©2007 Diane Lau
1,500 words

 

Junk Drawer Invasion

By Diane Lau

  

The Pinkneys’ junk drawer was nothing special. The junk that lived in there was probably the same junk that lives in your family’s junk drawer. There was:

Stapler
Scissors
Matchbox
Rubber Band (“R.B.” to his friends)
Flashlight
Magnet
and the Battery Twins           

For a long time they all lived happy and normal lives, probably like the junk in your family’s junk drawer. But that was about to change, as you will see….

The Junk Drawer Friends got along well, and usually could find fun things to do. Sometimes they would play “Roll the Battery Twins.” Sometimes they would use Flashlight and R.B. to play the lantern game on the wall of the drawer. R.B. was so flexible he could make his shadow into many shapes, like a dinosaur, a flower, and even a cheese sandwich.

But what the junk liked to do best was read. Six days of the week there wasn’t much to read. Stapler had the word “Swingline” on one side, which everyone had memorized long ago. Magnet, who was the sort of magnet that sticks to the refrigerator, had a few more words than that: “Hot Hits WROK-FM.” That didn’t take very long to read either.

But every Sunday morning, Mrs. Pinkney would open the junk drawer and take out Scissors. He would be gone for awhile, but then he would return, along with a little stack of papers that Mrs. Pinkney called “coupons.” The coupons were left in the junk drawer until Monday morning, when Mrs. Pinkney got her groceries.

So the Junk Drawer Friends got to read for a whole day!

“50 cents off toilet paper!” shouted Matchbox.

“Hot dogs half price!” exclaimed Stapler.

“Buy one, get one free!” yelled the Battery Twins.

Reading was so exciting. You probably don’t know it, but most junk likes to read. Does the junk in your family’s junk drawer have enough to read? It’s best to make sure.

Now occasionally Mr. or Mrs. Pinkney would take one of the friends out, and later put them back. That was fun because then there would be stories about what was going on in the house.

“Mrs. Pinkney sure hates Tax Time,” Stapler reported to the others after stapling together a lot of papers.

“What is Tax Time?” asked Flashlight.

“It comes in April and makes the Pinkneys have to get out every piece of paper in the house and put them on the kitchen table in crazy piles,” replied Stapler.

One time Magnet was away for a whole month.

When he came back to the drawer he said, “I got to hold a picture on the Fridge…Nephew Joey drew it. It was great being on the Fridge, riding back and forth when the Pinkneys take out food.”

“Why can’t we get stuck to the Fridge?” asked one of the Battery Twins.

“Because we aren’t sticky, stupid,” said his brother.

“Well, neither is Magnet,” said the first Twin.

That made everyone in the drawer quiet for awhile. Hmmm…

So that was life in the junk drawer. All the Junk Drawer Friends got along well and not too much changed from day to day, until one Friday….

Suddenly the drawer opened and in fell a creature. A very strange creature. It was green, and had three eyes, and was like nothing the Junk Drawer Friends had ever seen before.

They stared at it. It stared back.

Finally Scissors said, “Who are you?”

The creature stood up very straight and said in a squeaky, scary voice, “I am BORKLOTRON, star of the full length animated motion picture of the same name!”

“Huh?” asked Matchbox.

The creature blinked its three eyes at him for a minute in silence. Then it said, “I am BORKLOTRON, star of the full length animated motion picture of the same name!”

None of the friends had a clue what this meant.

Now it might have been a good idea to ask this Borklotron some questions, like “What is a full length motion picture of the same name?” But the friends thought Borklotron was weird looking and its voice was quite scary. So they all backed to the other side of the drawer and pretended it wasn’t there.

Is there anything in your junk drawer that is sort of scary? The junk in there might think so.

The Junk Drawer Friends tried very hard not to seem scared of Borklotron. Finally R.B., Scissors and Matchbox decided to play the Guitar Game. R.B. wrapped himself around Matchbox a few times to make the strings, and Scissors plucked the notes. The other friends sang along. They started out doing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

It was a lot of fun, until suddenly they heard that weird, scary voice sing, “Row, row, row!”

