Hello reader. This is the story of a boy named Ulysses Nlucky. He is a good student and kind friend. Unfortunately, he suffers a bit of bad luck from time to time. However, that bad luck does lead him to write some pretty good stories. These stories generally have a way of helping things work out. Ulysses has been writing for a long time now, but I think I will start us at the beginning, when he first found the spark needed to write.
The day was Ulysses’ first day of fifth grade at his mom’s old school Our Lady of Wisdom. He was sleeping soundly when his bedroom door opened. A crack of light flew from the door. The light dashed across Ulysses’ face and made him squirm a bit. His mom Samantha laughed and entered the room. She trudged past a few loose baskets of clothes to open the blinds. More light flooded into the room. Ulysses coiled under his blankets, but his mom smiled and pulled them away. She told him, “Time to get ready pally. Let me know if you need any help with your uniform.”
Summer was really over. Ulysses sighed in defeat but still remembered to say, “Thanks Mom.”
As his mom left, Ulysses went to scratch his head. Then something thwacked his forehead. He blinked and saw the cast which had been covering his hand for the past few weeks. He could not believe he had forgotten the annoying thing. Ulysses grumbled and got out of bed. He lumbered to his desk. Alongside the usual pile of magazines and video game strategy guides sat Ulysses’ school uniform. Ulysses shuddered to grab it. School was fine, but the school polo was a pain. Its fabric was itchy, its collar was scratchy, and the buttons always seemed too big for their holes. Ulysses struggled to put on the uncomfortable thing using only one hand. He fought to work his head through the shirt. A few times he thought he was close only to discover he was basically trying to get his head through the sleeve. Finally, Ulysses managed to force his head through its proper hole, though the collar took some time to fix. It just wanted to fold every way except down. Still, Ulysses eventually got it somewhat presentable. He glanced in his mirror and saw his hair was messed up from the whole ordeal, so he swiped his hand across the light brown mess a few times to keep it from looking too crazy. Ulysses then started to head downstairs until he noticed something that had been sitting under his uniform.
A blue notebook sat on the desk. Ulysses’ dad Samuel had given him the notebook after Ulysses broke his hand. Ulysses remembered his dad’s excitement in giving the gift. Apparently, Samuel had broken his leg around Ulysses’ age. Keeping a journal was apparently the only thing which kept the poor guy sane. Ulysses only pretended to write in his journal to humor his dad. In reality, he was just doodling random things like cubes and cartoon characters. It seemed best if his dad thought he was still writing in the journal. Ulysses thought about taking the journal to school but quickly decided against it. He already had enough stuff in his backpack.
Ulysses walked downstairs to the kitchen. His mom was running around doing various chores, his dad was cooking breakfast, and his brother Bill was texting at the kitchen table.
Samuel quickly turned to say, “Morning Ulysses.”
Ulysses yawned. “Morning Dad.”
Bill merely mumbled, so Samantha stared into his soul and asked, “Is that how you greet your brother?”
Bill groaned. “Good to see you up bro.”
Ulysses chuckled. Samuel passed around the breakfast plates. Samantha turned to her sons and said, “Remember, I’ll still be at work when you’re out of school. You’ll have to head over right away.”
Bill set his elbow on the table and placed his head on his fist. “Not The Sandwich Shop. That place is boring.”
Samuel laughed and swiped his son’s elbow clean off the table. “Come on Bill. Your mom’s friends are pretty cute, and they always love to swarm you two.”
Samantha rolled her eyes. “Just remember most of them are young enough to be your kids honey.”
Samuel rubbed the back of his head and sat down. Ulysses chimed in, “Yeah, come on Bill. You remember those hot chocolates Annie always makes for us.”
Bill shrugged his shoulders. “I guess. Just don’t spill it on yourself this time.”
Ulysses forced a laugh.
