Naomi's Schoolbag

• Halle Bates, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

I poked at my schoolbag with a stick. Something was in there alright. Something moving. Something alive. I poked my schoolbag again. I was at home now with the air-conditioner on very low. “I’m gonna have to open my bag sometime” I thought to myself. I left a note saying,
Dear Mum and Dad,
If you find me dead or injured, I’ve been eaten by the animal in my schoolbag.
Love, From Naomi.
I held my breath and opened the schoolbag. I let go of my breath. It was only Rosie, Mrs McKelly’s cat. I gave Rosie a quick cuddle and thought “What should I do with Rosie?”. I could just give Rosie to Mrs McKelly and get the $1000 reward, but then Mum would know that there had been a cat in the house and I would get in trouble because my Mum is allergic to cats. A few hairs had already fallen on the floor. Mum will go crazy from sneezing.
I decided to sneak over to Mrs McKelly’s and just put Rosie in Mrs McKelly’s backyard. It would be hard but I knew that Patrick would help me. He’s a ninja so he could just jump over the fence, dodge the dangerous lasers in Mrs McKelly’s backyard and throw small ninja stars at the evil garden gnomes. I called Patrick.
“I need your help” I cried.
“How many cookies do you have?” asked Patrick.
“Why do you want cookies?” I yelled.
“I run on cookies today” he said, “I need seven”.
Patrick and I met outside Mrs McKelly’s backyard. After I gave him the cookies he went and jumped over the fence. About 20 seconds later Patrick came back saying "That was disappointing”.
“Great” I thought, “Now I have to cheer him up!”.
“There were no evil gnomes” Patrick said.
“Oh well” I said, “Did Rosie get back safely?”.
“I think so. She ran up a tree and wouldn’t come back down” Patrick sighed.
When I got home I saw Mum in bed. “She found cat hairs on your jumper” Dad said. “Do know anything about this?”.