My Adventures with Flat Stanley
Ever hear of the Flat Stanley Project? I didn’t until 3 weeks ago… My Nephew, Ethan made a flat person, and put him in an envelope and mailed him to me last week. He is writing about his adventures as his flat person, Stanley, gets to spend a week with me.
Little did he know how adventurous it would be.
Our story begins on the morning of September 20th, a day after Stanley arrives in my mail box. He came out all ready and excited for our week together. The first thing we did was have a good breakfast:
"I always start my day the Flat Stanley way…part of this nutritious breakfast you see here.", says Stanley. And rightly so, because we need all the energy we can get to ride our bicycle to work. It’s a 7 mile trip each way, so we need to be safe. "You had better get in my camelpack water backpack for safety since I don’t have a bicycle helmet for you.", I said to Stanley.
When we got to work, there was so much to do. "Wow!", said Stanley. "I can’t wait to meet all the people you work with, and try out all of the cool toys." "You bet, Stanley", I said. "But remember to follow my lead and do just what I tell you, otherwise you could get in trouble, or worse, hurt. This is a place for big people who aren’t as flat as you are, and there isn’t much to do for flat people." "Oh wait!," said Stanley, "if I’m flat, doesn’t that mean I could try working the copy machine?" "Well uh…, yes, I think so…", I said. But before I could stop him, Stanley had jumped out of his seat in my backpack and climbed up onto the copy machine.
"Wait a minute Stanley!", I yelled. But before I knew it, he had stepped on the Start button, and he got sucked into the paper feeder.
"Hey Stanley, you look a little beside yourself!", I joked as a new Stanley popped out of the copy machine. "You know we’re not allowed to copy ourselves here at work, so let’s not play with the copy machine anymore and get to work." So we started by surfing the web for some new computer programs that help teachers at my college to do their work. "You can help me Stanley.", I said. "Okay!", said Stanley.
Right before lunch, the postman arrived with a treat. My new iPod Nano had come in. Uncle Jeff gets to try out new technology that college students use to get their work done. Sometimes their college professors record themselves talking about their favorite topics and save thse recordings on the Internet. Then their students can take their iPod, and connect them to their computer. Then the computer will take their teacher’s recordings and automatically save them on the iPod so they can listen to them whenever they want. This is called Podcasting. But we couldn’t resist trying out the iPod Nano with what college students normally do with them, and that is to listen to music. I purchased a new album from the iTunes music store and downloaded it to the iPod. "Can I try it?", said Stanley.
"Why of course. But it’s my turn next, okay?", I said. Since the iPod Nano is really small, when Stanley tried it out it looked like a normal sized iPod that bigger people would use. "This is fun!", said Stanley.
"It fits you like a glove, Stanley.", I said.
"It’s too bad you can’t take it with you when you go home."
"I’m going to go get some lunch", I said, "so stay here and don’t touch any of my equipment. These are tools that I use to help college professors, and they need to use them too. I wouldn’t want them to get broken."
"Okay!", said Stanley. "I’ll bring you back a sandwich from the deli.", I said as I walked out of the office. "Just sit tight and I’ll be right back."
When I came back from the deli, I sat down but I couldn’t find Stanley.
"Where are you, Stanley?", I called out. That’s funny. He was just here a few minutes ago. He couldn’t have gone very far.
"Mmmffff! Wmfmfff!"
What could that noise be?
"Owmffmfffff!!!!" There it is again…it seems to be coming right from….
Oh, no! I sat right on Stanley!
"I’m so sorry, Stanley. Can you forgive me? I didn’t even see you before I sat down. You must have been hiding from me.
Are you okay?" "I hurt a little bit, and I’m sad that you didn’t see me…", said Stanley.
"But, I think I’ll be okay. I know you wouldn’t sit on top of me on purpose, Uncle Jeff."
"I promise to be more careful…", I said almost laughing. "But I’ll make it up to you. How would you like to go camping with me and my friends this weekend?"
"Would I ever!", yelled Stanley. "You can sit on me any time!".
We rode my bike home and decided to get ready for our trip.
That weekend, I took Stanley from his envelope he sleeps in while he stays at my house and took him to my friend’s place. They had a jeep, and it was all packed for our camping trip.
"You had better wear your seat belt, Stanley. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt on the way up to the mountains.", I said as we got into the jeep.
"I always wear my seatbelt when I’m in a car. It’s to keep me safe, in case of an accident, and it’s the law!", said Stanley as we clicked his seatbelt securely over him.
The drive to our campsite took a long time and it was dark when we got there.
"There’s lots of stuff to do here, and there’s a lot of great food. Can I see where all the food gets made?"
"Sure!", I said. "Would you like some food? I sure would."
So I grabbed a hamburger off the grill, ate half of it, and shared the rest of it with Stanley.
"Hey Jeff, who’s your flat buddy?", said my friends.
"Hello, I want you to meet Stanley. He came here in an envelope all the way from Texas!
"Oooh, he’s so little, cute, and flat!", they said. "Does he go out with college girls?"
"Well, I’m still in elementary school!", said Stanley. "Wait until I’m older, and then I will be able to go out on some dates!"
"He’s just visiting anyway,", I said. "Besides, I may not be little or flat, but I’m just as cute."
Well, our adventure with camping was fun, and it was time to go home the next day.
"I sure had fun with you, Stanley.", I said as we got home and started to get us ready for bed.
"I did too, Uncle Jeff.", he replied as he slipped himself into his envelope.
"I’m tired. I think I’ll sleep on the way home so I can be rested and all ready to tell Ethan all about my adventures with you."
"Say hello to Ethan for me, and tell him I love him and miss him.", I said.
"I will!", said Flat Stanley. And with that we both went to sleep with me wishing that I could be flat and mail myself to Ethan too. It sure would save money on plane trips, that’s for sure!