Conrad's Corner: The magic waterfall

Editor’s note: The following story was written by 12-year-old Conrad Talbot. He is in the sixth grade at Superior Elementary School. Conrad is the oldest of two boys and his little brother Rory is often the subject of his stories. He has been writing and drawing ever since he was little and it is his favorite thing to do. Conrad wrote this story after his family visited a waterfall this summer. He said readers may decide which parts are really true.

By CONRAD TALBOT

Mineral Independent

Many of you know the story of Conrad Talbot, but many don’t know the story of the waterfall.

It all started on one sunny day, he awoke to the smell of fresh cooked bacon. Conrad quickly got dressed and brushed his teeth and ran up the stairs to find his family eating his mother’s finest bacon and eggs. Conrad dished up and almost right when Conrad sat down to eat, his father started talking about how much he can’t wait to the waterfall. Conrad stopped eating and asked “What waterfall?”

“You don’t remember,” his father said as his brother gasped as if he had just seen a ghost.”

“The waterfall we’ve been planning on going to for week,” his mother said.

“I can’t believe you forgot,” his father said.

After they were done with breakfast they all got ready and raced up into the woods to the waterfall. When they arrived they tied a rope to a tree and coasted down the mountain. When they got down they couldn’t believe their eyes. It was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

They could hear the water crashing down on the lake. They all jumped in. What they didn’t know was they were swimming in the fountain of youth. Conrad swam back up. He thought the water strangely smelled like chocolate cake. It smelled so much like chocolate cake he just had to taste the water, so he quickly went under the water and opened his mouth.

He bobbed his head back up, drank the water, and swam back to shore. It tasted just as he thought, chocolate cake.

He swam to shore to tell his family, right before he could say anything, his mom said “Conrad, are you okay, you are getting older?”

Conrad answered “Yes, I feel grrr…”

Conrad felt a shooting pain in his back, he could feel his hands and legs growing.

“What is happening to me” he shouted at this point. Conrad looked around 80, his legs gave out and Conrad crashed to the ground. His brother thought that maybe the water would work backwards so he graded an empty water bottle and grabbed some water out of the lake and poured it into Conrad’s mouth.

Conrad started turning younger and younger till he turned his regular age. Conrad and his family rushed home to tell everyone but nobody believed them but they all knew that they were living legends.

The end, or is it?