First Draft: 24, 2nd draft 27, 3rd draft 32 (with daddy's help)
Title
: Losing a phone
Theme/Topic : An Unexpected Event
Sam stood on
the top of the pyramid climbing frame at the center of the playground,
surveying the children around him. Pulling out his new iPhone 6, he selected
one of the trending hot songs, “Wandering”, and set the volume to its loudest.
Music blasted and filled the whole playground.
It was a
cool and breezy weekend and Sam was showing off his new phone that his parents
gave him for his birthday. All the children turned towards him with great
amazement and their eager eyes were wide as saucers. Sam bragged, “Check out my
new phone! Sleek, eh? The sound can be amplified until almost illegal levels!
Fast song upload, and it can be set to upload trending songs automatically!”
Sam climbed
down the frame, still bragging about the fast microprocessor and other features
the phone had. When he got to the part about the durable screen, he noticed a
boy pulling up his hood and walking towards him. He did not pay much attention
as he was too engrossed in blowing his trumpet about his new toy. After all,
how many children could own a smartphone, let alone this special phone that was
just released five days ago?
When he
finally finished listing all the features, he asked the curious children, “So…
What do you think?”
Immediately,
the children shouted, one after another, “Hey, can you lend me that phone? Let
me try the games!” The children stepped forward, expecting Sam to lend the
phone to them. Annoyed, Sam replied, “No! Of course not! This phone is mine!”
He continue turning down the children’s requests, but to no avail. The children
continued advancing towards him while nudging each other. Soon, Sam found
himself nearly surrounded by the children!
He had no
choice but to slowly back off, as the children would not leave him alone. Out
of the corner of his eye, Sam noticed the boy in the hood again. What he did
not realise was that the boy was getting closer to him faster than the others.
Sam was almost reaching the fence at the end of the playground!
Realising
that if he did not react fast, he would be cornered and forced to surrender his
phone. At that moment, he chose to flee the playground. Just as he turned
towards the playground exit, a streak of blue whizzed past him, grabbing his
phone. Stunned, Sam could not react immediately to the unexpected incident.
Those children who had witnessed the theft gasped in horror. As Sam came back
to his senses, his jaw dropped in shock. His heart palpitated wildly. It was
him! The boy in the hood!
Sam took off
after the thief, cursing himself for not being cautious about the boy earlier.
“Give me back my phone, you rascal!” shouted Sam as he tried to keep up with
the thief, who had nimble legs and darted around the roads. “I’m going to get
you and you’re going to regret it!” Sam screamed.
Unknowingly,
the boys soon found themselves running through a construction site. A nearby
foreman shouted, “What are you boys doing here? Don’t you know that it’s
dangerous?” The thief paid no heed to the warnings. Sam looked at the foreman
for a split second, but decided that his phone was more important. When he
turned around to continue his pursuit, the boy was no longer in sight.
Searching around hastily, Sam espied some movement behind a giant scaffolding.
Sam sneaked up to the scaffolding among the clanking machinery, then jumped
behind it and announced, “Haha, got you at last!”
Sam tried to
wrench the phone from the boy, who was wrestling his arms away. As he dodged
Sam’s hands, his hood fell back! The boy quickly pulled it back on, but Sam had
seen his true identity. It was his neighbour, Tom! Feeling angry and
disappointed, Sam snatched the phone back with a burst of will and yelled, “How
could you, Tom? I thought we were best friends!”
Instead of apologising, Tom gasped and
pointed behind Sam. It was a forklift heading right for them! They were in the
blind spot! Tom dashed off immediately. However, poor Sam was too tired to even
walk. He only managed to edge away. As the forklift was about to hit him, Sam
shut his eyes tight, bracing for the impact. The next thing he heard was what
seemed like the crunch of bone and metal. The pain was so intense that he
nearly blacked out. He could only hear voices saying, “Oh my goodness! There’s
a boy here! Somebody call the ambulance!” Sam grasped his left arm and groaned
in pain. Another person hollered, “Don’t move! You might have broke your
arm!” After what seemed like an
eternity, Sam felt himself being hauled onto an ambulance and was sent to the
hospital.
When Sam
opened his eyes again, he realised that he was in a hospital ward with his
parents bent over him. “How are you feeling, dear?” asked his mother.
“I’m okay,”
Sam replied. “Where’s my phone?”
The nurse
explained that the forklift driver had called the ambulance, and he was whisked
to the hospital. Sam had broken his arm and his phone was crushed under the
forklift. His parents chastised him, scolding him as he took uncalculated
risks, risking his life. They would not buy him a new phone again and he had to
help them with the household chores for a week. Meekly, Sam apologised as he
found out that he could not find any other excuses. He hung his head in shame
and accepted his punishment.
Sam was
discharged with his arm in a cast. He learnt from his parents that Tom had
escaped unscathed and had come over personally to apologise to his family.
When he
returned to the playground a week later, everybody stared at him awkwardly, but
no one approached him. Maybe it was because they did not know what to say.
Maybe they were unhappy that Sam did not share his phone. But to Sam, all that
was running through his mind as he sat on the swing was what happened on that
fateful day. Tom was nowhere to be seen. Sam sighed and decided to let bygones
be bygones and forget about what happened.
After that
accident, Sam vowed never to boast again or put his life in danger. He forgave
Tom as he had admitted to his mistake. But they were no longer best friends
like they used to be. Losing a five-day old phone was already an unexpected
event, but what really left an indelible mark on Sam’s memory was the fact that
it was caused by his bosom buddy.
