HELP

• Erynn Marlowe, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

Viet was an 11-year-old boy who loved cricket. His younger brother, Son, was wheelchair bound due to muscular dystrophy but, he also loved the game and umpired the backyard test matches.
Son and Viet were from a poor Vietnamese migrant family. Their lives were made easier by help from their extended family already established in Sydney; that’s where Viet and Son learnt the value of help.
Son and Viet fell in love with cricket when they saw two batsmen helping each other to play the difficult bowling; this concept of help within the sport really appealed to them.
Viet started playing cricket for a local club.
As Viet walked out to bat for his new team, Liam, his opening partner, boasted that he should give him the strike as he was the much better player.
When Viet got out for a duck, Liam shouted, “told you so!” As Viet trudged from the field Son said, “Next time don’t listen to anyone… just watch the ball!”.
Each and every training session Liam would bowl bouncers at Viet; every ball fired right at his head. Each and every match Liam shouted at Viet and Viet kept getting ducks. Finally, Viet got his first runs and Son gave a big cheer. Liam said: “You can only cheer, you’ll never score a run.”
William, padded up and waiting his turn, barked at Liam, “Don’t take your golden duck out on other people! There are more important things than scoring runs!”
Soon Viet was the best player in the team and was getting runs all over the place and Liam was getting jealous. But Viet wanted to do more than score runs.
One day, Viet saw Liam get his second golden duck. Liam’s Dad shouted, “No dinner tonight!”. Viet talked to Son about this and they decided to help Liam by showing him how to recognise peoples struggles and show them some sympathy, instead of being mean to them.
The plan began with Viet batting with Liam and telling him that he was playing well. At first, Liam thought this was really weird but, later he found himself doing the same for Viet and enjoying the game a whole lot more.
Liam learned that help can change someone’s day from terrible to absolutely fantastic and that dinner was not the most important thing in life!
Viet and Son were so happy that bullying and being the worst player in the team had been turned into something much better. Son said, “Remember what HELP can do!”