Ben’s Boots

 By

 Judy McCauley

 Ben dived towards the football soaring through the air toward him. He took the mark just before it hit the ground.

Jumping to his feet he held the ball triumphantly above his head. Beat that!

‘Great dive’

‘Top mark.’

‘Lucky-y-y,’ yelled his friends.

Ben dropped the football towards his boot and kicked it back across the paddock.

‘Inside Ben, it’s almost dark,’ called his mum over the fence.  ‘Take those filthy boots off outside, then straight into the bathroom,' she ordered before driving off to do some late night shopping.

‘Same time tomorrow,’ called his friends, heading home.

Ben clomped across the muddy paddock and climbed through the hole in the fence. Still thinking about his magnificent mark he opened the back door and sauntered inside the porch.

Then he remembered his boots.

He looked down they aren’t too-o-o dirty.

He could hear the television. The rest of the family would be watching and wouldn’t see him tiptoe across the passage to the bathroom and close the door tightly.

While he waited for the bath to fill his mind wandered back to the game.  He saw himself diving through the air, taking that magnificent mark. He dropped a pretend football from his cupped hands, swung his leg and kicked his foot up in the air.

A blob of mud flew off the end of his boot. It landed on the bathroom mirror and sprayed muddy red spots all over the clean glass.

Ben’s mouth flew open. He reached out and pulled the lump off the glass. He turned on the washbasin tap but before he could put the soft slimy blob under the water it squeezed through his fingers and jumped onto the toothbrush holder. Red and green slime stuck to the bristles of dad’s toothbrush and dripped down the plastic handle.

Ben lunged for the blob, he missed and it swooshed past his eyes heading straight for a pair of mum’s fluffy pink slippers. Ben dived, pulling the slippers out of the way just before the blob splattered on the white floor tiles.

A relieved grin spread cross Ben’s face. Another great dive.

His smile soon disappeared as the blob bounced across the floor and up the wall.  It jumped onto the ceiling then jumped down the wall, across the floor and up the other wall.  Behind the blob stretched a long spotty trail of mud.

Ben suddenly remembered the bath. It was almost full. He dived again and turned off the taps then sat dejectedly on the side of the bath, his head in his hands.  I’m in big trouble. I’ll be grounded, no football, no pocket money for weeks, no pocket money EVER.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blob stop moving.  It hung on the wall just above the bathwater. It was only a small blob now.  Most of its mud was all around mum’s clean bathroom.

Ben moved closer, he felt a bit scared. Mud didn’t jump around all by itself.

He leant over until his eyes were close, but not too close. Inside the middle of the blob he could see two black eyes looking back at him. They blinked. Then the blob let go of the wall and splashed into the bath.  The warm water turned streaky brown as it swam around in a circle.

Ben dived his hand into the water.

Gotcha.He cupped his hands together tightly and then opened them a crack.  Inside sat a little brown frog.

He put it on the window sill while he opened the window. The frog blinked at Ben then hopped out into the night.  Ben turned around to the messy bathroom.

Into the bath went his boots. Into the bath went his clothes. He cleaned the slime off dad’s toothbrush.  He cleaned the mud off the floor.  He stretched up and cleaned the mud off the walls. He tried to clean the mirror but it was hard to get the streaks off. He also peeped around the door and checked the passage floor.

When the bathroom looked spotless he emptied the bath and filled it again with clean water and hopped in. He was exhausted. He lay back in the bath and looked up. There on the ceiling was the one brown spot he couldn’t reach.

Ben’s mum was very surprised to see that he had washed his dirty clothes and hung them on the clothes line. She said his boots were so clean they were almost like new. She said she hoped he wouldn’t forget to clean his boots next time he played football with his friends but to keep his dirty hands off the bathroom mirror as it was all smeared.

Ben knew he wouldn’t forget. He knew that spot on the bathroom ceiling would remind him.

The Story of Little Rain Drop

by

Catherine Fair

It was nearing the end of winter two thousand and nine, and the graduation class of the Spring Shower Academy, were enjoying their last few days of winter holidays.

It would soon be spring and one student in particular was extremely nervous. Little Rain Drop had just scraped through the theory exam at the end of last term and the thought of the practical test in a few days was spoiling the end of his holiday.

He had been practicing jumping from cloud to cloud for days to test which one to make his qualifying jump from. He had to find one that was just right. To fluffy and soft, and he would sink too far into the cloud, especially if it were a hot sunny day, he would evaporate before he hit the ground. Too hard and he would drop like a hailstone and crash through a chicken coop, a pig sty, or heaven forbid a greenhouse window. He had lost his big brother that way and that would never do.

