"TT threw KiKi down the
pee hole!" I scream.
It's true, my sister Sarah has
tossed KiKi, her beloved stuffed panda bear down the one of the two "pee
holes" in the floor of our house on Little Harvest Caye. Although we never use these holes for said
activity, down on the moist sandy earth beneath our stilted little house is a
horrible place for sweet KiKi. It's all
my fault that KiKi is down there, lying on her back, her black and white panda
face still smiling up at us. Sarah is
trying to finish her schoolwork, she is doing math, her least favorite subject. I just want her to be done, so we can go play
outside and explore our island. Because
we are surrounded by the vast ocean, our mother likes Sarah and me to stay
together. So until Sarah gets though her
math homework, I am landlocked inside. I
usually spend school work time drawing or coloring or singing songs with my
mother, but today she is spending all her time helping Sarah with her math
problems. As impatience sets in, I begin
telling Sarah to hurry up, and asking
her questions I already know the answer to, doing my well-rehearsed routine as
an annoying little sister. Soon I start
gathering up all of our stuffed animals and dolls and pilling them near
Sarah. When I add KiKi to the ever
growing pile, Sarah snaps.
Leave me alone!" She shouts, and hurls KiKi through the hole
with impressive aim.
Sarah is frustrated, I am
distressed, and our mother looks like she is trying hold back laughter. The drama doesn't seem as serious to her, she
seems to think within 15 minutes of this disaster, my TT and I will be giggling
and singing as we scamper off to see what adventures Little Harvest Caye has
for us today. After I rescue KiKi from
under the house, and bring her back inside, Sarah and I laugh at how funny
"TT threw KiKi down the pee hole" sounds, and before we know it, our
mother is right.
We did have our share of near
disasters on Little Harvest Caye. Our
boat, the " Sarah Jane", drifted
from where it was docked twice.
If my father hadn't swam strong and fast to retrieve it, we would have
been stranded. Once during a bad storm,
the ocean swallowed up nearly our entire island, and huge waves washed away our
newly planted vegetable garden. The one
true disaster came when my father’s new, expensive fish trap was stolen. That fish trap was how my father was supposed
to make money. He would catch fish and
sell on the mainland. All of our family
savings had been spent in preparing to move to Little Harvest Caye, so making
money is essential. Without this trap,
my father is still able to catch plenty of fish for the family to eat, but nowhere
near enough to sell.
With tensions between my
parents growing, our time on this magical little island is coming to an end. Sarah and I still play blissfully in the sand
and in the mangrove trees, wearing our island uniform; underpants. A shrub by our house looks like an underwear
tree, because my mother uses it to dry our freshly washed underpants from the
days before. Sheets, clothes and
especially underpants dry quickly on our windy and sunny island. One of our favorite adventures is finding
starfish by the ocean shore. With their
bright colors and textured exterior, they are the perfect accessory for little
girls to toss around. But too soon our
days on Little Harvest Caye come to an end.
We pack up all our belongings, and Anelliot, our cat into our little
boat. My father starts the motor and
hoists the sails, which were sewn by hand by my mother, and we are on the
way. On the way to where I don't
know. Will we have a house? Will there be lots of snakes? Will we have
enough to eat? Will my father stay with
us? Will I ever see Little Harvest Caye again? All this uncertainty makes me worry, but as I
watch Little Harvest Caye grow smaller and smaller in the distance Sarah puts
her arm around me and I know every thing is going to be alright, no matter
where our next adventure takes us.
-Rosanna Forman
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