111

Authors

Chantelle Al KhouriSophie ArnoldTara BennettMelissa HamptonClaire HughesMahrukh KhanKirsten PenningsKathleen Sta Ana

Illustrators

Jazmin ConnellSophie Gianatti

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ParametersPrimary Character 1 Disabled PersonPrimary Character 2 SingerNon-Human Character Sea AnimalSetting Bicycle ShopIssue Rescue

Random WordsHearty Plopped Amongst

Beef Stroganoff Ginormous

Copyright noticePublished by Caroline Chisholm College Year 7 Team.90-98 Lakes Drive Glenmore Park 2745

Copyright © 2011 Caroline Chisholm 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.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our parents, staff and friends for their support.

High Water MarkChapter 1Beef Stroganoff

Joey was upset as he walked home from school. He was so sick of being teased and bullied. He couldn’t help it that he had Downs Syndrome. Why did everyone always have to pick on him? As he walked through the front door he suddenly realised that things were going to get a lot worse when he was with his stepmother. He knew that she was ashamed of him and he knew that if she found out that he was being bullied she would be even worse. Joey didn’t want things to be like this at home. He wanted a happy family, who loved each other and were proud to be a family.

Joey trudged up the stairs to his bedroom, where he spent most of his time. Joey loved being in is his bedroom because that was the only place where he felt like he actually belonged. Joey’s true companion was in his bedroom, his Siamese Fighting Fish, Ripples. Joey loved Ripples with all his heart and Ripples loved Joey back. Everyday when Joey got home from school he would tell Ripples about his day. Ripples would comfort him if it was a bad day, laugh with him if it was a good day and cry with him if it was a really, really bad day. Most days when Joey would tell Ripples about the bullies, Ripples would answer with “Don’t worry about them, Joey. I think that you are utterly amazing.” This would usually comfort Joey, but today nothing could comfort him. He just sat on his bed talking.

Today Joey and Ripples cried together for a long time. Joey had always been bullied, but never to the point where Joey felt this sad. As they cried, Ripples decided that Joey needed some cheering up. Ripples tried to think of ways to cheer Joey up but it was impossible to cheer up someone who

was this depressed. Ripples wanted nothing more than to cheer up Joey, but he couldn’t think of anyway that could brighten his mood even a tiny bit. As Ripples was thinking, Joey’s stepmother called him down for his dinner.

Joey didn’t want dinner. His stepmother knew that he hated beef stroganoff, and Joey knew that she had only made it to annoy him. Joey didn’t take this as calmly as he usually would. He suddenly got very, very mad. Joey was not acting as he usually would when he screamed, “Why can’t you just love me? Why do you always have to make everything horrible for me? Why can’t you just let me be?” Although it didn’t sound as Joey had intended it to, due to his stutter, this still upset his stepmother and she retorted with,

“Well you’re lucky that I decided to take you in after your ridiculous mother died! Imagine if I had not taken you in; imagine if you were left to fend for yourself! Why can’t you be grateful that I took you in and grateful that every night I put a meal on the table for you?”

Joey stormed back to his bedroom - too upset to even talk to Ripples - and lay in bed planning his escape.

Chapter 2Wanda’s ‘Wanderful’ Bike ShopThe next morning he set off on his journey. He didn’t know where he was going and frankly he didn’t care. As long as he wasn’t stuck in this god forsaken hell-hole he had to call home. He snuck out early in the morning, and headed off into the deep end of the forest.

He had been walking for hours now, the road was completely gone, and the only thing he could see for miles were trees, and he was slowly becoming hungry. If only he could have brought food, he assumed that he would have had a new home by now. He started to slow down; amongst the trees, something tall and dark was behind the tree to the left of him. He felt the scream coming up in his throat as he waited for it to jump out and eat him. He slowly turned and to his surprise he saw a run down bike shop. The shop looked like it had once been loved, but now looked as abandoned as a lost puppy. The once bright purple walls, were now scratched and pale, the glass walls that had bikes behind them were smashed and chipped. Plus the sign that said “Wanda’s WANDERFUL Bike Shop” now had missing letters that were smashed and splattered around the ground, covered in spiders and leaf litter.

