Book - The Wheel Estate

Parameters

TEAM DETAILS

STATE:

QLD

DIVISION: Upper School SCHOOL/GROUP: SOMERSET COLLEGE TEAM NAME:

WE’RE NOT THE BEST BUT WE’RE THE SPICIEST

TEAM ID:

621

PARAMETERS AND RANDOM WORDS

Parameters Primary character 1: Primary character 2: Non-­human character:

Construction worker

Backpacker

Emu

Setting:

Camping ground Moving house

Issue:

Random words Silver patch struggle clock prickly

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Written by: Vivi Baker, Montana MacFarlane, Winnie Chen, Zhouminna Ma, Hamish Folliott, Georgina Powell, Ruby Sherrington, Zara Smith, Anna Georgeson, Rebecca Zielinski

Illustrated by: Winnie Chen, Rebecca Zielinski, Zhouminna Ma & Zara Smith.

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Copyright

Published by WE’RE NOT THE BEST BUT WE’RE THE SPICIEST, Somerset College, Somerset Dr, Mudgeeraba QLD 4213. Vivi Baker, Montana MacFarlane, Winnie Chen, Zhouminna Ma, Hamish Folliott, Rebecca Zielinski, Georgina Powell, Ruby Sherrington, Zara Smith, Anna Georgeson

Copyright © 2018, Somerset College.

All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

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Dedicated to all the children at the hospital. May you find friends where you least expected to. Play with the cards life deals you and it will end in something magical.

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C hapter C ontents

Backpacking and Bents

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Bumpy Beginnings

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Busybody Birds

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Bothers and Backbone

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Boom, Crash, Bang

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Better Things Beyond

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Acknowledgements

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B ackpacking and B ents Bonnie had an early night last night. I’m telling you this because she’s the protagonist, and that’s the kind of thing protagonists do in stories. It had been a long day, chopping and hammering and digging, building houses for families like she had been doing since she was young. It was a tough gig, being a construction worker. At least, that’s what Bonnie thought. I wouldn’t know. But regardless, she slept soundly. Except not for long, because that would be a very boring story. Nobody in good stories gets a solid night’s sleep, probably because the writers of said stories don’t either. The point is that Bonnie slept, albeit momentarily. Her caravan was small, but cozy. The trailer park in which it sat was small, but cozy. The people she nodded and avoided eye contact with on her way to buy groceries every Tuesday were… small, but cozy. Everything in her small but cozy world was quiet and uneventful, but Bonnie did not mind. Most of the time. She liked the routine, the kind of stillness that surrounded her existence. Except not really, because main characters are never actually happy with their lives in the beginning. Of course, deep down, she wished for an adventure. Something exciting to break the silence and the solitude. Because if Bonnie was already truly fulfilled, we would have a very boring story, wouldn’t we? So Bonnie slept, soundly, momentarily. And while she slept, our other main character was making his way to the caravan park. Of course, you need at least two main characters in a story, because that’s how stories go, isn’t it? So let’s call this guy Byron. Byron the Backpacker. His name alliterates as all quirky, eccentric characters’ names do. So Byron the Backpacker had just travelled all around the world after graduation, as backpackers do, and was conveniently looking for somewhere to rest, at a caravan park. The same caravan park that Bonnie conveniently lived at, who would have thought? How convenient. And of course, Byron was really really tired from travelling all around the world, and all he wanted to do was fall asleep in a small, cozy caravan. Byron had been trekking from Newcastle, via Angourie and -­ you guessed it -­ Byron Bay, through everything from thick, prickly bushes to crowded town squares, to get to this rather run-­ down corner of the world which, coincidentally, bears a striking resemblance to a less government-­protected version of Fraser Island, minus the sunburnt tourists and the rather devastating marine pollution. And so he had been trekking, for days at a time. He was tired but happy;; for, unlike Bonnie, he loved disorder. He had no permanent house, but he didn’t mind. Byron travelled from town to town making friends, creating homes for himself wherever he went. His world was as big and boundless as Bonnie’s was small and restricted. They have to be different, because the main characters must possess opposing traits to allow for conflict later in the story (you didn’t hear that from me). So Byron crept soundlessly towards the ajar screen door of a certain small, cozy caravan, hoping for a space to rest his head for a few hours before moving to the next town. It was growing harder to keep his eyes open, and he nearly fell flat inching up the rickety caravan steps. Stumbling through the doorway, he opened the door with a conspicuous creak, slowly but unlucky enough to cause the keys resting halfway in the keyhole to fall onto ground in a

