My juvenilia The following stories were written at: almost 4 years | ages 5 or 6 | age 7 | age 11 | age 12 Back to the writing page, the hobbies page, or the main page.

Me when I was seven.

DEBORAH'S STORIES (age almost 4)

These were written up for me by Mum.

MIRROR DEBORAH

I looked in the mirror and there was another Deborah.

She gave me a house but I didn't like it.

She gave me a tree but I didn't like it.

She gave me a flower but I didn't like it.

She gave me a road and I did like it.

THE WILD ANIMAL

One day we were still home and the door was locked and a wild animal kicked the door and it broke.

We looked out of the window and it wasn't outside it was inside.

I didn't want a wild animal in my house so I moved to another house and the wild animal came.

I put pyjamas on its mouth. Then it couldn't eat me up.

But it could take its pyjamas off then eat me up because it was very hungry. It even could eat Russell up because it was very hungry and Russell cried so hard.

My baby toe was all eaten up. My other other baby toes were all eaten up too. My big toe couldn't be eaten up because I wanted to keep it. I didn't have very much toes.

FUNNY PEOPLE

Once we had two noses and two mouths and one eye and a hand on our head and a hand on our tummy and two ears.

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THE FAIRY AND THE GOBLIN (age 5 or 6)

This is typed; probably dictated to Mum again but maybe not.

Once upon a time there was a fairy. One day, she decided to go to a mountain. She did not know that on that mountain there lived a mean, terrifying evil goblin, when she had decided to go there.

When she got there she decided to unpack her belongings to see what she had. She 12 bags of lunch, 5 different maps; a book to write in; a few packets of seeds; and some trees to plant.

She decided to plant the trees and some seeds. But before she could breathe, the ground began to shake. She looked behind her and THERE WAS THE GOBLIN! He said "What are YOU doing here?" The fairy shivered with fright.

"IIII dddidn't knnnnow yyyyou wwwwere here" "What are you doing here?" said the goblin angrily stamping his feet. "To see what was here" said the fairy (She had forgotten about when she was scared)

The fairy went to look around and found someone called Mrs Walker. The fairy said to Mrs Walker "Be careful. There is a goblin here. Shall we be friends?" "I'd like to be friends but how did you know that there was a goblin?" said Mrs Walker "I've met one before" said the fairy "And it was on this mountain". "Well, we'd better do something about it" said Mrs Walker.

"I found a deep, deep deep hole on this mountain, I'll get some bananas and put them there. I've got a net. We can trap the goblin" said Mrs Walker. So that's what she did. She asked the goblin to get the bananas. The goblin went down and was caught. Everyone lived happily ever after.

THE END

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THE TERRIBLE THINGS

This story and onwards are in my own printing, in a school exercise book; written for creative writing in school. The "club" mentioned at the end of this one I think betrays my interest in Enid Blyton's "Secret Seven" series at the time.

THE STORM

Once upon a time there lived 3 children. They were called Deborah, Russell and, Sonia. They lived at 64 Wilsons Rod. One morning, they read the newspaper. "Tonight there will be a terrible storm" they said. All day they sat worrying at the table.

Slowly the time passed. In 20 hours (like it seemed to them) it was bedtime. Soon Russell and Sonia were asleep, but Deborah couldn't get to sleep. Suddenly something terrible happened! The storm started! Suddenly, a whirlwind came in the open window! It wrapped up Russell! It went up, up, up, and up! Soon he was over New Zealand. "What shall I do," thought Deborah. "I can't try and save him myself, or I'll be in there too. If I wake up Mum and Dad, they'll say to wait till morning, but then it will be too late. What on earth can I do?"

By now, Russell was over Rarotonga. He went all over the world. (I don't know how he breathed.) Suddenly, he dropped down on England. It was on the middle of the road. Someone picked him up. They put him in a warm bed. Soon he woke up. It was morning. He got up and looked for his clothes. They weren't there! (We know what happened.) He got back to bed. Then he went to sleep. When he woke up, he was made to scrub the floor. When he started work, something rubbed against his legs.

