Harry Notter And The Seaweed Skirt

• Rose Sincalir, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

Camp! The most wonderful time of year. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Harry Notter. I know, like Harry Potter, but not - we are NOTHING alike. He’s like the chosen one and all special and I'm not. Well not really. I do consider myself, um… Pretty awesome. Tomorrow we go on camp for two nights. I can’t wait!
I can’t believe it! Last night I set my alarm and put my bags out. But I hit the snooze button twice, woke up late, rushed to the bus, missed it and had to run to school (which took thirty minutes!). I arrive just in time for Miss Applebum to call my name. Yes, that’s right, Apple-BUM. I'm used to it. On the bus I sit next to Fred Jeasy. The bus ride takes AGES. I eat some lollies and share with Fred.
Camp, Day 1, breakfast time. The food is disgusting! The only decent thing is the orange juice. We get four cups each and try to find table. A random red-head starts walking with us.
Hi, I’m Don Ceasly.”
“Hi, I’m Fred and this is Harry.”
I wave. As we’re talking, Fred trips, knocks me and we spill our orange juice into the already revolting porridge.
“BOYS COME HERE RIGHT NOW!” screams cook. I think we're in trouble.
“Stop that ruckus! You three are on dishes.”
“But cook, we’ll miss the zip line!” exclaims Fred.
“Too bad,” growls cook.
We trudge into the kitchen.
Before us stands the biggest pile of smelly, putrid dishes.
“This’ll take ages,” comments Don.
“I’ve an idea,” I whisper, “let’s put them in a bag and throw them out the window?”
“Great Idea!” they chorus.
We find two bags shove the dishes in. They make a clunky thud as they hit the ground - we bolt to the zip line
The zip line stretches between two cliffs, we whizz down - it’s exhilarating. After a few turns Applebum yells LUNCH! We give each other a look. The look says ‘oh no.’ We anxiously wait for lunch, when cook yells “APPLEBUM”. Miss Applebum hurries to the kitchen. We three creep to the kitchen door.
“All the dishes are gone!”
Everyone eats off paper plates that day. The mystery remains unsolved, at least for now.
Today is our last day at camp. We’re having our first and last ocean swim. Everyone dives in while I’m still packing. By the time I jump in the ocean it’s fairly empty. As I emerge from the refreshing water I spots a big wave. I love waves. I wait until it hits me. It feels so cooling...too cooling. I look down - my board shorts are missing. Frantically I dive under searching - nothing. I’m going to have to run back to my cabin NAKED. Just then a large piece of seaweed brushes past me. I grab it, wrap the seaweed around my waist and casually run out of the water. I scan faces to see if anyone is looking suspiciously at me, but nothing. Success!