ON MY WAY TO BRAZIL
by Owen, Eden Lake Elementary, Minnesota, USA.
Dear Brother,
I am on my way to Brazil right now — I can’t wait to go to the Amazon Jungle for my photos, and the waterfalls. I am currently right over the Amazon eating some wonderful Mexican because I left from Mexico City. I will tell you once I land and send you some pictures from Mexico City …
“Attention, there is some turbulence ahead!”
Right after the announcement i feel something bounce. All the cabin crew start running to their seats. At this point everyone is freaked out, especially me — I have $5000-worth of camera equipment in the overhead bin. All of a sudden I see nothing but black emptiness and a fiery ball
“WATCH OUT! THE ENGINE IS ON FIRE!”
At this point there is nothing I can do. This plane is full of chaos!
SPLASH!
The plane is submerged. I feel a sharp pain in my leg but I know I have to get out before it’s too late. So I swim. I feel for the exits. I can see light on the ground when my eyes are closed, I follow those. I reach the exit. I swim up and once I break through, I release a giant breath of air. I lie down on the river bank and just lay there, listening to the animals. I check the pain in my leg. It’s my own pen I was writing to my brother with, and when I pull it out I wrap something around it so it doesn’t bleed excessively.
I sleep until morning and get woken up by the sounds of a waterfall. The rainforest is very green, with long vines that spread among the trees, and I even see a little monkey, which is so small it’s like the size of my hand.
I try climbing this giant tree to try to locate civilisation, but as far as I can see there is nothing but dense forest. So because I don’t have the energy to move on, I started making a shelter. I used the vines to tie sticks together to elevate myself off the ground, because I knew there were lots of bugs and ants. After that, I tied it so it would hang from trees. The river that was next to me, I used for water. For my fire I use some rocks I found and sticks and I grab some pots that fell out of the plane, that had washed up ashore. I boil my water so it wouldn’t harm me, because that would be the last thing I want to happen. I lie down, happy at what I have done so far but I am really hungry.
The next morning I set off looking for food but this rainforest is practically impossible to get through fast. I try to quietly sneak up on a giant frog so I could eat it. I leap at the frog and grab it, it’s so slimy but I know I can’t let go. I make a fire and cut it with a piece of glass I found and cook it. While eating, it was about noon I knew I had to go. I think I see a giant tower in the distance. I run to it, up close it is covered in moss like it was abandoned, but I would have assumed it was for airplanes. I climb up on the ladder, once I get to the top I see (or at least I think I see) a little village right in the middle of trees. With smoke coming out! I run down and run over, but these aren’t ordinary people. They try to kill me!
I start sprinting away. I cut my face on a branch and just keep running — but there’s another problem … I have to cross a river. I look back. I see them! I jump into the water and swim. Is this the same river the plane crashed in? I don’t have time to be thinking, I need to swim and get out of the river.
REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 12, WA
REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 12, WA
REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 12, WA
The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd, ill. by Levi Pinfold,
Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Eugène Ionesco, translated & ill. by Etienne Delessert,
alphabetsoup.net.au 