The Story Of Jim Lester

• Robert Piccinin, Grade 6, King Park Public School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

Bang Bang Bang Bang. "Jim, we gotta get outta here, NOW!" yelled my cousin Ellie over the noise of the guns. He was a tall pale man in his brown and multi green British uniform. It has been 2 ½ years since Ellie and I have joined the British Army and now we are in war with Germany. "No, we have to finish this once and for all!" I yelled back in reply. "Duck for cover!" We both heard a voice scream and we look up and see an object hurtling towards us in our barrier. "It's a grenade!" I tell him in fear but he's already scrambled back to the army bunker. I jump out of my own junky, jagged one I made myself and rushed off like lightning back to base. "Why did you leave me?" I bellow at Ellie while I push him into the corner of a wall to trap him. "I didn't want to be scrap, I, I, I, just don't want any harm," he said twitching in fear. I hear a familiar noise coming from up high, "Grenade, up ahead, AGAIN!!!" yelled Ellie. "And we’re all out of ammo!" commander Scoff told us. "Oh, no! What are we going to do?" asked assistant Selena. At that very moment, the explosives were travelling closer to our doom. "Hold on to me cousin," I say. "Ok."
When I was 7 and 10 months old, I would always dream of being in the army, probably because there was a sign about it outside of my room and I couldn't get to sleep because of it when I was younger. It was one of those moving signs that were supposed to catch your attention and convince you to join the army, now that I wanted to, I couldn't sleep without it, so every time it was lunch or recess at Colchester High (the Primary school I went to) I would do my own training in the corner of area D and run laps around the school. When I was 18 and finally old enough to join the army I did, but "What, no one told me there were tests!" "Well, suck it up kid, or you’re sleeping in the shed tonight," Commander Scoff said while pointing at a shed that looks like it used to be an outback toilet that really reeked. "Yes so hurry up now," demanded assistant Selena. We had to line up in a line, but I wasn't expecting to hear or see my own cousin Ellie Lester. "Hey, can I talk to you after?" I whispered. "Sure," he said. I finished the registration with assistant Selena and went to talk to him. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "None of your business," he said and left me standing there. That night, I was sleeping with strangers and we all slept well, apart from the crazy man in the corner of the room. We all missed our families. The next 7 months, all we did was trials and at the end, I smashed the qualifying score at everything. After 18 months of training, the Germans attacked. We were sent to war and it happened all over again (read first paragraph again). The end