The Story of St. Patrick's Day

By Natasha Carr-Harris

Oh, its just a pouch full of pebbles, he said. Just pebbles? I queried. Well, they are magic. Adventure? Running away from home? And magic to boot? Its already more than enough for eleven year old Natasha Carr-Harris, but is there even more? It seems so, particularly when she meets Edvard Green, a leprechaun from the past and learns of his compelling and intriguing tale about St. Patrick. As their story slowly unfolds, a friendship develops between the unlikely pair, and soon they are teaming up to confront a world filled with wonderful dangers and surprising twists and turns. This is an adventure no one will ever forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453574133

Natasha Carr-Harris

Natasha Carr-Harris has been a passionate and devoted reader since she was little. Her reading interests encompass both classic and contemporary literature. She was nine years old when her first poem was published by the Poetry Institute of Canada in 2007. Since then, six more poems and three short stories have come out. At age eleven, she was the youngest writer in a 3-Day Novel Contest held in Vancouver in 2009. The contest included participants from twenty countries. It was then she wrote “The Story of St. Patrick’s Day.” She was subsequently interviewed by the Vancouver Sun Newspaper and reported as an “excited young writer”. Natasha believes that her writing talent springs from her spare-time interests in table tennis, ballet, piano and public speaking, all of which have helped her become more creative. Since 2008, she has won five medals from the Canadian National Table Tennis Championships. She was also a delegate of the 2010 Miss Canada Teen Global pageant, where she won the award for “Top Promotions”.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The Bad Day

Sponge and Bob, my twin gerbils, were out loose—again. I couldn’t believe it! How could I have forgotten to latch the door again? Natasha, my mom yelled, you better help me find them! Muttering to myself, I closed my Harry Potter book and went downstairs. Three hours later, I found them in the basement, of all the places, banging on the broken piano. I scooped them up and carried them back up to my room for their afternoon feeding. After watching Bob exercise a little on the wheel, I went back to my Harry Potter book. Just as I was coming to the end, which is the scariest part, my mom shouted from downstairs, Dinnertime! My brother Neil must have gone to dinner before me and had a banana for dessert because, for some reason, there was a banana peel on the stairs. I don’t usually look down when I walk, so I accidentally slipped on the peel and stumbled halfway down the stairs and ended up lying sprawled on the ground at the bottom. This was too much for my mom. First Sponge and Bob get loose, and now this! She probably thought I did it on purpose just to annoy her. I picked up the banana peel and realized it was actually a fake. I immediately started toward Neil, but my mom began shouting at me about how reckless and naughty I’d been. When I fired back and told her it was Neil’s prank, both Neil and I got no supper as punishment, so it was only my mom and, after a while, my dad, at the dinner table that evening. Later, to top off the bad day like a cherry on a whipped cream sundae, Neil left a message under my pillow. It read; HA HA! WHAT A DOPE! I felt myself getting angrier and angrier until I found comfort from my stuffed frog. He is the fluffiest frog ever. I hugged him close until midnight while I stared blankly out the window. Finally, I fell asleep, but I had a horrible dream. I dreamed that I was Harry Potter and Neil was Lord Voldemort (the evil character), except Neil still had his own face. If it weren’t for my previous bad day, I would have sat up laughing my head off at the ridiculous way Neil looked with Lord Voldemort’s body and his own head! But in the dream he was yelling Wimpy, Dopey! and I was frantically trying to ward him off by casting spells with my wand (which weren’t having any effect!). And then I realized I wasn’t Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 2

The Leprechaun

BANG! I woke up with a start and saw Neil next to me grinning. My mouth fell open. So it was he who was yelling Wimpy, Dopey next to me when I was hearing it in my dream. And now he was kicking my bed, all proud and grinning. I threw off my covers and ran into my mom’s bedroom to tattletale (I was making quite a racket!). Natasha! my mom cried, For heaven’s sake, can’t you knock? this time speaking to me in Chinese. But mom, Neil just went into my bedroom and— That’s enough! Neil gets to stay in his room for the rest of the day, and, as for you, young lady, you are grounded! I stood rooted to the spot for a split second before rushing up the stairs, steaming hot with anger. With one bound, I literally threw grinning Neil out the door and screamed into my pillow for the rest of the day. I heard my mom yelling at Neil in his room while he confessed his prank, and then there were footsteps into my room. My mom came through the door and was about to yell at me, but I jumped up from my pillow and cried out, SEE, SEE? YOU JUST BURST THROUGH THE DOOR, AND WHAT’S MORE YOU JUST DID IT TO YELL AT ME! I WENT IN YOUR BEDROOM TO TELL ABOUT NEIL AND HE WAS—here I raised my voice even louder—YELLING WHILE I WAS ASLEEP!! I