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clattering heap, yet Bonnie did not wake… Conveniently. He continued forward, and unceremoniously fell in a heap on the floor. Still Bonnie slept. And soon enough, so did Byron. And just like that, we have brought our two unlikely protagonists together. In the same caravan, no less. Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

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B umpy B eginnings Fast forward to the next morning. Don’t pay too much attention to the passing of time in stories, it is utterly confusing, the understanding of it brings no enlightenment to anyone. Simply accept it was the morning, and enjoy what follows. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, you know the drill. Bonnie was the first to rise, and it didn’t take long for her to discover the intruder in her humble abode;; in fact, it took her precisely 24 seconds. “ What the schnitzel? ” (This is not, in fact, what Bonnie actually said. She said a word that was far worse. But for the sake of offending few and pleasing many, I have replaced the profanity with a widely-­ adored Australian delicacy.) “Who are you?!” Byron woke with a start, shocked at the sight of an enraged woman yelling in his face, nearly knocking a rustic silver clock off the table beside him. “I’m B-­Byron” Byron stammered, shaking himself awake and narrowing his eyes to shield against the morning light streaming through the tiny caravan windows. “What time is it? Where am I? Who… are you ?” Bonnie scowled crossly. “Could be asking the same of you, mate. What d’you think you’re doing, sleeping in someone else’s trailer? You a delinquent? Should I even ask… look at those clothes!” It was at this point that Bonnie stopped shaking her finger in Byron’s face, and instead began pacing, mumbling to herself. “Absolutely ridiculous… these kids, no respect for personal property. I’m gonna be late for work, that’s never happened before and I’m not about to let it happen now.” “I-­ I’m so sorry,” Byron stuttered nervously, embarrassed. “I don’t want to get in your way of getting to work but if I could just stay here for-­” “Who do you think you are?” Bonnie yelled. “Do you realise that some folks might not be as lenient as me?” “Hardly,” Byron muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to offend, but I do kinda feel like you’re overreacting a bit. If you’d just let me explain-­” “How dare you talk to me like that!” Bonnie exclaimed. “You really don’t get it, do you? You can’t just go around sleeping in random people’s houses. Besides, you look like you haven’t had a shower in months!” “Well you see, it’s part of this vibe I’ve got going-­” Bonnie was perplexed, to say the least. She didn’t care for vibes, or chakras, or any of the ‘spiritual riff-­raff’ that Byron seemed to enjoy. She preferred crosswords in the newspaper and early nights and cups of green tea. “How could anyone live like that?” she questioned, sounding scandalised. “Hey!” he interjected angrily, quick to jump to the defence of his chosen lifestyle. “A year of adventure may not be for everyone, but could you give me a break here? I’ve been through a rough patch this week in terms of makeshift accommodation and I only found a camping site today, so I don’t appreciate that you -­”. Of course, we won’t know what Byron was

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going to say, as all good stories pause in the heat of the moment. So here we are, in the heat of the moment. This also happens to be the perfect time for the two characters to abruptly fall over as they realise that the caravan had begun to roll. But not a leisurely roll, oh no, that wouldn’t do. It was a very vigorous, fast-­paced, heart-­pumping roll down a very steep hill. The kind of roll that sends furniture tumbling down and slams the doors shut. In half a moment, both Bonnie and Byron were on the floor, and struggling to stand as the little home on wheels bumped and groaned down the hill. Fortunately, the hill was steep enough to provide excitement, but not enough to cause bodily harm to our main characters. Such a relief. Bonnie groaned. Just the kind of thing that would happen to me, she thought. Which is true, as her character has been designed for just this purpose. Bonnie stumbled onto the bed at the back of the caravan, and peeked through the curtain covering the window. There was no end in sight. Of course, in real life you would be able to see the bottom of a hill. But this is my story, so let’s disregard logic and say that there is no end in sight. Bonnie liked to consider herself as the kind of person who remained calm in a crisis or in times of struggle . It was in the job requirement, after all. But I’m afraid to say that after checking the doors and the windows only to find herself locked in her own caravan with a stranger, the panic set in and she entered a state which could be generously described as ‘frantic.’ And with that, it begins to look like our main protagonists are going to be stuck with each other for a while.

