The Kallerbay Stories 13-15

By Frances Fahy

Kallerbay was conceived as a short story project for 6 – 11 year-olds, written in a first-person child-related style and the “storytellers” are a class of 25 children in this age bracket. In an uncomplicated environment, we follow the adventures of 25 schoolboys and girls in the fictional seaside town of Kallerbay where life is adventurous and often exciting. Under the guidance of their teacher, Miss Emerson, each pupil tells a story about family, friends, neighbours, joys and fears. The country location is not mentioned. It’s an anglophile Fantasy Land. It’s where the child wants it to be!

This page contains three more Kallerbay stories. New stories will be posted as time goes on and linked from the preceding stories. Depending on when you read this, you may find those links already there or not.  To go back to the first Kallerbay stories, and follow along in sequence, click here.

13. May Day at the Castle

by Megan Bild aged 8

Hi! I’m Megan, and my story is about Raven Castle. It’s in Kallerbay, and it’s not a magic castle, like in a fairy tale. There aren’t any princes and not even a princess. Some of the rooms are still in good shape, but It’s just an old ruin really, and nobody lives there anymore. I don’t think anyone has lived there for a long time. The teacher told us a family called the Normans used to live there with all their soldiers, and they were always fighting with everybody. And I think they all got killed in a battle and there was nobody left.

But we love our castle, and we have lots of special days there. Every year on May Day we don’t have school. Instead, we all go on a day trip to Raven Castle. It’s all decorated and lit up and pretty.

Winnie Rivers is the castle guide, and she organises the field day, and she makes sure we all do what we’re supposed to so that nobody gets hurt or gets lost or breaks anything We all wear funny clothes and hats. If our parents are free, they dress up and come too. When we went on our field day last year, I dressed up as a zombie! Everyone told me I looked cool.

We had face painting and jumping games and rounders.

The best thing was the tour. They gave us a special green jacket to wear. It had a microchip on the sleeve so that we couldn’t get lost. We all went up a big wooden stairway on the outside, and then we went in through a huge door. There were statues inside of soldiers and other people, and when we were passing by, I thought I saw one of them moving. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid the others might laugh at me. Then one of my friends screamed, “the statue is talking,” and everybody laughed. Then I thought I heard one of the statues croaking: “Megan!” I pretended I didn’t hear, but I took my friend’s hand.

Winnie was explaining something about the people who used to live here. Suddenly we were all looking at a window space high up in the wall. There was a girl there with long blond plaited hair. She was looking down. We all went over to see what she was looking at, and we saw a young man shouting up: “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” The girl let down a rope of hair, and he climbed up to the window. We all clapped and shouted.

Then we went on up to the top of the castle and a real magic thing happened. When we reached the top, we went into a big room. There was nothing in the room. I mean nothing. Not even a chair. We could hear soft music playing, but we couldn’t see any musicians or any CD player or anything, It was strange. Then a real metallic voice said:

“Take a look at the stones on the wall. 

Secrets and mysteries here in the hall. 

Find a diamond, a club a spade and a heart.

Press the block, and it comes apart. ”

We looked at the wall, and we saw that it wasn’t made of stone at all but of a kind of Styrofoam. Then Jack shouted:

“There’s a diamond here.”

He pressed, and the wall started to tremble. Someone else said:

“I have a club.“

He pressed it, and the wall moved again. We were all pushing and shouting and searching. Then I found the heart, and I was almost afraid to press it, and someone shouted,

“Press it, Megan.”

I pressed, and the wall was now really wobbling. It took a few more seconds to find the spade and everyone shouted,

“Press!”

The brick was pressed, and the whole wall lit up like a million stars, and it all crumbled down into a heap on the floor. We were in another room, or a hall, where there were balloons and ribbons and crackers and a band was playing, and all the statues that we’d seen at the entrance were doing statue dances and calling us. They were our mums and dads and other people.

“I knew the statue was calling me,” I said to my dad. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

We danced and played until it was time to go home. We thanked Winnie for the fantastic day, and she said:

“We worked hard to make sure that wall came down and it worth every minute just to see the amazement on those kids’ faces. Well done to everyone who helped make it a really special May Day.”

That’s the end of my story. The next one is by Libby. She’s eight like me. Bye!

