Hard Obstacles

• Shenhav Nave, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2011

Hard Obstacles

I just got the shock of my life. We were moving to Australia. I just couldn’t believe it. Australia?

It all happened one Wednesday, when Layla, my sister, and I, Mandy, came back from school and were eating dinner with our parents. My dad started talking seriously. “Girls, we would like to tell you something important” he said, then coughed. “What is it, what is it?” I asked, mystified. Dad was almost never serious. He always joked with us so I was worried. Anyway, dad continued. “Mum and I have been in Australia awhile ago, and found the country fascinating”. Mum nodded. She continued: “We decided to move there a…”. “MOVE THERE?” I interrupted, shouting. Mum frowned at me, since she hates interruptions. She kept going: “So, we are moving there in a month. But we are asking you girls what you think about it”. “Yes sure, I want to go to Stralia!” said Layla excitedly. But, she was little. She was only three and a half. She didn’t understand what moving to a different country means. She didn’t even know what “Australia” is. My reaction was different. I was seven. “Mum, dad, I have to think about the move. It’s a really big shock for me and it’s very far away from Israel!” I said quietly. I swallowed the spaghetti I had in my mouth, and then went to my room. I turned the light off so it was completely dark, then lay on my bed… and thought.

“Get your seatbelts and life jackets on. We are going to crash in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”
I screamed and opened my eyes in a shock. I looked at the old, rusty clock in my room. It was 4:00am. I realized that the “plane crash” must have been a dream, though my legs were shaking. Actually, all my body was shaking to bits. A few minutes passed, and then I fell asleep again.

This time I had a better dream then before. We landed in Australia, and it was beautiful there! So much trees, plants and flowers. Everyone had a smile on their face. No piece of rubbish. No pollution. No worries. Only an atmosphere of joy and happiness.

I woke up, a smile on my face. I wished that my second dream would become real. But definitely not the first one. I shuddered when I thought of it.
I got ready for school. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about the move! They would be so jealous I was beginning to feel positive about the move.

During this month we were so busy! We packed everything, started saying goodbye to people. I also borrowed lots of books from the library about Australia. I wanted to know why this country was so “fascinating” like mum and dad had said. I found out why. It was a very peaceful country. No wars. Very different than Israel. Lots of green parks there.
Also, an amazing thing- they have this thing called “weekend” were is two days of holiday- Saturday and Sunday. Here we only have Saturday. ?

Anyway, it was Monday. A day before the flight. We were all very excited. Our flight was due on Tuesday 10:00am. But we had to be in the airport before.
Mum woke me up at 6:30am. I woke up quickly and in a second I got ready. Layla was slower, though. It took her ages to get dressed.
We said goodbye to our dearest house, then met grandparents outside our house. They were taking us to the airport. They had tears in their eyes.

We met all the family in the airport. We talked for about half and hour, then dad said in his pleasant voice “That’s it. Time to say goodbye”. Everyone was crying, except all the children (our cousins, Layla and I. We were too young to understand).
I was overjoyed. I thought about Australia and even made a nickname- Austi.
So we said goodbye, then mum and dad did something called “check in”. We put our luggage on the conveyor belt that will send them to Perth, a place in Australia where we were going to live. After, we waited about half and hour, then we boarded on the plane. We were flying to Bangkok, in Thailand, then to Australia.

A day after:
That’s it! We landed. After a long, exhausting flight of about 20 hours. It seemed like 20 years, though. My ears hurt a lot and I am exhausted, but I will tell you our “adventures”.
We landed here at night time at a city called Perth and a suburb called Yokine. That’s where lots of Jews live. But it’s not going to be where we are actually going to live. We are just renting the house.

When I was lying in my bed, I suddenly felt sad. I missed my family so much! My heart ached. I missed Aunt Cora and Uncle Robi, Uncle Andy and Aunt Risa, Aunt Veronica and Uncle Offir, and Uncle Tom. I also missed my cousins- India (4), Jordan (a few months old), and Olina (1). I missed Grandma Iris and Granddad Isaac, but most of all, I missed my other Grandparents, my dad’s parents, Mary and Shaun. I missed them so much, that my heart and throat heart even more. Hot tears streamed down my eyes. Lotss of them. I let them stream onto my throat, and sobbed quietly. You see, my grandparents were very close to me. They looked after me since I was a baby. They played with me, talked with me, and spoilt me. They are wonderful grandparents!

At last I decided to go to my parents. They weren’t sleeping yet. I went to them, and explained my situation. I went over and they hugged me hard. “Don’t cry, Mand. You’ll go to school, make new friends. Learn English. Everything would work out to be the best” dad said and smiled an assuring smile.
Mum caressed me a bit and I fell into deep sleep.

After that night I cried, I went to school. It was a school that I should learn English in. I knew only basic words, so that’s why I was scared.
Mum and dad took me to school. When we got there, we went to the office and there they told us to go to Room 4, Year 2. We went there, and as we opened the door, two nice looking girls ran to me and said “I want to be your friend”. I smiled shyly at them.
The teacher- Mrs. West- was really nice. I sat down with all the other kids and Mr.s West taught us some words and asked some questions. I answered some and she smiled at me.
When mum and dad saw I was settled, they said goodbye and off they went.

I really enjoyed the rest of the day. Mrs. West read us some stories and gave us things to do. It was great! I was disappointed when three o’clock came. Dad came to pick me up. I told him all my adventures excitedly and I couldn’t wait for the day after!

Everything was going to work out to be the best.


?THE END?