Little Rain Drop had been living with his grandmother for quite a while now. His parents had gone to Queensland to help with the drought that was causing great hardship for the farmers. The crops were failing and because of this the cattle and sheep were dying of thirst and hunger. There had been a request for volunteers to go and help. If they could gather enough rain drops together, they could cause a huge downpour and save the crops and cattle and sheep. It was an important mission and Little Rain Drop was proud of them. He missed them very much but staying with his grandmother was the next best thing to having his parents at home. He was company for her, as she had been lonely since grandpa had passed away. Grandpa had been a very famous rain drop making over a thousand jumps before he had retired. Little Rain Drop was the last one of the family to graduate. So his jump had to be SPECIAL.

He had already picked his spot for landing. It was a kindergarten school in a small town in central Tasmania. Rain was scarce there even in winter, and he felt sorry for them. (Did you know that rain drops had very good eye sight? They need it to see where to land).

He had been watching the children at the school for a while, every time he went for a practice at cloud hopping. Their teacher had been teaching them all about vegetables and how they helped their young bodies and brains grow healthy and strong. They had so much to learn they needed all the help they could get.

The teacher had given them all a little patch of ground in the garden at the back of the school and some seedlings of – silver beet, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, and peas. They each had their own few plants to look after, and she showed them what to do.

Little Rain Drop had heard some children laughing and teasing a little boy because his plants were not growing as well as the others. (Did you know that rain drops have good hearing too?) He had decided he would help him and had asked all his friends from his graduation class to help, as none of them liked to see anyone get bullied they agreed.

The problem seemed to be a lack of water. When the teacher gave the children a watering can they all got the chance to water their plants before going home but that they would have to be careful how much they used as it was very precious. The little boy was very shy and was always last to get the watering can by then there was only a few trickles left and he was afraid to ask the teacher for more in case he used it all up. Because of this his poor plants were very thirsty which was why they were not doing so well as the others. He himself didn't know what was wrong; he just thought he was not very good at gardening.

So Little Rain Drop kept on cloud hopping till he found the right cloud. It was not too soft and not too hard, just right, spongy but firm. His grandmother had given him a few tips which helped him in his choice.

At last it was the day of the test. He was feeling more confident now he had sorted everything out. Which cloud, where to land, and the fact that he was helping a little boy save his cabbages made him feel good about himself. He settled near the edge of the cloud; Wow! It was a long way down. "Now don't lose your nerve" he said to himself. He licked his finger and held it up to see which way the wind was blowing. "Good" he said "A gentle breeze" He repositioned himself slightly and waited for the examiner.

"Hello little fellow, are you ready for the jump?" the inspector said in a loud voice. "Y-Y-Yes" he stammered and swallowed hard hoping the examiner wouldn't hear the quiver in his voice.

"Ok, now just you take a deep breath to calm your nerves. I'll count to three, and then you take a good leap off the edge. Remember, if you do it right you will get a pass, if not, you will be evaporated back up here till you do get it right. Ok, good luck, one- two- three…"

Little Rain Drop balanced his tiny feet on the edge of the cloud, bent his knees, spread his arms out, closed his eyes and jumped!! Dropping through air he felt as if something was supporting him. He opened one eye and saw a flimsy cloud almost like a veil cradling and protecting him. He also had this warm comforting feeling that his brother was beside him taking the jump with him. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared, and he was dropping through the air free and easy as all his fears left him. He opened his other eye and looked around him. His friends were all around him, they were all enjoying every minute of it, smiling from ear to ear. "Good" he said "we are on track"

As the school came into view, he could see the children and their teacher coming out into the garden. The teacher picked up the watering can to fill it at the water tank. The little boy, who had ran over to see if his plants had survived the night, called out in delight "It's raining! It's raining!" He did a dance of joy and the other children joined in. It had been weeks since any of them had seen rain, so the teacher let them enjoy being out in it. She placed the watering can back beside the tank and said "We won't be using this today!"

Little Rain Drop and his friends yelled "Yippee" as they all landed around the little boy's cabbages, the extra heavy rain fall on his patch would soon have his plants catching up with the rest and there would be no need for the other children to laugh at him anymore. It's amazing what a spring shower can achieve.

The pupils from 'Spring Shower Academy' class of Two thousand and nine would all pass their exams with flying colours. Little Rain Drop had done his grandmother and his parents proud. It was the happiest day of his life.

THE END