Here is a story I wrote. I had to write a story with the title 'Big Fish in a Small Pond' so here it is hope you enjoy.

Big Fish in a Small Pond



Life was great before this. Now, well all I do is sit here in this tiny pond. Lots of people say life sucks and they don’t even have a reason to say it. I do and can’t say it. I could try but it would probably just sound like a deep hum. Why you might ask? Well I suppose I could tell you since I’ve practically told you half of all my problems already.



Before the ‘thing’ happened I used to live in a small farm cottage with my father. The cottage was right on the west boundary of our 10 acre life style block. We farmed pigs, sheep, cows, goats, chooks and we also had a few wild geese that swam in our three small ponds. One of them had just been cleaned out so I was able to swim in it after I got of Mrs Hatchsons bus from school. That pond looked like it was out of a fairy tale. It was in the centre of one acre of bush that dad decided to spare from the bush cutters. I think it had something to do with tax cuts from the government for anyone who had some bush on their land. Anyway the bush was gorgeous. Leaves, sticks and all sorts of other debris including bright red berries littered the floor of the forest. The forest was very dense except for the track where the digger had come in. That was the track I followed to get to the lake.



The banks of the pond had short fresh new grass growing. On the opposite side of the track that lead in was wild pink roses. I once swam over to smell them but it was a bit of a let down because nearby there must have been a dead rotting goat. It stunk! I never went returned to smell the roses properly after that.



I went to the pond continually for two weeks. Nothing strange or unusual happened in that time until the first day into the third week.



I hopped off Mrs Hatchson’s bus. Unfortunately for me I slammed the door a little too hard.



”Don’t slam that door little miss you’ll be paying for it if it breaks. Just you remember that.”



She screeched at me over the noisy bus with her high pitch voice (I’m sure she is a witch). That wasn’t the unusual thing that ruined my life. That was actually practically part of my daily routine.



I then wandered down my short, gravel drive-way to my home. At that time I was in one of those moods where you have a completely blank mind. I guess you could call it the robot mood. Anyway I went inside. Dad still wasn’t home from work as usual, that left the cottage with an empty feeling. I grabbed my towel and togs from my room and left a small note for dad on the coffee table. Dad knew where I went every day so I don’t really know why I left a note each day.

I was all set. I strode out of the back door. The robot mood had somehow disappeared from me sometime when I was inside and like Holmes I didn’t just see I observed.



I reached the metal pipe gate which lead onto the track that the digger made within five minutes of walking. That must have been a record for me. I unlatched it and went through. The quality of the track immediately decreased after the gate. The track that the digger had made to get to the pond was very py.



I was about quarter of the way to the pond when something flashy caught my eye. It was a few rainbow coloured sparks that had just seemed to appear in the air from nothing. I frowned. How mysterious. The only reason I could think of sparks was fire or sparks from some sort of electrical appliance. Neither of those fitted the surroundings. I was curious so I wandered over to where the sparks had burst up.



Suddenly two more sets of sparks burst up out of nowhere. They burst into smaller sparks then the smaller sparks nurst into smaller one till they disappeared totally from sight. By now I had jumped backwards away from the sparks. Once they stopped I continued forward. I should have been scared out of mind but for some reason I just wasn’t. I was still very cautious.



The image of what I found sitting down in the debris still stays in my mind to this very day. There sitting, looking up at me was a mini bird/person. His name as I was later to find out was Burson. Birson was somewhere between 20 -25cm tall and was unusually skinny. He wore a red and white spotted patch over his right eye. His head was shaped like a bird so the patch sat awkwardly. The rest of Birson was human like except for two large (for Birson’s size) wings that spread twice the width of Birson out each side and were just as tall as him. The clothes he wore looked as though they were once very bright and colourful clothes but when I saw them they were a dull worn colour. They had dirt spread al over them and were torn everywhere. The sleeves were cut short and had began to fray it was the same with his pant that were turned into shorts. He shorts and shirt showed of is extraordinarily pale skin. It was almost as white as a polar bears fur. His skin matched his feathers on his head and wings. They were also white but had been stained by dirt and had rainbow coloured feathers placed randomly amongst them.



