Backyard Adventures

• Georgia Mayne, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2015

Backyard Adventures
By Georgia Mayne

Hi my name is Josephine and I am ten years old. I am going tell you about my adventures, I know that is a weird title but I warn you, you might be laughing out loud when you hear about it. This is my sister Jasmine, she is only, hold on, how old are you? You are three years younger than me, so that makes you, nine, eight, seven. Anyway lets get on with the story. By the way, all these exciting adventures are located in my own back yard. Our most memorable moment was when we were nine and six years old. Let me tell you about it.

In 2014, we found out about a secret passage under our oak tree. We couldn’t resist going down to explore it. We went down there and discovered a little dwelling. The oak tree from above had sent it’s long gnarly roots down to form the walls of the very unusual home. There was a rusty old stove and a cracked wooden table. I heard Jasmine say she saw a bed and an old fashion latern. Lets explore more!

Just before we could investigate more, Jasmine said, “I want a glass of water?” “Seriously Jasmine let’s go find you some water then”, I said. Feeling our way around in total darkness, we come to a stop and we hear a noise. “What was that?” we both said. We look up and see a small window of dim light from above. “There is a way out”, said Jasmine. “There is not way we can jump that high, I can’t even get a place in high jump at school” I said. “That noise again, ssshhh, rustle rustle”. “What just dropped on my head”, said Jasmine. “I don’t know”, I said. Suddenly, clods of dirt dropped from the ceiling. “Arrgh!”, we scream, “run away!”. We run into one of the rooms and shut the door and lock it. “Phew that was close”, we say to each other. “Who’s in my house”, says a deep bellowing voice. “Show yourself”, I say. “H h hi, our names are Josephine and Jasmine. “I’m scared”, Jasmine whispers, in my ear. “Can you help us?’ I ask. “In what way?” the voice said. “We need to get out of here”, I replied. “I will help you, but you need to repay me back”. “Deal” I said feeling relieved.

“So which is the best way out of here?” I ask. “I have many ways out of here, but Ill show you my favourite way. Go through the green door, on your left and jump out of the window”. “Jump out of the window!” we say. “Yes, you do want to get out of here, right?, voice replies. “Ok, on the count of three, one, two, three JUMP. “Wow, that was fun”, we say.

“Look I can see mum and dad is home from work. Bye, and thank you”. “Anytime” said the voice. We run back into the house, and say hello to our parents. “What happened to you two, why are you so dirty” they ask. We just secretly wink at each other and reply, “We were just playing football”. “Ok, I need to fill in that hole under the oak tree”, said dad. “O Oh” we say laughing.