Pride Island

My son is 10 years old. He is an avid reader, and seems to enjoy writing. Together we have been writing a short novel over the past 6 months or so titled “The Amazing Adventures of Fatman and The Blubster”. Generally he comes up with the characters and the plot while I do the typing and wordsmithing. He’ll also suggest certain words and phrases as we go. It’s fun to work on the story together. Yesterday he brought home some text that he had worked on by himself at school. When I read it I had one of those “welling up” moments. I was filled with happy pride. It is only a few sentences, and it has a few spelling & grammar mistakes, but I really think it shows promise. Apparently my son used the island on Lost as inspiration for some of the descriptions below.

Who knows what the future may bring? When I was about the same age, maybe a couple of years older, I wrote a couple of dozen short stories myself, but eventually drifted away from writing to other things. I look forward to seeing how this new budding author develops.

Additionally, my son is attending a young authors conference on Monday. His teacher offered him the opportunity based on his affinity for reading and writing. He’ll be meeting with Charles De Lint and Joan Fitzgerald McCurdy.

Here is the piece. His teacher graded it A+. Nice work, son.



The Island
by Dominic Perrin

The island was covered with huge bulky palm trees. Its coast line is extended and the sand is white. There are vultures circling the gigantic mountains that stretch above the trees. Tiny coconuts are making splashes of sand as they crash to the ground from the higher section of the slim trees. All around the island is turquoise waters reaching up the coast as seagulls dine on a feast of miniature fish. The sand feels silky and the tree bark feels rough, similar to the rocks. As the rain starts falling the sand starts to turn muddy and runs into the sea. It smells like rotting fish near the sea, and the jungle smells mucky and wet. It’s humid and the rain tastes reviving on their tongues. The coconut milk tastes horrible and bitter compared to the milk their used to. Sounds of the crashing rain and booming thunder, makes the island scary mixed with the darkness of night and the howling and yelping of strange animals in the jungle. As the waves hit the ocean is sounds like machines crashing and winds made it sound like people screaming. It was a truly horrifying island.