Sandy Summer Resort

• Aisha Ali, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2013

The waves silently crashed up onto the shore. Seagulls flew over our beach hut and pelicans bobbled dreamily on the water. I had woken up early because today we were leaving Sandy Summer Resort. Veronica, my twin sister, was snoring. And it was very hard to enjoy the sunrise while she was snoring. I got up and decided to sit on the veranda. The breeze was calm. I could hear the chirping of the birds and smell the ocean. But some of the chirping sounded closer. I looked up on the roof and to my surprise there was a nest of baby seagulls. Unattended baby seagulls. I was sure that the mother wouldn't leave her babies here. Maybe she went to get food. I sat outside for another hour and no mother returned. I went inside. Mum was cooking pancakes for breakfast. I told her about the seagulls because she is the Animal Expert. Mum walked outside.
'Vanessa, I'll sit out here for a while and wait.' Hearing that I skipped into the kitchen and grabbed some pancakes. I sat on the couch next to Dad. He was watching the news.
'Some bad weather will spoil our happy summer. With strong winds hitting Sandy Summer Resort at about 12 o'clock this afternoon...'

I couldn't care less about the weather. We would just have to stay inside and play boggle.But then I remembered the baby seagulls!
I bolted outside to tell Mum.
'Darling. The mother seagull hasn't returned. I'll bring the nest inside.' She reached up to the roof and carefully brought the nest down. She brought it inside and put it on the table. She went into the kitchen and made up some disgusting looking baby food. Veronica and I closed all the windows. It was nearly 12 o'clock. I grabbed the Boggle from the shelf. The whole family played until the strong winds had calmed down. Mum kept the chicks warm with a blanket.
'Mum, where are the chicks going to go once we leave?'
'To the RSPCA. I'm sure they will look after these chicks.'

The storm finally calmed down at 8 o'clock at night. It was dark out but Mum wanted to get the chicks to the RSPCA as soon as
possible. So we still had to go home. Dad started to load the suitcases onto the car. Mum was talking on the phone to someone and Veronica was reading a book. I was leaning against the car holding the nest of chicks. We were just about to leave when I suddenly saw a head pop out of the sand. And another. And another! Some baby sea turtles were hatching.
'Why do they only hatch at night?' Veronica asked.
'They hatch at night and follow the moonlight down to the ocean.' Mum explained.

The sea turtles were being swept up by the waves. We all took pictures. We then jumped in the car. By the time we reached the RSPCA it was already 10 o'clock. We dropped off the baby chicks. But instead of heading onto Rosemary lane which takes us to our house, we took the road Old Cottage. I knew where we were going. Mum had made plans with Nana to go to her house for the night!
We arrived and Nana and Pop were at the door with smiles. They had prepared a bed for us and some sweets.

When school started again, I showed all my friends the great holiday we had.
We also had to write a report on our story. We got an A! My highest grade yet!

'It was the best summer holiday ever!' Veronica and I exclaimed.
Everybody laughed.

The End!