Young Storykeeper Volume III

132 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TEN | 133
LIFE IN HOOK HEAD LIGHTHOUSE
The waves bashed against the lighthouse on a cold winter’s night. Julia
and Phil were being tucked in by Dad when a sudden splash wet their
window.
“Okay, good night,” Dad said, closing the door behind him. Dad
ran up the flight of stairs that spiralled up the lighthouse. He could see
the shore from the top as the sea banged against the island. There was
a misty fog over the sea, turning the seagulls into silhouettes. The light
suddenly went out. Dad couldn’t see a thing, so he reached into his
pocket to get his torch, but nothing was there. So, he reached into his
left pocket. But instead, he found a large hole.
“What? “Dad said. The light flickered on and off within the blink of
an eye. Dad then heard a ship horn from the outside. It was dark now
and the only light Dad could see was the flickering bulb above. He sighed
loudly, giving the impression that something was wrong. Yes, something
was wrong! The light had stopped flickering and was now giving a long
pulse every few seconds. Dad maintained calmness and found a chair in
the corner of the room.
The waves crashed against the house that stood beside the tower.
It awoke Julia. She looked around and she saw Phil snoring in the bed
beside her. She turned on the bed lamp close by, it flickered on and off,
giving a longer pulse every few seconds.
What? she thought. She turned it off and went back to sleep, but
she couldn’t help but think about the flickering.
Meanwhile, Dad figured if he were to find his torch, he could
examine the light to see what was wrong. So for the next few minutes,
he searched around to find it but instead tripped on litter that had been
scattered across the floor. He found a lighter, but without a candle, that
wouldn’t help much.
Horns of annoyed ships could be heard, through the misty fog.
Screams of seagulls could also be heard from the far distance. Dad
found something that was shaped like a cylinder and had the texture of
wax. Dad used the lighter and lit the top of the candle which flickered
with light.
Down below in the house, Julia was awake. She was still thinking
about the flickering bed lamp that was beside her bed. Soon enough,
however, she, Dad and Phil were all fast asleep.
As dawn broke, Dad was awoken by a heron on his windowsill,
it stood still as a statue. He made himself breakfast and got dressed
before working a shift in the tower. He ran up the flight of stairs before
turning back as he realised he had forgotten his coffee.
Dad sat down on his wooden chair before observing the sea. The
harbour was full today, with no spots left. The cargo boats were ready
to be emptied and filled before going on their journey back to England.
Tynan Lawson
Co Dublin
MY LIGHTHOUSE RACE
When I was six months old, my family had to leave Ireland because of a
worldwide recession. Every year we come back.
I used to love coming home. I would be screaming and butterflies
would be flying in my stomach when I got near to my granny’s house.
My favourite thing to do was going on adventures. We travelled all
over the country. One of those adventures was visiting Sheep’s Head
Lighthouse
I got up early, around 7:30am. For breakfast I had sausages and
brown toast. We then set off in my granny’s blue car. It was a long drive.
We made two stops. One of them was so my granny could collect the
money from the lottery which was one euro but better than nothing. Then
we stopped at the gas station and I got some Tayto crisps. YUM!
Finally, we arrived. It was a beautiful day. There were not too many
people around. It was warm but Dad insisted we bring our raincoats.
Then Granny realised that she had not brought her walking shoes! She
had to walk in her heels. Mum said she was lucky because they were
not high heels.
There was a path with signposts for the lighthouse. The path led
along the shore right next to the sea, it felt like we were at the end of
the world!
We came to a high cliff. When I looked down, I felt like I was going
to fall from space I was so high. I ran back to Dad to show him, hoping he
would be scared (he fears heights). He said he was not scared though.
Soon after we reached the end of our walk, we were at the very
edge of Ireland. Mum said if I swam straight for a long time, I would
reach America. We walked down a set of stairs. Some of them were
made from the rock. It was a little scary but there was a red railing which
helped. We turned a corner and suddenly there it was - a massive white
tower with a big window on top. We took lots of pictures.
Then Granny noticed that there was a big grey cloud out in the
ocean moving towards us. We decided to walk back to the car because
we knew it was going to rain. My little sister Grace was getting tired, so
my dad put her up on his shoulders.
It was like a race back to the car, us versus the weather. We walked
much faster back. I was tired but we were nearly there. We just made it
to the car when small drops of rain were falling. But as soon as Mum,
Granny and I got in the car it started to really pour! Dad and Grace were
last, I saw him running as fast as he could with Grace on his shoulders
laughing like a crazy baby! They were both laughing when they got to
the car.
I think he was happy because we brought our raincoats.
Nellie Mai Ryan
France