Morly Mooch and the Hosshoppers, a story for kids

This story for kids has appeared in: The Cariboo Observer (Quesnel, BC), 1981. Six Children's Stories (Academic Exchange Extra [University of Northern Colorado], 2005), published under the pseudonym Donovan A. Landers. Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2022. An excerpt Morly Mooch lived in an oil tank. For windows, he'd hack-sawed holes in the steel, and the edges were as jagged as Rocky Mountain-peaks. One day, he sat on his rickety porch, sipping fish tea, while his fishing line wavered in Mooch River. He burped. He'd eaten a fish omelet, fish biscuits, fish pancakes, and strawberry shortcake. He burped again. He thought about brewing up a pot of fish soup for supper. Then he frowned: The people of Beaver Valley called him The Moacher of Mooch River and Mustard Breath. "Mustard Breath, my petunias!" he said, scowling until his jowls ached. Then his ears pricked up, like cat-ears, as he heard stifled giggles. He glanced beneath bushy eyebrows and spotted a boy and girl hiding amongst his strawberry plants. "Hey, Mustard Breath," the boy said. "Bet you can't catch us!" The author Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).