He wandered forward into the rejected shop. It wasn’t home but it was going to have to do for now. Inside the bikes were neatly lined up and had price tags on them that looked brand new. If he didn’t know any better he would have guessed someone had been here recently. The front office of the store was quite messy. Joey was not used to the mess, his step-mother did not have any compassion for anything, but she was clean. He started to have a look around and saw an old broken clock radio and many other things in a large pile in the corner. The room looked abandoned but there seemed to be a human presence. Joey began to feel overwhelmed by the past two days, things were going so wrong for him, first school, then home, and he had nothing left. He crawled into the corner of the room and began to cry. For the first time in ages he didn’t feel bad that he was crying, in fact he felt sort of relieved, like a ton of weight was being lifted off him.

He cried for a while, who knows how long? But he had his head in his hands the whole time. Suddenly he heard a sneeze, he looked up to see an

old lady standing in the doorway staring at him, he knew he should be scared but he couldn’t help being comforted by those gentle, motherly eyes.

“Are you OK, sweetheart?” Her soft, motherly voice was exactly what he needed- all things aside.

“Uh, y-y-y-y-yes, t-t-thankyou.” He tried to sound as convincing as possible, but his voice broke half way through. She let him sit there for a while, just slowly singing a song, “Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high . . . . “

“A-A-A-A-Are you a singer?” He asked, his voice was small but convincing.

“Why yes, how did you guess?” His reply was just a simple shrug, he felt far too weak and hungry to do much more.“Here, we better get you off the cold floor, let’s go to the kitchen.”

“What’s your name?” she asked

“Joey,” he told her.“Well it’s nice to meet you Joey, I’m Wanda.”She helped him up and offered him a cup of tea. Joey accepted her offer - without thinking about it. They began walking towards the kitchen but before they entered Joey looked out the window, just in time to see the first drops of the storm.

Chapter 3Convincing the bull...

“So, you enjoy your cocoa?” Asked the old woman stirring her drink with a wooden stick. Joey nodded his head, embarrassed about crying in front of a stranger. “No need to be upset darling. We all have our down days. It’s a fact of life,” whispered Wanda as she stood up. Wanda began to stroke his head. Joey, someone who never opened up to anyone, was feeling loved for the first time in his life. “Come now, speak to Wanda” she continued as she sat back down at the small circular table.

“M-m-m-my st-t-tep mother h-h-ates m-m-e!” Joey exclaimed as threw his hands in the air and began to cry. Whimpering, he looked at the hearty woman sitting across from him.

“Deep down, we all hate someone. It is what makes us human.” said the old woman, her face wrinkled from years of smiling and stress. Her hazel eyes were bright shining in the poor lighting of the kitchen. The faint patter of rain hit the tin roof over the bike shop. Rain began to splash the window. No-one seemed to notice though; all the pair could hear was the sound of muffled moans from Joey and the soothing voice of Wanda. No other sounds echoed through the house, no customers walking through the shop, no dog barking, no sound of a radio throwing tunes out of its speakers and no sound of a register opening and closing. “W-w-w-why are you alone h-h-h-h-ere? A-a-are you e-e-exp-p-expecting someone?” Joey questioned as he began to calm down.

“This is my home. I’ve run and owned this bike shop for nearly twenty seven years! Although, this wasn’t my true passion. I was singing since I was twenty two!” Wanda rambled as she stood up, rosy cheeked at the young scared boy. “The better question is, what are YOU doing all alone in the dark edge of the forest?”

He looked ashamed, his dark hazel eyes looking down at the old brown tiled floor. ran away f-f-from home...” he whispered. An understanding look was drawn upon Wanda’s old aged face. “Why would you do that?” she asked looking at him.

Joey began to explain his situation, about his ‘talking’ pet fish Ripples, his mother’s death, his step mum and the bullies at school. “Ahhh, I see,” whispered Wanda as her red fuzzy hair fell on her face. “You need to return home son. Wouldn’t you miss Ripples or your friends at home?” she stated as she stared with loving eyes.

“I’ll never g-g-go b-b-back there and I w-w-won’t g-g-go now!” exclaimed Joey folding his arms with a serious but sad look. Wanda understood. She stood up and took him by the shoulders. “Joey, you must face your fears,” she whispered in his ear and continued “People everyday face their fears... It may be your turn to do so. Do not be afraid. I’ll still be here! Go back home Joey. You can come visit tomorrow...” Wanda opened the bike shop door and shoved Joey out. Broken hearted, Joey trudged away with his shoes dirty, pants ripped and shirt smudged with soot and grime from the chair seat. “I.... I thought you c-c-cared?” whispered Joey behind his back. ‘I guess no-one loves or cares for me.’ he thought to himself. He began to cry and run away through the forest, without a second glance or goodbye.