14. The Space Ship

by Libby Tomkinson aged 8

Hi! My name is Elisabeth, but everyone calls me Libby. I’m 8. I have to tell a story for our project. I’m not very good at storytelling. I’m much better at acting. I love playing different roles like rich girls or princesses or famous film-stars. I hope we do an acting project next.

My story is about something not very nice that happened one day in the Workshop after school. The Workshop is where we sometimes go to do things together, It’s a kind of club, and it’s not far from the school so some of the kids were there and we were all doing activities because it was pouring rain.

A group of boys, Artie, Stan, Pete and Omar, were putting a toy space ship together. I think it was Stan’s. I don’t know if anybody told you that Stan is in a wheelchair, so he does lots of stuff like assembling games and things. They had it all set up on a low table, and they were listening to music while they were trying to fathom out how to make it.

Waldon Scott was in the Workshop, and he was with Nat as usual. They’re best friends. They were looking around to see what everyone was doing. There were bigger kids in another room practising their guitars. Waldon and Nat decided to do some exercises, so they put the gym mats on the floor. But where did they put them? Right beside the table where the others were working on the space ship. They started doing press-ups and stuff. Then Waldon got a football and started to balance it on his feet and roll it around. The ball fell a few times, and he tried again and again. I was watching them, and Waldon was showing off. We’re not supposed to have phones at school, but I had mine, and I decided to take a few photos.

“Be careful with that ball,” Artie said.

“Why don’t you move the mattress away from here?” said Stan.

“Why don’t you move the table away from here?” said Waldon.

“Because the table is always here.” Stan’s voice was a bit nervous.

“Don’t worry. I can juggle this ball with my feet no problem.”

He was still trying to balance the ball, and then he just kicked it up in the air, and it was about to land right on the table.  Omar saw the ball and punched it away. I clapped and said:

“Nice catch Omar.”

Then we heard a voice.

“Hey, young Scott, I’m warning you. That’s enough. When you’ve finished with those mats, put them back.” It was Mr Bill. He’d seen it all.

They picked up the mats. Then they went to hear the others playing, but they told them to leave. When they’re practising, they don’t want the young kids listening. So they came back in and got the ball again, and they started taking aim at the basketball hoop. I started to play with them. After a few minutes. Nat said, “It’s stopped raining, and I’m going home.” So we decided to go too.

Then Waldon did the weirdest thing. He took the ball and bounced it a few times then aimed at the table where the boys had almost finished putting it put together. The ball landed right on the space ship, and it all came apart.

Waldon ran out the door, and Omar and Pete were staring at the mess, and then they followed him. Artie caught me by the arm and said:

“Don’t you move.” And he went out too.

I went over to Stan, and he was trying to pick up the pieces, but they were everywhere, so I gave him a hand.

“He did it because of you, you know!” Stan said.

“No, he didn’t,” I said.

“Yes, he did.”

“It’s not my fault he broke your space ship,” I said.

“I didn’t say it was. Anyway thanks for picking up the pieces.”

The guys came back, but they hadn’t caught up with Waldon. I was glad.

Pete said: “Can I have your phone?”

I was a little bit afraid, so I gave it to him. He looked at the photos I’d taken, and he showed them to the others. We could see the mat really near the table and Nat and Waldon playing basketball.

“I’m sending them to my number,” he said.

“OK!” I said, and when he had finished, he gave it back to me.

I ran home, and I felt like crying.

The next day at school someone told me that Pete and Omar had cycled to Waldon’s house. It’s a big house with electric gates, and they said they were Waldon’s friends and the gates opened. His mum was there, and she was happy to see them until they told her what happened and showed her the photos. She got really angry and told her that Waldon would do nothing like what they said he did. She told them to leave straight away. But the day after Waldon said sorry to Stan and Stan said it was OK.

That’s all I can remember about that story. The next story is by Tom Bernard. His mum is a photographer, and she took some fantastic photos of me. She said I have really nice eyes. Bye!

15. The Sack-Race

by Tom Bernard aged 10

Hi! My name is Tom Bernard.

