Ever wonder where Suzanne Collins got some of her ideas for her bad*ss heroine for the Hunger Games? After spending some time going down memory lane this past week I discovered a story I had written in grade four that would definitely inspire such an intense story of survival.
Enjoy! (I tried not to edit it.)
A Night in a Cave
One nice day in Colorado,
Melanie’s Dad and brother and Melanie went skiing. It was light drifting snow. They went to the highest hill (it went past
the clouds). Melanie didn’t want to go
down the rocky side so she went and asked her Father if she could go down the
other side. Her Father said she could go
“but you have to meet us at the bottom.” Said her Dad. “Sure!”
Before Melanie knew it her Dad and brother were starting down the hill. She didn’t feel too confident about it
anymore but she went down anyway.
Melanie was looking at the beauty of the wilderness and not paying
attention to the where she was going.
Finally she realized that she had to make a turn some time ago. She was looking and looking but couldn’t find
any turns. An hour later it was four o’clock and it seemed like there was going
to be a blizzard. Melanie found a turn
but didn’t think it was the right one so she kept on going. She was looking at her feet and almost skied right
off a cliff!!! She turned around and
skied up the hill for half an hour and found it again. Melanie still didn’t feel so sure but the sky
was getting dark and the wind was blowing pretty hard. Now it was around five o’clock. She
had no choice so she went on and on and on. It was six
thirty and the wind was blowing around its hardest. Melanie saw a cave. She went in, looked around, made sure that it
was no one else’s home. Then she went
through her knapsack and pulled out a pair of scissors and a roll of wire her
Mom packed incase of an emergency. Such
as if the lift wire broke in half. With
a pair of scissors Melanie went hunting for a moose. An hour later she returned with a moose. Melanie took the string like wire and tied
the piece to two of the sides of a stick she gathered with a few others. Melanie made a fire and roasted the moose on
the fire. Melanie tasted some because
she didn’t know what moose tasted like.
She took one finger full and spit it straight out. Melanie left the rest for two reasons. A.
Because she didn’t like it and B.
Because if wolves came to eat her up they would see the moose and eat it
and be too full. Melanie wasn’t very
cold because she had a helmet, snowsuit, neck warmer, and ski boots on top of
everything else. It was very cold up on
the mountain that night so she couldn’t get to sleep very well but she
did. Melanie dreamt that her parents
sent out a rescue party for her and . . . then she woke up with the sunlight
covering the cave with bright light.
Melanie looked stunned as the bright light shone in her eyes. Melanie knew what time it was looking at the
sky. It was eight
o’clock am. Melanie looked
around the room since she had no better thing in mind. Melanie saw that the meat was gone!!! Including the bones!!! Melanie said to herself “Gee I am smart! I could have been a gonner!!!” Melanie went for a walk (it was a gorgeous
day!) Melanie walked and walked and came
to a hurt dog. She went and found a vine
and as many leaves as she could and bandaged the cut up, and took him to the
cave. Meanwhile Melanie’s Dad had a
search party for her. When the party saw
the bones fo the moose they party thought they were hers but they wouldn’t stop
there so they continued. They thought
they could follow the bones and find the beast that ate her up. Meanwhile Melanie packed her stuff on the
dog. She had reins made of vines so she
could steer the dog. Melanie rode on the
dog for two hours (the dog walking) then the dog and her did a canter for ten
minutes until they heard voices saying, “Maybe she went that way” “No! She went that way!” That sounds like my Dad’s voice! Melanie thought to herself. They galloped to the voices and sure enough
it was . . . . . . . but the minute the
rescue team saw them they were about to shoot the dog! But they couldn’t because Melanie was on
him. Melanie told the story about her,
the moose, the wolves, and the dog. She
also told the story to her brother and Mother.
After Melanie asked if she could keep the dog to keep Laddy company (her
other dog). Melanie told her family the
dog’s name was Malcolm. On the plane
ride back Malcolm sat next to Melanie.
The waitress came to give the menus out.
She told Melanie she would be back for her order. Malcolm kept looking at the menu and said “I’ll
have a meat roast.” Melanie looked at
him like he was nuts. He said “Thank
you.” Melanie ordered it. At dinner they talked. Malcolm said he slipped off “Pluto planet of
dogs.” Malcolm asked not to say anything
when it was time to get off. Melanie and
her family had a nice trip!
By: Melanie Struk the girl in the story!