Chapter 4Shattered RealityJoey was walking to his house with a shattered heart. The one person he had thought loved him, who cared for him had let him down. Yes he knew she was doing what she thought was right but what she thought was right was wrong. He was a broken boy. “H-h-how do you feel Ripples. We have been l-l-let down again.” Although the boy’s fish was at home swimming in his bowl Joey knew he would be listening. “You have always been there for me but you’re just a fish and you can’t comfort me, give me hugs or just the human things that I n-n-need. Oh I wish you were a super h-h-hero with p-p-powers to save me from people.” As he reached the crest of the hill he saw his step-mother cooking dinner through the kitchen window. It was beef stroganoff. “YUK.” She was expecting him home.

“So Joseph you’re home and may I ask where were you today? I got a call from Ms Carlos and she told me that you had not shown up for school and that your bus driver saw you walking in to the forest. What do you have to say for yourself? Oh it doesn’t matter. You are a little liar who probably enjoys chasing birds. Go up to your room and play with your toys.” Joey walked up the stairs slowly. With each foot he slammed down on the stairs so that a ginormous cloud of dust fell on the room underneath. He felt tired from the day’s journey yet outraged that the person who was supposed to care for him treated him like a piece of dust.

As he laid on his bed he thought about what was going to happen to him one day. Was he going to have to spend his years with his step-mother feeding him beef stroganoff every night or would his father finally come back and take him to a nice little place with him and apologise for everything that had happened. Joey knew it was never going to happen. He missed his parent very much. He looked to his Ripples who was contentedly swimming in his bowl. “I am so sorry that I am a fish. I wish I was human so I could care for you and comfort you.”

“It is not your f-f-fault Ripples. You could not h-h-h-help the way you were born just like I can’t. We were born like this for an r-r-reason. Oh, I love you

Ripples.” Ripples was staring at him randomly blinking at Joey. His eyes looked very compassionate, if fish’s eyes could. Every day for eleven days Joey sat at home in his room. His step-mother banned him from school. Feeling like she could no longer trust him, she confined him to the house, not even letting him out to collect the mail. Ripples was the only thing he could talk to. On the eleventh night Joey turned his radio on so that he could feel like he had some sort of human connection like he did with Wanda. Suddenly, half way through his favourite song sirens and messages were blaring through the speakers. It was waring people about a flood that was coming. It was being called as an inland tsunami. Suddenly all the lights went off and the television cut out. Joey may have been a sufferer of Downs Syndrome but he wasn’t stupid. He remembered from the first time he met Wanda and all the run down things she had in her shop. One of them was her radio and she had no television.

Chapter 5 I have finally realised

Joey realised that his one true friend, well human friend, was in danger. He jumped up off the floor and raced out the door leaving the distant yells behind. “Joey, you little brat come back, come back!!”

“Yes” he thought to himself, “ I have escaped the horror of my life.” At that very moment, for the first time in his life he actually felt like he had accomplished something. Although he was happy about all of this he needed to remind himself that what he was thinking couldn’t get in the way of the thoughts he was having about Wanda. “Does she already know about the flood? Will she have time to get to high land?” All of these things that were racing through his head were all related to the same thing, Wanda’s safety

As Joey ran he kept thinking of Wanda. As the wind brushed along his distorted face, he got more and more tired but he had to convince himself to keep going, for Wanda. Joey was scared as he ran, scared that he would be too late and Wanda will have been washed away with all of the water and debris. Joey also feared for his own life, what if he got there in time but the flood hit before he and Wanda got to safety?

As Joey finally approached the bike shop there was no sign of Wanda. At that time he was so scared that he had no idea of what to do. Where was Wanda? Had she made it to safety? He didn’t want to go back home so he plopped his bottom on the floor, curled up in a ball and cried. Wanda was actually in a ginormous, waterproof container underground which her husband had put there before he died. She was under there because she was looking at the pictures of a loved one that Joey reminded her so much about. Wanda heard a faint weeping and quickly climbed up the stairs into the old bike shop. She saw Joey and quickly scurried over to him. ‘What’s wrong?’ were the first words that came out of her mouth when she realised something was wrong. Joey explained to her all about the flood as the rain became heavier. The water was rising quickly and the two had little time to make it to a safe spot. For about twenty seconds the two had no idea of what to do, when suddenly Wanda knew just the place. “Come with me and we will be safe” exclaimed Wanda. so Joey followed on after Wanda as

she led him down to the underground bunker.

