Madagascar Madness

• Navneet Arora, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

Madagascar Madness

I woke up this morning feeling excited, even before the birds had woken up. I got ready in less than 10 minutes and sat in front of the laptop to type my speech……Oh wait I forgot to introduce myself, I am Natasha Marshal a writer and publisher working for the Brisbane times. So where was I.... Oh yes, the speech. A week ago, I had received a letter of invitation to attend an opening ceremony of the newly built museum in Madagascar as a guest of honour and present a speech. It was from my best friends and event organisers, Margaret Morrow and Robin Russel. It was now the 20th and I had to finish it today, to have time for packing. However I couldn’t concentrate, I sat there starring at the blank document on screen. Now my eyelids began to grow heavier. The next thing I did was go to the kitchen have breakfast and slurp a hot cup of coffee to keep me going. The moment I did this, my head began filling with ideas to write.

“Suitcases, passport, tickets…..”I murmured to myself. I loaded my weightless bags in the taxi and headed off to the airport. I entered through the gates and was nearly about to enter the security check when I read the sign on the wall saying: Domestic Airport. I froze for a moment. My mind was blank! I didn’t know what to do. Then suddenly my senses gushed into my brain. I hurried to catch a bus to the international airport.
I reached there in the nick of time and went to get a trolley.
“Are you okay,” the security guard asked.
“I put in the money for the trolley, but I can’t get it out.” I complained.
“Oh well the machine might not be working, just call on this number, you might get your money back, “he said in a gruff voice and walked off. I didn’t have time to call, so I headed for my plane. As I sat down I had a gut feeling that I was missing or forgot something. But that was soon distracted by me spilling water on my dress. What a day!

The moment I stepped out of the airport, a chill blast of air hit me on the face. That somehow made me think of my speech. I opened my bag to fetch it. Horror struck! had checked every single pocket of my bags, but the speech was nowhere to be found. I found my friends waiting for me eagerly, smiling brightly. I saw however that their smiles began to fade as I told them about the speech I left at home.

To my surprise, they didn’t panic one bit and took me to the hotel. They reassured me, everything would be alright and encouraged me to write another one. We only had one night. I was sleepy. But the motivation from my friends helped me work hard.
It was dawn when we finished our work. Yes, our work, we all had contributed great ideas.
“Do we have to go this early,” Robin and I questioned.
“We didn’t even sleep a wink.”
“Yes we do, because we are the event organisers, and you Natasha are the guest of honour, quick get ready,” Margaret explained. We dragged ourselves to the place where the event was held. A phone call kept interrupting Margaret the whole way, but she was too sleepy to answer it. We entered the hall and not one person was at sight.
“Maybe we are just too early, everyone will be here, it’s not like the events cancelled,” Robin said. However, he spoke too early. We noticed a sticker saying: Event postponed to extreme weather forecast.
We stood there shocked for a moment then burst out laughing altogether. Margaret enquired with her manager for the confusion.
“Why didn’t you call me,” she objected.
“I did call you, but you didn’t answer,” he replied. That I guess ringed the bell in your head. That phone call was the end of our adventure. I had captured all the wonderful moments throughout the journey in my camera, to remember this amazing adventure.


- By Navneet Arora