Be Very Afraid : “Johnny, I Want My Liver Back”

Once upon a time in a little house, this boy’s mother said, “Johnny, here, take this money and go buy me some eggs, milk and liver.”

“OK, Mom,” said Johnny.

So he was walking and he ran up to a girl named Elaine. She said, “I bet I can win you in cards.”

“OK,” said Johnny, “but it will cost you 35 cents.”

“OK,” said Elaine.

Elaine won so Johnny gave her the 35 cents.

So Johnny was walking to the store and just a block away Johnny ran into a boy named Alex who said, “I bet I can win you in arm-wrestling.”

“OK,” said Johnny.

Johnny didn’t win. Johnny did not have any money left. So Johnny went to the graveyard and dug up a dead body and took out the liver and ran home.

Johnny said to himself, “Oh, I forgot to rebury the body.”

Johnny ran to his room hearing, “Johnny, I want my liver back” and nobody saw poor Johnny again.

* Jackie, 10, lives in Panorama City with her parents Martha and Everardo Gonzalez. Her story was submitted by Barbara Ward, her fifth-grade teacher at Canterbury Elementary in Arleta.