Chapter 1

 

“La! La! La! La! La!” Ace sang while he was walking down a hill in the forest by himself.

 

“Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!” he sang as he walked through the forest.

 

Rumbling, gurgling, growling sounds came from Ace’s empty stomach. “Uh, oh! I am hungry,” Ace said while looking around for something to eat in the forest. “Man, there is not one lick of food around here to eat.”

 

Rumble, gurgle, growl! “Ah, man! I need to find something to eat quick. It sounds as if my stomach is getting ready to explode.”

 

Gwuf, gwuf, gwuf, went the sound of Ace’s footsteps as he walked further and further in the deserted woods. As he got deeper in the forest, he stumbled across land filled with huge trees full of apples.

 

“Yummy, yum, yum!” Ace said while rubbing his tummy. “Apples, apples in my tummy, will be so good to me, yummy, yum, yum! Hey, now, how am I supposed to get all the way up there to get me some apples?” he wondered while looking around the area. “No! No! No!”

Ace cried. “Who-hoo-hoo put tall-looking sticks around the apples?”

 

Ace looked around the forest to see if he could find something to get him over the tall-looking sticks.

 

“Nothing! Nothing!” Ace cried in agony. “There’s nothing to help me over the tall sticks.”

 

Rumble, gurgle, growl! his stomach kept saying.

 

“I know what I can do to get over those tall-looking sticks!” Ace stopped crying and laughed. “I will just climb up the sticks! Yep, that’s what I will do! I will climb over the sticks!”

 

Ace put his hands around the tall sticks like he was giving it a hug. He used his hands to pull himself up, up, and up the tall sticks until he was over the top.

 

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Ace laughed. “I am getting ready to eat me some red juicy apples! Take that, you tall-looking stick thingy,” Ace said while making his way to the bottom with his left hand balled up into a fist.

 

All the way down the tall sticks, Ace laughed. Once his feet touched the ground, he took off running towards the closest tall apple tree. When he made it to the nearest tree, Ace stopped in his tracks. He didn’t realize the tree was that big up close.

 

“No! No! No!” Ace cried. “I just want a red, juicy apple! This can’t be happening to me!”

 

Ace stood back and looked up at the tree. He walked around the tree from left to right and right to left, looking up.

 

“Geez! Aw, man! This tree is big! This tree is taller than the tall sticks I just climbed!” Ace cried. “How did you get soo big, Mr. Tree? What am I going to do now? I just want an apple!”

 

Ace stood with his back against the apple tree, crying because he was hungry and he wanted a red, juicy apple. He slid down the tree until he was sitting on the ground, covered in grass, crying his eyes out. Ding-ding-ding, a bell went off in his head. All of a sudden, he got an idea.

 

“Even though the apple tree is bigger and taller than the tall sticks, I can try and climb it. Yep, that’s what I will do! I will try and climb it,” Ace laughed.

 

Ace stood with his hands out as wide as he could get them. Next, he walked up to the apple tree and put each of his hands on it.

 

“Now, you listen here, Mr. Big Tall Apple Tree! I am going to climb you so I can get one of your red, juicy apples,” Ace said while taking his right hand off the tree and pointing his finger at it. “I don’t want nothing out of you while I do so, you hear me?” he said while putting his right hand back on the apple tree.

 

Ace used both of his hands and both of his feet to push himself up the tree off the ground. As he pulled himself higher and higher up the tree, he looked back at the ground, not realizing how high he was. With a frown on his face for determination, sweat dripping down his face because it was hot, and his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth like a puppy, he was doing it! He was climbing up the apple tree!

 

Ace didn’t go all the way up the apple tree. He went far enough to get an apple. He sat on a branch with several apples on it. He grabbed the apple that was closest to him.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch! “This is the best apple I have ever tasted,” Ace said while sitting back on the branch.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch! “I have never tasted an apple this good before! I am going to grab a few to take with me just in case I get hungry again,” Ace said while taking another bite of the apple.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch! Ace took a few more bites out of the apple until it was all gone.

 

Ace picked as many apples that could fit in his small hands. He threw them one by one on the ground. Thump, thump, thump, went the sound of the apples hitting the ground one by one. Ace then climbed down the apple tree as happy as he could be. When his feet touched the ground, Ace picked up his apples one by one.

