ABSTRACT
Mr Richards opened his Year 5 lesson by reading out loud the following story:
Ring went the school bell. ‘Yes!’ went the voices of some excited screaming kids.
You guessed it. It was the end of the school term. The corridors were full of shouting children. And outdoors, in the playground, Mums and Dads were standing, waiting to take their children home for five weeks.
‘Home for five weeks,’ I said to myself as I went through the crowd of chatting children. I held my sister’s hand tightly like she was falling into a volcano of boiling hot lava below her. Finally, we got to the front of the cue to get out of the door. A teacher opened the door. And we all ran. But we froze just outside the door. The stampede ran past us. We still didn’t move. Then, we turned our heads to a voice.
‘What is the matter, girls? Have you not found your Mum yet?’
We shook our heads. As we walked back to our classroom I managed to spit out a few words: ‘Our Mum’s never been late before.’ Meg started sobbing.
The teacher gave her a hug. ‘She’s probably stuck in traffic or something. Don’t worry.’
Meanwhile, Mum’s car bonnet was stuck under a tree that had got blown down. ‘I wonder if Chrystal and Meg are all right’ she exclaimed.
