P.1
The Cherry Stool
6-8

	I reached for the tomato. 
	“You’ll get going if you know what’s good for you!” the man said as he threw me out the door into the bustling streets of Casit. I heard the slam of a door behind me. 
	“Not everyone has money growing on trees you know!” I said shouting towards the closed door. I slapped my trousers, dust lifting into the air, choking passing bystanders. 
	“That’s poor dirt!” I said as I kicked more dirt towards them. I started to walk home, muttering smut under my breath.
	I pushed the heavy oak door open. 
	“Momma? Are you home?” I heard footsteps coming from across the house.
	“Yes dear. How was the market?” 
	I put the burlap-sack on the table. 
	“I brought back some carrots, potatoes, some parsley, and I even got us a chicken! So we can have stew for supper,” I beamed proudly.
	“Edward! We don’t have that much money to go throwing around!”
	“But mother I have a job!”
	“You are an apprentice! And you don’t make enough to go spending it on luxuries like chicken!” She wiped the dirt off her face and sighed, 
	“How much do we have left?”
	“I think all together we have 7 pounds.” 
	She smiled and turned me towards the door. 
	“Well, you always did know how to haggle! But 7 pounds isn’t enough! Off to work!” 
	
P.2
	“I reckon I should!” We both laughed, I turned and walked out the door, again into the bustling streets Casit walking to the best job in the world.
	I walked into the Cherry Stool, the finest furniture builder in all of Casit
	“Hello Edward,” said John. 
	“Hello sir.”  
	“Well, you need to get to work. Were you not working on a table?”
	“Yes sir. I was working with Nathaniel” Nathaniel was one of my better friends. We worked in the shop together from morning to night. I pointed at Nathaniel 
	“So shall we get started?” He nodded. 
	I fashioned the legs while he made the top. I stared at him. Nathaniel was about one inch shorter than me and had black hair. At times he could be cocky, but he was a good friend nonetheless.

