Column 286

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My Desk
Story filed: Micro Fiction

Loud thunderous cracks and the sound of rifles firing and being reloaded was the everyday noise of life in the trenches, but not today. Today was different. “Cromwell, you’re up. Sleep well?” asked my friend Ted. “Yeah, sort of” I muttered, still half asleep. “Yeah, it was pretty loud last night. Gerry must have decided to keep us up all night. Well, we’ll get ‘em back” he replied. “Oh by the way, the Captain’s given you the job of showing Little Jimmy here, around the trenches” he continued, as he pulled a rather young boy out from around the corner”.

“Hi” I said.

“Hello’ replied the young boy.

“So Cromwell, this is Little Jimmy, Little Jimmy this is Cromwell.”

“Nice to meet you” Little Jimmy said as I reached over to shake his hand.

“You too” I replied as he shook my hand.

“All right, I’ll leave you to it. See you, for now” called Ted as he left.

“Well rule number one – never poke your head over the trench or you will die. Germans have good aim”

“OK” he said, answering quickly.

‘Good, good. OK rule number two. Always treat Mitty nicely or she will scratch you” I informed him.

“Wait, who’s Mitty?

“Let me show you”

After some time walking through the trenches, I said “This is Mitty”.

“A cat? Mitty is a cat? he replied, confused.

“Yep and the best cat in our Regiment. Isn’t that right Mitty? Good girl” I answered as I scratched her behind her ears. She purred in return, with thanks.

“Is it not dangerous for her?” asked Little Jimmy.

“No, no, she’s the best at staying out of trouble. Oh, by the way, why do people call you Little Jimmy?” I asked.

“Oh my name’s not Little Jimmy, it’s just Jim r James. But when I signed up everyone in the Regiment thought I looked so young that they called me Little Jimmy”. At that moment I started hearing a whistling sound.

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“Run, incoming shell” I yelled.

Immediately setting off, we ran as fast as out legs could carry us.

“Oh no. Keep running, I’ll be back” I called to Little Jimmy as I ran back and grabbed Mitty who was still licking her paws.

Boom! A big explosion shook the earth and us. As Little Jimmy got up from the ground he waited anxiously for Cromwell. “There you are” he said as Cromwell came out of the smoke, spluttering and coughing. “Where did you go?” he asked. “I couldn’t forget Mitty” I replied as I put Mitty on a stack of ammunition. To her, nothing seemed to have just happened. “Man, that cat” I said. “She is some cat” remarked Little Jimmy. “Yes, she is, she definitely is.” I added. Ding, ding, ding!

“What’s that?” Little Jimmy asked.

“That’s the sound of lunch. Let’s go, Mitty will follow. And that brings me to rule number three – watch your food or that cat will steal it!”.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 285

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Bathurst
Story filed: A Life Aquatic

Hi there, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about the swim league I did at the Manning Aquatic Center on the weekend. Maybe you've heard of it? It's a big, noisy competitive swimming carnival were teams like the Mammoths, the Blazes and the Bulls (which is my team) all race each other. We just race in lots of different events to get 1st, 2nd and 3rd points and beat the other team and to have fun. This year I was in the seniors which was a lot harder then being in the juniors. I think I may of been the smallest out of my team but to despite my size and skill I tried to keep up and I did an alright job. It was super fun and we have two more swim leagues coming up in the next few months. I'm really looking forward to swimming again.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 284

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Family room
Story filed: We Bare Bears

Hi there it's Leo here and today I'll be talking about an amazing show called We Bare Bears. Maybe you've heard of it so you can agree with me that it's amazing! It originally was a comic strip and now there's a movie, I thought it was only a TV show and that was it but no it's a movie too... I HAVE to see it. I love all the characters from We Bare Bears like Griz, Ice Bear, Chloe Park, Panda, Charlie, Ranger Dana Tabes and Nom Nom (he's a koala). I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks so good. But I won't give any spoilers away.

 

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 283

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My Desk
Story filed: Squeak

Ring! Ring!
‘Next!” boomed Phil.
Phil was your average middle-aged man; he does average stuff and lives an average life. But the place where Phil works is anything but average. Phil works at the highest security prison in the world. The location is classified, how many prisoners there is classified, the name is classified, even what they eat there is classified. So everyday Phil drives in, walks to the office, signs in, gives his fingerprint, blood sample and DNA and starts his day. One of Phil’s usual jobs was to take the mugshots of the newly arrested prisoners, but today was different. The prisoners came in like they were told to, like any other day but among them was a mouse, yes, a mouse.

