Jasmines Family (chapter One)

• Ainsley Skye, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2016

Jasmine! my Mum raises her voice as she spots me trying to sneak a pumpkin scone in before dinner. I quickly grab one and run up to my room with my Mum chasing me. It's a game me and my Mum like to play. We play it every night before dinner. Mum calls it food snatcher. My brother Jacob who is four years old tries to join in, but he's to short to reach on top of the bench. So he either tries to stop me from getting to my room or stops Mum from getting the food off me. My family has a shiny collection which has a piece of glass, a new unused two cent coin, foil, a car badge, lightbulb and our great great grandpa's stepmothers wedding ring. I don't think I have a Father. At least not that I know of, but my Mum does have a photo album that she doesn't like me and Jacob to look in and it says Memories?? on it. For dinner we had BiBimBap. I ate it fast because it's my favourite non-English meal. After dinner I do my homework which is triangle numbers. I'm up to 68 in trianglar numbers.

When my brother and I are done with our homework and Mum is done calculating all the money her work needs to be delivered and sold by Tuesday, we go out side for a little walk with our dessert so we can eat it under an old peach tree on unclaimed farm land. When we get to the peach tree I ask Mum "Do I have a Dad?"... She pauses for a minute like as if she's thinking while staring into the distance. The silence is finally broken when Mum starts crying. I tell her to stop, but that just makes her cry even more. I look into the distance with her and then see why she's crying. The field is on fire. I start packing up our stuff and pick up Mum. My brother gets up as Mum starts running to the house. We run after her, she yells to pack our stuff so we can leave before the fire gets to our house.

When my Mum my brother and I are done packing and our stuff is in the wagon aswell as ourselves Mum makes a call to a the fire department telling them there was a fire. My Mum drives away from our house as quick as our vintage wagon can go. We finally get as far away as we need and we realise that we don't have any where comfortable to sleep. Suddenly after how quiet he's been Jacob says there should be a homeless shelter in town. So we head there and Mum finds an empty bed and collapses onto it.