The County of Wellington Library has announced the winners and runners-up of the second 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.
“We would like to thank everyone who submitted stories to this year’s contest for their enthusiasm and creativity. We enjoyed reading every one,” library officials state.
Lili Hegedus is one of two 2019 runners-up.
Storm at Sea
By Lili Hegedus
One bright morning, I was off exploring the sea on my best friend Eve’s boat. There was a hazy lighting of the sun filtering through the clouds as we stared into the clear, blue depths of the ocean. Suddenly, all the light drained from the sky and we were looking into complete darkness.
Looking up to see what had happened, we saw storm clouds rolling over the vessel. I groaned. Our perfect morning was just getting started and it already looked like it was going to rain. Eve and I decided we had to get to land before the storm hit. A clap of thunder echoed through the blackness, startling us out of our conversation. Shouting a command to batten down the hatches, we rushed below decks.
“What do we do now? “I asked as I lowered myself down the ladder.
“We have to turn back,” she ordered, thrusting a rain coat into my hands. “Here. You’ll need this.” Brushing past me on her way back up the ladder, I shook my head, yanked on the jacket, and followed. The minute we exited the hatch I knew she was right. Thunder echoed. Lightning struck. Rain poured down in bucketfuls. Despite the rain coat I was already soaked to the bone. Sailors were running madly across the deck. They were pulling ropes, tying knots, adjusting the sails. Everything was happening at once. Waves crashed over the sides of the boat, sweeping sailors off their feet.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Eve climbing swiftly to the crow’s nest. Dumping the coat on the deck, I dashed towards the mast as fast as I could without tripping. I wove between the sailors, making my way to the rope ladder that crawled up the mast. Taking a deep breath, I placed my right foot on the first rung of the ladder. Pulling my left foot up I proceeded to climb. Once I had climbed to the top, I saw Eve leaning perilously over the side.
“What are you looking at?” I asked pulling her away from the edge. Without responding she shook herself free and pointed.
Squinting to see through the downpour, I saw what looked like a fluffy, white cloud growing behind a patch of blue. “Look!” I gasped, pointing down towards the water. The waves weren’t so high anymore and had stopped slamming the hull. The boat was steadying! The continuous swaying of the boat lessened, and the rain subsided to a drizzle. Just as quickly as the storm had come it had already passed. Climbing down the rope ladder was a lot harder than going up. It took a long time for me to get down, but Eve had come down in no time at all, jumping from rung to rung and to the deck when she was still half way up! I was glad that the storm had gone, and we could go back to watching the gently rippling ocean. Looking up I gasped and nudged Eve. “Look,” I whispered, pointing up to the rainbow spread across the sky.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Yes, it is.”
