JAKE’S MAGICAL EASTER ADVENTURE
By J. William Turner
Copyright 2012 by (James) J. William Turner
Smashwords Edition
(Original version copyright 2009 by (James) J. William Turner)
JAKE’S MAGICAL EASTER ADVENTURE
Jake is a young Australian boy who lives in the small tropical town of Coconut. It was the last Thursday night in late March, and Jake went to bed feeling great. Term One at the town’s junior school, Coconut Primary, had just ended. Tomorrow was the first day of the Easter holidays, and he was looking forward to the fun he was going to have. That was all Jake could think about as he drifted off to sleep.
The sun was already high in the sky when Jake found himself suddenly awake.
“No school for two weeks,” he said happily. “This is going to be so cool! But what should I do?”
After thinking quietly for a few seconds, Jake had a really good idea.
“I know, I’ll go on a long walk, an Easter adventure, to see the world and all its silly people,” he thought.
So he found his hiking rucksack in the bottom of the bedroom wardrobe. Into the rucksack he put a tent, sleeping bag, box of matches, a water bottle, fishing line plus hooks and sinkers, and extra clothes. But he did not pack any food. He wanted to try living off the land, but eat ‘take-away’ if he couldn’t find any food in the forest. In his pants pocket, he had all of the money he had saved in six months from his weekly allowance.
Before leaving home, Jake made himself breakfast. He ate an emu egg on toast, four large wattle-seed biscuits covered with sweet sherbet powder and milk from a water buffalo. With his meal, he drank a glass of wild blackberry juice.
When his tummy was full, he stepped out through the front door, and set off on his long walk.
Away in the distance, he saw a huge black cloud. A big tropical rainstorm was coming, and the church bells rang to tell everyone. But Jake did not worry. The rain would give his mango and paw-paw trees a good watering.
A minute later, he saw a man, wearing a big hat, hitting the trunk of a palm tree with a plastic toy baseball bat. The palm tree was full of sleeping fruit bats.
Jake asked, “Why are you doing that?”