Surviving the Storm

The Magaden family owned a big house on a hill in the Jamaican Islands. They had been living there for over six years. The boy, named, Kess, was 19 years old and he had a younger sister named Brice who was 16 years old. Their parents were Darius and Dorian. Dorian owned a company that made stereos.

Kess always went out fishing with his friends, Elliot and Draven, in his father's sail boat. Draven often asked if Brice could go fishing with them. But Kess would say no because it was too dangerous for a young girl like her to swim in the coral reef the way the boys did sometimes.

One day Brice told Kess, "Mom and dad said the weather is going to change later on so you can't go fishing!" "I don't think so Brice," Kess replied, "You just want us to stay home because you can't go! Bye Brice." But his friend, Elliot, told him "Kess, you shouldn't make it so hard on your younger sister." "I'm not," Kess said, "you'd understand if you had one, Elliot. Lets go."

Just as they left, Kess's mother hollered for him to come back as soon as they checked the nets. She said she thought the clouds to the west looked a little strange and the water was getting rougher.

Sure enough, as they set out around the corner of the island the sea got even rougher and the wind started to pick up. So Kess took in some sail and slowed down. He told Elliot and Draven to relax and stay still or they might fall overboard. But Elliot asked Kess to turn around because he was afraid they might get taken too far out in the high winds. He hollered back, "come on guys, calm down! This is my day off and I need this break from work."

Then all of a sudden Kess yelled, "I can't control the steering wheel any longer. The wind's too strong! Paddle guys! come on, we're drifting out!" But the wind got stronger as they tried to paddle and they had to ride the storm out to the nearest island.

When they reached the island, they were all out of breath. Then Kess yelled, "There's a hurricane coming in. Drag the boat near the trees. Ready, one, two, three! Push!" When they finished with the boat, they gathered poles to make a little shelter to keep the rain off them. Draven then made a fire big enough for the three of them to dry out and keep warm.

The next morning Elliot and Draven were the first to wake up. They noticed the weather had calmed down, although most of the trees were damaged. Draven then woke Kess and said he was going to check the boat. Soon afterward he ran back and yelled that a coast Guard boat had just landed on the beach with his parents on board. So they all ran down to the beach and pushed the sail boat into the water and headed for home.

Brice was the first to notice the boys coming home. She hollered and pointed at them. When they finally docked and Kess looked at his parents, he could see them breathe a deep sigh of relief.