Chapter 6The Recent FloodThe flood had arrived Joey and Wanda were safe in the underground room which was waterproof. All they had down below was beef stroganoff and water as that is all that was left as Wanda's husband passed away. That was where he would go when he was stressed or confused. The flood water smashed through the window as the force was strong even bursting through the front door. That is when they noticed the flood had actually begun. Who knew when the flood was going to stop? They all just had to keep up hope.

Hours passed, the water seemed to becoming faster and faster, they were starting to feel hungry as nothing there was that appetising. Wanda suggested they should try and eat the beef stroganoff although they didn’t like the taste of it but they were willing to give it a try, as it was a matter of life and death. They took one bite and tried to keep it down and they actually managed to do so as it was the only thing they could do.

Almost a day had past and Wanda and Joey had done nothing more than lounge around and feel sorry for themselves. Finally enough was enough and then Wanda stood up and said,“ We are in the middle of a crisis here and we are sitting here wasting time. What on earth should we do?” So they decided to rummage through the pile of boxes that were lying around the room, which belonged to her husband.

In the boxes they found blankets that were old and ratted and many different shaped clothes. They also found numerous amounts of torches and batteries which happened to fit inside the torch. As they were almost to the last box they found tonnes of photos of Wanda in her earlier years of life. The photos were of her singing live at concerts about 30 years ago. They sat there speaking about the photos for hours as she told Joey all about her career as a singer.

The next day passed and Joey noticed Wanda was acting a bit unusually. She seemed to be very oblivious to the situation that stood before them. At around lunch time Wanda began to look ill within the hour she

collapsed. Joey scrambled through nearly all the cupboards of the house not caring how deep the water was or even if it was rising. He did manage to find a sachet of sugar and he put it straight in his pocket as he figured this could help Wanda as the situation could have been low blood sugar. He sludged through the water as fast as he could hoping to get to Wanda. When he approached Wanda he opened her mouth and poured the sachet into her mouth. He waited there next to her hoping she would wake.

Chapter 7Three Days

It had been three days since the flood started. It was silent and lonely underground. Joey and Wanda were quiet as they could hear the water falling slowly from the ceiling. They had trouble sleeping that night as they were very cold. Joey had been comforting Wanda as she lay on the floor. Her bones were as soft as marshmallows and they felt like they were going to break in his hands.

Joey was missing his fish and he was thinking about what might have happened to him. Had he died? Had he survived? Or was he stuck living with Joey’s stepmother? Joey thought that Ripples could be in the sea with all the other fish. He thought that they might be in a big castle in the water with all the other sea creatures.

Suddenly, Wanda woke up and Joey was immediately checking if she was okay. He found that she was fine and he was so happy that she was all right and that she was awake. ‘’It is going to be all right’’, Wanda said slowly as she struggled to get those few words out. Joey knew that she only said that to make him feel better and to make him feel safe. “Stay here.” Wanda said to Joey as she walked slowly up the stairs with her very wobbly legs. She opened the door and water came rushing down which knocked her off her feet but Joey was there to catch her. They let the water come down into the basement so that it was easier to get out.

Five minutes passed and Wanda still hadn’t come back downstairs, so Joey decided to go and check what was going on. The water was up to his knees and the store was completely destroyed. There were shelves on the floor and broken bikes everywhere. He saw Wanda trying to clean up the mess, Joey wanted to help but thought that he should give Wanda some time alone after seeing her store that she loves so much, damaged. She turned around and saw Joey, she told him to go back downstairs but Joey was too scared to leave her by herself.

They walked outside of the store to see the small town in Queensland looking disastrous and flooded. People were coming out of their homes and looking at what used to be a beautiful town, but was now destroyed. Families were crying as they looked at their homes. One single tear rolled down Wanda’s cheek. “It’s all going to be alright, Joey,” said Wanda, but Joey knew that she was only saying that to comfort him. Suddenly, Joey wanted to find his best friend, Ripples so that he would comfort him. He wanted Ripples to tell him it was all going to be all right, then he would know that it was actually true. Joey loved Wanda but he trusted Ripples more because he had known him for longer and grew up with him as a child.

