Cyclonic!

Once upon childhood, a little boy named Jimmy wandered away from his family at a wildlife sanctuary. His Dad joked that he was only taking his wildlife to visit other wildlife. Jimmy was around nine years old. He had giggled, but his big sister, Tiarna, had rolled her eyes, saying, "You're so not funny, Dad."

Tiarna often told Jimmy that he was their parents' mistake, so he was not supposed to annoy her. At the wilderness refuge in the forest, it was a blazing, scorching hot day. Jimmy decided to stroll away from his Mum and Tiarna, who was still on her phone. "Probably saying dumb things to her stupid friends."

Jimmy followed a little forest track through the undergrowth. He got very thirsty, he had left his water bottle behind in the car again. He slumped against the rocks in a rockery, where insects buzzed around. Jimmy was good at sulking.

"Who are you?" Jimmy heard. He stared. A tiny brown lizard was glaring at him, as it baked itself in the sunlight.

"Huh?" Jimmy asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm the Great Australian skink."It blinked.

Jimmy immediately cupped both his hands around the skink, and carefully placed it in his pocket, where it could not escape. "Hah!' was all he said, planning to take the skink home and keep it in a box. He would have new pet for himself.

He sauntered along, then paused for a while. He did not like to tell himself he was lost, so he wanted to ask the talking skink how to get to the entrance where the kiosk was.

But the skink merely ran away, minus its tail, scuttling all the way to the rockery.

"Detachable tail!" it called, as Jimmy could only gaze. "Have a great day!"

Jimmy was very cross. "Don't tell me what to do!" he yelled at the Great Australian skink.

"So you aren't taking me home.with you. Don't you tell me what to do either!" The Great Australian skink ran into a gap between rocks. Jimmy thought he could start collecting tails for a nature studies collection,

He kept on following his little track, and came upon a flock of emus, busy pecking on the ground for seeds, looking for whatever they could eat. Jimmy fancied picking one of their tail feathers. Very quietly, he went sneaking up to a small emu, and tried to pull a feather from its rear end. The emu turned around, so did the others. The emu's parents quickly opened their beaks and tried to peck little Jimmy.

He was a very fast runner for his age. He took one look at the glowing eyes of the very cross emus, and turned to run away anywhere. This idea of visiting wildlife in the forest was not such fun, all of sudden. As Jimmy ran, he looked back over his shoulder. Behind him were two very angry emus, whose nasty eyes seemed to have turned red. Their long legs were pounding after him, their beaks were snapping at him.

All around this once sleepy wilderness, a hot wind had blown up, and the large trees were tossing in the storm. The sun seemed to have vanished, but Jimmy was too scared and lost to notice the giant clouds approaching. He kept right on running, pushing his way through all the prickles that scraped his arms and legs.

There it was! He glanced over his shoulder, still puffing, and the emus were still trying to peck him. So he put one almighty sprint on, and raced them to the front of the kiosk. His Mum and Dad were in there, or so hoped. The emus had decided to take his tail, instead of theirs, so so it seemed.

Jimmy hurled himself up the stairs to the kiosk, bursting through the door, ready to make excuses to his folks about where he had been. The emus ran down the ramp, and took off like lightning, which was now flashing in the sky. Rain started pouring down, but Jimmy was safe. He looked around, but the whole kiosk was empty. There were no happy families, no staff, no annoying big sisters. The cafe was totally deserted.

Jimmy noticed some drinks sitting there, still unopened, waiting for him. He did not think twice, he was so hot and thirsty. He took a bottle from the fridge, and decided his Dad could sort the bill with the kiosk manager, wherever his Dad had vanished. Jimmy the lad had hoped his family had not driven off home without him. At least the emus had taken off anyway.

"Couldn't catch me!" Jimmy told himself, 'Speedy birds, but!"

He felt in his pocket, and touched the skink's tail, wondering if the little lizard had been drowned in a puddle. Maybe it had brought him good luck, dodging hostile, angry emus trying to eat little boys. Next time, they could keep their silly old feathers.

Just then, all the lights went off, and the kiosk was nearly dark, as if it was night time. Jimmy was terrified. He suddenly noticed a large sign, so he read it. "If you are reading this sign, and it blows away, there is a cyclone! Run to the Evacuation Centre under the reptile house."

At that time, a giant clap of thunder deafened even the wind, and the sign blew away. There was no way Jimmy was leaving that kiosk. The roof was rattling, the rain was flooding all the forest sanctuary. He hoped his family, even Tiarna, were safe somewhere. He was not only scared, but also very hungry after all that exercise. So the really brave little Jimmy helped himself a the counter where all the cakes were. He did not know then if the entire ceiling would collapse, so he hid under one large table. Maybe the roof could fall on his bit sister somewhere, wherever she was. That was a mean thought, but sometimes she looked like a nasty emu.

Somehow, Jimmy ate some yummy snacks, and curled up. The cyclone finally blew away, while Jimmy had a nap, his belly full of drinks and food. He had closed his eyes for a while, surrounded by empty drink cans and snack bar wrappers. The roof of the kiosk stayed where it was, the wildlife all crept back from their hideaways. The Great Australian skink appeared in Jimmy's dream, and laughed. The door of the kiosk was a bit jammed, with all the damp.

But his parents did find him. The rangers had made a search party for little JImmy, and were not too happy with the little boy they had thought was lost. Jimmy woke up, as his Mum and Dad were so happy to find him alive and well. He had not been flattened by the cyclone. Jimmy sat at the table and wrote an IOU for his Dad, who had to find some cash. All the power lines had been blown down. His Mum made Jimmy cringe by hugging him. Overall, the family trip to see other wildlife in the forest had been cyclonic.