	I shoved the leg into the socket, the table was finished,
	“Edward and Nathaniel, you have done a well enough job, go home early today.” I got up and flipped the table on all fours 
	“Good job Nathan” I smiled at him, and turned to admire the beautiful cherry red table. I dusted it off and grabbed my hat and coat, tipping it towards John. 
John was slightly older than my dad (who was around 32) and owned the Cherry Stool, he had brown hair and a sneer on his face that would make you smile. John was a good man.
	I was walking down an alleyway the next morning with my friend Jonah. 	“You ever think...” he started,
	“Think what?”
	“Think that, I could get a job from the Cherry Stool?” he asked hopefully,
	“It’s a thought,” we both laughed
	“You! Working at the Cherr-” I burst into laughter once more 
	P.3
	“Oka- I laughed, “Alrigh- I giggled “Okay, it’s not that funny” I grabbed my 
sides as I rolled on the ground, I was laughing so hard that I was gasping for air. 
Jonah proceeded to kick me in the shin, 
	“Shut up!” I stumbled backwards into a wall making quite the racket as I did so, then we heard it, a grunt, coming from further down the alleyway. I spun around and mouthed, go to the exit. We both quickly made a move towards the exit, but I wasn’t quick enough, a man grabbed me by the shoulder and threw me against a wall, 	
	“Where’s your money kid?” my head was throbbing and I could not answer, then I blacked out. I woke up with the man unconscious next to me and Jonah shaking me vigorously, he put my arm on his shoulder and made for the exit. By the time we made it to the exit it had seemed like hours, I patted Jonah on the back and nodded a thank you, we never told anyone about that incident, but my hatred for bandits grew that day.
	The next day I got up and walked out of the door, I heard my mum yelling behind me 
	“No breakfast Edward?” I waved her and yelled back 
	“No! I don’t think I want breakfast today! Today is a big day!” I attempted to scratch my wound, my mother quickly slapped my hand away, I gave her a dirty look she didn’t deserve and went out the door, I kicked a rock as I walked to the Cherry Stool; I stopped in front of the hickory steps and opened the red cedar door, 
	“Hello sir!” he stared at me
	“Well you certainly are in a good mood today”
	“Why would I not be? Today is the day that I sell my first piece of work!” I looked at my cherry red table, wiped it off and gave it a kiss 
	“Ah, yes your cherry wood table” I looked around
	“Where is Nathaniel?”
	“Call me Nathan” Nathan said as he stepped through the front door
P.4
	“Nathanie- I mean Nathan, we are selling our first piece of work today!” he smiled
	“How much is it going for?” Nathan said as he caressed it, John stepped in
	“I will determine the price of that!” he started looking at it, measuring it, pulling up a chair and leaning on it
	“Well the work is nicely done, and the table is very sturdy.”
He scratched his head 
	“I would say it goes for... 10 pounds”
Both Nathan and I jumped back 
	“That is quite the price!” I said giddily 
	“Well, it is quite the work!” John smiled and winked at me, 
	“Back to work! Just because you made a nice table does not mean you should stop working!” he clapped his hands together.
It has been two years since I have made a piece of furnisher as nice as that table, that means only 1 more week until I become a working man, able to make twice the salary I make now, and 2 more years until I will be able to open my own store! Just as I was hopping up and down in joy Jonah walked into the store 	“Jonah? What are you doing here? The store has not yet opened.”
	“I have gotten a job at the cherry stool”
	“As a what? Nathan and I have already the jobs of making the furniture builders. What will you do?”
	“I will carry the furnisher to costumers that are not able to take them home themselves!”
	“You will carry our precious furniture to clients?”
	“That was the idea, was it not John?” John cleaned off his hands “Yes Jonah that was the idea, get used to him Edward,” he nodded at me. I continued to work on my stool, Jonah walked up 
	“What are you making there?” I looked up at Jonah,
	“I am making a stool for the king”Jonah nodded, 
	P.5
	“Jonah delivery time!” John yelled from across the room
Jonah slapped my on the back and took off, I shaved the stool angrily.
	The door slammed open 
	“Everyone I’m back!” Jonah said as he merrily swung through the door, I looked at him up and down 
	“What’s wrong with you?”
	“Oh nothing my dear boy. Nothing at all!”
	“Alright well it’s almost closing hours, John is letting us leave earlier today” Jonah and I walked towards the door, 
	“You said you were making a stool for the king” 
	“Yes?”
	“Why, are you making a stool for the king?”
	“Because every year the king picks something a product that has great value”
Jonah nodded, 
	“So you are saying that if your stool is chosen the Cherry Stool will be known as the greatest furniture crafter in the land? 
	“That is correct,” I grabbed my coat and slipped my arms in, Jonah smiled and opened the door, 
	“I guess I will see you tomorrow then Jonah!” I said as I walked in the opposite direction.
	I woke up with a giant yawn that seemed to stretch out my lungs 
	“Well mum, I’m off to work,” I said as I finished off my breakfast, she gave me quick kiss on the cheek and I left.
	On the way to work I saw many people gathering around the Cherry Stool, I scratched my head and jogged up to the front door, I pushed my way through the crowd, 
	“What’s going on?” I said as I got up to Nathan 
	“Someone has stolen your cherry stool, the one for the king”
	P.6
	“Do you think other furnisher crafters have stolen it? 
	“Ask John, he was in there when it was stolen” I angrily shoved my way past Nathan 
	“John, where are you John?”
	“In here Edward” I rushed towards the sound of his voice
	“What happened?”
	“I was in the store when Jonah came through the door panting, he said that bandits were after him, so we hid, when the bandits came they took your stool”
	“Jonah!” Jonah turned towards me
I slapped him in the face 
	“You brought the bandits to us!” I kneed him in the groin, I started grabbing the air, he quickly regained his balance and punched me, I rubbed my jaw and punched him back, he tried to punch again but I expected it this time, and punched downwards breaking his jaw, he fell on the ground, unconscious. I turned and walked towards the door, 
	“Where are you going Edward?” John yelled
	“I am going to get my stool back
	“Hello?” I heard a snort
	“What do you want?”
	“I WANT MY STOOL BACK”
	“You can’t have it back”
	“Well fine then I’ll just take everything that’s lying around here”
	“Hey don’t touch that!” I ran towards the sound of the bandits voice and rushed by the bandit, I found the stool quickly, grabbed it and ran, as I ran I heard the bandit yelling 
	“THEIF!” I dashed to where I had entered, the bandit stood in front of the entrance, 
	
	P.7
	“Well this is it,” the bandit said as he shook his knife back and forth at me “The big climax!” I nodded in agreement, except for the fact that I had no idea 
what climax meant, I quickly made a dash for the exit while the bandit laughed at what he had said, but I wasn’t quick enough, the bandit rushed towards me, forcing me to go in another direction, farther into the sewers, dashing around rocks that jutted up from the ground, I looked for a spot to hide, I decided to hide behind a large rock that pressed up against the wall, but there was enough space for me to hid behind it, 
	“Where are you little boy?” I moved closer to the wall, and started looking around for something to distract the bandit, I found a medium sized rock and threw it in the direction that the bandit was facing, except that I never was the best throw, and I accidentally hit the bandit in the head and knocked him out, I took the chance to escape that horrible place.
	I dove out onto the ground, I didn’t wait for the bandit to rush out and kill me, I ran towards the Cherry Stool, trying not to think about what happened in the sewers.
	I practically kicked the Cherry Stools door open, waking up John as I did so, he rubbed his eyes 
	“What are you doing here so late? And why is your nose bleeding?” I showed him the stool, he nodded in understanding,
	“Go wash up, and go to sleep” I took a quick bath and threw on some of Johns sleeping gowns.
	The next morning John and I went to the judging of the furniture, we lost as I expected, I then thought to myself, was it all worth it? To get the stool back? I shook my head in defeat and walked home.
	Later in the year John made me a working man, and eventually I ended up taking ownership from John when he died from an unknown disease, we won that year, obviously because I improved, because my ownership and my newly improved skill we were known as the best furniture crafter in the land, the 
P.8
achievement that I always wanted to in fact achieve, being known as the best furniture crafter in the land. 
	Edward Cunninghams Final Journal Entry