In some way Phil was not surprised. Yes, it was a mouse but compared to the stuff that went on behind these walls a mouse did not make a difference. When it came up to the mouse’s turn to be processed the guards had to stack some boxes on a stool to get the mouse in the camera’s viewfinder. Click. 'Please turn to the left'' called Phil. The mouse grunted rudely and turned to the left. Click. “Ok, good. Now turn to the right'' replied Phil. And so, again the mouse grunted and turned to the right. ''All good. Is there any more?'' asked Phil of the prison guard. “No, that's it'' muttered the prison guard. Clang. ''Move along'' called a prison another guard to a handful of prisoners, one of them being a mouse.

They had just had their mugshots taken and were now being escorted to their cells. One by one they were put in their cells but the mouse, well, he was already thinking on how he could get out of here. For this mouse was not your standard criminal mouse: no, no, no, no. This mouse was a criminal mastermind. ''Here's your cell'' stated the guard. “It's a bit damp in here and it's cold. You got anything else?” observed the mouse. ''You better get used to it as you are going to be here for a long time'' replied the guard. ''Oh, we’ll see about that'' hissed the mouse ''Ha! You just keep on dreaming'' laughed the guard as he locked the door and walked away. ''You'll never get out of here'' called the guard. 'Oh, you'll see, you'll see'' smirked the mouse as a dark, sinister and evil smile spread across his face. Things were about to change.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 282

 Leo, Roving Reporter

Report from: Milltown Cop Shop

Story filed: SUSPECT RAP SHEET

                       Name:  Miko                                                                                  

         Case Number:  773 564                                                                             

                    Gender:  Feline                                                                                

                        Alias:  The eater of food which is not hers                                   

                  Address:  Her owner's house                                                             

                                                                                                                               

Known Associates:  Believed to associated with the Kat Gang well known to    

                                    authorities for illegal transport of catnip                              

    Criminal Activity: Eating her owner's food without permission,                      

                                   smuggling illegal catnip in to the country, asking for lots    

                                   of food when she just ate and having an illegal firearm    

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                               

                     Status: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DO NOT APPROACH

                                                       END OF REPORT

Column 281

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed:   :/  

Hi people, it's Leo here. Today I am going to talk about Covid. Things are looking a bit meh or :/ with all this Covid still going around but with restrictions easing even more, things are looking pretty good. Well at least here in Australia it's ok but in other parts of the world it's not looking so good. I'd say we're lucky to have a fairly good control over Covid at the moment and we were lucky to shut the borders as early as we did. If we didn't, we would probably be in a much worse situation.  My aunty, uncle and cousins in England have had a really hard time and so has my godfather and his wife, in France. But most of all I feel so sorry for everyone who is sick or has died. We are so lucky here in Australia.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 280

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: School camp

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about my upcoming school camping trip to the Southern Highlands. It's definitely different from last year's camping trip. Last year's camping trip was pretty straight forward: we slept in small cabins, went canoeing, sailed in boats, etc But this year, the school requires you to 'pack more precisely' so what that means is that you need to pack waterproof stuff, thermal clothing, fleece not cotton tops, cup, bowl, headlamp and so on which is really exciting because it means we are going bush! At the camp they will be giving us camp stoves to cook our food, compasses and a map and a medical pack. Now this, sounds really exciting. I only need to wait two more weeks for the camp and I am really pumped.

Until next time 
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 279

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Pigeon!!

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about a PIGEON!!.....oh yeah a wood pigeon somehow got stuck in my room .... again. Last time it was another type of bird but that still counts. This time I was at a friend's house sleeping over so I didn't witness the PIGEON!! in my room but my mum did. My mum was walking down the hallway when she looked in my room. At first she thought the PIGEON!! wasn't real or that it was a stuffed one that somehow had been attached to my window sill - so she was wondering where I got that from and then it struck her that it was real. Mum then spent some time getting it out of there. How? Well, she closed all the doors to the other rooms and opened the front door so the bird could fly out. Eventually the bird did that but the PIGEON!! left a little poop on by bed as a present (I've already changed the bed covers). The PIGEON!! must have come through the front room chimney, through the hallway and into my room. Clever bird. Hmmm we should block that chimney up.           

PIGEON!!

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter