By the Squoishomellow Squad

Imagine that you are an erasable pen that has been ordered by a boy named Gavin. He lives far away, across the ocean in another country called America. You are excited to be Gavin’s pen and to help him with his homework so that he can erase his mistakes (even though you are sure he’s a pretty smart kid that doesn’t make many mistakes.) But your journey to him will be long and difficult. Describe the Erasable Pens voyage from the factory to Gavin’s house!

My name is Mr. Billy Bob Joe, and I am an erasable pen. My life began at a pen factory. The factory started out very small but they sold lots of pens and grew quickly. Now the pen factory is as big as a stadium. It has tanks that hold gallons of erasable ink. It has gigantic bins of plastic and giant furnaces. There, hundreds of molds in pen and cartridge shapes (just like me) go along a conveyor belt. Did I mention the truckloads of springs? There is a maximum-security room where they keep the rare rubber for the erasers.

There’s an assembly area where robots and workers put the pieces together. The robots put the easier pieces together, but human hands put together the really hard pieces. They are more precise than the robots! The factory is grey but there is an exciting feeling of new pens being made. There are a bunch of sounds: the furnace warming the plastic, plastic being put in molds, robots assembling pieces and ink cartridges being filled. This factory was my home.

One day I was put into a box with five other pens and six extra ink cartridges. Before the box closes, a sheet of paper drifts down onto my spot. I read the words “United States.” Before I can read anymore, it’s shaken off and the box becomes the darkest black. I feel that the box is moving for a while! What’s happening? Where is the United States? Is that where I’m going? I get put down. Have I made it? That journey was so quick. I didn’t know that where I was going was so close.

I feel movement again and hear someone order, “put this package in that box. It’s going to be a long journey.” I stretch my spring and get comfortable. Sometime later, I stopped moving again. Have I made it or is it another false alarm? I start moving again, but this time I don’t feel the pressure of another box above me. It feels like I’m going forward, forward, forward. More time passes, and I get tossed into another big box and soon after I can tell that I’m going very fast—faster than when I was being carried in the big box from the factory. I hear a deep, low rumble that gets louder and louder. Earthquake! I’m shaking around like a cooling rubber. I feel nervous and excited!

The next sensation is that I’m light as air. I’m going up still in a giant box, but this time not being tossed. I get comfortable (for the second time) for another long journey. To pass the time, I start chatting with the four other pens about what will it be like when they find the person? We wonder, will it be an adult? A kid? A baby? Probably, a baby doesn’t need an erasable pen. We hope it will be a boy and we’ll help with his homework. All of them think they are going to be the first one he/she uses, but I hope I’m going to be the first.

 Finally, after the longest time, we have ever experienced, we start going down. Suddenly, we feel a jolting “boomp” and soon after a very dim light shines into the cardboard box. And then, the cardboard box gets lifted up. All the pens in the box rustle about, questioning, “What’s happening? Where are we going? Are we there yet?”

We have the familiar feeling of a car…and then what seems like a new feeling at first but then I remember it: I’m on a conveyor belt. I also hear machines and another sound I’m used to from the factory: the talking of other things. The box gets opened and even more light comes in. My package gets picked up and dropped into a machine that puts a weird clear thing around us. I’m getting the hint our final destination is close.

Yet another familiar feeling occurs as I am picked up again and put into a car. I know it from the feeling of bouncing around. Every pothole sloshes my ink cartridge.  I get driven to a house, but the driver doesn’t put me inside! Instead, my package goes in this weird curved box with a strange flag-like thing.

We wait for some time. The weird box gets opened but I don’t see the driver again. Strange hands grab everything and sprint inside the house. In there, a boy’s voice says, “I know this has to be my pens.”

Another person says, “No, it has dad’s name on it.”

I hear the boy’s voice say again, “This HAS to be the pens!”

“Ok…” the same person says, “you can open it… if you’re willing to get in trouble with Dad.” 

He opens the package and shouts back, “See, I told you it was the pens!” He grabs me and another one of the pens and he says to a girl, “Here Bella, have this one.” “Thanks, Gavin!” She says. Bella goes to her room and I hear the sound of a pen getting placed into a desk organizer. I think to myself, “Ok, I’ll be used by this person boy named Gavin.”

So, that’s my story of how I got to Gavin.

About the Author

Felix, Charles, Bob, and Gordon make up the Squoishomellow squad. They are Squoishomellows that enjoy flying around on Felix’s back. Felix is a giant blue shark. Bob is a turquoise octopus. Charles is a dark blue bear. Last but kind of least and kind of not, Gordon is a small grey shark. The Squoishomellow pledge is to be nice to everyone you meet!