After my first story ever at eight years old, I wrote another one a few years later. According to the same notebook, I wrote it when I was 11. At the time, I was convinced I was going to be a famous author and should date my work.
Introduction
Hi, I’m Kim and I am 10 years old. I am in the fifth grade. I would love to tell my story about my two best friends, Tom and Eve.
Chapter 1
It’s Monday today. We had only just gotten to class, when there was a knock on the door. It was the principal who had two children with him. A boy and a girl. They were from Germany and had just moved here. Their names are Tom and Eve. Eve was sat on my left and Tom on my right. I found it odd that they could already understand and speak Dutch so well. They have only been here for 1 year and yet they are at the top of the class. They became close friends with everyone.
One day, Tom and Eve didn’t come to school. Everybody found that weird because if they were suck, we would usually already know that early in the morning. (They live across from me.) The children of the class came to ask me if I know where they were. I didn’t know either. In class, we asked our teacher; At first he wouldn’t say, but eventually he said: “They are being deported! Because Germany is now at war with our country!” Everybody found that very unjust.
We talked about it with the entire class, and decided to do a sitting strike the next day at the playground. Everybody went home that night to tell their parents. All parents were okay with it, gave us blankets and pillows, food and more of those things. We didn’t show it. The teacher also didn’t know anything yet.
We waited until the first reces and now we are sitting down. Many children who are younger, also quickly came to sit down. As soon as the school knew the reason why, they all followed. (Including the teachers.) That is what happened for one week in a row. Parents kept bringing clothes and blankets and food. The parents of some children also sat down.
On the last day of the week (Sunday) the Minister of Education came by and arranged everything. “Tom and Eve can stay!” All children cheered and were happy. “Our strike succeeded!” Tom and Even were very happy and grateful.
The end.
Yes, I know, a story with only one chapter? I think I started somewhere, not knowing where it would end. But I do remember this story, or at least where it came from. At the time, there were a few news stories about children being deported because their home countries were at war. Of course not Germany, more like Syria and some African countries, but what did I know at the time? It’s clearly something that stuck in my mind, especially the story where a school child had to go back, and the entire school went into a strike that unfortunately didn’t change anything. And I’ve always been a sucker for happy ending, so apparently I decided to write my own.
Happy reading,
Loes M.