He looked down, and to his surprise there was a rainbow cat! It asked him, "Would you like 3 wishes?" He said, "Yes, please!" "What are they?" "How did I get here?" "A better one." "How will I get free?" "All you have to do is break this with this hammer." "Thanks," said Russell.

He took the hammer and smashed the mirror, then he got back home. When he was back, everyone (except Deborah) was surprised. "Where have you been!" they asked. "To England," he answered. Everyone was angry.

THE FLOOD

"There's a flood, by the way, spreading all through New Zealand," said Deborah. "Our relatives!" cried Russell.

"There's a storm too."

"We've got good luck!" cried Russell. He bent down and whispered to them. (It was the same as last time. But everyone slept in Sonia's bed.) That night everyone went to bed. Soon they had everything with them in the whirlwind.

They got to England safely. They were safe! They had sleep and food. They slept all night. The children visited Hokeyduck School. They learned lots of things. One day they learned their ten times tables. Meanwhile, at New Zealand, the flood was going on and on, and on. Luckily, it wasn't on their relations side. Over there, it was fine. Nana was collecting wood for the bonfire. Ian and Grandad were watching it.

At Alison's, she was hanging out the clothes. Her sister was making her bed. At Janet's, Sarah was in bed. Keith was reading the newspaper, as usual. It said about the flood.

Soon the flood ended. The family went back to New Zealand.

BACK AT HOME

When they got home, Russell said, "That was how I got to England." And told them his story. They all listened carefully. Soon they went slowly to bed.

In the morning, they got up and dressed. They played with their new toys, and read books. Then they visited their neighbours and got a packet of chocolate. They went home as merry as you can be. One day (it was a fine day) their next door neighbours bore baaaad news. They thought about telling the other family. First they had a rest.

When they woke up, it was too late to tell them.

Suddenly, the 1st family's house caught on fire.

That family just happened to've gone on a holiday at Nana's. They rang the fire brigade and told them what had happened.

Soon they heard the siren blow. It slowed down to a stop. It put out the fire. Luckily, nothing got burnt. Meanwhile, at Dannevirke, the others were walking on a cliff. They didn't notice the edge. The husband shouted, "Watch out!" but it was too late. They fell off the cliff and broke their left arms.

A HAPPY ENDING

They got better soon. They couldn't walk well though.

When they got home, they got some chocolate. They had a club, they broke the chocolate and put it in a bowl. Everyone lived happily ever after!

THE END

NEAT AND SCRUFFY

My teacher writes "Excellent use of speech marks Deborah!" but I had to add the paragraphing while typing this up....

"Hello. My name is Jill. This is Jack, my brother. We have a baby called Sindy. Tomorrow is my birthday. I might get a horse."

"Jack! Jill! Time for bed."

"Oh, Mum! I'm talking to some children."

"Go to bed."

"Bye, children. I have to go to bed." "Hi! I have to go to school."

"Bye, Jill, bye. See you in the afternoon."

"La la lee la. Happy birthday to me
happy birthday to me
happy birthday to Jill
happy birthday to me."

"Hi! I'm back again. Today it's my birthday. I have got the horse! It's a wishing one too! I'll ride it to show you. See."

"Wow!"

"I'll go in for afternoon tea." "Hello. I'm back again. Michael and Janet, you can ride on Jack's horse, but it's not a wishing one. Oh! I'm neat but Jack's scruffy. He seems to get all the bad things. Neat and scruffy. How's that?"

"Jill! Time for your afternoon nap."

"Bye! I have to have my afternoon nap, children." "Hello. I'm back again. Jack's home again. Don't tell him Janet and Michael had a ride on his horse or I'll be in real trouble."

"Jes, Jill."

"Oh, here he comes. Shhhhh!"

"Mum!"

"That's Jill."

"Can we go to the school fair?"

"Yes, darling."

"Children! You must come to the school fair."

"Yay!"

"Oh. It's my afternoon nap. Bye!"

THE FAIRY DOLL

Once upon a time there lived a girl called Sindy. She wanted very much to have a fairy doll. As days went by her first tooth got wigglier and wigglier. Son it came out. She put it on her bookshelf.

