Ben and Ellen and the Four Cheetahs

This is a story in 3 parts.

Ben gets many variations of the following story. There's a game, a journey, and some incident that requires assistance from the fire department. They travel many different ways; by bike, by Eurovan, by spaceship, by snowshoe, and sometimes on the top of a turtle. No matter the mode, everything tends to work out just fine and Ben finds himself in bed... asleep.

Part I - Ben and Ellen and the four Cheetahs play "Find the biggest turtle"

Ben wakes up and heads downstairs where he has a cheamer (chai tea + vanilla steamer) and a big bowl of oatmeal because it's going to be a big day. Ben goes to the garage and gets out his bike, then puts on his helmet and goes out of the gate locking the gate behind him. He then rolls all the way to the fire station where he sits down with the four cheetahs and has another bowl of oatmeal. Just as he starts eating Ellen arrives and says, "Hi Benjamin, how are you?" Everyone finishes their breakfast and then it's time to play, "Find the biggest turtle!"

The four cheetahs: Nebbe, Pooter, Cocoa and Dander head out followed by Ben and Ellen. There are ninteen minutes left in the game. The Cheetahs find a big turtle and begin carrying it back. Ben and Ellen find a kinda big turtle and realize that it's not as big as the one the cheetahs have, so they don't grab it. Now there are twelve minutes left. Ben is looking over a long ridge while Ellen is in a field. Ellen sees a HUGE turtle and calls for Ben. Ben and Ellen wonder how they are going to lift the turtle all the way back to the fire house. They don't think they can do it.

Ben then explains the game to the turtle and the turtle says, "Jump on my back, lets go!" So Ben and Ellen jump on the turtle's back and they head back to the firehouse. Now there's only three minutes left and they're getting closer and closer. With less than a minute left, Ben and Ellen and the HUGE turtle walk through the door of the firehouse. Nebbe, Dander, Cocoa and Pooter all immediately get a sad look on their faces. Ben and Ellen win the game.

Part II - Ben and Ellen go on the fire engine

Ben gets on his bike and goes to Ellen's house. First he goes along 15th and then turns left on Klickitat and then immediately makes a right onto 16th because 16th is a much nicer road to ride on. He keeps riding along this until he passes Broadway and Weidler. He then makes another left followed by a right to put him on 2oth, where he goes past Burnside, transitioning from Northeast Portland to Southeast Portland. He keeps on 2oth until he comes to Harrison and then bikes along that until he hits 34th street and bikes up to Kelly, Tony, Ellen and Maximilian's house. Ellen already has her helmet on and they head off to the fire station. They say, "Bye Kelly. Bye Tony. Bye Maximilian" and off they go.

They get to the fire station and get ready to have some oatmeal when the radio crackles to life, "There's a fire on Sauvie Island." Ben rushes and puts on his fire boots, his fire hat, and his fireproof coat and jumps into the firetruck and turns on the lights. Ellen jumps into the other side and says, "Let's go!" Ellen then flips on the siren and they speed off towards the fire. They roll so fast over the Fremont bridge and then go North on 30 towards St. Helens. Next they turn on the Sauvie Island bridge and then follow the big curve to the left. After about two miles, they turn right onto the Kruger Farm gravel driveway and see a tree next to Farmer Don's barn that's on fire. Ellen jumps off the truck with the hose and Ben opens the valve. Ellen points the nozzle at the tree that's on fire and opens the nozzle.

First the fire gets smokey and steamy. Then it's just steam coming from the tree. Ellen sprays the tree a little bit more and then there's not even any steam coming from the tree anymore. Then Farmer Don comes out and says, "Thank you Ben! Thank you Ellen. That fire could have caught my barn on fire. I'm so relieved."

Farmer Don then went into his back room and came back into the barn with five cheamers for Ben and the four cheetahs and one green tea for Ellen. Everyone sat around in the barn enjoying their tasty hot beverages with Farmer Don. Then they all jumped into the firetruck and headed back to Portland. First they drove to Sandy Boulevard where they dropped off Nebbe, Cocoa, Pooter and Dander. Then they went back to the Fire Station. Ben got on his bike and Ellen got on her bike.

Ben said, "Bye Ellen, see you tomorrow."
"Bye Ben, see you tomorrow too." said Ellen.

Part III - Ben and Ellen go to the moon

Ben and Ellen strap themselves into their seats on the spaceship and Ben begins pressing the buttons. Ben presses button number 1 and the lights go from red to green. Ben presses the second button and the lights go from red to green. Ben presses buttons three four five six and they go from red to green. Then Ben presses the last button and it goes from red to orange to yellow to green. Ellen then presses the big button and the countdown begins, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ..." And the main engines fire up and the auxiliary engines turn on and the spaceship lifts up into the sky. They are heading to the moon. When they get close, Ellen turns the spaceship around with the controls and fires the rockets to slow down. They get slower and slower until they land oh so softly.

Ben gets his spacesuit on and Ellen gets her spacesuit on. All of the sudden they hear "Dadooo, Tsi Tsi, hotdog" which can only mean one thing: Max is on the spaceship saying those things. And then they hear someone else, "Baahhhhh, Lahhhhhh" and it's Maximilian too. They were both hiding behind Ben's seat and Ellen's seat. So Max and Maximilian put on their spacesuits and helmets and Ben and Ellen put on their helmets. Next they go into the airlock and the doors close behind them. Then the doors in front open and everybody goes out and is walking around on the moon.

The dirt is so soft like sand but even fluffier, like pancake flour and everybody bounces around in the fluffy fluffy dirt. Then they are all done and go back into the spaceship and the door closes behind them. Then the forward doors open and a loud, "pssshhhhhhhooouiiiii" sound means that the air has filled the airlock. They walk through and close the 2nd set of doors. Everyone takes off their helmets and they buckle in for takeoff. This time Ellen presses the buttons 1,2,3,4,5,6 and they go from red to green. Then Ellen presses the last button and it goes from red to orange to yellow to green. And now Ben presses the big button and the countdown begins, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ..." And the main engines fire up ... the auxiliary engines turn on and the spaceship lifts up above the moonscape. They are heading back to earth.

As they get closer and closer, the rocket disconnects from the spaceship and it falls into the ocean. Then the spaceship keeps falling and falling until the parachute comes out and then it drifts slowly slowly slowly and splashes into the Willamette river. Ben opens the hatch and paddles the spaceship to the dock next to OMSI where there are people ready to help with the ship. Ben jumps off and Ellen jumps off and their bikes are sitting on the dock.

Ben says, "Bye Ellen, it was fun going to the moon with you. See you tomorrow."
And Ellen says, "Bye Ben, I had fun too going to the moon. See you later."

Ellen bikes all the way home and Ben bikes all the way home. Ben then unlocks the gate and goes through the gate and then locks it behind him. He takes off his helmet and goes inside the house. He creeps upstairs and changes into his pajamas and crawls into Mommy and Daddy's bed and falls asleep.

Goodnight Ben