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B usybody B irds Obviously, Bonnie knew who must be at fault for this. Of course, the main character rarely knows the true cause of the undesirable situations they land themselves in, but let’s roll with it for now. There was no way that they would be able to stop the caravan. Again, instead of investigating how the characters know this, let’s continue with the story. She took a breath, preparing to unleash a verbal tirade on her unexpected visitor, but something stopped her just before she spoke. A tiny brown speck had appeared in the distance. “What… is that?” Bonnie asked in a strangled voice. “What is what? You haven’t even told me your name yet by the way. And you accuse me of bad manners...” Byron grumbled, rubbing his head gingerly. “No, look, what is that?” Bonnie insisted, trying to get Byron’s attention. Byron finally peaked through the curtain and saw what looked like a large boulder of sand and dust charging up the hill. Boulders of dust and sand are very mysterious, so are a good indication that something mysterious is going to happen, if I do say so myself. “Is it coming towards us?” Byron asked fearfully. “Get a grip kid, there is no way in the world that it would come near-­” There was a massive bang and Bonnie and Byron were thrown back onto the bed. Sitting up, the stared at the incredible sight before them. “Is that… an ostrich?” Bonnie exclaimed.

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“What else could it be?” Byron breathed. They looked on in shock as the figure stared at them through the window.

“Let me in, why don’t you?” it squawked indignantly. Bonnie slowly opened the door and it tumbled in, before standing and ruffling its feathers, affronted, and opened its beak to speak. “An ostrich? How dare you call me an ostrich? I, my petty and insignificant humans, am an EMU! The greatest bird to ever grace the Earth, let alone Australia! And you compare me to an ostrich? You may as well compare a common cane toad to a majestic frilled-­neck lizard! An ostrich, my word…” Byron stared uncomprehendingly at the emu, too dumbfounded to reply, while Bonnie’s prior uncharacteristic panic flared up for the second time that morning. The emu looked back at them, waiting for them to speak. “Well, where are your manners? Aren’t you even going to ask for my name?” Of course, we could continue this story by saying that both Bonnie and Byron were so confused that they couldn’t bring themselves to respond, but that doesn’t make the story very interesting, now does it? Byron recovered first. “What…what is your name?” he asked, trying and failing to sound more confident than he felt. After all, it isn’t every day that you meet a talking emu. “Why, I am Eddie the Emu of course! You must have heard of me.” Eddie puffed out his chest and did a twist, knocking over the few surviving cups on Bonnie’s counter on the way but not seeming to care. Bonnie then realised that she had been so caught up in what was happening, that for the last five minutes, she hadn’t worried even for a moment that she was missing work, that her perfectly constructed daily routine had officially been well and truly disrupted. In fact, she was almost enjoying it. The unexpectedness. The speed. It reminded her of rollercoaster rides she had been on when she was a kid. I’m going crazy , she thought. Little did Bonnie know, Byron was thinking the exact same thing -­ contrary to popular belief, it is almost impossible for two people to be thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time, but the pure absurdity of their situation was enough to render this fact null. “What are you doing here?” Byron asked hesitantly. “Look for yourself,” Eddie said carelessly, pointing to the window. I’m not quite sure how an emu can be careless, but I’m not sure how an emu can talk either, so let’s continue. Bonnie stumbled over to the closest window and ripped back the curtain to see what was ahead. In the near distance she saw a cliff with a rather quick drop. With a jolt, Bonnie tore herself away from the window, dazed. “Byron, I have to tell you something” Bonnie stumbled across the speeding caravan towards the shocked vegan. “Listen, don’t freak out but-­” “Oh no, what is it oh my god-­” “Listen, we’re approaching what looks like a.. Uh, well, I think it looks like to me -­” “What! What is it?” But Bonnie didn’t have time to tell Byron exactly what this matter of urgency was, because the matter of urgency was upon them, in the form of a closely approaching cliff. The road narrowed, the rocks got larger and sharper and far more threatening -­ this is how we know we’re approaching a climax.

