Once upon a time, there lived an elderly man and his grandson. They lived in a beach house under the big bright sun. One day, they baked some bread for grandma since she has been sick in bed for weeks. The boy shaped the leftover dough into a little gingerbread man. He put two small raisins as his eyes, a red m&m as a nose, chocolate chips for the smiley mouth, and gumdrops for the three small buttons on his shirt. 

While the dough was rising, the old man went out into the garden to gather some vegetables for dinner later. The boy placed the bread into the oven, and while he was doing so, he heard a subtle voice coming from below him. 

The boy looked down and with the tray still in his hand, he saw something move out the corner of his eye. He thought nothing of it and continued to place the bread in the oven. 

As the boy was doing so, the naughty gingerbread man placed a mousetrap from around the corner near the hallway close to the boy’s toes. 

“Ahh!” he screeched. 

“Where did that come from? I didn’t see that earlier!” exclaimed the teary little boy.

Meanwhile, the gingerbread man raced around the corner, out the kitchen, to the open back door where the man went out and scurried away. 

“Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!” he shouted.

While running as fast as he could away from the house, he glanced ahead and saw waves crashing upon the sandy shore. He ran towards the waves and saw a giant castle made of sand. He scurried over to the towering castle and stumbled upon the flowing river circling the castle. 

“How will I ever cross this river,” The Gingerbread Man thought to himself. 

Looking into the water of the river, The Gingerbread Man saw the reflection of a clear little jellyfish. 

With a confused look on the jellyfish’s face, “What are you doing here,” he asked The Gingerbread Man. 

The Gingerbread Man looked down to where the voice came from and said, “I am trying to cross this river. It appears to be quite deep and it surrounds the castle. I need to keep going and keep running. I don’t want them to catch me.” 

The Gingerbread Man noticed the jellyfish moving towards him and he bent down in order to hear him. 

“If you notice that stick over there by that orange glistening shell, you might be able to use it as a plank and cross it that way,” said the jellyfish with a soft raspy voice.

The Gingerbread Man wasted no time and raced over to the stick, drug it over to the river, and tossed the other end to the opposite side closest to the castle. 

He then hurriedly crossed the river while shouting, “Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The Gingerbread Man reached the shell doors of the castle. He moved the shells aside and scurried to the interior of the spacious castle. Inside, he ran up the tall sandy stairs before reaching a colorful orange and yellow starfish at the top of the castle. 

“Where are all the doors? Do you happen to know? I need to find an exit and the only doors I have seen are the ones where I entered,” The Gingerbread Man asked the starfish. 

“Go back down the stairs and take a left. You will then meet my old friend crab and he will guide the way out. He keeps a lookout around here,” said the lively starfish. 

The Gingerbread Man darted down the stairs, while almost falling, but the crab caught him and helped him up. 

“Whoa, there fella! Why are you going so fast? You got places to be?” said the crab while he took a massive breath. 

“Yes sir, I have to keep going. I’m the Gingerbread man. I’m running, running as fast as I can,” he says while gasping for air. “They can’t catch me.”

The crab looked at the Gingerbread man with eyes open wide, turned the corner, unlocked the door, and let the Gingerbread man run through the weighted wood door. 

The crab felt concerned for the Gingerbread Man and decided to keep close behind him, jumping over sandy hills, dodging shells, and pebbles. 

Once The Gingerbread Man made it out of the castle, he felt the warmth of the sun and said, “Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The Gingerbread Man ran up to the river. The crab following close behind him said, “Jump on my back and I will take you across.”

So, he did. The Gingerbread Man rode all the way across the clear, cold river. 

On the other side, The Gingerbread Man shouted once again, “Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The Gingerbread Man kept on running until he came across a row of big white feathery seagulls sitting on the railing of a nearby chain-link fence. 

“Mine, Mine, Mine,” They all cawed at once. 

The next thing The Gingerbread Man knew, a bird fluttered towards him and SNAP. The big white feathery bird gobbled up The Gingerbread Man, leaving only the two small raisins eyes, a red m&m nose, the chocolate chip smiley mouth,  and the gumdrops that were once the three small buttons on his shirt.