The Fish who had Funny Eyes, and Other Stories...

My dad is moving house soon, so I've been looking through numerous boxes of old things. Old books, letters, UCAS forms, photos, beady-eyed cuddly animals, and so many memories... I'll be walking around in a little cloud of nostalgia for weeks! In between all the rummaging and amongst the old toys, I found one of the first stories I ever wrote:

The Fish who had Funny Eyes

Once a fish gave someone a fright, and she ran away. The girl told her dad and he came down the path to the pond. "Help!" yelled her dad, and they both ran away back up the path.

Her dad told her mum, and they all walked down the path to the pond. "Help!" yelled mum, "let's go!" So they ran back up the path and into Granny's house.



They told Granny, and she went to see what was going on.

"It's just a fish," said Granny. "It's got funny eyes but it's still a fish."

The End.


And this one, written by an older me (about eight or nine years old I think) who had obviously just learned about alliteration:

Sammy the Snowbot

Professor Pea lived in a house with four children and his wife. Paul Pea was an ordinary man until he became a professor. Then he started to go rather mad. He got crazy ideas for inventions and locked himself in the study for hours on end. Pauline Pea gave birth to four children: Philipa Pea, Prudence Pea, Peter Pea, and Patrick Pea. Philipa Pea loved to go out in the garden and climb trees and explore. She was the most adventurous. Prudence Pea was the youngest and loved cooking. Peter Pea was the cleverest and loved maths. Patrick Pea loved inventing. He took after his father and was an excellent mechanic.

Professor Pea had made many inventions but his best had been Professor Pea's Patented Perfect Plastic Purple Pop-corn Producer. It went pop! pop! pop! pop! POW! It exploded popcorn through the entire house. It took them a week to eat their way out. Professor Pea's Patented Perfect Plastic Purple Pop-corn Producer that went pop! pop! pop! pop! POW! made a lot of money. Professor Pea wished he could make something else spectacular.

It was now getting close to Christmas and none of the children could do what they wanted because of the snow. "If only you could make something to clear away the snow, everyone would be happy," Philipa said. Professor Pea gave a long and hard sigh. Then suddenly he had a brainwave. He ran to his study and got to work on a new invention. A snowbot. He made the snowbot look a bit like a snowman. It had a hat, buttons, eyes, nose and mouth. It looked like an ordinary robot, but if you pressed a button, great shovels would come out and clear away the snow. He finished his snowbot and named it Sammy. He set it off to clear away the drive.

Sammy shovelled up all the snow on the drive and threw it next door. There was a scream from next door and Samuel Seal came running. Close behind was Stuart, the slimy, sneaky, smelly, scallywag of a sausage-dog, slithering through the snow. Professor Pea said that he was very sorry and that Sammy didn't mean it. Samuel Seal then hired Sammy for £50 and got Sammy to shovel up the snow that he had thrown into his drive. Sammy shovelled up the snow, but unfortunately he threw it next door again.

This time Bob Blister came out to see what was going on. Bob Blister soon realised that the only way he could clear up the snow was to hire Sammy for £50 and get him to shovel it up. As he came to pay Professor Pea, he left the door open and Buster, the big Blue Persian cat,strolled out. Stuart the slimy, sneaky, smelly, scallywag of a sausage-dog saw Buster. He bounded towards the poor Blue Persian, barking furiously. He chased Buster round and round the garden.

Just then, Bob Blister came back with Sammy and saw them. "Stop" he shouted. But they didn't stop! So Sammy picked up some snow and threw it at them. Buster ran back to his own house miaowing loudly. Stuart ran away howling. Sammy continued to shovel up all the snow in Bob Blister's drive and threw it next door again. This time it was Robert Rubber that had to pay £50 for Sammy.

This shovelling business went on all the way from Leeds to London. Eventually it reached an end. It came to Buckingham Palace and instead of throwing the snow into the next house, Sammy threw it into the garden. The Queen liked the design of Sammy so much that she knighted Professor Pea. He and his family lived happily ever after.