Demitra -- Blogmeister

I woke up with a flash as I looked at my alarm clock. I was late, as usual, and if I didn’t move quickly I would be in so much trouble with the school principle. Our principle here at Sloth Middle School has a reputation of having one of the strictest principles in our state. I got dressed and gulped down a piece of toast while I headed out the door. Our family lived in a quaint house near the dock in England, where I could stare at the boats who came in and out each day. But today there was a ship I’ve never seen before. It was a real pirate ship!

Though I knew I was late, my curiosity to explore that boat was killing me, since I’ve always admired pirates when I was little. I used to dress up as one and pretend I was in the middle of the sea, battling other pirates for their loot. I decided it was a one in a lifetime thing, so I walked up into the boat and saw the captain hollering at one of his crew, because he accidentally left the captains pet parrot’s cage open, so it flew away never to be seen again. I hid behind a crate so that the captain wouldn’t see me, because I’m sure there would be trouble if he spotted a stowaway on his ship. The captain looked like a rough man, with an untrimmed beard and one of his front teeth golden. I looked up above the crate for a place to hide, but I didn’t succeed. He saw me, and I ran off the ship to my house. I never saw it again.

Agatha Christie contributed many things to the mystery writing world. She was an inspiration to a lot of people, young and old. Agatha Christie wrote mystery novels, the main characters varying in each, from a detective couple to a French sleuth. Agatha got her inspiration from the world, and all of it. When she walked down the street, ideas would spring to her brain from simply looking at corner shops, telephone posts or people. Nature was her mentor, and as she observed it more the ideas flowed to her like a waterfall, inspiring many stories such as The Secret Adversary and Murder on the Links. Though the earth and its beauty was a big factor in her author status, she also used a lot of knowledge she received in college while studying to be a pharmacist, which is where the idea of using poisons in her stories came from. Her use of poison was so well described in her books; she received the Pharmaceutical Journal award.

Though she was an extraordinary author, Agatha Christie had many hardships in her life. When she was born, her mother decided that her older sister Madge would go to school and Agatha would not. Even so, her mother wanted to teach her to read at the age of eight but she had already taught herself when she was five years old. When she became successful with her writing, and she had a lot of books published, her mother died on the 5th of August, 1926. Her husband of twelve years just added to the pain and left Agatha for another woman. Day by day, she slowly mended her life together once more, and wrote more stories. Writing and her daughter were her sole comfort until she met Max Mallowan while she was visiting Baghdad for her second time. Agatha received a telegram in her inn room saying her daughter, Rosalind, was seriously sick at home. Agatha tried to get on the train to help her, which is where she met Max. They married shortly after when they travelled back to Rosalind, and Max helped her to write her books once more, giving information to her about weapons and about the war, because he worked in the military. She used this knowledge in some of her mystery books.

Detective Batman examined the scene, his light pipe in hand. A middle-aged man was sprawled lifeless in his kitchen, a bloody knife at his side. The officers in the room were taking pictures of the crime area while Batman called the victim’s roommate to come to his home in suburban Georgia. As the rain fell down, Batman watched as the officer came forward to him to tell him the details about the victim.

“His name is Larry Dynamite” said the officer on the scene. “He was murdered last night in his home this morning.” “The only close friend he has is his roommate, Jordan Armstrong. All his family members were killed in a horrific plane crash” answered the officer.

Detective Batman called the roommate to the scene to question him.

“Where were you when Larry was killed?” asked the sleuth, gently.

“I was at school, my mother’s house. We were having a family reunion. It started early in the morning. I only found about this when you called me” Jordan replied, between sobs.

“Do you know anybody who could have done this?”

“The neighbors, Mr. Montberry, Mrs. Jocelyn and never liked Larry. Often they would come to the door and complain about Larry, and how disruptive he is to the neighborhood.”

“Where were you between eight a.m. and ten a.m.?”

“I was at a family reunion at my mother’s home. You can call my family members and they will say I was there.”

