A Big Discovery

• Ben Humphreys, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2008

Andrew and Bradley Thomas are two brothers going on a school excursion. Their friend accompanies them for the camp in their tent, but at night they get up to no good.
“Hey, Brad, Gabriel!” Andrew whispers loudly.
“What?” they say simultaneously.
“Let’s go explore the island.”
They are at Seal Rocks camp site. So they all get dressed, Andrew is older than both of them and is already shaving. Brad, his brother, looks almost exactly like him except that he is shorter and doesn’t shave. Gabriel is their friend that is shorter than both of them.
“What are we looking for exactly?” Gabriel asks half asleep.
“We’re exploring for bullet shells,” Andrew informs him.
Brad grabs his video camera and puts a tape in it. They wander through the grounds and onto the beach.
“Quick, before anyone sees.”
So they all sprint across the sand, across the water and onto the island. “Where are we looking first?” Brad asks eagerly.
“Right in the-” but before Andrew can finish his sentence they discover something large around the other side of the island.
“What is that?” Gabriel asks as they move towards it.
“Nobody move,” Brad says. “It’s a tallboy,” he says making everyone freeze.
“A tallboy?” Andrew asks.
“In other words…a bomb. We gotta get the teacher.”
“No way! Then he’ll know that we snuck out and we’ll get busted!” Gabriel comments.
“Would you rather be known as one of the three who discovered a bomb that could save Australia from an attack?” Brad lets him think.
“Or the one who basically let some country blow us outta the water?”
“Teacher!” so they all run at high speeds to get to the teacher.
When they reach his tent they open the zipper, “Mr. Holloway!”
He flies up onto his feet, “What?”
“We found a bomb on that island over there,” Brad says immediately.
“Go back to sleep,” but Brad pulls out the video camera.
“Look!” he shows the tape to him and it shows the bomb half way in the ground.
“Okay, call the police on my mobile phone and I’ll inform the owner of this place.”
“Quick, quick!” Gabriel encourages Andrew to dial faster.
“Hello?” an officer answers.
“Yeah, there’s an emergency at Seal Rocks Camping Grounds!”
“Okay, we’ll be right over.”
“And send the military, our teacher has discovered a tallboy.”
“Okay,” so they wait anxious minutes until a military truck arrives and police cars.
“Where is it?” a soldier asks.
“Over the other side of that island,” Brad tells him.
“Uh, boys?” the teacher says walking over to them.
“Yes, Mr. Holloway?” Gabriel answers.
Andrew stands in the middle while they stand beside him.
“Why were you on that island?” he says putting his hands behind his back.
“Um…,” they take a while to think up an explanation.
“Well?” he says leaning forward.
“It was Andrew’s idea!” they say pointing to Andrew.
“Really?” but Andrew just smiles knowing he’s in big trouble.