The Earth

By Joshua Melwin

It was dawn in the UAE. Ahmed and his adopted brothers Tom, Tim and Kevin didn’t know this day would change their lives and their understanding of what is good and what is bad for Mother Earth.

The four brothers were good friends, although Ahmed and Tim sometimes didn’t get along as they were always competing against each other. Tim was overconfident but they were still friends. The brothers were inseparable.

One fine morning, after finishing their morning routines, they decided to play and went to the playground.

‘You can’t catch me, Ahmed,’ said Tim in a

mocking voice.

SUDDENLY everything went black and the brothers were standing in the middle of a giant stadium filled with aliens! They also had an audience of aliens with strange appearances. Some aliens looked like birds, some had tentacles and some looked like humans.

‘We present to you Earth’s mightiest champions, who will be risking their lives in the Annual Trash Games,’ said Matt Marshmallow, the host of this competition.

‘Now you may ask about the Trash Games. Well! the Trash Games are a series of challenges,’ said Matt Marshmallow. He also added that the winning participants will win a trophy and go home, while the losers have to stay and work in the recycling centre on the planet.

‘But we aren’t Earth’s mightiest champions, we are just kids,’ said Ahmed.

‘That’s all right, you will be competing with kids from other planets,’ said a volunteer.

‘Ma’am, who are you and where are we now?’

asked Kevin.

‘I am a volunteer and you are in a space stadium on the planet Mint Rox,’ said the

volunteer. ‘You are here to participate in three different competitions. There are four teams of participants from three different heavily polluted planets.’

‘You will all be staying in your cabin. You will be informed about the first challenge through a note. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to call us through these holographic watches,’ said another volunteer.

‘WOW! This is amazing! We might be the first humans to meet aliens,’ said Tom.

‘It is called extraterrestrial life. Whoa! Look at this cabin, it looks beautiful but it’s kind of small and there are only two bedrooms.’ said Kevin.

‘We are four, so where will we sleep?’

questioned Tim.

‘Yeah, come and see this, we have bunk beds!’

screamed Ahmed.

The brothers decided to share the rooms. They chatted for some time. Getting tired, they went to bed and slept peacefully.

‘Hey guys, the first note has arrived,’ said

Kevin excitedly. ‘Who is going to read the note?’

‘I want to read it,’ said Tom firmly.

Tom started reading the note aloud. ‘The first challenge is a race which will be happening in Candy Park tonight and each team will be picked up by a spacecraft at noon.’

‘Where is our spacecraft?’ asked Tim impa-

tiently, looking at the time.

‘It will be arriving soon, don’t be in a hurry,’

said Ahmed.

‘GUYS, IT’S HERE!’ shrieked Tom in delight.

‘Wow, it looks astonishing,’ said Tim.

The brothers arrived at Candy Park. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first challenge of the Trash Games. Today we will have a race,’ declared Matt Marshmallow.

The referee of the game came forward and introduced the teams. ‘Our teams are Team Drax, Team Scales, Team Dot and Team Earth. And be cautious, as the floors of Candy Park are very sticky and smelly, like garbage. You must at least get the third place to win,’ announced the referee.

‘I am going to beat you in the race,’ said Tim

pompously, with a smirk on his face.

‘No, I’m going to beat you,’ said Ahmed.

‘Guys, stop fighting,’ yelled Kevin.

It was time for the race and the referee started counting. All the teams were set to run.

‘READY, SET, GO!’ came the announcement. The teams started to run.

‘I can’t tolerate this smell, it is like landfills

from Earth,’ said Ahmed.

Team Earth was in the last place as they were not able to withstand the smell, despite the fact that Tim and Ahmed were ahead.

‘OH NO! My foot got stuck in sewage!’ said

Kevin. Tom helped Kevin to get his foot out of the sewage.

‘We came second!’ exclaimed Tim and Ahmed.

