Mail Man

• Alex Mccarthy, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2018

It was October 28th 1913 and the streets were quiet as the morning sun awakens on the horizon.
‘’A job? I’m only 17 mum!” I asked, surprised.
‘’That’s right! You need to get one right away! “, my mother replied, frustrated. ’’You sit down all day like a fat pig’’, she added.
This is where the story begins, I was looking for a job all day but all the employers said I was not the right ‘’fit’’. That night I was writing in my small journal book about my unsuccessful day, when I heard a knock on the window.
‘’Cathy! What are you doing here? ’I asked happily, as I opened the window.
‘’I heard you were looking for a job,’’ she said energetically.
‘’Yeah, but what are you doing?’’ I replied.
‘’I have found a job for you, ‘’ she said.
‘’A mail man ’’ she added.
The next day I started the exhausting job.
I worked for the rest of that year, but then, the war started. It was awful. It was the 28th of July 1914 when we arrived over to Gallipoli. I was lucky enough to survive the first attack because I’m not fit, but I had a loud gunshot next to my sensitive ears. That led to me being deaf. I could not fight in my condition so one of the nurses had me take a note to a nurse over the northern side of Gallipoli.
I walked all afternoon through the wet dirty trenches but I finally made it. The experiences I saw on the way were terrible. People dying or already dead.
The nurse read the note and wrote another note for me to take back. I walked back that cold rainy night with people still fighting. A military leader heard about what I was doing and called me to see him. Sir John Monash was the leader of our small camp on the south side of Gallipoli.
Sir John Monash had lost communication with Sir William Bird and needed a note taken to him.
‘’Take good care of this important note, soldier”, he said. Determined.
On the way over to the east side there was more action. I started my journey aware of the surroundings and slowly adjusted to it. I then suddenly felt a great indescribable rumble from the bottom of my feet. I looked into the sky and there it was a large explosion from a cannon, which landed near where. Everything went black.
I awoke in great pain. I was all alone. I closed my eyes. The lights dimmed the pain faded and I knew I would sleep forever.