“Hello, hello how are you today.” He had a high pitch voice that sounded like he was chirping.



“You’re my neighbour Alice. Well we finally met face to face. I’m Birson and I’ve been watching you. You are pretty fast at swimming up and down that lake Alice. You can hold your breath for a long time. You like swimming don’t you Alice?” It was the first time Birson had stopped talking.



He was looking up at me expecting an answer. He wouldn’t get one from me though I was in total shock. I was amazed and frightened. I am almost certain you could have parked a double decked bus in my mouth it was open that wide. I didn’t have to worry though, Burson already knew the answer.



“You do. I know you do. You are always in there laughing and splashing around. I like watching you from the tall trees at the edge of the pond. Let’s be friends. I’ll go with you to the pond. Come on.” Burson chirped. He was up in the air fluttering about. Each time his wings moved a small spark exactly like I had seen earlier came bursting of them.



Burson gave a large gesture for me to follow. I did. I have no idea why. I never used to even talk to strangers before the thing happened. So why did I follow Burson who is a mythical creature that the world doesn’t belive in. Those who do don’t know very much about them either. It might have been that I drawn in by the dazzling sparks but I’m positive it was partly to do with my curiosity. Like the saying goes ‘curiosity killed the cat’. I guees you could say it practically killed me.



When we reached the pond, I stood at the edge still. I was staring at Burson who was hovering above the lake. Burson stared back. Finally he chirped up.



“Well don’t just stand there aren’t you going swimming today? Hurry up and get in!” I quickly nodded my head up and down. Then I went over to a corner and got into my togs.



The water was very cool and refreshing compared to the hot air outside.



“Finally, took you long enough. Hmm. Do you no that I can grant wishes.” Birson chirped.



“No you can’t” I looked up at him. Wow I actually said something. I decided that I’d started talking so there was no going back.



“And why is that young miss” Burson was doing the equivalent of a human frowning.



“Well that’s simply impossible and that’s all there is to it.”



“Alice I can prove you wrong. I could grant you a wish. Anything at all I tell you. Well just to prove to you I’ll try to turn you into a whale that fits into this pond. Then if it works you’ll believe me and I can grant your wishes. If it doesn’t then you can tease me for as long as you like. First I’ll need your permission though.”



“Well seen as it’s not going to work I agree.” I think that, that is the stupidest thing I have ever said. I had seen the sparks on his wings. I had seen how weird Burson looked. Why didn’t I just click that Burson was something beyond humans. I guees I just wanted to prove Burson wrong



Burson drew out a tiny wand that glittered from his rough trouser/shorts pocket. The wand deffinetly didn’t match his rough style of clothing.



“Ready?” I nodded my head.



“Close your eyes.” I did so with a smile on my face.



“One two three turn Alice into a whale.”



A big gust of wind hit me with a lot of force. I didn’t get knocked over. How queer I thought.



“You can open your eyes now,” chirped Birson with a lot of pride in his squeaky voice.



I did and to my total and utter shock, I was a whale.



“What do you think?”



“Hmmmmmm,” a deep hum came from my mouth that could really fit a double decked bus in it. It was actually meant to sound like, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh change me back you idiot! This is really freaking me out.”



“Oh no you can’t talk that means I don’t know whether you agree to being changed back to a human or not.” Bursons face was filled with terror.



“Hummmmmm.” That was meant to be, ‘you idiot, idiot, idiot.’



“I’ll go get help. I know the exact person I will ask. Wait here.” Birson fluttered away with the sparks bursting behind him.



“Hummmm.” That was me sobbing.



Burson didn’t come back that day or even that night. He didn’t come the next day or the next or the next after that. He still hasn’t come back. I’m still all alone. Nobody has found me. Dad hasn’t even been here looking for me. That really worries me. He should have been here by now.



So now you know why my life sucks. Oh and please visit I’m bored.