It had been raining all weekend
and I had been so bored. The rain had started at Friday teatime,
just as we came out of the chip shop, and it was still raining
now on Monday morning.
‘Better put your wellies on for school,’ Mum said,
and I groaned. I hate my Wellingtons, they’re pink with
coloured dots and had been a present from my Auntie Sheila.
I used to think she had good taste.
‘Oh, and have you fed your fish?’ she added, bending
down to put Fliss’ collar on. Fliss, my puppy, was dancing
around excitedly knowing she was going for a walk. I went
over to the fish bowl and looked in.
Freckles, my goldfish, blew a stream of bubbles up to me in
greeting. I sprinkled a pinch of food on top of the water
and he sped to the surface and played Pacman with the floating
flakes. I’d won him at the fair by throwing ping-pong
balls into a jam jar. He was quite handsome as fish went,
orange, with a long tail and seven tiny black spots on his
nose, which is why I had called him Freckles. My dad didn’t
think he would last the night, but six months later he was
still swimming. Freckles and I often had long conversations
together – he would come up to the surface of the bowl
and open and close his mouth and I would do the same. He never
said anything very interesting though.
‘Bye Freckles,’ I said, putting the lid on the
food and went to get the dreaded wellies.
By the time school ended the rain had flooded the playground.
I splashed through the deep puddles, some of them were too
high for my Wellingtons and I got a soggy foot.
At home I saw from my bedroom window that the stream at the
bottom of the garden had turned into a river and our garden
was lost under swirly brown water. Branches and plastic bags
floated over Mum’s roses and I heard Mum on the telephone
asking Dad to come home early. I thought it was a good job
Dad was a strong swimmer.
By the time he arrived home the water was seeping through
the back door. Mum told me to take Fliss upstairs and to stay
in my bedroom. Downstairs I could hear them moving furniture
and bringing things upstairs.
‘Don’t forget Freckles,’ I called from the
top of the stairs, watching two feet of water swoosh around
the legs of the dining room table, and made a grab for Fliss
who wanted to go paddling.
Still the water got higher and Mum and Dad came dripping up
the stairs to join me. Out in the front street we could see
rescue boats and men in rubber suits helping our neighbours
climb out of top windows. Our turn came.
‘Where’s Freckles?’ I cried as I was half
way out of the window.
‘Oh no!’ said Dad and went back towards the stairs.
He came back carrying an empty fish bowl ‘I found this
floating upside down. The water must have carried it off the
top of the shelf where I put it and Freckles has swum away!’
‘Come on!’ yelled our rescuers impatiently, and
I was hauled into the little boat.
I don’t think anyone saw me crying, there was too much
rain.
The rain eventually stopped after another day but it took
about a fortnight before we could go back home. Everything
was ruined downstairs. I missed Freckles dreadfully and Dad
promised he would buy me another fish to replace him, but
I knew it wouldn’t be the same.
Mum was reading the local paper when she suddenly said: ‘Look
at this. They found a goldfish in one of the goalmouths at
the football pitch just as the water was going down. They
rescued him and there’s a picture.’
I leant over, spilling my orange juice everywhere in my excitement.
‘It’s Freckles,’ I shouted. ‘He’s
survived! We’ve got to go and get him!’
Which is how Freckles was saved and came back to live with
me in his big new tank. We still have long conversations but
they are much more exciting now. I never get tired of hearing
about his swim to the football pitch, but the way he tells
it you’d think it had been two hundred miles rather
than just two.
|
| Shortlisted
Nine to eleven-year old group: Second Prize
Ciara Grace Elwis, Kinross; Third Prize: Murdo Elwis, Kinross.
Shortlisted: Rowan Ellis, Minster, Kent; Jacob George, York;
Angeline Hunt, Lowestoft; Timothy Jasper, Sedgefield, Co Durham;
Eve Laycock, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire; Rachel Norman,
Pinner, Middlesex; Ella Simpson, Ilkley; Harrison Ward, Leigh-on-Sea,
Essex; Ione Wells, Chelsea, London.
Twelve to fifteen-year age group: Second
Prize Jenny Messenger, Silloth, Wigton, Cumbria; Third Prize:
Anna Horner, Lindfield, Haywards Heath. Shortlisted: Sarah
Austen, Cambridge; Stephen Benson, Cardiff; Oliver Bond, Todmorden;
Louise Crawford, York; Jack Kennedy, Abernethy, Perthshire;
Bridget Leary, Ashwell, Hertfordshire; Elizabeth McLaren,
Newmarket; Sarah Morrison, Bromsgrove; Emma Norman, Pinner,
Middlesex; Daisy Whittingham, Shifnal, Shropshire
|