 

“Hey, you there!” an old man said while running towards him with a rake. “What are you doing on my property?”

“Yikes!” Ace yelled.

 

“What are you doing on my property?” repeated the old man.

 

“I was just getting some apples,” Ace said while picking up the apples off the ground, running and crying in the opposite direction from the old man.

 

“Thief! Thief!” the old man yelled as he ran behind him. “Come back here with my apples!”

 

“It’s just apples,” Ace said while dropping the apples one by one as he ran.

 

“Get back here, you little thief!” the old man yelled. “You better not let me catch you!”

 

“You are not going to catch me!” Ace said, looking back at the man with only one apple left in his hand.

 

Ace wasn’t watching where he was going. He was too busy looking back at the old man chasing him with the rake.

 

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You can’t catch me!” Ace laughed out loud, running ahead of the old man and sticking his tongue out at him.

 

“Come back here, you tick-turd!” the old man yelled.

 

“Yipes!” Ace cried out as he was lifted off the ground with a rope around his ankle. “Let me down! Let me down! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

 

“Now who’s laughing, you little turd?” the old man laughed.

 

“Let me down!” Ace cried while swinging upside down with the rope around his ankle. “It is just an apple!”

 

“But it was my apple, turd,” the old man said while poking the rake at him. “You are trespassing on my property! Where are your folks?”

 

“I don’t have no folks!” Ace cried. “It’s just me all alone!”

 

“What do you mean, all alone?” the old man asked.

 

“I have nobody,” Ace cried while still swinging upside down with that rope around his ankle.

 

“You are just a little boy,” the old man replied. “You are too little to take care of yourself. I don’t see you with no bags, where are your clothes?”

 

“I have none!” Ace cried. “I have no food either!”

 

“I am going to help you down,” the old man told him. “I am going to take you to my house and let you wash up. That doesn’t mean I am going to feed you, clothe you or let you stay. I don’t like kids, especially tick-turds!”

 

The old man cut the rope from around Ace’s ankle. He checked him from head to toe to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

 

“Thank you for helping me down, mister,” Ace said with excitement.

 

“Yeah, uh huh, tick-turd! Don’t get too happy because I despise kids, especially tick-turds!”

 

Ace followed the old man with the biggest smile on his face. He guarded that one apple in his hand as if it was going to grow legs and feet and run away.

 

“Tick-turd! What is your name?” the old man asked while walking ahead of him.

 

“Ace! My name is Ace!” he proudly yelled.

 

“You don’t have to scream, you know! I am not deaf! I can hear!” the old man said.

 

Ace and the old man walked several miles across the tall apple tree patch. They finally came up to a little cottage. To the right of it was a barn, a stable, and a garden. On the opposite side of the cottage was a chicken hutch.

 

“Wow, where’d you get all of these friends from?” Ace asked. “Are they all yours?”

 

“Friends! What friends?” the old man asked him.

 

“The ones that’re in their houses,” Ace said. “You know, the horses, chickens, and the…”

 

“No, they are not my friends,” the old man told him. “Come on in the house so you can get yourself cleaned up. You have dirt and mud all over yourself.”

 

They stepped inside the small cottage. “Ace, here you go,” the old man said while giving him a white bowl with some water and a rag. “Here are some clothes you can put on,” he added while handing him a pair of brown balloon pants, a blue shirt, a black belt, and black Bruce Lee shoes.

 

“Thank you, sir,” Ace said, as happy as he could be.

 

“Now, you go ahead, wash off and get dressed. I am going to get you a piece of bread and a cup of milk,” the old man said while walking to an area in the corner of the house.

 

“Okay,” Ace replied while wiping off his chest. “Lalala!” he sang while wiping off his face and hands.

 

“Here you go, tick-turd,” the old man said, handing him a piece of bread and a cup of milk.

 

“Thank you!” Ace exclaimed. He made loud chomp, chomp, chomp noises while stuffing the bread in his mouth.

 

“Tick-turd, slow down before you choke!” the old man yelled.

 

“I’m not going to… awk, cough! Awk, cough, cough!” Bread crumbs went flying everywhere from Ace’s mouth.

 

“See, I told you to slow down! Here, drink some of the milk,” the old man said, handing him the cup. “Now, I am going to let you stay here tonight, tick-turd! But tomorrow you have to go.”

