I wrote this story for small children, so the language is simple, but I am busy with a task that is preventing me from writing anything new at the moment. I will share that with you at a later stage. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this little story of my childhood – perhaps you have a small child who would enjoy to hear it too.

The Boats

Grandpa has two boats. He loves Mandy and her sister very much and he has named his boats after the girls. The big one is called Amanda (which is Mandy’s real name) and the little one has her sister’s real name.

The boats are kept at a beach called The Creek. On days when the tide is high there is lots of water there. When the tide is out it looks very muddy and there is a little river that runs through the mud.

Mandy and her little sister skip down the road between the very high hedges. The road leads to The Creek and Grandpa and Daddy are going to go out in one of the boats. They say that the little girls can come too.

The two little girls are very excited. They have not been on a boat before. Grandpa says he thinks the small boat would be the best boat to take out today. This boat is painted green and white and Grandpa uses two wooden oars to row it around.

Amanda is bigger and is brown wood. She has sails and Grandpa is afraid the sisters may fall overboard and get very wet if a gust of wind came up.

Daddy says he also thinks the little boat is the best one to go out in and so when they all arrive at The Creek, Grandpa and Daddy pull it down the stony beach to the water. They work for a while getting the boat ready.

Then Daddy jumps off the boat and calls the girls to him. He carefully puts a life jacket on each of them and ties the strings tight. The life jackets will help the girls to float if one of them falls into the water.

Both girls put on their sunhats and Grandpa helps them into the boat. He tells them to sit at the back and to stay very still. Then Grandpa sits in the middle, facing the girls and Daddy pushes the boat off the beach, jumps into the front of the boat, and Grandpa starts rowing.

In and out, in and out, the oars splash into the water and the boat begins to move. The girls are so excited they can hardly speak. What an adventure! It is such fun being on the water. They look for fish – but they have been scared away by the oars splashing. They watch a big seagull fly close to the boat. They wave at Mummy and Grandma who have arrived to watch the fun.

Grandpa says if they are very careful they can trail their fingers in the water. It is cool and feels lovely.

It is very sad when Grandpa rows around in a big circle and begins to go back to the beach. He says he is tired and so Mandy and her sister understand that it is the end of their adventure in the little green and white boat.

Perhaps one day, they will have a ride in Amanda. They hope they will. But that day never came. They took too long to grow big enough and Grandpa sold both the boats before they could sail in the big boat.

But neither of the little girls ever forgot that day when they sailed in the green and white boat with Grandpa and Daddy and trailed their fingers in the water.