Days Of Nothing

• Madison Giorcelli , Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

By the swamp is where I live. I live in a hut with a broken chimney and wood for a door. I wear leaves that are dead and crinkled, my dad wears snakeskin as a tie and my mum wears a lily petal for an apron, she cooks slimy slugs that slip and slide in a sauté pan. I like to collect black flowers and hunt for toads for a living, where I live, we don't have things like hoops and balls we have to find our own entertainment out in the wild. Dad is the leader of the swamp habitat but sullenly we are the only ones still living here in our quiet, muggy hut. I have a habit of eating slug eyes and getting lost underground I don't know how and why I get lost underground because there is no deep underground to go too. My greatest invention is my hole that could one day go to China but for now it is only up to my ankles. Dad always finishes his day hunting for slugs for dinner because he is too lazy to do it early in the morning, Dad always brings back worms, I think he has brain damage. Mum cooks in a leaf, kind of pan over a fire, but really there is no fire, life is tough here in the swamp, we are running low on supplies because of predators. One day we might be our predator's dinner. some days I sit watching grass grow until I have the courage and energy to get up and continue digging my hole to Chine with my hands. Until then I will always be the lonely kid with the ordinary parents.