Wills Epic Adventure

• William Scarlett, Grade 4, Kaleen Primary School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

I mustered the courage to brave the offensive cold that stood beyond the warm covers of my bed. As I walked down the hall I could hear the unrelenting wind outside lashing at the trees and their screams of disapproval. I spot my brothers seeking refuge under a blanket and quicken my pace to dive under the covers in the hope our body heat will fend off hypothermia.
It doesn’t take long before we turn our thoughts to what’s in store for us …. Another freezing day……. It’s our weekend… we don’t want to be stuck inside all day…. We are three boys… we are wired to run around, be loud, crazy, dirty and active. Determined to try and improve the day’s prospects we started brainstorming ideas…. What is fun, not far, and can be done last minute….. Let’s go look for snow.
Now we could see a speck of snow way up high in the mountains but that doesn’t mean there would be snow where we could access it but the family agreed it was worth it. In spite of our agreement it didn’t take long for the potential disappointment to dawn on my twin brothers which resulted in a chorus of ohhh, there will be no snow…. Ohhhh. I don’t want to drive all this way….and no snow…..etc. etc.
This continued until we started to spot little bits of snow here and there, then…. masses of it!! We parked the car and it was then we were surprised with three toboggans! Awesome!! Could our day get any better?!!
I decided as the big brave brother I would nominate myself as the test dummy and take the first plunge. I marched over to the steepest incline I could find with the least obstacles in my path. I threw my ride down and jumped on board.
I rode that toboggan like a seasoned cowboy taming a wild bull. One hand tight on the reigns the other waving high above my head I ploughed my way through the snowy terrain.
Half way down my euphoric state came to an abrupt holt as I locked eyes with two children who’s faces were filled with understandable horror as my sled and I bore down on them.
I tried to break but remembered, a toboggan doesn’t have a break! I lowered my balance hand deep into the snow behind me and leaned into a sharp right turn to avoid catastrophe. Half a second later I was rolling in the thick snow like a bowling ball. At last I came to a complete stop directly beside the two girls.
I apologised profusely for scaring the beegevers out of them and waited sheepishly for a response…… To which I received…. That was awesome!!!!! Can we have a go???.
For the next 2 ½ hours my family and I shared this excitement over and over with our new-found friends because we chose to turn what appeared to be a bad situation into something wonderful.