 

Ace sat there with a mouth full of milk, nodding his head up and down as if it was about to come off.

 

Glug! Glug! Glug! Ace swallowed his milk.

 

“Now here is something you can cover up with just in case you get cold later on tonight,” the old man said as he handed him a long piece of cloth.

 

Gulp, gulp, gulp! Ace slurped the milk down while taking the long piece of cloth.

 

Gwuf, gwuf, gwuf, went the sound of his footsteps as he walked over to a corner of the room where he saw a wooden crate. He laid on the crate, fanned the long cloth over his small body, curled up in a ball, and zzzz, zzzz, zzzz, he was sleep.

 

Meow! Meow! the multi-colored cat squealed.

 

Woof! Woof! Woof! the large black dog barked.

 

Kata-kata! Kata-kata, went the sound of the old man’s footsteps as he ran. “You darn stray animals!” Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub! “Get away from here! I told you not to come back here!” the old man yelled.

 

Hsssssssssssss, the sound of a cat!

 

“Ah-choo! Ah… ah… achooooooo!” the old man sneezed. “Now, you done it! I am going to run you away from here once and for all… achoooo!”

 

Gwuf! Gwuf! Gwuf! went the sound of Ace’s footsteps walking out of the house. With a big grin on his face, Ace asked, “Mister, are you playing?”

 

“No! I am not play… Ah, ah-choooo!” the old man sneezed. “I am trying to run these strays off of my property!” the old man yelled.

 

“I thought they were your friends,” Ace said.

 

“No…” shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, the old man could barely pick up his feet after chasing the cat and dog off of his property.

 

“Uggh, uggh, my back!” the old man cried. “Tick-turd, do you know how to milk a cow?” he asked while wiping his nose with a handkerchief.

 

“Huh? What? Oh! I don’t! I’ve never… um, milked a cow!”

 

“Come with me and let me teach you,” the old man said while throwing rocks at the cat and dog.

 

“Okie-dokie, then,” Ace said as he hopped behind the old man with excitement.

 

Ace hopped behind the old man all the way to the barn. There were tall apple trees everywhere except for by the barns where the animals were.

 

“Can I have some apples?” Ace asked hopefully.

 

“You can have a few when you are done milking the cow,” the old man said.

 

Ace didn’t say a word. He just hopped, and hopped, and hopped.

 

“Tick-turd, pass me that pail with the handle,” the old man said, pointing at the pail on the ground.

 

Ace hopped over to the pail, looked in it, and grabbed it by the handle. He hopped the pail right over to the old man and placed it on the ground beside him.

 

“Now, tick-turd, you be careful in here! I don’t want you to get hurt,” the old man told him.

 

“Uh-huh! Alrighty!”

 

“Listen up, tick-turd! And pay attention! All you have to do is put the pail… Why are you looking like that?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“That goofy-looking smile on your face,” the old man said. “For someone who is alone, you sure do smile a lot.”

 

“I am thinking about those delicious-looking apples on your trees. I can taste them, yummy, yum, yum, yum.”

 

“Get your brain off of those apples, tick-turd, and pay attention!”

 

“I am! I am!”

 

“Place the pail underneath the cow. Make sure the teats are clean. Next, you are going to grab the teat and pull downward from the base and squeeze the milk out,” the old man instructed.

 

“Is that all I have to do? That is easy to do,” Ace said.

 

“Let me see you try and do it, tick-turd,” the old man said.

 

“Okay, let me show you,” Ace replied.

 

The old man got up from the stool he was sitting on. “Now, tick-turd, you go ahead and sit there.”

 

Ace did what he was told, as happy as he could be.

 

“Now, I want you to go ahead and milk the cow,” the old man said.

 

“Alright, then,” Ace replied as he grabbed the pail and made sure it was underneath the cow.

 

The old man watched him as he milked the cow.

 

“Alright, tick-turd, since you are doing good, I am going to go and feed the animals,” the old man said as he patted Ace on the head.

 

Ace continued milking the cow with a big grin on his face.

 

The old man left Ace in the barn. He wasn’t far from the barn when he heard a loud noise.

 

Boom! Boosh! The old man turned around to where the sound was coming from. The entire barn was gone! The only thing left was a poof of smoke circling Ace and the cow he was milking.