She woke up early in the morning. First thing, she was dazzled. Then, she saw a fairy with a thousand dollar note. The fairy said, "This is for you. So is the fairy doll. It's magic!" "Yes, please!"

"Okay. Here you go." "Thanks." So Sindy took the fairy doll and the thousand dollar note. "The doll will give you good luck," said the fairy. And with a wave of her wand she disappeared. When it was 1 o'clock, she suddenly thought, "What if it gives me bad luck?" But it dever did. It taught her to fly, knit, and do dishes. She made her run fast for the leader, climb trees and that stuff. Well, one day when Sindy was being taught to fly, the fairy doll said, "There's going to be a flood in 5 hours. We've got enough time to pack up. The the family, friends, and enemies. We must leave in less than 2 hours."

So, everyone packed and left in an hour. They had 2 hours to get to the aeroplane and to Australia, if they didn't they'd drown. Well, the plane got held up for nearly 2 hours. Everyone started to fly after the 1st dong. But however much they tried they could not get up except Sindy. She got a rope and pulled them up. They were all safe!

When the flood came up high, Sindy dropped her enemies down. Down, down, down they went. Splash! "Hellllllp!" they yelled. Everyone laughed and flew on.

Soon they came to Auckland. "Fly on!" yelled Sindy. Everyone obeyed her. Soon they were near Australia. "Down toward Australia!" yelled Sindy. Everyone obeyed. They were safe! Soon they went home.

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(age 7)

There actually was a hole in the river bank, but only about half a metre deep.

The car came up the drive. Into the house came Dad. "Hello Dad," I said. "Hello Deborah," he said, carrying in his suitcase. "Just next to the river there is a hole that if any part of you is in the hole if you wish anything it will come true."

"Bye," I said. "Where are you going?" he asked. But he was too late. I was already out the door and heading towards the river. When I got there I found the hole and went down. Almost immediately I found myself in a completely different world. The leaves were green peppermint jelly, the sticks were chocolate and everything was made to eat. I almost wished I could live there forever but I remembered just in time.

I looked at my watch and found out in that land I could eat my clothing. The time was six o'clock. Almost dinner. But while I was there I knocked on the door of the prettiest house. The door was opened by an old widow. "Why do you live here?" I asked. "Because I can't get out. Come in, come in. The radio said it would rain just about now. Why do you want to know?" the widow asked.

"You could make steps or wish yourself out," I said.

"That's a good idea," she said to me. "Have an orange." I accepted the orange and went to work straight away. In ten minutes I had finished. I went back to the house, had some water and looked at my watch. It was still six! The widow explained that as it was made on Earth, it was still Earth time. Also, you could stay in Candy-land for thousands of years as in Earth it was only one minute. "Would you like a Candy-land watch? It shows our time so you won't come here at night." I took the watch and said goodbye. When I got back, I hadn't been away for even a second. From then on, whenever I was bored, I went to Candy-land.

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SEARCH FOR A MYTH (age 11)

The exercise for this one was to write a story based on a painting the teacher showed us. I was very proud of the result because it was 1000 words long! I found an opportunity a while later to show a copy to Margaret Mahy, a famous New Zealand writer; she gave me some structural advice about it, but I never got around to rewriting it.

It was an ominous winter day, and the cold grey waves were lapping at the bay shore. The clouds gathered together in the misty sky as the chill wind ruffled the leaves of the trees. William buttoned up his bush jacket tighter with his numb hands as he struggled to walk against the strong wind. 1989 hadn't been a good year, first the drought and then the rain and wind; and, especially in the morning, it was now always cold.

He walked towards the cliffs looming up to the dark sky, and away from the hills sloping up and down behind him. He was making his way to a large cave, legendarily housing a dragon. A long time ago, on a misty day, someone had seen a something fly overhead, and had naturally assumed it was a dragon. He had decided to make a 3-day trip into the cave to search for it. His mother had laughed, but made no objection; she would have five kids on her hands as it was. Most of the room in his pack was taken up with food; he had several packets of raisins in his pockets. He also had a torch, spare batteries and a spare bulb, and several candles and a packet of matches for emergencies. Added to several balls of string and a length of rope his back pack was crammed full and he carried several buckets for "bringing back the treasure". As the cave drew nearer William felt a surge of excitement, and would have run towards it had it not been for his heavy load and the strong wind.

