Lost In The Desert

• Kiki Poernomo, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2019

The weather was infuriating. The light flashed in front of my eyes like a bag of candy waving in my face and thunder boomed through my ears. Terror and regret swarmed around my body.

“Get in the car!” my mum shrieked. In this kind of situation, everybody rushed into the taxi.

“Are w-w-we th-th-there yet?” my brother Grady stuttered in fear.
Although there was bad weather, we were going to the airport to catch a plane. I couldn’t wait to go to the beach in Gold Cost and escape the freezing weather. As for Grady, this was his first time and he’s ELEVEN!

“Not yet, sweetheart. But we will be soon.” Mum kindly answered. It seemed like she was deliberately acting composed. Usually she would be very strict and irritated that Grady asked that question.

The taxi stopped.

After one hour in the airplane, we could hear a loud bang and a flash of light. The pilot’s voice crackled through the speakers.

“Fasten your seatbelts everyone, we’re in the outback now, and I’m going to make a crash-landing on a plain due to lightning damaging the wings.”

The plane made a bumpy landing and stopped. I looked out the window and saw nothing but midnight black. The crew members handed out blankets to the passengers and sandwiches to keep everyone calm. Mum tried to call dad but it was no use. The pilot told everyone to wait until morning to find help.

Morning came and with it was a massive dust storm. All I could see out the window was a sunny blur. The dust kept coming all day and there was still no communications. The dust kept coming through the night and passengers began to panic.

While everyone was sleeping, I looked through the window and suddenly I saw a light. The light appeared to come from a campfire. There was an old man sitting beside it. He was cooking his food in a billycan. It made me feel warm. He waved his hand and pointed.

The next morning, he had disappeared. I told my family that there was a town nearby. I pointed in the direction the swagman pointed. Mum told the pilot this information. Luckily the storm stopped, and the pilot and a few passengers went off to find the town while the rest of the crew looked after all the other passengers.

When they returned the pilot lead us back to the town where we caught the next plane. We finally got to Gold Cost and everyone had a fantastic time.

“Mum, did you see a swagman out the window last night?” I asked. “No, swagman haven’t been around for more than fifty years!” mum replied.