Ned Kelly’s Encounter With A Stranded Young Boy

• Craig Maltby, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

I’m shivering. I have been outside in the wet for days without any food, water, money, nothing except for an old rug. I’m so hungry. My head is thumping like a drum. My parents abandoned me in this old town. I don’t know why. I’ve been sleeping against this filthy wall for nights. I’m sitting on wet mud and I haven’t had a shower in days. I stink. I’m too weak to get up.

It’s early in the morning. The town seems very unusual. I cannot hear anything or see anyone. This is very odd. Suddenly the bank alarm went off with a piercing ring. At that moment, fear erupted through my entire body. “The Kelly gang!” I exclaimed shivering with fear. Questions rushed through my head, knowing the bank was only down the road. What if they find me, capture me, or worse, kill me?

It felt like mere few seconds before I could see an old wagon outside the bank doors. I could make out the image of two men hurrying out of the bank holding what looked like sacks. They scrambled into the wagon and took off in my direction. I sat paralysed in fear wondering if they had saw me. The wagon stopped in front me, and a man I recognised to be Ned Kelly jumped out of the wagon. Slowly, he walked over to me. I closed my eyes waiting in anticipation of what was to come.

I felt a sudden weight fall into my lap.I opened my eyes instinctively to find a sack full of money. Ned Kelly stared at me and murmured, “Remember, never trust the police. They’re full of lies.” I gazed at him in shocked as he turned back and climbed into the wagon. That was the last time I saw Ned Kelly.