By Katie W., 3rd Grade

This is the next-to-last of the Taco stories, hope you enjoy it. Have you read Part One or Part Two?

NOW AVAILABLE Flying Taco Part 4!

Taco was in the bag, it was a rainy afternoon and Taco told the dog he had a class to deal with.

“Which school?” whispered the dog.

“I don’t know,” Taco whispered back.

“What did it look like?” said the dog.

“Well, it was a red brick school and it looked like a castle.” said Taco.

“Oh! So you’re a teacher, right?”said the dog.

“I’m sort of… a substitute.”  said Taco quietly.

Then they arrived at the dog’s house. It was a sea foam green house with lemon bushes and cherry trees planted neatly in a row and the lemon bushes were between the cherry trees.

“Is this it?” asked Taco nervously.

“Yes, it is.” said the dog sniffing a tree.

A squirrel ran across the yard. The dog growled  fiercely and loud. This startled Taco so much, he screamed “Eek!” and leaped up so high, the dog’s owner said “What was that?!” looking in her bag to make sure there wasn’t something alive in it. Hmmm… thought the dog’s owner. Must have been a fly.

“You scared me!” whispered Taco with a shaky voice.

“Sorry, but you know that dogs love to chase and bark at squirrels.” said the dog apologetically.

Suddenly another squirrel ran quickly across the grass. Oh brother, thought Taco. The dog growled fiercely once more. Taco was so still, he didn’t even blink. He shivered. Taco thought terrible thoughts and unfortunate things, too. He screamed very, very loud. This startled the dog so much he howled. Taco finally was sheltered from the rain which was hailing now and the wind blew as if  it would knock everyone over. The dog’s owner who was named Kit, was now walking into  the kitchen to eat a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Yikes!” yelled Kit as if something had scared her.

“Don’t get out of the bag!”  the dog said to Taco.

Taco was disobedient and quickly climbed out of the bag. He ran and jumped over dog toys and bones as fast as his legs could carry him, and when he got to his destination, he found another problem. There stood his rival and twin brother, Larry. That rotten Larry had bitten Kit’s finger! Taco cleared his throat, and Larry spun around glaring at him angrily. Kit left the room to get a Band Aid for her throbbing finger.

“Stay out of this Taco. It’s none of your business!!!” Larry yelled. “Kit’s quite the troublemaker so who cares about her,” remarked Larry. “Now, let me deal with you!” he yelled.

Taco in a panic thought, what’s Larry going to do? Taco knew you could never trust Larry and that went double when he got mad.

Taco was so angry he didn’t notice what Matt the dog was doing. He was trying to pick up his bone with his paws and with his nose. Finally, he had succeeded in picking it up and he stood on his hind legs, and slid it across the counter-top, tripping Larry. Matt quickly minded his own business, acting like he did nothing, while the fight with Taco and Larry went on.

“You can’t do anything! Besides, I’m not afraid of you!” screamed Taco as obnoxiously as he could. “Matt! Psst!  Hey! A little help here?” whispered Taco, avoiding the look of Larry’s brown, angry eyes. Matt growled at Larry, following him close.

“Uh, how about ten thousand dog treats?” said Larry, with a small, squeaky voice.

“I’m a dog who can talk and I don’t need your treats!” Matt said.

While Matt was talking to Larry, Taco found a plane ticket to New York. Hmm, a plane ticket, thought Taco. “Oh! I’ve got to go!” said Taco.

Larry said, “Hey! Where’s my plane ticket to New York?”

“Where’s Taco? asked Matt.

“See ya,” replied Taco, halfway out the door, with a sleeping bag on his back and camping gear.

“Where are you going?” Matt said in a worried way.

“New York,” replied Taco as Larry grumbled.

“New York! I’d love to go there,” said Kit popping back from the bathroom. “I’ll get my travel bag.”

Suddenly, there was the meow of a cat. “MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” yelled Taco, so loud, that the glass on the windows shattered, with a big crash! Taco grew wings once more, but this time, he had feather wings, with thick taco shell underneath the feathers. A big fluffy black and white spotted cat jumped onto the window sill, then into the house!

Taco was very scared of cats so he flapped his wings hard. What could possibly happen to him? Taco wanted to move, but he wouldn’t. The cat just had jumped into the house and was ready to pounce on Taco, but he jumped up, his wings still flapping, and flew to the light. He was able to sit on the edge of the light and looked down. The cat had landed face-first on the floor.

