Lonely Frank

• Nuala Weening, Grade 4, Eumundi State School
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

“Ha ha ha!” laughed all the animals. They looked at Frank and burst into giggles. “Those are the silliest claws I’ve ever seen,, remarked Tango the Tiger. Frank sighed. The thing he wished for the most was to be normal. His life was extremely sad. Every day most animals played tiggy together, but he always hid from the other animals so they couldn’t laugh at him. Embarrassed and sad, Frank crept away to a nice silent place.
Just when he was about to fall asleep, Pongo the Monkey came out from nowhere and said solemnly “One day the other animals will look up at you with respect.” Then he was gone. Frank thought hard about what he had said and by the next day he was ready to try and do something brave. He went out of hiding and said to the other animals, “I’m going to do something brave today,” but the other animals just laughed and laughed. “I’ll show them,” he muttered under his breath. Then he went back in hiding.
Frank was woken up by all the other animals screaming, “Run for your lives!” and “The volcano is erupting!” He knew he had to do something, though he had to do it quickly and he wasn’t very good at doing things quickly. He ran out into the open and yelled, “Stop shouting and follow me. Do you want to get burnt?” Not waiting for an answer he hurried off, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. The animals followed him, the smaller ones riding on the big ones. Soon they came to a gigantic mountain and began to climb up and up and up. When they arrived at the top, they were exhausted, tired and wanted food desperately. “When are we going to eat food?” complained Jessica the Jaguar. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” she said. “We are nearly there,” Frank replied.
They walked on for a while then gasped at the sight they saw. “This is amazing,” they stammered. Frank gaped at the sight he was seeing with his own eyes. Right in front of him were animals that looked exactly like him. The animals were living in strange shaped structures. They looked up from the things they were doing and shouted, “Look it’s another human!” In that instant Frank realised he was the legendary human and from then on the other animals treated him with awe and respect.