WELLINGTON COUNTY – The County of Wellington Library has announced the winners of the fifth annual Olive and Fred Robins Junior Short Story Contest.
It is open to Wellington County students attending Grades 4 to 6, who are invited to submit original short stories between 500 and 750 words.
Grade 4 student Finleigh Sardi-Bradburn of Erin and Grade 5 student Jack Moore of Elora are the two 2022 top prize winners.
Sardi-Bradburn’s story follows.
The Honeybees
By Finleigh Sardi-Bradburn
Sophie, Jasmine, Emily, Claire and Ruby were best friends. They did everything together.
They rode their bikes to school together, they played hopscotch at recess together and they were all in the same class together.
“Hey, look at this!” said Sophie.
Jasmine, Emily, Claire and Ruby came running over to see what the excitement was all about.
“Wanted: Girls for Flag Football tournament” read Jasmine.
It turns out the school was having a flag football tournament and there were posters all over the school.
“Let’s make a team and join!” said Claire, who was the fastest runner in the class.
That day after school they all went over to Ruby’s house because Ruby’s mom was a seamstress and she had sewing machine.
“We need a team name and team shirts!” said Emily.
“Ughhhhh!!” shouted Jasmine.
“What’s wrong, Jasmine?” asked Sophie.
“It’s a bee!” squealed Jasmine as she ran away.
The other girls laughed and said, “It’s just a honey bee!”
Jasmine joined them in time to hear Ruby say “That’s it! That’s our team name…The Honeybees!”
They found some yellow fabric in Ruby’s mom’s sewing room and set to work sewing their team shirts. The next day at school, Claire called the girls together and said, with a worried look on her face “What even is flag football? We don’t even know how to play! How will we ever win?”
“We need a coach!” said Emily.
Just then Mr. Phillips came around the corner.
“Whoa, hey girls! I almost bumped into you! What are you all doing in the hallway?” he asked.
“Do you know anything about flag football, Mr. Phillips?” asked Sophie.
“Why sure I do!”
The girls all giggled and Claire said, “We want to join the flag football tournament but we don’t know how to play. Will you be our coach?”
Just then a group of boys walked by and started to laugh.
“Girls can’t play flag football!” said one boy.
“Aren’t you afraid to wreck your hair?” said another boy.
Mr. Phillips thought about what the boys said for a moment and then smiled, looked right at the boys, and said “Of course I can! That sounds like fun! Meet me on the playground at first recess, girls.”
Every recess the girls met and practiced with Mr. Phillips. Sophie was the quarterback because she could throw the farthest and Claire was the receiver because she could run the fastest and no one could ever grab her flags!
Finally, tournament day came. The girls were nervous. At the field they saw all the other teams. The girls on the Red Team were really tall and the Blue Team were really fast.
“Don’t worry, girls!” said Mr. Phillips. “Just try your best!”
The girls lost their first two games. They were starting to feel like they had no chance of winning.
“Come on girls! We got this! Remember that time Sophie fell off her bike and we all worked together to carry her home?” said Ruby.
“Let’s work together just like that again and we will be sure to win this game!”
The score was tied at 12-12 with only 30 seconds left in the game. Then, Sophie threw the ball farther than anyone had seen her throw before!
It was a close one but Claire caught the ball and ran her fastest to score right as the buzzer went.
“We won!” said Emily and the Honeybees hugged and cheered.
“Great teamwork!” said Mr. Phillips.
“Now you’re off to the finals! Just one more game, girls!”
The final game started. The Honeybees were playing the really tall Red Team. The Honeybees scored first. Then the Red team scored. The girls were getting tired!
“My legs hurt!” said Claire.
Time for one more play. Sophie threw the ball but it went over Claire’s head! Everyone gasped! But along came Ruby who jumped and caught the ball as it sailed over Claire’s head.
“Run Ruby, Run!” shouted Mr. Phillips.
And that’s what Ruby did, all the way to the end zone!
“Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz” went the buzzer to signal the end of the game.
The Honeybees won! The whole school cheered as the girls received their first place ribbons.
“We did it!” said Jasmine. “I just knew we could!”
“Girls can do anything!” said Emily.
