Roll-Ups for every other snack!