Detective Batman found this information useful, and decided to go interrogate the close neighbors. He decided he would walk to Mr. Montberry home first. He went as quickly as he can because his trademark fedora was getting soaked with the wet rain. The rain hadn’t stopped since yesterday.

The sleuth politely knocked at the Mr. Montberry’s home. A tall man in his mid-forties answered the door groggily.

“Are you Mr. Montberry?” Batman asked

“That’s me.” Replied Mr. Montberry, uneasily. “What do you want?”

“Do you mind if I come in and ask you a few questions?”

The man hesitated, but after some thinking let him in. His home looked like no one cleaned it since he bought it. He obviously lived alone, due to the amount of space in his one bedroom, one bathroom house.

“Donut?” Mr. Montberry offered, pointing to a box of chocolate glazed donuts, clearly rotten since a month ago.

“I’ll pass. Now, to the questions… Sir, where were you between eight and ten a.m.?”

“I was at painting my living room a vivid green” He replied, motioning to a freshly painted lime green room.

“Are you aware that your neighbor, Mr. Dynamite was murdered this morning?”

“That’s terrible! I hope they find who did it” Mr. Montberry exclaimed, with enthusiasm.

Detective Batman got what he needed, so he dismissed himself to question the neighbor in front of Mr. Dynamites home, Mrs. Jocelyn. As he knocked on her front door, she answered right away, kindly greeting him and inviting him in.

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you a few questions” Detective Batman said.

“Sure, you can ask me anything” Mrs. Jocelyn replied.

“Did you know that your neighbor, Mr. Dynamite was murdered this morning?”

“Goodness! No, but I was wondering why there were so many police cars around his home.”

“Where were you between eight and ten a.m.?”

“I was at the beach, lying in the sun. I was there all morning.” She answered quickly.

“Ma’am, you’re under arrest for the murder of Larry Dynamite.”

Mrs. Jocelyn was taken away with handcuffs after Detective Batman called some officers.

“How did you find out it was her?” asked a curious officer.

“Elementary. She said she went tanning at the beach, but it has been raining since yesterday.”

The platypus
This spectacular semi-aquatic animal is one of the most unique mammals in this world; the platypus. The platypus is found in eastern parts of Australia, and is found on the back side of the Australian twenty cent coin. The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it a fraud. George Shaw, the first ever human to give a description of the platypus, even checked if there was stitches in case someone sewn a duck bill on a beaver body.
The platypus is one of the only mammals that have venom strong enough to give a human excruciating pain, and kill a small mammal like a dog. The female platypus does not have a venom spur on their foot, because the male platypus is naturally supposed to protect the female. Once a human has been stung by the venom, the pain might last weeks or months depending on the person. The natural enemies of the platypus include snakes, water rats, goannas, hawks, owls and eagles.
In captivity, the platypus can live up to 17 years of age. They are usually found in the east of Australia, because in the north there is a danger of crocodiles, which they do not have the advantage against. The platypus is a carnivore, so their diet consists of worms and larvae, freshwater shrimp and yabbies (freshwater crayfish) that they find by digging out from the bottom of the riverbed. Though this animal is loved by everyone, scientists doubt that it will ever go instinct, which is a relief for all platypus lovers.

I have read so many books in the past year, so choosing my favorite would be too difficult. Instead, I am going to write about an extraordinary series that really stood out to me; the Hunger Games series, written by Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games books takes place in the future, after North America and our current generation was destroyed because almost everybody died off by killing each other. The new government, called the Capitol reminds the nation of Panem of their power by picking out two kids from the age of 12 to 18 in each district out of a hat. The reaped children must compete against each other in an arena, where they have to use their survival instincts to survive, and kill off each other until there is only one left. Katniss Everdeen, a poor girl volunteered as tribute in place of her little sister, Primrose. Peeta Mellark, a baker’s son was reaped also. Together, they help each other survive through the arena, and defend each other against the other 24 tributes.

This series was suggested to me by my friend a while back, and I enjoyed every minute of the book. When I started one, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys fiction, survival, and thrilling books.