Miss Piggywinkle And Her Friends

• Reuben Jones, Grade K
• Short Story
• 2022

We have a gum tree. It is a red gum with a little peppercorn tree under it. The branches are creamy brown and the green leaves look like they are bowing to God. Miss Piggywinkle was a guinea pig and her friends were guinea pigs who loved her very much. Snowdrop was a chook and her friends loved her very much. Ma was coming to our house with Rusty the dog. He was going to play with Isabelle. She was a girl who loved to play with dogs and horses. Mum came in to the house to share sad news. She said that Miss Piggywinkle had died and her friends were all around her in her cage. They were so sad. Then Bonnie, Ma, Rusty, Mum, Isabelle and Jeremiah came down to the gum tree with flowers. There were no graves there yet and Miss Piggywinkle’s was the first one. Reuben and Mum dug it with a shovel. The dirt was hard and it was slow. Rusty rested while Mum and Reuben dug the hole. The box that Mum put Miss Piggywinkle in was used for sweet potatoes. We put some roses and hay on Miss Piggywinkle in the hole. Then we put the dirt on top with a shovel. People were quiet to have some quiet time to remember all their goodbyes. We had bolognese for dinner and it was finished in one minute! Then we got ready for bed. In the night, Mum got Snowdrop when she thought something was wrong with her. She wasn’t roosting on the perch. Then Mum fetched the Vitamin C for Snowdrop to help her. There was something not right. Mum thought there was something wrong with the Vitamin C. She looked in the glucose jar and the glucose was full so she was relieved. She gave it to Snowdrop but it was too late to help her. Snowdrop started to flutter her wings and her lungs stopped working. It was morning. Mum told Isabelle that Snowdrop had died and Isabelle was upset. We built her grave under the gum tree and buried her. When we got roses we put them on Snowdrop’s grave. As Snowdrop and Miss Piggywinkle’s friends die they will be around them.