George

• Grace Poole, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2016

One day a wombat named George was being chased by dingos. George was well in front of the pack, so he lost the dingos and his burrow. He was forced to walk to the city, the long, cold, dangerous, 4k walk. He thought, ‘Maybe I could find someone who can help me?’ George heard strange sounds and it was getting dark. It was cold and he was getting hungry but he saw some tussocky grass. George ran to it as fast as he could. He gobbled it up and went on.
George was walking on the road, when a car was speeding, luckily George saw it but didn't get time to get out of the way, so he had to run. After 30mins, the car stopped at a petrol station and George was puffed, so he found a tree to sleep under, he finally fell asleep and dreamt of his warm, safe burrow. George had a great sleep, but he was so thirsty, he went down to a river and had a long drink. He thought, ‘If I walk along the river, I’ll find the city.’ So our brave wombat went proudly on his way to find help.
George saw the city, he was so excited to go, that when he got there, that feeling dropped. He was in a bad part of the city. There were rats and stray cats, he ran out of that place as fast as he could. How long must it take for George to find someone to help him? Becoming night, the city lit up, it was beautiful to our hero's eyes. He bumped into a strange creature, it looked at George, it was a human. It picked George up, “Well aren't you cute,” it said. “I'm Lulu, what's your name? I’ll guess Fifi.” George shook his head. “Jim, Bob, George?” George shook his head wildly. “OK George, let's go to my house.”
“George, you gave me an idea, I'm going to open my own wombat hospital, let's start with the design. I'm tired, I want to go to bed George, let's go George.” Stumbling up the stairs, they made their way to bed. “Good night George, sleep tight.” George dreamt that he was in a world made of candy and sugar, it was awesome. The next day Lulu and George went in a cab to look at buildings to buy for their wombat hospital. “That one looks good, stop let’s go George. Well it looks big, let’s go inside. Oh well, I guess we can make something out of it, let’s buy it.” So they started working. They started painting, building walls, buying beds, tables and a waiting room.
After a month, there was hardly anyone there. “Let's get an ad. I have enough money,” and there it was, the game changer.
One year later, the wombat hospital was packed. There was every zoo animal there. “Well we did it, I love you George.” And just like that, our brave hero has found a home and Lulu followed her dream.