Everyone stopped singing.

“Row, row, row!” sang Borklotron all by itself.

So that was the end of the Guitar Game.

That night the Junk Drawer Friends all slept on one side of the drawer, and talked quietly about Borklotron.

“You know, clearly it’s a monster. It has monster eyes and a monster voice,” said Stapler.

“Monsters are bad, right?” asked R.B.

“Yeah, they’re bad!” said Flashlight. “Monsters do Invasions!”

“What’s an Invasion?” asked R.B.

“That’s when the monsters come and take over the Earth! They capture everyone and steal everything! An invasion is when…your home is invaded!” said Flashlight.

“OUR JUNK DRAWER HAS BEEN INVADED!” cried all the Junk Drawer Friends.

They looked over at Borklotron. He seemed to be asleep, but no one could be sure.

Saturday was not a fun day. Early in the morning, Borklotron started to hum. Then it started to sing, “Row, row, row! Row, row, row!”

The Battery Twins got very scared. “Stop invading our junk drawer!” they yelled at Borklotron.

It stopped singing.

No one knew what to do. So they spent the day watching Borklotron to see if it would capture or steal anything.

And nothing much happened the rest of the day.

The Junk Drawer Friends were pretty nervous about Sunday morning. Sunday was their favorite day, because that was when the coupons came. But they were very worried that Borklotron would try to capture or steal the coupons.

After Mrs. Pinkney dropped the coupons in the drawer, everyone grabbed them quickly. They took them to one side of the drawer and tried to read happily as usual.

Everyone had something to do but Borklotron. It just sat and watched them.

Then suddenly Scissors let out a yell. “Look, everyone, look at this coupon!” And he held it out for everyone to see.

There was a picture on the coupon…a picture of Borklotron!

Everyone gathered around to read what the coupon said. It read:

FREE with this coupon and purchase of a Burger Bus Fun Meal:
BORKLOTRON TOY!
Borklotron, the kids’ friend from outer space!
Star of the full length animated motion picture of the same name!

 “Wow…” said the Battery Twins.

“It’s a cartoon!” cried Stapler. “A full length animated motion picture is a cartoon, a long cartoon, a movie!”

“Borklotron is the star of a movie??” asked Scissors, amazed.

“A movie called ‘Borklotron,’ that’s what it says,” said Stapler.

“The full length motion picture OF THE SAME NAME!” cried the Battery Twins.

And everyone got it.

They all turned to Borklotron, who stared back at them with its three eyes, looking confused.

Magnet took a step towards it…him…and said, “Sorry, we thought you were a monster, but you’re actually a movie star, aren’t you?”

Borklotron said, “I’m a monster AND a movie star. And also a toy, available exclusively with your purchase of a Fun Meal at Burger Bus.”

“Wow,” said the Battery Twins.

“Can we sing now?” asked Borklotron.

So everybody put down their coupons and they all sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” together.

The Junk Drawer Friends had a lot of fun with Borklotron. But he told them he couldn’t stay long, because Mrs. Pinkney had gotten him for Nephew Joey.

By the time he had to go, the Junk Drawer Friends no longer noticed that he had a scary voice.

“Bye, Borklotron, thanks for the Invasion!” they said, waving goodbye.

“You’re welcome,” said Borklotron. “But you know I didn’t capture or steal anything.”

“You stole our hearts,” said Scissors quietly.

“YEAH!!!” agreed all the friends.

The next week was lonely without Borklotron. But Friday night the drawer opened and something fell in.

It was purple, and it had four legs, two floppy ears, and eye stalks.

“Hi, who are you?” asked the Battery Twins with excitement.

“I am Wooflotron, Borklotron’s best friend,” it said.

“From the full length animated motion picture of the same name!” cried all the Junk Drawer Friends with joy.

And they all played the Guitar Game till very late at night.

Maybe the junk in your own junk drawer could use a new friend, too. The story’s over, so why not go find something that can visit with them for awhile? Have fun!