Zali And The Scuba Diver!

• Zali Adams, Grade 2
• Short Story
• 2012

Once upon a time...there was a girl called Zali. She lived with her sister Carla, her Mum Suzi, her Dad Darren and her three hermit crabs Nipper, Striper and Swirl. Zali studied marine life and was researching the giant squid. Because Zali lived in Queensland, one day she decided to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. So she drove to the beach, jumped in her boat and set off to sea. When it was deep enough she put on her scuba gear and jumped in the water. Living on land was okay, but life underwater was AMAZING!!! There were angelfish, starfish, octopus, sharks, dolphins and rays, but a giant squid was nowhere to be seen.
Zali swam further, hoping to get a glimpse of one, but couldn’t find one anywhere. Suddenly, something large caught her attention. She looked around frantically, searching for the animal that had passed. It passed by again and this time it was more visible. As the creature passed for the third time, Zali started to recognise the shape of the shadow. She scribbled in her waterproof notebook. Then sudden movements nearby frightened the creature and it swam quickly away. Zali recognised that she had just encountered a whale shark!! She caught her breath and started swimming again.
Zali swam for a long time, and came to a coral reef. Searching for somewhere to rest, she found a sea-sponge and lay down upon it. Suddenly, she began to move. Zali felt a searing pain in her back. 'It must be a carnivorous sea-sponge' she thought. The sea-sponge was very strong. Zali spent ten whole minutes wrestling the feisty plant off. When she got it off Zali started swimming again. She swam and swam but she couldn’t find a giant squid. Zali kept looking Swimming in circles Zali felt a slap on her back.
As the creature went after a school of trout, Zali tried to identify its silhouette. It must be a whip tail shark, she thought. It couldn’t be anything else. So, after having a good look, Zali swam off once again, searching for a giant squid. As she swam, Zali felt like she was being watched. Suddenly a large, pointy, triangular shape caught her eye. It was a reddish-brownish colour. She saw a huge eye and trailing behind it were eight, 13 metre-long tentacles. Zali thought the creature to be about 35 metres long!!!
Zali thought about what this mysterious creature might be but she couldn’t think of anything but a squid. It must be a giant squid, she whispered to herself again. Zali started scribbling in her waterproof notebook, making comments. Spotting something yummy, the squid swam off quickly. So Zali swam back to the boat and went back to land. She made millions of dollars from her discovery. She bought a toy giant squid for each of her family and they all lived happily ever after!