Togs by Zoe Land

Junior Short Story Entry

Not again! I can't find my togs anywhere and today is the school swimming competition. I’ve been practicing my dives all week. My best dive so far was that huge belly flop that I did that scared the life out of mum. She thought something had exploded. My belly was really sore after but it was worth it, the look on mum's face was priceless. Anyway, I've got to find my togs or I have to stay in class and paint cute little animals, Gross! Hey what's that noise? It sounds like Chomper eating something. I run outside and scream. Ahhh! Chomper is eating something, my togs! That’s right, I remember, I hung my togs out on the line to dry and Chomper must have pulled them off and is now trying to eat them. I run over to Chomper screaming. I am so going to kill him.Chomper looks up barks and runs under the house. I would normally run under the house after him but I can't fit. I walk over to the pile of teared up togs and gasp. The only bit of my togs that is not torn up are the straps at the top, but what use are they. It’s not like I can make a new set of togs with them, or can I? I run inside with my tog straps and try to find mums sewing machine. On the way I collect some helpful things, like blue stretchy material, elastic, ruler, scissors and last month's bubblegum to chew on. I go and open the art cupboard and scream (I know this sounds babyish opening a cupboard and screaming but you would to if you saw what I did) a million box's full of stuff come tumbling out of the cupboard i have to look through a ton of box's till I found the one with mum's sewing machine in. When I was looking through the box's I found lot's of things. Most of it was junk but a few of the things were very interesting. Like my mangled bouncy ball that I've been looking for ages and my front baby teeth. The junk was boring like books on "how to make your child to do their homework 101"and "train your child to success in 10 easy steps” When I finally got the sewing machine out of the box I had to turn the sewing machine on. Turning on sewing machines is very hard. First you have to find the plugs. Then you have to plug them in the right places then you have to turn on the switch and finally turn it off to get your material ready. A lot of you would say get the stuff ready first but I say it's easier to turn on the machine then get ready. It’s much faster. I start trying to sew the material to the straps but the straps keep falling off the machine every time I try. I finally make a kind-a -good pair of togs that I think look great. I think Lisa, my best friend, does to. She smiled and said she wished she had a pair. When I offered to make her one she said she had a good pair already and I shouldn't go to the trouble. When we got to school we got changed and walked over to the pool. They started calling out the race numbers so people could get ready .My race was race 5.Lisa's was race 4.She came 3rd.If Lisa could get 3rd I could get better. When we were practicing she only beat me by 5 minutes, and if I'm correct that means if I go a little bit faster I could win. It's my race now. As I bend down on the block I get this huge wedgie. As I am pulling it out the whistle blows to start the race .I get such a fright that I fall in on my belly and do a belly flop. The material I used for my togs must not be water-proof because I can fell the water on places I've never felt the water on before. I start swimming really fast to catch up to the others .Suddenly I hear laughter coming from the grand stand. I hear a whistle and the race stops .The judge hands me a towel and asks me to get out of the pool. I get out and the crowd roars with laughter .I hear a few gasps. Some people are pointing. I look where they are pointing and get a massive shock and I feel a bit embarrassed. My new togs that I made have come apart. I can see them floating in the pool. I must not have sewed them to the straps good enough. I have been swimming in the nude. Ahhh. I am now going to be the laughing stock of the school. Oh my!