At last William came to the cave's entrance. He hesitated for a moment, and walked in. There were several passages to choose from; he decided to go into the far right tunnel. There was a sharp left turn almost immediately; who could tell what was behind it?

As William rounded the corner he gazed at his surroundings. The walls were cold and spiky, and the floor cold and hard. Further into the cave was lit up by sparkling diamonds Chests sprang open at the merest touch, and so many pearls and other gems spilled out that he knew he could live ten times his lifetime in the luxuriest luxury.

Was there still a dragon hoarding away treasure? As William went further his eyes became used to the dim torch light, and he walked faster, determined to solve the mystery of the cave.

The calcite walls around him were stained bright red, and sometimes when a corner loomed up it seemed as if it was fire coming from a dragon's mouth. He often had to duck under stalactites, and move around stalagmites. Many joined together to form weird creatures such as giants, or bears. Underwater streams flowed to and fro, and William tramped on and on, mapping out the cave. At the end of what William guessed to be the day, he sat down and sipped at the hot soup from his first thermos flask. As William dozed off he thought of the day's adventures -- the chests of treasure, the 'giants' and 'bears', and of course just coming here.

* * *

When he woke up in the morning William stretched his limbs and finished off last night's soup. He filled his pockets with packets of raisins, picked up his clipboard and map, and started again, tramping. Whenever he used up a ball of string he tied another on to it, hoping that there would be enough balls to last the journey. His torch suddenly flickered and died out. By candlelight William put in the spare batteries, and quickly blew out the candle. He turned on the torch and started tramping again.

Suddenly, ahead of him, he could see the end of the tunnel, a waterfall. The loud roar had been inaudible before -- now it came to him full-blast. As the pearly drops fell down, so did his heart, for this meant the end of his search. But William thought of something. Could a dragon be hiding in a cave behind the waterfall? He tied the rope around his waist in a bowline, hurled the other tied end to a craggy rock sticking out, and started climbing. Not far from where he had been standing, behind the waterfall, was a cave with a dragon's sleeping body.

Tunnels behind it went on and on -- a pot-holer's paradise. But William had found what he had been searching for, so he turned back, jubilant.

As he travelled over the familiar ground, he thought of what he'd have to tell his mother. Treasure, a sleeping dragon -- and she had laughed! William thought about it and sat down to sip again at a thermos of hot soup. His mother would be surprised.

* * *

He woke up in the morning, fully refreshed. After a quick breakfast he set off again. But it wasn't long before his torch flickered again, and, having no more spare batteries, William lit candles the rest of the way. When he came to the treasure he filled his buckets, and set off home. Outside the cave the light startled him, but he soon got used to it, and started back to his house. It was warmer than when he left, and the sky and sea were blue.

When William saw the small white cottage in which the family lived, with creepers cheerfully climbing up the sides of it, carefully missing the windows; and his mother pegging out the washing with her five children racing around, screaming, he raised his hand and yelled in a mysterious manner, "Mother! Guess what I've got for you!"

Wake up, William," his mother laughed.

"It's true, look!" he said. His mother peered into one bucket, then another. "Oh, WIlliam," she said softly.

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JOURNEY TO THE END OF TIME (age 12)

This might have been started when I was younger, but the last work done on it was at this age. The first few paragraphs show the influence of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" but I don't know about the rest. Mwoork and Mwaark were from a couple of alien pencil-ends that my father had given me (see the illustration below, it's a pretty good likeness). This was supposed to be a book, but I only wrote two chapters and then got stuck, not knowing what was to happen next.

Chapter 1

The footsteps came closer. Russell huddled behind a pile of old tin cans. A door squeaked open and a tall man with a moustache appeared. He came forward and made a few adjustments on the pile of junk and made an exit. As the door closed, Russell leapt to his feet and ran forward to what he guessed was a spaceship. He climbed inside, closing the door after him. Russell bumped into the wall, accidentally pushing a button. The glass space-ship disappeared and appeared again and Russell found himself looking down at tiny houses.

