957 - ALIVE

This is my 9-year-old Granddaughters' version:

"Finally! Were here!", Blinked Lyla jumping down from Ron's back.

"Says the one who didn't work a sweat on getting here!", panted Ron. Lyla, Ron, Daisy and Doc were all flying squirrels trying to find a brilliant new home. While Ron complained about how heavy Lyla was and how they should have boarded a plane here instead, Daisy and Doc tried to find a tree to set up camp. Daisy and Doc were carrying all their things while Ron had Lyla.

"That tree looks good enough?", cried Daisy pointing at a big, shiny, sturdy oak tree. So while Doc and Daisy planned the glide across a brilliant green glade, Lyla polished off her pink decal which had a picture of a cat on it. Just before they had left, Lyla suddenly cried out, "Ow I'm not comfy Ron, move your arm". Lyla spoke to him as if he was a slave "Look over there!", called out Lyla once they had landed and were setting up camp. She was pointing to a huge lake finished by a dazzling waterfall in the distance. "Look at that place. That's another adventure just round the corner", Smirked Doc, him too staring longingly at it. "It looks almost alive!", breathed Daisy. "Other animals are settled here too", pointed out Ron staring at at a herd of sheep, each had a long blade of fresh grass in their mouths. If you look at the place from high up, it would look like a giant scale of green hills and fields all over. Once they had finished unpacking, Doc lit a brilliant fire as they dug into cold cheese sandwiches and had a chocolate flake each. The fire began to blaze even more and one flame blazed much brighter than the other flames. When the water was passed round, Ron was the most relived to slake his thirst since he had been gliding with Lyla on his back.

One of the four flying squirrels heading to a new location

This is my version:

SamueL ChAdwick startEd his adult life a very wealthy man. He lived in comfort, but when it comes to doing anything worthwhile he's a bit of a flake. His idle life led him to become a slave to drink. But after a year, and to everyone's amazement, Samuel started going to AA meetings. Since starting the AA meetings, on the rare occasions when he has a stressful day, to slake his thirst he has to resort to zero-beers. One day he bumped into Jessica, an old flame of his and they stopped to have a catch up. They kept in contact that week at the end of which they decided to have a short holiday together. But just before they boarded the plane a problem was spotted with a blade of the propellor. So instead of heading to a fancy location, they went to a pretty glade in Samuel's big garden where there was a fire pit. Pretty soon there was a splendid blaze going making the place quite special; they stayed there whilst the sun set. Within weeks they were engaged. Samuel started to turn away from his idleness. He volunteered at an after school club for disadvantaged children where he taught them his hobby of building model aeroplanes and other vehicles which then had to be painted. Once the paint was dry it was time to apply each individual decal from the backing paper. He talked to them about the meaning of the scale of the models. He developed quite a few fans amongst the children of the club. (He, of course, paid for all the model kits.) After the wedding, he would often say to Jessica how alive he felt now that she was around and saying how much she'd done to give him a sense of purpose in his life.

Samuel's low point when he first attended an AA meeting