Poetry Corner with Aisha Jarjue: Letter To My Aunty In Gambia

Dear Aunty Anna,

Today has been quite eventful. I woke up to a face full of slobber. Not exactly my favourite way to wake up. After I finally managed to shove Sammy, who looked like a breathing hairball, off my bed, I remembered what today was. I double-checked what today was. Yep! Today was the day of the fishing trip. As I rubbed my eyes, I realised I was about to fall off my bed.

Effortlessly, I was about to face flop on the floor. Ouch. Suddenly, I felt a small vibration. I leapt up and frantically searched for the intruder who had somehow managed to slip into my room unnoticed.

Oh! It was only Sammy thumping his tail on the floor. I ruffled Sammy’s fur and gazed in the mirror. My hair was standing up everywhere! I sighed. My hair was always so tangled. I started combing my hair, humming the tune to waving through a window.

Suddenly, the comb left my hand. It was stuck in my hair! I frantically rubbed my hair, trying desperately to get the spiky monster out. I gave a sigh of relief as I felt it leave my scalp. I have to get dressed. Mr Tom might change his mind if I took too long. I ran to my dresser and flung out my tight trousers. I got completely dressed and waddled to the bathroom. I began to brush my teeth. My toothpaste tasted funny … wait… hadn’t we ran out of toothpaste ..?

I gazed suspiciously at the half used soap bottle. Oh bother! I’d washed my mouth and I hadn’t even said anything naughty this time! I stomped dramatically to the stairs. So we meet again… I was determined not to trip over anything this time.

I held my breath. There wasn’t anything on the stairs, so there’s no way I could trip over this time. Bravely, I stepped onto the stairs. Suddenly, Sammy appeared from the bottom of the stairs and started chasing me. I tried to run away but as I did, I fell backwards! Curse my clumsiness. Still hopeful, I bounded back up and casually strolled over to the kitchen. Mr. Tom had boiled an egg for me. He sat there cutting cucumbers and making a corned beef sandwich.

I felt extremely peckish. I took a hard bite into my egg and started to chew. As I did so, I had a though about how funny it would be if Zack fell into the pond. I started laughing and then laughing turned into spluttering and spluttering turned into choking. My face turned a bright shade of red before a slimy, chewed up piece of egg flew out of my mouth and on to Mr. Tom’s face. I let out a nervous chuckle. He gave an exasperated sigh before throwing a saliva-covered egg into the bin. Suddenly, we heard a pounding at the door. It sounded like a hoard of angry elephants. Surprisingly, Mr. Tom opened the door. Oh. It was only Zack and his friends. They waited impatiently for Mr. Tom to hand them their fishing rods.

As we left the house, I couldn’t help but feel exited. I looked over at my fellow evacuees. They didn’t seem as exited as me. We headed up to the Old Bridge. Mr. Tom had once told me that a hungry troll lived here and would be more than happy to eat a scrawny little girl like me. I didn’t believe it but I ran quickly over the bridge. I wasn’t about to try my luck. Mr. Tom walked slowly behind. He kept looking over the bridge. As we were all looking at Mr. Tom, Sammy came rushing back, knocking Zack into a hornets nest. We all dashed ahead to avoid getting stung by the angry creatures. We had ran so quickly that within one minute, we were at the lake. We all gasped for breath- Zack particularly . Soon, the others cast their rods into the water.

However, I waited underneath an old oak tree. The others encouraged me to have a go at fishing. I sighed as I lazily cast my wooden rod into the water. Suddenly, an incredible force pulled me into the lake. Fiddlesticks! I’d missed my first fish!

The others were exceedingly good at fishing. One time, a girl, called Sarah, fell into the lake. Zack tried to catch her, only to fall in himself. I laughed before recalling what happened to me this morning. Zack and Sarah were left freezing cold the rest of the night.

One of my favourite parts of the day was when a Spitfire flew 10 feet above us. He waved and stylishly rolled in the air. We haven’t eaten the fish yet. When we got home, we ran a quick bath and went to bed. I stayed up a bit longer to recall the fabulous events of today.

Missing you loads

Aisha x

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