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Bonnie didn’t have a clue of what she was going to do to save her house. Because this wasn’t just her house, this was her home. This is where she had built herself up from a stem of a girl into the strong woman that she was at this particular moment in time. Of course from this part of the story she has developed far more because character development is critical for a good story. That’s what I learnt in school by any means. Anyway, this was where she had thrived for the past years. She had bought this caravan with her first paycheck as a tradie. She adored that job and it inspired her to help the ones who weren’t as easily accessible. And now it was all about to go down the drain -­ well more like down a cliff.

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B others and B ackbone It didn’t take Byron long to notice the oncoming danger. He looked out the caravan window, Eddie craning his neck over to take a look. Bonnie turned as she heard a piercing squawk of fright -­ not from Eddie, but from Byron. His eyes filled with fear. “What’s below that? Water? Dust? More rocks? What does it matter, we’re done for… you know my psychic guide told me I’d be taking a significant fall later in the week;; something about my Libra moon… just didn’t realise it would be this kind of fall! A literal one that is…” Byron was growing more and more hysterical by the second, panicking and blabbering that culminated in a desperate search through the speeding caravan for incense ‘to call on the spirits and manifest positivity’. Bonnie stood, speechless, as the human hurricane around her raged on. Upon finding that the caravan had no incense, Byron panicked. He was furious, incensed even. (Sorry. Had to be done.) “Oh my god what are we going to do? I don’t have incense so I can’t use my chakra to save us, why on earth wouldn’t you have incense? Incense is the cure of all, the cure of everything, it is the only thing my dying moments that could possibly matter…” Bonnie snapped out of her shock. “Would you just shut up? If you hadn’t sneaked into my caravan, my home, we would have never gotten into this mess! Now we are going to die and it’s all your fault! How would incense even help us? We are hurtling towards a cliff at one hundred kilometres an hour! Do you think that some stinking smoke is going to help us! You really are a total and complete -­” Well, my dear reader. It looks as though our two beloved protagonists have hit the peak of their conflict. How very exciting. So who on Earth would be able to help them? Well, of course there is only one person… or rather, animal. Eddie the Emu cleared his throat. (Can an emu clear its throat? Actually, it doesn’t matter either way. He cleared his throat.) “Um, hello? I’m still here you know,” he puffed (Again, it doesn’t matter whether emus can puff. This one can.). Bonnie rolled her eyes, still panicking. “And how in the world are you going to help us, Mr Actual Talking Emu?” Bonnie was starting to accept that there was no way out of this, as there was definitely nobody in this caravan that would possibly be able to save them. Staring out the window, she missed the sly smile that appeared on Eddie’s face.

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B oom, C rash, B ang

As the caravan hurtled towards the abyss, the panic increased in everyone, including the usually calm Bonnie. Byron looked miserable. “What does it matter? You’ve hated me from the moment we’ve met anyway. If we don’t make it, if I don’t make, who cares?” Bonnie was astonished. Sure, they’d had their arguments. And sure, they hadn’t exactly gotten off to a flying start in terms of friendship. And yet, in this bizarre, bumpy journey, Bonnie had grown rather fond of this disheveled eternal optimist. So everyone was surprised, none more than herself, when she said quietly, “It would break my heart. I wouldn’t want to lose you. You’re my friend. The first I’ve had in… well, for a long time.” Bonnie could hardly believe herself. Was she crying? Surely not. Her chest was getting this strange…bursting feeling. Like warmth, or a gentle humming. I really am going mad. But she smiled, and so did Byron. “Thank you,” he said, and though he avoided meeting Bonnie’s gaze, knowing she’d be embarrassed at the expression of emotion, he meant it from the bottom of his heart. Ah, emotions. How quaint. Look at our characters, realising their feelings. Truly touching. Eddie thought so too. For, as you may or may not have guessed, this is the true reason that he is here. In that strange instinctual way animals know things, he saw the pair rattling along, and knew he was there to help them. To help them reach the end of their journey, but also to help them create a friendship they both needed. He sighed (can emus sigh?) with satisfaction. His work was done. And the cliff, right on cue, loomed into view.