Everyone kept eating for a little while longer. Then Samantha looked at her watch. She rushed the boys to their backpacks on the family room couch. Samuel peeked into the room and called out, “By the way, I expect to actually hear a bit about your days this year. Ulysses has his journal after all.”
Ulysses chuckled. “Yeah, sure thing.”
Samuel blinked. “You remembered to grab it, right? You’ve been writing in it so much I figured you’d always have it.”
Ulysses froze trying to think of something to say. Then Samantha shook her head and said, “Just go get it.”
Ulysses nodded and ran upstairs to grab his journal. He rushed back downstairs to follow Samantha and Bill into her van parked outside. Samantha glanced at the van’s clock and told her sons to prepare for a bumpy ride. The brothers buckled their seatbelts, and the van shot out of the driveway. Potholes threw the van around through the start of its journey. Still, everything seemed to be going well enough. Then lines of orange construction barrels began to appear along the road. Soon enough the van got caught in a long stretch of traffic.
Samantha lowered her head. “Great. This was not supposed to start until next week.”
Ulysses leaned forward. “Will we still get to school on time?”
Samantha sighed. “Maybe at the last minute. No way I’m getting to work on time though.”
Ulysses grumbled. Being late on the first day was not good. He would get marked tardy, and everyone else would see him walking into the room all alone. He did not want that many people staring at him.
Bill merely rolled his eyes at his brother’s panic and took out his phone. The older brother opened some apps only to see spinning wheels. He tapped his screen a few hundred times before finally scowling and saying, “Internet’s dead here.”
Samantha laughed. “Just one more great thing to happen on this great day.”
Ulysses sighed and looked out the window. The school flagpole could already be seen rising above a few of the nearby houses. Ulysses adjusted his collar and thought about the schoolyear. Tests and homework would be easy enough. Half the year always seemed to be going over the same old stuff anyway. There would probably be some new tall tales spread about the school. It was an older building, so the students could not help themselves. Last year’s tales included everything from moaning ghosts of choir boys to night students who stole everyone’s supplies. Ulysses laughed to himself until the van lurched forward again. He remembered his situation and felt his nervousness returning.
Ulysses had always just wanted to feel like part of the group at school. He was liked well enough, but his bad luck always made him stand out in ways he did not want to. There were times he tripped over his own two feet and broke his water bottles, and there were times his assigned computer in the library refused to turn on. On top of this, there were all sorts of incidents that had occurred during gym class and recess. Now Ulysses would have to run into the building and likely show up late on the one day everyone would arrive on time. He groaned and sunk into his seat. In this position, he noticed his backpack was unzipped. Ulysses gulped. Having his books falling out as he ran into school would have been the perfect way to make everything worse. So, Ulysses reached to zip the thing up. Then he noticed his journal sticking out of the opened corner. He grabbed the journal. Throwing it in his backpack last minute was likely why the thing was unzipped in the first place.
Suddenly, Bill chuckled. “Guess somebody’s got something to do.”
Ulysses tilted his head. So, Bill asked, “You’re about to write in that thing again, right?”
Samantha glanced at her sons in the van’s mirror. “Guess your father had a good idea making sure you had it. We’ve still got a ways to go here.”
Ulysses nodded and looked down at the journal. Maybe now was the time to actually start writing in it. There seemed to be nothing better to do. So, Ulysses grabbed a pencil from his backpack’s front pouch and opened the journal. He was ready to write about this morning when he suddenly realized something. His parents loved his school. Ulysses did not want them to think he did not like it. For a second, he thought he could just avoid discussing his worries for the year, but for some reason that is what he wanted to write about the most. He could not explain the feeling, but that is still how he felt. Ulysses wondered what to do. Then he saw one of the cubes he had doodled in his journal. An idea formed in his head. He gave the cube a face, some arms, and some legs to make it a character. This character could hold all of Ulysses’ worries for him. He could even do whatever he wanted with the character. After all, what limits would there in the world of a cube? Inspiration had come, and Ulysses began to write the first of many stories.
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