Elise goes on an adventure after being launched into the sky from her new trampoline. She meets a seal whose lid she must find, and an owl who asks her to find its missing pets. Elise searches for the pets with the help of a toad, crow, copycat, and bookworm. She tricks the crow into freeing the pets by offering an "arm and leg" of a branch. Elise returns the pets and lid, but wonders if her whole experience was real.

1. Elise’s Adventures in the Sky
By: Jamie Mei

2. On the fine morning of Elise's tenth birthday,
she discovered her parents had given her a trampoline
Colored gentle blue and decked with patterns of clouds,
it was the loveliest she had ever seen

3. The young girl took an energetic leap,
and was momentarily cradled in the rubber,
But this was not an ordinary trampoline;
She was launched into the sky and landed on a patch of blubber

4. The seal growled as it became red with anger
Its lid flew through the clouds and disappeared in thin air
A nearby bat whispered to Elise:
"You must get its lid back, or else, it'd eat your hair"

5. Elise ran as quickly as possible from the seal
It appeared that she is walking among the clouds,
and the poor girl knew not where she was going,
so she stopped when she saw a dome-shaped house

6. She knocked thrice with the curious-looking knocker,
An owl with spectacles and a solemn face came out,
"I am looking for the seal's lid," said Elise
"You are not getting it until you help me," said the owl with the pout

7. Elise agreed, and the owl was overjoyed,
It told Elise that it was looking for its pets:
The copycat, as sly as sly can be,
And the bookworm, as smart as smart can get

8. Elise knew not where to look but she had to start somewhere,
She walked around until she saw a fork in the road
She picked up the fork and put it in her pocket,
but just as she did that, poof appeared a toad

9. "Why did you take my fork?" it said sternly,
"I am very sorry, Mr. Toad," said Elise,
"it was very pretty, but if it is yours, here it is"
The toad continued, "You could have asked, at least!"

10. Elise was confused but decided against confronting the toad
"Mr. Toad," she continued, "Do you happen to know
where I can find a copycat and a bookworm?"
The toad replied, "Speak to the crow"

11. "Where is Mr. Crow?" Elise asked with curiosity,
The toad replied, "give the fork back to the ground and go right"
She did exactly that,
And the crow was eventually in sight

12. "Mr. Crow," Elise asked, "where can I find the copycat and the bookworm?"
"That is Dr. Crow to you," it said, clearly offended,
"Dr. Crow, I am sorry," Elise said and repeated her question
"Since you asked kindly, why don't we have tea together?," it recommended

13. "No, thank you. It is quite urgent I find them," said Elise
Dr. Crow frowned, "Why, then, here they are!"
Two cages appeared, one with each animal
The crow then cackled, "If you misbehave, the consequences are not very far!"

14. "But what did they do?" Elise asked in a worried tone
"Well, if you must know, then I shall disclose!" the crow said,
"This worm drank up all the stories in the library
so I'm starving it with water instead"

15. "What about the copycat?" Elise inquired
"Well, if you must know, then I shall disclose!" the crow guffawed,
"This cat was doing the same thing as the worm,
so I tied up its paws!"

16. "I'm sure they didn't mean to," Elise cried
"What can I do to free them?," she begged
"Well, if you must know, then I shall disclose!" the crow laughed,
"You must pay me an arm and a leg"

17. "No!" Elise said, outraged. "That would be painful!"
"Well, as they say, no pain, no gain," the crow clucked
Elise broke down in tears, but the crow continued to tease:
"Well, it seems like you're out of luck!"

18. In that moment, the bat appeared,
and whispered a secret in her ears
Elise thought about it and it occurred to her
"Well, what do we have here?" the crow sneers

19. Elise broke off a branch from a tree,
And pointed at the leg of the crow's chair,
Elise then declared,"If you want an arm and a leg,
here is the arm and the leg is there!"

20. The crow burst out in shrill laughter,
And released the cat and the worm
The animals rushed to Elise in gratitude,
And asked if they need to repeat a term

21. "I must bring you two back to the owl!" Elise said with a sigh of relief
The animal worried they won't get back on time,
So they suggested a faster way to return to school:
By riding the flying pigs then transferring to Cloud Nine

22. The flying pigs never came,
But the copycat and bookworm were so thrilled to be free,
They did not realize, they were already on Cloud Nine
"We're here!" eventually shouted all three

23. The owl was relieved to see its pets,
And thanked Elise for all her troubles
“And here is your lid,” the owl said exuberantly,
“I don’t understand why you would want such rubble!”

24. Elise thanked the owl
and quickly rushed back to the seal,
But she fell through a hole in the clouds, landed on her trampoline
and proceeded to wonder if all that had happened was real

25. Credits
Story and pictures: Jamie Mei
Music: Neosounds.com