“Don’t try to play that game with me!!!” hissed the cat angrily. And with those words, the cat jumped on the counter in one leap. Taco knew Matt would support him, but he also knew that the cat was very hungry and was more interested in him than fighting with Matt. Suddenly that cat just simply leaped onto the light. The light wobbled, Taco made his escape by jumping off  the light onto the counter. Then he opened a cabinet and hopped inside shutting it. Taco closed his eyes tightly, and heard scratching noises on the door of the cabinet–some purrs,  some meows, then some crunching noises that meant that cat was eating. Taco sighed with relief and opened the cabinet door cautiously. The crunching noise had stopped and the cat was right in front of him, wagging its tail. Then it said “Sorry about that. I…”

“I don’t trust cats…” said Taco.

“Please let me finish. I was starving, and I would do a lot of things to get food. And no one trusts me, but please trust me. I’ve never ever played a trick on anyone. People never trust me. Please believe me.” pleaded the cat.

Taco bit his lip, paused, then said “Okay… I trust you. You are the first cat I’ve trusted. What is your name?”

“Melody.” meowed the cat. “What is yours?”

“Taco.” he said. Taco didn’t know what could happen next, but he knew it would be an amazing, awesome adventure.

Melody, Matt and Taco were all walking out the door, then suddenly something sticky, and dry, crawled onto Taco’s shoulder. “May I join you on your adventure, please?” came a pleasant voice coming from the thing that dropped onto Taco’s shoulder.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” yelled Taco, shaking.

“Oh why you little…” Melody began, but couldn’t finish her sentence.

“May I join you on your adventure please?” said the pleasant voice again.

“W-who are you? Where are you?” said Taco.

“On your shoulder,” replied the pleasant voice. Taco whipped around and accidentally made the lizard fall off his shoulder. At that time a tree branch was right in front of Taco, and the lizard simply climbed up the tree to the branch that was right in front of Taco’s face. There they were face-to-face with each other.

“Um, hi, I’m. uh, Taco.” said Taco, nervously fidgeting.

“Hello I’m Lizz.” said Lizz.

“Uh, Mr. Taco?” asked Kit. “Why are you starring at a-“

“WAAAAIT, LIZZ, DON’T FORGET ME!!!!!!!!!!!” said a small but loud squeaky voice.

“Tizz, you are interrupting my conversation!” said Lizz louder than usual.

“Tizz?” asked Taco. “I’ve never heard a name like that before…”

“Taco? Is that it? Oh what a funny little name! Ha ha!” said Tizzy, laughing. “You can call  me Tizz or Tizzy if you like.”

Lizz had orange splats on her back and she was blue. “Pack up your things in your giant maple leaf, Tizz.” said Lizz, quickly, “And I will do the same.”

“Are we going somewhere, but you won’t tell me?” asked Tizz, curiously.

“No,” replied Lizz. “Now do what I said and I’ll tell you.”

“Okay.” said Tizz.

“We are following that taco no matter where the heck he goes to.” said Lizz. “Even if he goes into a jungle with roaring tigers and lions, with evil chattering monkeys swinging on vines throwing heavy rocks at us, and hawks and birds circling over our heads looking to have us for lunch. No matter how scared, freaked out, or maybe even scratched we are, we will follow that taco, forever!”

“So we’re going on an adventure that’s unpredictable. Am I right?” asked Tizz.

“Yes. You are right,” replied Lizz.

Soon Lizz and her sister (Tizz) heard a growl. “What’s taking so long?!” barked Matt.

“Yikes!,” screamed Tizz and Lizz at the same time.

Then they heard Taco say, “Don’t say it like that Matt.”

“We’re hurrying up,” yelled Lizz. “We’re finished!” They both came out wearing maple leaf backpacks. Then Taco saw Tizz. Tizz was a black lizard with yellow lines on her back that looked like lightning bolting down her body.

“Wow… You look amazing!” said Taco, marveling at sight.

“Thank you,” said Tizz.

“What are we waiting for?” asked Kit. “Let’s go!”

“Alright!” said everyone excitedly who had joined Taco on his adventure (Matt the dog, Kit, Melody the cat, Lizz, and Tizz the lizard sisters).

“Wait! Where are we going?” asked Tizz.

“Maybe a jungle… Hmmm…” said Taco.  Tizz shuddered when she heard the word jungle.

“Let’s go!” said Melody, playfully paw-playing on her hind legs with Matt, who was doing the same as Melody. Tizz and Lizz hopped off the tree happily. Kit kneeled down to put her bag down and suddenly made a real Taco-sized laptop that actually worked! She ran back into the house quickly and came out with a pencil bag, big enough to fit Lizz, Tizz, Taco, and of course Taco’s little laptop.