One of the nicest things in Kallerbay is that most people love sport and being outdoors and I think the best day of the year is Sports Day. It’s held in the football field, and as many people as possible try to take part. We have all kinds of races, competitions, stalls, amusements, matches, activities, music and dancing. The fun starts early in the morning with teas and coffees, fruit juices, scones, biscuits and cakes in the main tent. People look at the times of the competitions and enrol in whatever activities they want.

Last year my mum couldn’t be there because it was around the time that my baby brother Adrian was born. Before he came along, there was just me, my parents and my sister Melanie who will soon be 18 and will be going to university. My mum said that her new baby arrived just in time to make it easier for her to let her other baby go. Parents are such softies!

But I was telling you about Sports Day.

One of the best competitions is the sack-race because it’s open to everyone.

Mr Lee and Mr Clarke make the rules, and this year they organised the boy/girl race. This meant that we had to take part as male/female couples. It was funny to see all the mums and dads and all the kids in sacks together and people running around trying to find a partner. There were even some older people, and some of them were fit. Others were fat!

I decided to ask Hilda Prasnov to be my partner. She’s only eight, but she’s in great shape because she’s a dancer and she’s as tall as me so I thought we’d make a good team. First, she said she didn’t want to take part, but I turned on the Bernard charm and insisted and then she said OK!  We had no time to practice because they announced the rules just a few minutes before the race began and there were only twenty sacks so we had to scramble for them and grab one as fast as we could. The sacks were huge, and Hilda nearly got lost inside ours!

There were rules. We had to do three relays. The first one, the females ran from the starting line to the pole at the other end of the field near the goalposts, then around the pole and back to the start. Then the males had to do the same course, and after that, the two had to get into the sack together and do it all again.

We all lined up at the start. The girls were in their sacks. Waldon Scott and Danni Rossi were in the line, and Libby Tomkinson and Rosemary Winters were their partners. Miss Emerson was in a sack, but I couldn’t be sure who her partner was. I said to myself that we didn’t have a chance. Hilda was really concentrated, and I said, “Come back as fast as you can,” and she said, “I will.”

The whistle blew, and they were off. Some of them fell after only a few steps, and others fell over them. Hilda was out on the side, and I couldn’t believe that she was really flying. She was first around the pole and back down the field. I was ready for the change-over. She threw herself on the ground, and so did I. We pulled off the sack, and I was into it in a flash and off again. I wanted to be as good as Hilda, and I felt I could run forever. People were cheering me on, and I went even faster. I got back, plonked on the ground and Hilda got into the sack beside me.

She touched my leg and her own and said,

“This one and this one together when I say one.”

I knew what she meant. We put our arms around each other’s shoulders, and she said:

“One.”

My left leg and her right moved and all the way down the field she kept saying one at every two steps.

It made it so easy for me. I didn’t have to think of running but only of not falling. We made a perfect team, and we won the race. We got out of the sack and sat on the grass, totally exhausted. An hour later, I had a football match to play, and I didn’t really have much energy left. I scored a goal though and, with that, I was really the hero of the day for my friends. Mr Lee came over and congratulated us, and Hilda and Rosemary watched part of the match.

We got a medal each for the sack-race, and we had to get back into the sack for some photos.

When Mr Clarke presented us with our medals, he had a microphone, and he said,

“Well done Hilda and Tom. The sack-race was the highlight of the day. I’ve never seen such coordination between two young athletes. I think we’ll have to repeat the boy/girl race next year and see if anyone can break your record.”

Everyone was whooping and clapping and cheering and whistling and even Hilda herself smiled. At last! Her mum and dad came over and hugged her and then they hugged me too! As I said, parents are such softies! And Sports Days are great!

The next story is by little Vicky Banks. I hope you enjoy it.  She has a baby brother, too, the same age as Adrian. But I can’t remember his name.  Bye!

We continue next time with stories 16, 17, 18 of The Kallerbay Stories.

16. Vicky Banks The Car and the Goldfish Vicky’s adventure at the supermarket
17. Quinn Taylor Story Time Quinn writes about his stammer
18. Rosemary Winters The Strange Fairy Tale Rosemary’s version of a well-known story

To read the next set of Kallerbay stories, click here!

- Total nr. of readings: 949 Copyright © The author [2020] All Rights Reserved. This story may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author except for personal use.