Elizabeth's Story

• Scarlette Harris, Grade 6
• Poetry
• 2014

Hello, my name is Elizabeth and I live in England. Life here is very congested and dirty. Here in England it is very bad for my family. My mum died when she had Sean and my dad works in a factory. He cleans the cogs in the machines but he suffered a terrible accident. He got court in the cogs and now we have no money, so I have to steal food from the local bakery, but it is as not easy as you think.
One day I got caught by the baker and he took me inside and whacked me with a bread loaf and he said
" That will teach not to steal!"
It was bad enough I had to steal food, but my family has to survive. So then I went home and guess what, I was always greeted with ten small faces begging for food.
“PLEASE can we have some food?” they all yelled.
My dad was sitting on the table with no fingers, and because I was the oldest in the family I had to do all the things my dad can’t do, like feed Sean or all the other kids or cook dinner. My family has a lot of trouble with things now, but I have been given a job at the “lost children home”. It is good fun to be able to put the smiles on their faces just as I do at home.
Years and years went by and I grew up and so did my sisters and brothers and so did my dad, but he was very weak and frail. Now I have moved out of the house and I am living with my husband and kids. I have two kids, William and Oliver. My husband and I have decided to move to Australia on a big boat.
When we got to the docks, the masts of the boats were standing like slogger’s preparing for battle. Then we went on to the boat and my sons went off to do their own thing while my husband and I went to look at the views off the side of the boat. It was a beautiful sight, the sun was setting on the crystal clear waters and you could see dolphins and all types of sea life. It was amazing! Then the stars came out to say ‘hello’ and a deep royal blue set in the sky like jelly in a mould.
As the sun set my husband and I wondered across the deck. Then we stopped and looked each other in the eyes. We fell in to a trance and wondered what was in the future for us and our family when we got the new land.