Chapter 8 What Faith holds The future of Wanda and Joey was falling in front of their eyes, they did not know what to do about it. It seemed that they lost hope in themselves. Wanda was elderly and she certainly didn't want to spend her last days miserably walking in the streets. She wanted whatever an elderly person wanted such as sitting on a comfy couch in front of a warm fireplace sipping coffee and laughing at a old black and white comedy show on her antique TV. On the other hand, Joey was wondering how he would have a normal life, like the rest of the 10-year-olds. He was always mistreated. When he first met Wanda he had a feeling that he had someone who cared about him and treated him well. Wanda had her memories in her old house. It did not matter if the walls were dull, or if the floors were dusty. She just missed it as the way it was. It was the place where her husband first proposed to her. It was the place where her son Dave was born. It was the place where she celebrated his 16th birthday before he died. The few pictures and memories of her lost family were buried with her house.

Joey did not know what to say to a person who has lost everything including most of her family. He was about to mutter a word to Wanda. Abruptly he noticed that there was something wrong with her. Wanda sat down and stared at the destroyed house in which she used to live. She started to stare at the demolished and barren city that once was a peaceful place. Tears rolled down her wrinkled skin. Joey saw how pale she looked. He said to her “ You-you goi-i-ing to be all--right?” Wanda gave him a faint smile and said “as long as you help me Joey” with no further delay he glanced at Wanda with a smile and then ran to find help. With luck he found some people with first aid to help people affected by the flood.

Joey stood in front of the aid people. He then burst in to tears and stammered to them “I-I-I need help my close friend is in trouble!” The aid people were baffled but they knew there was a problem. They followed Joey as he led them to Wanda. There they saw Wanda. They took Wanda and put an oxygen mask over her face. One of the aid people gave him a pat on the back and said ‘You brave little boy you deserve a medal,” He then gave him a smile. He grabbed Joey’s hand and they followed Wanda.

Wanda was on a stretcher. Wanda was placed in the ambulance. The ambulance rushed her to a tent which was full of medical equipment. The doctor examined her and after a while the doctor walked towards Joey and said ‘She just been a bit dizzy don’t worry she will be fine you may see her just be aware don’t say anything negative.’ As Joey didn’t want to see Wanda in more stress he promised he wouldn’t say anything to make her stressed. Joey knew what the doctor had said to her, he knew that he had to take slight care when talking to Wanda. Joey went in to Wanda, she had a restless smile on her. “ How are you Wanda?” said Joey.

‘Well I am alright darling. Thank you for what you done for me!’ said Wanda.

‘No you-your my su-su-su pur he-he-ro!’ answered Joey.

Wanda laughed and answered “I believe one day you are going to be in history pages , everyone will know your name. You have something special on you that will make you unique from other people”.

After a long pause Wanda had a tear in her eye and stammered just like Joey “ Dave was just like you , he was brave, intelligent , strong charming and yes he looked liked Brad Pitt. He was in the navy and saved many people’s lives. He was awarded the Nobel prize for his achievements. He was the best soldier his name was David Williams and I believe that you will be like him one day”.

Joey was surprised that Wanda compared his bravery, intelligence, strength to a person like him who had Down’s Syndrome.

Wanda continued talking to Joey ‘Do you know my son won many medals and showed the world anything is possible and my son had Down Syndrome too. He went against all the odds that he sacrificed and endangered his own life to protect our people’s nation, he was my son General David William! Now him and my house that was full of precious memories are gone. I have no one now.” Wanda burst into tears. Joey was surprised in hearing this; at once his heart filled hope he put his hand around Wanda and said ‘I will be you-your son , I pro-mi-mise, I will bu-ild you-your hou-se li-ke the way it was.’ Wanda gave a pleasant smile that comforted him.

After a few days Wanda felt better and Joey fulfilled his promise.

After some months past by, with the help of friends Joey successfully re-built Wanda’s house It was like a renovated form of Wanda’s house but it was much more luminous. Joey always wanted to help people. At last he knew what it was like to follow his dreams.

The ending of the story is whoever you are , you will always be unique. Everything is possible you just have to put your mind to it just as Joey did.

EpilogueWhy were we born different when we aren’t treated equally either way. Joey is one of the thousand of people who suffer from Down’s Syndrome. It is an untreatable genetic condition that causes thousands of bullies to pick on innocent people. All they want is for people to know that they are as equally capable to do great things just as we are.

For Joey, life was also different to anyone else’s. His step-mother hated him and his father didn’t care. He had no hope until he met Wanda. When something terrible happens, Joey and Wanda are trapped underground. Are they still safe? Will they have the courage to stay alive? Will help ever come?Two People, Two Lives, One Hope