He looked up. He seemed to be getting nearer a swirling mass of rainbow cloud. Looking down again, he could see he was getting nearer his home, he could even see his family. But that was impossible! Unless they were both getting nearer him. He must be stationary... But anyway; he could see that the clouds were coming more rapidly than the Earth. He wondered what was hidden behind the veil of colourful cloud. It was sure to be something exciting.

While he was thinking, the swirling cascade of colours became brighter, and thicker. It was so bright that Russell had to close his eyes going through it, and missed seeing the beauty of the Palaxian country.

All at once there was a whirling noise and a sudden jolt. Russell opened his eyes, but couldn't believe what he saw. Two peculiar but rather cute creatures were sitting outside the spaceship, looking at Russell as if he was an alien. Russell's thoughts wandered as he thought of home. It was 1988 when he had taken the dare. Maybe while he was travelling through space, time had altered. It was just after lunch, his watch showed, yet he was famished.

Abruptly the ground shifted. The spaceship moved closer to the aliens and Russell got out by impulse. The red alien took a step forward and pointed to itself.

"Mwoork," it said.

Russell wondered what it meant.

The yellow creature interrupted his thoughts. "Mwa... Mwaaa... Mwaark!" it said.

Suddenly Russell perceived the ritual. He stepped forward and pointed to himself.

"Russell," he said.

Immediately Mwoork started babbling away. He was an extreme babbler, while the other talked with difficulty.

Chapter 2

"Welcome to Palaxia," Mwoork said in an accented voice. "We hope you will enjoy your trip here. You must be hungry. Come with us," he said, beckoning. Russell followed Mwoork and Mwaark into a cozy, but untidy cavern. Paper littered the area, although the cave had an air of being perfectly neat.

Mwoork snapped his fingers and all the paper was whisked into a drum-shaped container in the coner of the room labelled "LARDER".

Mwoork snapped his fingers a second time, and a dwarf-like creature appeared, holding a menu in his hand.

"What will you have, Russell? Our best is 'Cartridge Delight', but there are other favourites, too. Have a look at the menu," invited Mwoork.

Russell had wondered at the familiar name of 'Cartridge', and when he looked at the menu he saw why. It was full of names like 'Chestry Newsprint' and 'Refill Galore', and in brackets on some of them it said '(with glitter sauce)'.

"But I don't eat paper!" he blurted out.

"You don't?" said Mwoork.

"No!" said Russell. "We draw on it."

"I always wondered why there was such a lot of paper lying around," commented Mwaark, speaking for the first time. "Now I know."

"Oh well," said Mwoork. "We do have other foods, although paper forms most of our diet. Come on, Mwaark, we'll go outside and collect some 'Earth' food. You come, too, Russell. You'll learn a lot about Palaxia."

The party proceeded outside, Russell going first. For the first time he actually noticed the beautiful countryside, with green grass, tall trees, birds chirping --- in fact, everything Earth was before Man started changing it.

Russell mentioned this to Mwoork and Mwaark. They said: "Yes, that's why many of Earth's creatures moved here. The unicorn, for instance."

Russell stumbled over a long blue tail. It rose and soon they could all see a long jelly-like creature in the sky.

"W-what's that?" quavered Russell.

"What you would call a dragon. Everyone here calls him Cyclops. I don't know why. He's got over forty eyes."

"Another of those animals who immigrated here," added Mwaark.

"What other animals moved here?" asked Russell.

"Creatures like the dodo and moa tried to move, but they didn't make it in time. Most dinosaurs came here, though. There are fauns, centaurs and giants, as well," answered Mwoork.

"They're all friendly, too," continued Mwaark.

The ground started shaking and the two Palaxians looked at each other and spoke together.

"Except for one."

Unlikely to be continued...

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Email me if you're an editor wanting to publish some of this. I'm particularly fond of "The Fairy Doll". :-)