Essay #12 My Friend, A Thief

             It was the “Great Singapore Sale”. Mary and I wanted to buy gifts for our mothers at Robin's Departmental Store. She was my best friend and we used to do things together, like playing in the neighbourhood park and shopping. Two years my senior, Mary was easy-going and generous towards her friends. However, she was sometimes careless about things and had to be reminded to return things borrowed from friends.

            While I was looking at some scarves, I saw Mary casually slipped a hairpin into her pocket! I stood rooted to the ground for a moment, but gradually regained my senses. I had read many newspaper reports about the punishment for shoplifting. I was worried. The thought of Mary being caught and sent to the Girls' Home crossed my mind.

            “Mary! It is so careless of you to just put something you like into your pocket before paying for it!”          I heard myself reprimanding my friend. Mary was startled and turned around to look at me.

             “Mind your own business!” she sulked and rolled her eyes before returning the hairpin to the shelf. She glared at me before hastily walking away. Mary had been ignoring and avoiding me since the incident happened a year ago.

            “Teenager Caught with Stolen T-Shirt under her School Uniform, sent to Girls’ Home” the news headline screamed at me one morning, as I passed the newsstand. Mary’s photograph was splashed across the page. My heart suddenly felt very heavy. Till today, I am still wondering if I could have done more to help Mary turn over a new leaf.

Essay #11- The Shipwreck

Age Group: Lower Primary

It was a school holiday, and John wanted to go on a cruise and island fishing trip. His father, mother and sister all agreed. Unfortunately, the ship capsized in a heavy storm, and they fell into the sea. They floated for a long time time and soon drifted faraway. Soon, they saw an island in the distance and swam towards it.

They saw a cave and went in because that was the only suitable place to sleep in. Father made a fire for the whole family, but then John heard a hissing noise. There was a snake in the cave. They ran out of the cave immediately.

They decided to sleep on the beach, because the snake was still hissing loudly in the cave. When the family slept, they all had wonderful dreams. John dreamt that he built a beautiful tree house with grass for a roof. Father dreamt that he was sleeping comfortably in a cave without snakes. Mother was very hygenic, so she dreamt that she had a nice warm bath. She dreamt that a ship came and rescued them.

In the morning, they told each other their dreams, but Father interrupted them and said that John’s dream was the best. He also said that they should build a treehouse to live in.

That day, they set to work. They used wood instead of grass to make the roof because grass would cave in. At last, after a lot of sawing and hammering, the treehouse was ready, except for the furniture, which they decided to make later.

When the furniture was done, they knew that they had nothing to worry about. From that day onwards, they relaxed and played. Father fished, while Mother swam and the children played catching on the beach. They knew that they had a place to live in happily ever after. They never ever wanted to wave a ship down to rescue them, because they likd the island so much!  

Essay #10- A House on Fire

Age Group: Lower Primary

Pitter, patter! John was watering the plants happily in his backyard. He was distracted by a choking smell coming coming from his neighbour’s house, and his neighbour, Mr. Tan, and his family were at the market. John did not know that, and he ran to their house and knocked on their front door, but no one was in the house.

He quickly told his father about what he had seen. His father looked out of the window and saw that Mr. Tan’s house was on fire! He asked the neighbours hurriedly for help in putting out the fire.

All the neighbours arrived carrying buckets of water.  They threw water to put out the fire. People came and went, and always leaving with two empty buckets, but the fire raged on.

They called the fire engine to put out the raging fire, because the fire was too much for them. When the fire engine arrived, the firemen sprayed water on the fire, putting it out.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt, only the wall was slightly damaged. serving as a memory of that fateful day. John became a hero, and Mr. Tan remained grateful to John forever.

Essay #9- An Encounter with a Snake

Age Group: Lower Primary

John was a greedy boy and he would eat anything edible. One sunny afternoon, when John was walking down the path, he saw a tall rambutan tree, bent low from it's fruits. John looked up and he saw bunches of ripe rambutans, waiting to be plucked. He drooled all over his shirt, longing to eat the rambutans.

“I know what!” John exclaimed. He climbed up the tree impatiently, hoping to savour the sweet taste of rambutans in his mouth. He reached for a bunch of sweet, ripe rambutans on a thin branch.

All of a sudden, a snake slithered out from behind the tree trunk! John yelled, “Yikes! Help! Snake!” He dropped the bunch of rambutans and fell off the branch, and with a loud ‘thud’, he landed painfully on his rear! A man saw him fall and called for an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, the man helped John up the ambulance.

In the hospital, the doctor examined John and told him that he had fractured his leg during the fall. He also told John that he had to keep him under observation for ten days. Feeling miserable that he had a fractured leg and could not walk for a while, John stayed obediently in hospital. Even though John was still greedy, he would never eat another rambutan again.

Essay #8- A Robbery

Age Group: Lower Primary

Mary was alone at home, watching television. Her parents were at a dinner party, and they had told her to sleep early and take care of the house. Mary did not go to bed early. When she was watching her favourite programme, someone knocked on the door. She shouted, “Who is it?” but no one answered. She ran and opend the door.

A surprise awaited her, for standing in front of her were two gruff-looking men! One caught hold of her while the other one tied her up. They used a hankerchief to tie around her mouth so that she could not shout.

Mary struggled but the men threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. Then, they used tools to pry open the drawers. They ransacked Mary’s house and they found a lot of jewellery and valuables.

Just then, Mary’s parents came home. They saw a truck parked outside their house. It surprised them. What surprised them even more was that they found their front door open. They peeped in and saw their house was in a mess. They heard a squealing noise coming from their bedroom. They guessed they must have been robbed, so Mary’s father used his mobile phone to telephone the police.

The police arrived and caught the robbers just in time. The police told Mary’s parents that they were wanted criminals and gave Mary’s parents five thousand dollars as a reward.

Essay #7- The Drowning Incident

Age Group: Lower Primary

It was raining heavily. Sumei was walking next to the canal when she accidentally slipped. The canal was flooded, and the strong current easily swept her away from the blocks of flats she live in. she tried to shout for help, for she did not know how to swim, but the place was deserted.

No one saw her, except for a little stray dog, who jumped immediately into the canal to save her. She was about to lose her consciousness, when she felt herself being pulled onto a pavement.

She was awoken by something licking her face. When she opened her eyes, she saw a little dog, and a crowd had formed around the dog and her. They had seen how the little dog had saved her life, and they were astonished. Sumei’s mother kept the dog, and they showered it with love and what it needed most – food. 

Essay #6- Bees and Wasps

Age Group:  Lower Primary 

            In many ways, bees and wasps are similar. They are both insects, Like other insects, their bodies are divided into three parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen. They have three pairs of legs and one pair of antennae. They all have a sting and strong jaws. Some of them live in colonies, but most of them live alone.

            However, in many ways, a bee differs from a wasp. A bee has heavy rounded body, whereas the wasp has a thin body. It’s very hard to see a bee’s waist, but a wasp has a thin waist that you can see easily. A bee has a lot of hair on its body, whereas the wasp has not much hair on its body. A bee feeds on nectar while the wasp feeds on insects.