‘Your whole team has to cross the finish line,’ said the referee. The rest of Team Earth arrived last. Team Drax was in first place, Team Scales came second, Team Dot came third.

‘Unfortunately, Team Earth has lost,’ said the referee.

‘Only a miracle can save us now,’ said Tim.

Just then, they heard a voice call out, ‘Wait, Team Scales have been cheating, their shoes are made out of Funny-Rubber, a material that is stick-resistant!’

Team Scales was disqualified, which paved the way for Team Earth to move to third place and proceed with the rest of the challenges.

The brothers went back to their cabin and felt bad that most of the places on Earth are filled with garbage.

‘It was a lucky day for us. If we want to go home, we have to work together as a team and try our best instead of competing against each

other,’ advised Kevin.

Now the group decided to learn more about pollution and recycling to tackle the rest of the challenges, as one of the volunteers briefed them.

The next note arrived. ‘What is the next challenge?’ inquired Tom impatiently.

‘Well, it says the next challenge will be a recycling challenge. We will be picked up in the

same way and this time the challenge will be happening in a place called Mint Recycling Centre,’ read Ahmed.

The brothers arrived at the Mint Recycling Centre. Matt Marshmallow welcomed the teams. It was a recycling challenge and the teams had to recycle the waste materials by throwing them in the right bins.

‘Come on, guys, we have learnt about this,’ recalled Ahmed.

‘Remember, blue is for paper, grey or black for tins and cans, red for plastics, green for glass, yellow for textiles and lime green is for food waste,’ explained Tim.

The recycling challenge started, and Team Earth came second as they worked as a team this time. Team Drax lost. After a hard day, Team Earth went back to their cabin.

They heard someone knocking the door and Tim opened the door. To their surprise, it was Matt Marshmallow.

‘I’m here to inform you that your final challenge will be happening tomorrow at Mint Rox Stadium and the winner will go home. It will be a

quiz on recycling and pollution, so be prepared,’ he instructed them. The brothers discussed more about recycling and pollution and then went to bed.

The next day, they were picked up and were taken to Mint Rox stadium. They were entering the stadium proudly, as they were one of the finalists.

‘Both teams, who are equally capable of winning here, take your seats,’ broadcasted the quiz master. He explained the rules of the quiz: the team should press their buzzer if they know the answer. If they got it wrong, the other team would have a chance to answer.

The quiz started. The quiz master started with the first question, ‘How can we protect groundwater?’

Team Earth hit the buzzer and Tim answered, ‘By drinking less water.’

‘I’m sorry that’s wrong, so the question is passed to team Dot,’ replied the quiz master.

‘We could reduce the usage of chemicals getting mixed with the groundwater,’ answered

Team Dot.

‘That’s the right answer!’ exclaimed the quiz master.

The quiz continued and at the end it was found that both the teams were tied. The quiz master declared, ‘It’s time for the ultimate tie-breaker question.’ Hearing that, both the teams sat at the edge of their seats nervously.

The question was an open-ended question, ‘How can kids help stop pollution?’

Team Dot hit the buzzer and said, ‘We can’t, we are just kids.’

‘I’m sorry, I’ve no choice but to pass the question to Team Earth,’ replied the quiz master.

Team Earth enthusiastically answered, ‘We can do simple stuff like picking up trash and putting it in the right bins.’

‘That was TERRIFIC and Team Earth wins!’

bellowed the quiz master.

The brothers, who couldn’t believe it, jumped with joy. In just a moment they heard Matt Marshmallow’s voice proudly proclaiming, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, these kids have won the Trash Games!’ Everyone applauded.

‘And here is your trophy made out recycled materials. Now you will be teleported back to

your home,’ said Matt Marshmallow. Feeling elated, the brothers were flying in bliss. Suddenly everything went black and the brothers were back home. They shouted, ‘Mum and Dad, we were teleported to an alien planet and we are finally back with this trophy after a long week!’

‘You kids have good imaginations. You were only out for an hour,’ said Mum.