Brava Matilda

Congratulations to Matilda Sherriff of Grade 3/4J for her outstanding achievement in the Fishy Stories Writing Challenge 2024!

We are thrilled to announce that Matilda's story was selected as a finalist and performed professionally at the Festival of Stories on 17 November, 2024, in Fish Creek. Not only that, her story was showcased at the event and her story will also be published in the festival's eBook. Well done, Matilda!

Abandon Ship

By Matilda Sherriff

There once was a very old ship that everybody knew and everybody knew as ‘The Mermaid.’  The owner of the ship was even older than the ship and went by the name, ‘Ticker.’  Ticker was as old as the land.  He had a long, white beard, an eyepatch, a hook and a wooden leg.

One day, Ticker had heard of a faraway land that nobody had stood on.  He was excited because he would soon be on the sea again.

A few days later, food, water, and supplies were packed for him. He had cleaned the old cabin where he would sleep. Ticker set off on his sea voyage, and the first few days passed without trouble. When he ran out of food, he didn’t panic because he had prepared a fishing line and so from then on, he ate fish and crabs from his crab pots. But soon after, everything went wrong.

One day, Ticker noticed that the clouds were darker than usual.  He noticed the waves were bigger and angrier and that the fish were heading South instead of North where he was heading.  Then it hit him - there was a storm coming!

Ticker tried to get away, but the thunder was very loud and rain was falling heavily already.  But when he thought it couldn’t get any worse - it did!  Lightning struck the boat right down the side of the boat.  It started sinking rapidly.  Ticker tried to get away, but it was too late.  He sank with the ship.

Some say he got killed by sharks, some say he drowned.  Others think he got swept away by the current and got killed by sharp rocks.  But I think he still lives on his ancient and ruined ship.  And if you’re quiet enough, you can still hear him, moaning to himself.  And that is the story of Old Ticker.