Baboo & Jessica

• Emma Carson, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2014

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Jessica. She lived on an island after getting washed up after a shipwreck 5 years ago. Jessica had bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. She lived with her mother, father and her pet monkey named Baboo. They lived in a tree house in the middle of the island.
One day Jessica and Baboo wanted to go down to the ocean for a swim, Jessica had never been swimming before because she was frightened after the shipwreck, but she decided to try it out! When she got in she splashed and played with Baboo in the shallow water. Jessica told Baboo, “It’s getting dark Baboo, we should go back to the tree house." Baboo wanted to play in the deep water but Jessica was tired so she went back to the tree house and left Baboo behind.
The next morning Jessica went to look for Baboo. Baboo was not on the shore line. Jessica was worried, so she called all over the island. She tried calling him one more time from the shore. There was a long silence. Jessica gave up and was walking back to the tree house. She heard a distant cry. It was Baboo! She was so happy but there was one problem, Baboo was out in deep water and he couldn’t swim! Jessica couldn’t swim either, she had never swam in the deep water in her life, but in order to save him she would have to swim all the way to the deep water.
Jessica had to go in; first she walked into the water until it just touched her ankles. Next she moved in a bit deeper so the water was covering her knees. Then, all of a sudden she just jumped in and swam right through the water. She put her head under the water and moved her arms and legs as hard and as fast as she could but no matter how hard she tried she could not swim.
Now they were both stuck in the ocean. They had no one to help them, and then she remembered that when she was in a shipwreck she had to put her head under water and hold her breath and wait for a good wave to come. So she did just that, grabbed hold of Baboo and soon enough a wave came and washed them close to the beach and they ran back to the tree house. Jessica waited for her parents to come from their food hunting.
When they came back they made hot chocolate from the cocoa beans that they gathered on the island. From then on Baboo promised Jessica to never swim in the deep water again and Jessica promised Baboo that she would never leave him alone at the beach. Mum and Dad promised that they would teach them both to swim! They all laughed and lived happily ever after!