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It was time to make their escape. With one final push for survival, and a sharp peck from Eddie’s strong beak, he broke the door down and dived out of the caravan. Bonnie and Byron, snapped out of their reverie, saw the open door and dived headfirst in pursuit. As Bonnie, Byron and Eddie recovered, they saw their beautiful red caravan crash to pieces at the bottom of the ravine. “How did that work?” Byron asked in shock. “We pushed on the door so many times before we managed to get out, why did it work that time?” Bonnie thought back to the crazy journey that they had just been on. And, unlike what happens in real life, she was somehow able to pinpoint exactly how they managed to survive. She turned to look at Eddie, only to find that she could only see his footprints in the dirt ground, walking off into the distant bushland. “He only helped us when we stopped hating each other,” she remarked softly.

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B etter Things B eyond With nowhere else to go forward, they had to go back. However, since no one knew where they were, they followed the tyre tracks from the red caravan that had recently met its untimely demise. After a short power nap, they awoke and stood up to discuss their next move. Unsurprisingly, Eddie had stayed true to his capricious nature, and was nowhere to be seen. After a very long walk back, the duo ended up back at the caravan park where Bonnie and Byron first met just that morning. The pair, exhausted after walking back to the trailer park, collapsed together on the spot of unnaturally even grass where Bonnie’s caravan had sat for so long. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Bonnie reflected sorrowfully. “I built my whole life from that little caravan, and now it’s all gone.”

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“Hey, don’t feel bad.” Byron said sympathetically. “All my stuff from my backpack was still in the caravan when it rolled off the cliff so I guess my entire life was in there as well.” “I guess that we’ll have to rebuild everything. There’s nowhere to go but up. And even though I lost my home,” she hesitated before continuing, “I think I found something more important. And plus,” she added, “in retrospect, this morning was rather EMUsing.” They shared a laugh together as the sun set over the sandy horizon (and yes, this is an extremely clich é ending but don’t worry, it gets cheesier), realising that hope was not lost just yet and that in reality they both had so much to work off of. Even though they were looking at a clean slate, metaphorically and physically, they could build up a new life from the beginning. And the best part is, neither was alone. Despite their disastrous meeting, they had been through thick and thin during the short yet tumultuous period that their adventure spanned. They were roped in together, by choice this time. Let’s leap two years into the future, when the duo had started a tourism business together. The company headquarters were set on the coast of northern Australia in a small town called Cardwell. From the office building, that Bonnie designed and built, they had a clear view of the ocean and a boat ramp where Byron takes visitors over to the island where the two met. They are both complete, Byron’s sense of adventure has never dampened and Bonnie’s hard working spirit will never cease from her can-­do personality. And Eddie, well let’s just say his emu-­tions are running wild.

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Footnote: Eddie’s Adventures

Given how amazing Eddie is, and how much we love him, we thought it was fitting to include some photos of his adventures after the end of this story. He’s quite a crazy bird, so we don’t know the context of most of these, but hope you enjoy them anyway.

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Ac knowledgements Firstly, we’d like to thank The Kids Cancer Project and all their sponsors who made the creation of this book possible through Write A Book In A Day. It was an amazing 12 hours, and we immensely enjoyed participating. Most importantly, special thanks to all the kids at the hospital, whether you read or listened to this book or not. We wish you the very best. Keep reading and never be afraid to be yourselves. There is always an emu that can help you find your way. Finally, we’d like to acknowledge all the teachers and staff at Somerset College who supported our team. Thank you for this unique opportunity.

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