Mum and I

Rueben is part of Miss Tuxford's extension writers. This is his piece of writing for contemporary fiction that he has worked on at home:

We lived in one of the biggest cities in New Zealand. It was just Mum and me. Having just a Mum was nice because she read books to me with great expression like when she read 'Heidi' to me, I could imagine everything throughout the story like I could imagine the wind blowing through the fir trees and Peter pushing down the wheelchair and smashing to a hundred pieces. She also taught me how to cook and bake. Once when I tried making a fruit smoothie I accidentally added too many mangoes and then it exploded everywhere like someone put a bomb in the blender and lit it! It covered everything and everyone. Mum was furious! She shouted at me but smoothie got in her mouth and she accidentally swallowed. "Yum!" she said. "But now I'm gonna teach you how to clean." She handed me a mop and a bucket and said, "First you move your mop forwards. Then you move your mop back." After one hour of torture I finally finished the floor. "Okay, now the walls." said Mum. It took forever but I finally finished everything. "There. Now you know how to clean." Mum said.

But there were some problems about just having a mum. In winter I decided I'd play soccer. My first game was terrible. We lost 1-10. So Mum and I practised in the backyard. Mum tried her hardest but landed on her bum a few times. Or like when I needed to go to the bathroom in a mall I have to go into the ladies' room because Mum is too scared for me to go into the men's room because she thinks a boogie monster's going to eat me. Or when my bike needed a new chain my Mum went down to the shop and got one but when she tried to put it on it got all tangled and it still wasn't attached to the bike!

Which was when I started to wonder about having a Dad. With a Dad I could practise sports, watch sports, plant things in the garden with him, build things or walk to school with him. When I went to my friend Phil's house I played with his Dad on the tramp and the Nintendo Wii and I really enjoyed myself but it made me even sadder because I didn't have a dad to go home to. So I got sadder and sadder about not having a dad. As I got older I kept drawing what my dad could look like. One of my pictures was the best. My picture had green eyes, black hair, nice clothes, light skin, grey pants and grey shoes. Anyway, at Scouts (which is a group for boys) I started crying during a movie which was about a boy and his dad going off on an adventure to find treasure. The leaders asked me, "What's the matter?" I answered, "This movie is too sad. I don't have a dad." They answered back, "We'll stop the movie." After they stopped the movie everyone shouted "Boo!" except for me. I game the leaders a thumbs up quickly. At the end, the leaders told Mum about the movie and on the way home she asked me what was going on. I answered, "I'll tell you at home."
"Okay" she said.

At home Mum told me to sit down at the table with her. Then she asked me what was going on. I told her what happened from the beginning to end. Once I told my story, she gave me answers to the questions I had. I found out his name was George and his last name was Smith. She wasn't married to him, he ran away when he found out I was in Mum's stomach. She also told me that I definitely was not adopted and I was hers. But I had a newer question that she couldn't answer. That was, "Why did George leave me?" I asked if we could find him but Mum said, "If you really want to look for him, I'll help you through it, but you need some time to process the information inside your brain so when you think you're ready, come and talk to me again. Oh, and don't forget you can always share your wonderings and questions with me."

I was OK with that and she kept her word and always helped me whenever I had problems. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll ask Mum again about finding him. But for now, I'm happy with just Mum and me.

By Reuben