Sixteen

Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition

Ripples surrounded me as leaves fell from the trees above to land upon the surface of the river. Cool air swept across the water towards my body floating on the murky water and goose bumps erupted along my arms. Slowly I turned onto my stomach and swam back to the shore. Ignoring the towel that hung in a tree a couple more metres away, I collapsed on the river bank and let the warm sun dry the water droplets on my tanned skin.

A shadow fell over me and covered the sun. My little sister Georgie’s innocent eyes laughed as she saw the dirt that was sticking to my back. I sat up, mimicking her smile and attempted to swash the dirty sand off my body unsuccessfully. Looking up at Georgie, I saw her look at me curiously, because she knew what was coming next…

I bolted upwards and chased after her across the sandbank and through the trees. My towel that she had taken from the tree billowed out behind her as she pretended to be a bird flying faster than a gale force wind out into the sunlit fields.

She turned to face me; her eyes twinkling with the words ‘You’ll never catch me’. I simply gave her three words in return – ‘You wanna bet?’

We weaved through the leafless trees that stood still in the dry heat. She looked back at me every so often to check that I was still following but my breaths were growing heavier and soon I was puffing.

‘Ella,’ I saw her plead. ‘C’mon, it’s only a little more.’

Georgie came back and pulled me forward slowly. Look, she said with her hands as we reached the end of the field, coming to the small creek that lined our property.¬ Silent birds flew about in the trees above and in between the reeds across the water, hiding in between two rocks, was Charlie – the Wallaroo that Georgie and I had found a year ago. He stared at us like he recognised us and I breathed in wonder.

Looking at Georgie, I saw her mouth moving as though she was talking to me, but soon I realised that she wasn’t talking, she was singing.

I closed my eyes and imagined the sound of her voice. I imagined the call of the birds above me and the sound of the water lapping at the rocks. I imagined what I would hear if I could no longer hear silence. If I no longer had to read lips or watch hands…

But I opened my eyes and saw Georgie singing. I looked around and saw the little things that I could miss. As Charlie hopped away, Georgie’s lips stopped moving. I saw her hands move as she said, ‘Happy Sixteenth Ella.’

‘Thank you Georgie,’ I replied with a voice I'd never heard. The warm wind chased us all the way back to the house where a party waited to celebrate my sixteenth year of my life.

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