Under the Rug

"Under the Rug" illustration taken from 

Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

Have you ever had a RAT in the house?  Well, Mr. and Mrs. Whitley always had some.  Everyday Mr. and Mrs Whitley searched for rats because there were always rats in the garden.  The rats would sneak into the house to keep warm when it was raining cats and dogs.  And Mr. and Mrs. Whitley were always prepared for the rats.  When it rained and they heard squeaking noises, they would grab the broom and look for them and when they found one, they would smack it to death.

There was a witch living next door called Witch Crackle.  She heard Mrs. Whitley's screams whenever there were rats in the house.  Witch Crackle got so fed up with Mrs. Whitley's screaming.  She tried many ways to avoid hearing her screams but nothing worked.

One rainy Sunday, Witch Crackle sat on her red comfy sofa and thought of a way to put an end to Mrs. Whitley's screams - she would turn Mrs. Whitley into a rat!  Witch Crackle dashed to the basement to grab her big giant cauldron and she remembered that she had rodent hair on the living room sofa so she grabbed some and threw them into the pot, added water, stirred them all together and soon she got the rat potion.

Witch Crackle called Mrs. Whitley on the phone and said to her, "Uuummm... Mrs. Whitley, would you come to my house for a cup of tea?"  Mrs. Whitley said, "OK, I'll be there in 10 minutes."  Witch Crackle laughed and laughed and laughed.

After 10 minutes, there was a knock on the door and it was Mrs. Whitley.  Witch Crackle welcomed her in.  She said to Mrs. Whitley, "I shall go get the cookies and tea you little dork... I mean little angel.. hehe.  You wait here."

Mrs. Whitley waited.  Finally Witch Crackle came back and poured out the tea and gave her the biscuits.  Witch Crackle said, "Drink this; it is very healthy."

Suddenly, there was a bang and a boom!  Witch Crackle peeped and saw that Mrs. Whitley was a rat and she laughed and laughed and laughed.  She went to the window of Mrs. Whitley's house and threw her in.

When Mr. Whitley saw the rat, he quickly snatched the broom and kept hitting Mrs. Whitley and hitting her.  Mrs. Whitley kept running and hiding.  Finally she hid under the rug.  Her heart was racing faster and faster.  Mr. Whitley saw a hump under the rug and knew that it was the rat.  He put down the broom, picked up a chair and whacked her with the chair.  Her heart stopped, her blood stopped flowing and that was the end of Mrs. Whitley and her screams.

Someday

Someday I shall have my own bedroom

With the moon outside my window

Someday I shall go on a Duck Tour

That goes on land and water

Someday I shall go diving in the ocean

To study the corals

Someday I shall be a famous ice skater

Twirling and dancing on the ice

Someday I shall be a famous fashion designer

Creating beautiful dresses

Someday I shall be a whiz at the computer

Like my mother

Someday.

Pulau Ubin Trip

"Look, a mermaid's fan!" Uncle Joe showed me the seaweed.  I touched it and it felt like jelly.  We were at Pulau Ubin with our friends Keith and Karl.  It was my first time there and I was so excited!

Mermaid's fan

We took a bumboat to get to Pulau Ubin.  The bumboat is a very special boat because it has tires at the front of the boat, the sides and at the back.  If the boat bumps into anything, it won't break because the tires are bouncy and it would just bounce off anything.

On the bumboat

When we got off the bumboat, Uncle Joe led us to some rock pools.  That's where we saw the mermaid's fan.  We spotted lots of fiddler crabs.  They have a big claw and a small claw.  The small claw is used to feed itself and the big claw is used for fighting.  There were also little tiny prawns in the rock pools.

After that, we went to a provision shop which sells almost everything.  There were drinks, durians and everything you find in a supermarket.  Uncle Joe bought a gassy apple drink and he asked, "Who wants to open the bottle with this bottle opener?"  I shouted, "Me!!!"  The first time I tried, I didn't manage to open it.  But the second time, I managed to get it opened.  Uncle Joe also let us try the gassy apple drink.  It was super gassy!

Later on, we took a taxi van.  It looked like our old school bus.  It didn't really look like a taxi.  We went to a quarry where we saw herons and egrets.  There were very few of them at first but after a few minutes, we saw a group of them flying together.  Then we got back into the taxi and drove through a forest.  Uncle Joe told us to look out for wild boars but unfortunately there were none.

Taxi van

After a while, we arrived at Chek Jawa.  Uncle Joe picked up some rubber tree seed husks and he said, "Hey, we can make a toy out of these."  He turned one half of the husk the opposite way and fastened them together.  Then Uncle Joe held the toy with two fingers, took a deep breath, blew the hollow side of the husk and it spun.

Blowing the spinning toy

Then we strolled on the boardwalk and looked out for mud lobsters, mudskippers and fiddler crabs.  I was tired but I still kept a close look out for the mudskippers because I like them.

After a long walk, Uncle Kenneth spotted a big mudskipper with tiny arms and it looked like a slug.  I only caught a glimpse of it because it scampered away.  I also spotted a few fiddler crabs fighting with each other and it looked like they only had a big claw and no body.  

Then we saw some people with a lot of rubbish, tires, ropes, and  big oil drums.  They were clearing rubbish from the sea.  After some time, I spotted some mudskippers hopping here and there.  Suddenly, a man shouted to Uncle Joe that there was a mud lobster.  "Bring it to us!" Uncle Joe said.  It looked like a regular lobster to me.

Mudskipper suntanning on a tree

Mud lobster

When we got out of Chek Jawa, we went to a kampung house where we saw lots and lots of dogs and a parrot that could say "hello" and "goodbye".  I was a little bit scared of the dogs.  I thought the kampung house was a nice place to stay in.  It is interesting how they cook using firewood and that they use a ladder instead of stairs to get to the second floor.

At the kampung house

Firewood used for cooking

Finally we went for lunch.  We ate at a seafood restaurant.  We had fish, mussels, sweet potato leaves, prawns, etc.  I thought the fish was tough.  We saw bags of water hanging down above the tables.  The water bags reflect light to scare away houseflies.

At the restaurant

After lunch, we took a bumboat back to Changi.  We said goodbye to our friends, Kong Kong and Uncle Joe.  And that was my trip to Pulau Ubin.