The Adventure In Brazil!

• Madeline McKenzie-Scott, Grade 4, Monash Primary School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

Once upon a time there were eight friends, some lived in palaces and some in circus tents. The friends in the circus tents were Kayla, who was good at the trumpet, Tony, who played with monkeys and wrestled octopuses, and Jess and Jessie did tightropes and trapeze acts.
The friends at the palaces were always bragging about themselves and their names were Jono, Zali, Anabel and Bella. However, the friends fought with each other especially when they thought someone was wrong.
One day they got a party invitation to a temple in Brazil. In the invitation there was a map that said to start at sugar loaf mountain in Rio De Janeiro. The friends met there, got into a cable car, got off at the top where they walked along a dirt path which turned into a fork. “We should take the right turn” said Jono, so they did but it was a dead end. Kayla turned to Zali and said “You took us on the wrong path!” “It was not us - it’s this silly map!” yelled Jono so hard that his face went red. “Sorry to interrupt” said Jess, “but there’s a staircase here.” So everybody walked up the stairs. At the top were vines and behind the vines was a stone temple. “This can’t be the right place” said Jono. “Look at the front garden, there are stone statues and no decorations.” “Guys, let’s check out the inside!” said Jessie. “If we don’t go we are going to miss out on the party” said Kayla. So they all went inside.
Inside the temple there was a room with golden statues of jaguars, birds and monkeys. “Where is everybody?” asked Tony. Then suddenly lots of people jumped out and said “SURPRISE!!” The friends were so shocked they jumped, everybody laughed at them and they laughed too.
The party was great and with yummy food like bird shaped sandwiches and chicken nugget jaguars and corn-on-the-cob. They danced and played games like pin-the-tail on the blue bird and a monkey piñata filled with colourful candy.
The party was so fun they lost track of time. “Look!” said Tony “It’s almost dusk!” “We need to get back home before our parents find out that we are missing!” said Bella. “Yes” said Jessie “Or it will be too dark in the staircase!” So the friends said goodbye to the party and made their way back to the staircase. Ten minutes later it got dark so they held hands and their bodies started to glow. “Wow! Why is this happening?” asked Kayla. “Wait!” said Jono “There is writing on this wall. It says ‘True friendship is the most powerful energy in the world. When you are truly friends your bodies will glow.’ “Awesome! Now we can find our way back!” said Zali. When they got back to the circus and the palaces they ran off to their beds before their parents found out they had gone.
The End